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Establishes for us that spirituality doesn't exempt the person from crying. Well, we've already, we've already said that. So we're just pointing that the character is brought before us of the, the two establishes that point for us here. Yeah. So you would have, uh, Hannah, wouldn't you, in the Old Testament, the Sumer Yes. and the grief and so on that was hers, uh, associated with her prayers. Yes, I was thinking. Prayers to Elizabeth, Yeah. and you also got her grief. I was thinking upon it, yes. Mm-hmm. Now, the lot evidently wouldn't have fallen upon him possibly again in his lifetime.
They say it was quite s- seldom that a man had this golden opportunity of offering the incense, so that he must have felt that this was a very unique day in his life. But while he was honored in having the lot falling upon him at that time, it was not in his mind that he would have such a revelation when he did go in before the Lord with to offer the incense. So you're bringing us now to the next little section. From verse eight to verse twelve we have the appearance of the angel in the temple. Uh... You notice it says it was into the temple of the Lord. Now that would have been the first compartment of the temple, the holy place, where the altar of incense was, and it was heavenly to the right of the altar of incense that the angel appeared.
And it took place at the time when all the praying was going on outside. There could be a link between the praying of the people outside and the incense that was rising from the altar, because the prayers of God's people do rise as incense into the presence of God. He was scheduled to the, to the requisition of the court, and God punished him for his unbelief, because God was not going to let him stop his thoughts of grace that were coming to John. Well, that's very good. We'll see that later on then. The lake said it is on the south. I was wondering, are we looking out rather than in?
Looking out from the house. I, any vehicle you're looking at? You said it is on the north here. Yeah. I wanted to look on the land on this side. The lake. Oh yes, I had thought it was on the side of the, the table of sh- all right, but that was the table, the side of the table of shubri. The opposite side. Mm. Well, it says the right side of the altar of incense. I couldn't say, brother, I was able to draw here because if it had been on the left side, it would have cast a shadow over the altar. The golden altar was on the side of showbread.
The golden altar was facing the veil. Yes. On the right side, there was a table of showbread, and Evelyn was on the right side where the angel appeared. You think that, uh, there's a point here that he was a man who apparently wasn't overcome, uh, by the presence of an angel? The most of the priestly hosts were Sadducees, didn't believe in angels. That's very good. But here, this, this priest who was in touch with God, he did believe in angels, and, uh, Mary seems to be of the same school. She wasn't overcome by much the angel and what the angel said. Uh, with Mary. With Mary. Yes. And Luke tells us more about angels than any of the other gospels.
Yes. And more about prayer than any of the other gospels. Exactly. You read about angels at his birth, you read about angels giving the message to the shepherds, you read about angels in Gethsemane, you read about angels at the tomb, we read about angels at his ascension, all written by Luke, but no angel at the cross. This section then is evident about the R of breath. Evidently. Which could have been in the morning time. Morning. Yes. Mm-hmm. We have a praying people here, beginning of this gospel. And a praising people at the end. That's what you're going to say. A praising people at the end.
Yes, very good. That's very good. Luke is a great gospel of joy, as you know, Reyes, and prayer. That is the emphasis in the gospel, the relationship to prayer. The Lord Jesus was exercising prayer on 8 occasions in the, in the gospel. Well, that, of course, would be associated with his manhood, wouldn't it? And we know that Luke writes mainly about the, the manhood of Christ. Luke refers to praying on the Mount of Transfiguration, which no other writer does. Yes, that is true, and yet a dependent man, man dependent upon his God.
Have you not been a lesson learned in the past to thank you in the sight of God today? Yes, we could certainly learn plenty of lessons that way. Now, let us go on to verse twelve. says It that he was troubled or he was agitated. Mr. Gooding has commented on that. But the angel said unto, we'll come now to the next little section from verse thirteen to seventeen which is the message of the angel, which brings with it the promise of a son. Thy wife Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shall call his name John, which means the Lord is gracious. Then not only have we the promise of the son, but we have the greatness of the son. He shall be great in the sight of the Lord, shall drink neither wine nor strong drink, and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb.
