Two Future Births Revealed

“But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.”  Luke 1:13  “And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.  And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son, and shalt call His name JESUS.” Luke 1:30-31

As we saw in the last blog, in Matthew 1:1-16 we are given the genealogy of Jesus Christ as presented through the line of His earthly father, Joseph.  Jacob (not the Jacob of the Old Testament), son of Matthan and a direct descendant of Abraham, was the father of Joseph.  In Luke 3:23-38, we are given the genealogy of Jesus through the line of His mother, Mary, but rather than listing Heli, Mary’s father, as Mary’s father, the account presents Heli as Joseph’s father-in-law.  It was not only the custom to keep family trees as generations descended from their fathers, but in my study of God’s word, I have found that the males of families have always been the ones who have been held responsible for not only the physical support of their families, but the spiritual leaders as well.  Some folks may not like that, but that is the way God planned for the family.  Of course, there are many families led by a single mother.  In those cases, the responsibility falls to her to provide the spiritual leadership to her children.  In some two parent families, the father abdicates his responsibility to lead his family spiritually, and thus the task falls to the mother.  In other cases, neither one takes on that role, and the children grow up with little spiritual knowledge.

Six months before the angel announced to Mary that she would be the mother of the Savior of the world, her cousin, Elisabeth, who was beyond child-bearing age and had not been able to bear children, was blessed with the news that she would bear a son.  The angel had announced this to her husband, Zacharias, who was a priest, but he was skeptical because of the age of himself and his wife.  Because of his doubt, his voice was taken away until his son was born (Luke 1:20).  Imagine him being a priest and a prospective father and not being able to speak God’s word or tell everyone the good news.

A period of six months passed.  The same angel, Gabriel, who visited Zacharias, came to Mary.  We do not know Mary’s age, but most have speculated that she was anywhere from 13 to 16 years of age.  It was not unusual to marry and have a family at that young age.  To be a wife and mother was the goal of most of the young girls of that day.  I would imagine that girls in those ancient times were likely more mature than girls and boys of the 21st century.  Many of the modern-day young people behave as if they were older, but many do not have the maturity to deal with adult situations and problems nor make sound judgments.  Also, girls and women have many more choices as to their pursuits in this age of high technology.  I am sure that Mary was very surprised to have a visit from an angel, particularly after he told her that she was “highly favored” because the LORD was with her, and she was blessed among women (Luke 1:28-29).  He then told her something that must have shocked her greatly:  she was to conceive and bear a son to be called JESUS.  He would be great and be called the Son of the Highest, inheriting the throne of David.  He would reign over Israel forever, and His kingdom would never end.

Like Zacharias, Mary was puzzled, but unlike Zacharias, she did not doubt what the angel said was true.  She was perplexed because she had never had sexual relations with a man and thus couldn’t understand how she could become pregnant otherwise.  She was certainly old enough to know all about the “birds and the bees”.  She was engaged to Joseph but had not yet officially married and consummated the marriage.  Of course it was a mystery to her to know how this was going to be, but she was not questioning the veracity of the angel’s statement.  She took him at his word.

Why did Zacharias doubt and Mary believe?  I guess only they could answer that from their hearts.  I suppose age had something to do with Zacharias’ doubt because he had lived a long time and likely had seen many disappointments in his life, particularly concerning his and Elisabeth’s hope of having a family.  On the other hand, Mary was young and looking forward to her future life as a wife and mother, even before she found out about the exceptional birth that she was about to experience.  Even though Zacharias was a priest who served God in the temple, and, according to scripture, was righteous before God (verse 6), as was his wife, he had apparently given up on having a child and couldn’t bring himself to believe the angel.  Mary, too, was a righteous person who, being young and full of hope, was likely more open to hearing from God and desired to serve Him in whatever way she could.  She proved that in telling the angel, “Behold the handmaid of the LORD; be it unto me according to thy word.”  The story continues next time.