Highly Favored

And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man named Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, though art highly favored, and the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not Mary: for thou hast found favor with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever and ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee: therefore the holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And thy cousin Elizabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. Abd the angel departed from her. ~Luke 1:26-38.

Mary, the beautiful handmaid of the Lord. She was chosen to carry and birth the Son of God. What a godly and good young woman she must have been. She was highly favored of God, and blessed among women. When Gabriel, the angel, appeared and gave her this incredible news, in wonder she asked how this might be, for she was but a virgin. The angel graciously explains, ” the Holy Spirit shall overshadow you, the power of the most high shall come upon you and the holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” Mary in faith accepts his answer, and responds, “behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word”. She believes the angel, she receives what she cannot understand as truth. In faith she in essence says, Let it happen, I believe you.

“To as many as have received Him, to them He gave the power to become the sons of God”. Jesus has sent us a salutation, a messenger, His word. He has highly favored all of us. We are all greatly blessed. For He offers himself, to come to live inside our hearts, to redeem us from our sins and make us a new creature, one new man, the purchased possession of the mighty God. We may wonder as Mary did, How is this possible, seeing I am a sinner, in transgression of the Holy law of God. How is it possible that even I can be saved and stand before him, redeemed, forgiven, saved from the penalty of sin, seeing I am barren even as Elizabeth was, from any good works qualifying me to receive such an immense blessing and measure of grace? To which our Lord tells us in His word, the Holy ghost shall come and live inside every believer, cleansing us from all sin. The Son of God in power, shall overshadow our sin with His righteousness, his blood shall cleanse away all our sin! In love, Emanuel, God with us, offers to come and live on the inside of each one of us, and create in each one of us one new man, twain with Himself and make us the sons and daughters of God! How is this possible with such contrary sinners as ourselves? With God nothing shall be impossible! For He, like He did with Mary, accomplished all the work for us on the cross. Mary could not conceive the Son of God, nor could she work to place Him in her womb. She trusted his word, believing, and simply received what He desired to give. That is all we to do to be saved from the judgement to come. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. We simply believe and say with Mary, behold the believer of the Lord, let it be, as you say.

What the Lord did in coming to Mary’s womb, to live inside her, is a beautiful picture of what happens to every believer when we receive the gift He offers us of Himself. He comes to live inside each one us, for which we are highly favored! He gives us His righteousness, and washes our sins away. We become the redeemed sons and daughters of the most high! Simply by believing, we experience the impossible, as Mary did, only made possible by God Himself.

” And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.”~ Luke 1: 45