Everybody will be wanting to know what this means. I think that it simply means that John was to be a Nazarite separated from the world and from all false excitement that would be generated by wine or strong drink. And instead of being stimulated by those things, he would find the stimulation coming from the Holy Ghost. And the writer tells us, Luke tells us, that that would be even from his mother's womb. Then we have the work that he was to accomplish, seen in verses sixteen and seventeen. he was to repair this broken down condition of things in the nation, this broken relationships between children and their fathers, and so on, because sin, no doubt, brings that about.
And we find that his great work was to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. That is, to have a people ready for the Lord, he in his ministry was to turn the hearts of the people to God. Now, comments, please. Not verse seventeen. Go ahead. Verse seventeen remains as under the truth of Malachi. Yeah. Where the hearts of the children are to be turned to the parents, and the parents to the children. And who are the parents? Just the ordinary. I thought every family that it would re- readjust, as it were.
Yeah. And one of the great evidences of departure is in family life. Yeah. Children have a new respect for parents. Who come again to take up the broken ob- broken obligations of an older prophet. Yeah. To his ministry. Yes, it was in the spirit and power of Elias, Elijah. Now, it wasn't miraculous power, but it was the the power of his words that were to be so effective. And we all know that John's ministry was a ministry with power in it, that turned the hearts of the people from their sin and turned them to God. My brother often says when he's preaching the gospel that sin divides man from man. Salvation unites man to God, and so, and unites man to man.
Do you not have some bit about verse Hagin, There are so many people here that pray and don't get answers. Well, I think, yes, thanks, thanks for bringing us back to that, Mary. Uh, fear not, Zechariah. This would be the keynote of the angel's message, was fear not. Sorry, go ahead. Would the idea of verse uh not be that in the power and spirit of Elijah, John the Baptist would turn the unbelieving hearts of the descendants back to the messianic hope of their forefathers, and thus bring them together in one? Well, it would all amount to one and the same thing, wouldn't it? That they return back to God.
Ah, but it's the Father's to the children, and the great ancient fathers couldn't return to the children. That's why I asked you who the parents were, you see. I can see our brother here would have that i- idea in his mind. But to come back to verse thirteen, what Mr. Gooding was at here now, fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard. I think there's great encouragement here, that here's an elderly couple, barren, no child, evidently Zacharias and Elizabeth had prayed and prayed and prayed, and there was no answer came. And evidently they'd given up hope that an answer would ever come. And the whole keynote of the angel's message is, right at the start, fear not. Showing that delay is not denial.
Oh, dear saints, could not that encourage us this afternoon? How often many of us have waited and waited and waited for God to answer prayer. We sometimes wonder, will the answer ever come? It's good to know that God's delays are not denial. And even when they're old, here they are reminded, right there is her. A prince was to be born in Certainly he was a prince. He was a prince, by all means. All right. Thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth. I don't think we need comments on that too much.
He shall be great. Are any comments, please, now on verse fifteen? Mr. Gooding, anything to say on this? Verse fifteen? So what about the length verse 2? Manoah's son. Yes, yes. He was to be an outright from the womb. Yes. Told of the Holy Ghost from the womb. The angels in both cases here are different angels. Yes, but you can see, uh, a connection between Manoah and John the Baptist and Samson. John is unique in a way. You don't take it that his birth is any different from others. Oh no, oh no, it was a natural birth. He, uh, came back for conversion.
No. It must be true for all of us. Oh yes, a natural birth by natural means, entirely different from the birth of Christ now, or at least from the conception. Then are you going to have a non-regenerate man filled with the Holy Ghost? Well, when was he converted? Ah, but he's from his mother's womb. Yes, well, now give us help on this. Now, this is a very difficult verse. We need help on this. Please try and help as well you can. You hear Graham speak in the microphone. Well, here you're referring to me, or? Sorry, I didn't list that.
You were born supernatural because God No. Well, well, it could be Something like Isaac. Like Isaac's birth, surely, yeah. Yes. It's supernatural in the sense that it was only divine power that had brought it about, and yet at the same time, it was a natural birth. By natural means. Yes. And you're going to say something now, please help us with this verse, verse fifteen. I have thought that when you have references before the coming of the Holy Spirit to being filled with the Holy Spirit, it in no way implies any change taking place in the person felt.
We see it in Saul, the king, and so on, so that we must distinguish between the energy of the Spirit at work through a human instrument and the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit at conversion. Yes, uh, we we'll have to make this clear that God took up these people as instruments, and the Holy Spirit used them as instruments. They were not indwelt by the Holy Spirit as we are. There's a difference between Old Testament saints and saints of the present dispensation. At the very moment of conversion, my body became the dwelling place of the Holy Ghost, the tabernacle of the Holy Spirit of God. I was indwelt, but we couldn't say that Old Testament saints were indwelt by the Holy Spirit, but they were taken up as vessels, such as Manoah and such as Samson and such as John the Baptist.
Because I think Samson was three times filled with the Holy Spirit, wasn't he? But he was not filled with the Holy Spirit to do work for God. He was filled with the Holy Spirit to li- deliver himself out of the difficulties he got himself into. So it was no evidence of spirituality. No. No, I know. Just a minute, brother. Do you ever take this back to the leaping in the, in your passage? The what? Before birth. Oh yes, uh, leaping, uh, well, verse forty one, that is. Uh. He even, he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb. There are several indwellings of the Holy Spirit in the Hebrew.
And in this special occasion, we teach, for instance, that none have been indwelt by the Holy Spirit since only from Pentecost. Well, that's what we already stated, that as only believers of this dispensation are indwelt. But these people in question here were taken up and used as vessels by the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit moving upon them and working through them. In them. He shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. Is it any, any help to say that in these passages we're talking about, there's no definite article in front of the Holy Spirit? Could mean, of course, speaking of the Spirit of God using them without an indwelling.
Well, that's what I had thought, that's what I had thought, yes. So everything is the full drone was born again. Yes, I always think so. And I think that that could only have happened as initially. He couldn't have repeated that today. Exactly. Well, I will have to push on. Please come down now. I don't think we need discuss any more on this preparation. Uh, let us come now to verse eighteen. Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know that? I'm gonna be wicked, though. I'm gonna think about, uh, verse seventeen, To my mind, some- it summarizes the last two chapters of, uh, Malachi. Yeah. Uh, at the beginning of the chapter, the last two chapters of Malachi, you get the prophecy relative to Elijah.
Uh, and, uh, the middle of verse seventeen is the last two verses of the same chapter, but you'll notice what's missing. Lest I come and destroy the earth to the curse. Mm. And in between verse one of chapter, chapter three and the end of chapter four, you've a lot of threatenings of judgment. Mm. But all the threatenings of judgment are left out. Yeah. What you've got here is God acting in grace and salvation. It's something like Luke chapter four. Mm. where the Lord stops halfway through a verse Mm. and leaves out the judgment section. And here, the Spirit of God has quoted an Old Testament passage, left out all references to judgment, because this is to do with the day in which we live, Yes.
bringing in grace and salvation, whereas the other parts of the last two chapters of Malachi are the future day of judgment. Thank you. That's very helpful. God is about, God is about to accomplish his purpose, dear Job. Yes, we can see that. But now it's noticeable that this question of Zacharias does betray unbelief in his heart, because that's what the angel said to him, because thou believest not my words, in verse number twenty. And, uh, there's unbelief filling his heart, which brings about this punishment or this chastisement, being stricken dumb, and then at the same time, the punishment seems to be a sign also.
They shall be dumb and not able to speak until the day that these things shall be performed, because they believeth not my words. In verse twenty, there's a principle Apostle Paul speaks of in First Corinthians chapter four. Paul stated there, I believe, therefore have I spoken. Here was a man who believed not, he was sick and dumb. In the world today, the religious world around us today, all kinds of individuals are being brought to the fore who do not believe in order to speak, in order to make known what they call the word of God. But the principle here is very, very clear. If a man doesn't believe, he has absolutely no right to speak.
That's very good. We do, we do notice that he speaks when he gets a speech back, eh, later on in Mr. Gooding's Bible reading, and we have the wonderful song that he gives us at the end. Is he not representative of the nation in his silence of that four hundred years or so that you've been thinking about, and he asserted that was all because of their unbelief, and not until John appeared did the speech begin again, as it were. And so that in the New Testament, when John comes on the scene, uh, matters start to move again. Mm. Yes, the silence there. That's very good. That's a helpful. You say, brother Norman, that his joy was withheld in the gladness because of unbelief.
Verse back. Thou shalt have joy and gladness. And now he's done. Well, of course, you see, the joy and the gladness will come at his birth, and that would take us a stage further, you see. Uh, but the I... And then at his birth, now he will rejoice at it. Well, I thought that that would, uh, certainly Zacharias rejoiced at his birth too, now when that came. Then we have the effect of all this upon the people that are waiting outside. Evidently, it was wasn't a customary thing for the priests to be so long in the temple, and they were waiting in an une- on an uneasy condition outside, wondering what had happened.
And then we have the silence of Zacharias when he does come out. He could not speak unto them, but perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple. And then the signs which he indicates, he beckoned unto them and remained speechless. The strange thing about it is he seems to be deaf as well, didn't they make signs to him? Because you see that, uh, he beckoned unto them, and then they didn't they make signs to him. Yeah, but sure, they would need to make signs even if he, if he couldn't speak. Ah, but if he could hear. Do you think that he was struck with both deafness and dumbness then, if both hearing and speech were affected?
Ah, they made signs to his father or he would have him call. Thanks. Does that not again speak of the same principle? When a man is not willing to accept what God says, he receives nothing more from God. Yes, that is certainly a principle. In thy light shall we see light. And the man that steps right upon the light that God gives him and obeys it and acts upon it, God will give him more. But as you say, the man that doesn't do that, God will keep him in the dark, and God will keep him speechless. Yeah.
Very good. That he will recover, and that in these three chapters we have the revival of prophecy by large measure, both by women and men. To the prophets speaking again, telling of the greatest things in the annals of eternity in relationship to God coming down to earth. Very good. Now, we want to get to this next section. We have to complete the first section, verse twenty three. He fulfills his week in the temple, and he departs to his own house, and then after that, Elizabeth conceives and hides herself five months, saying, thus saith the Lord, thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on me to take away my reproach from among men.
That would seem to be our feelings of gratitude, the wonderful thing that has happened. John is conceived in the womb of Elizabeth. Now we come now to the, the third section. Gabriel. Perhaps we should have said something about Gabriel. We don't read about angels, or at least the names of angels, until after the captivity. I don't know why that is. And there's only two angels that we do read about who have names, it's Gabriel and Michael. Gabriel seems to be the, the great evangelist of heaven, the announcer of God's purposes. And you notice in each case where he's brought in, he's bringing a message with him.
And here in the chapter, it's Gabriel. Michael seems to be the one who was the executor of God's decrees, God's decrees. So that they both have a, a different role to play. But is Gabriel in question here? Tell you old angel that some come and hear it before you will step down. That's right now. He's still to the fore. I don't think they have any age reckonings, the angels, at all. Well, I don't think our brother believes that either. Yes, but the creation of the angelic host has to have power back on for us that in many years, many, many years old.
Well. Is there not a certain dignity about this Gabriel? Chapter, chapter sixteen, I am Gabriel. Dignity about that. Well, verse nineteen, would see the point that I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God, and those very words ought to have been an encouragement to Zacharias to believe the message. He's God's messenger, just like a high-ranking officer standing in the presence of the heavenly king. Here is Gabriel, and that was his office. Now, with only twenty five minutes, and we have this very important section, and I would like to get it well covered. The sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth. Here's the place to which he was sent.
How nice it is to see that these heavenly messengers are so obedient to the heavenly commands. To a virgin, espoused to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. That's the person to whom he's sent. And then we have his presentation to Mary, Hail thou that art highly favored. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. Is there a contrast here between Elizabeth, she had herself 5 months, and he had been 6 months? A contrast? Well, I don't know whether you see a contrast or not.
It's, it was... Just a month later. Just a month later. This word virgin, though, it doesn't mean an unmarried woman, does it? It means a virgin in, in the sense we use the word virgin. I think that Joseph and Mary, Not known a man. I think that Joseph and Mary at this time were legally married, but she did not know a man in the sense, eh, they were not one flesh. Well, of course she was a spouse. Yeah, but the, I think the word of spouse is used because of that, uh, because of the fact that, uh, she was still a virgin. Well, let us hear what you have to say.
I, I, I take it that the spousal took place possibly a year before marriage. Yes, that's right. It was a binding of marriage. It was, it was a legal bond, and it should not be broken. And the Vir- she was, the Virgin, she was espoused. She was not living with Joseph. She was not cohabiting with Joseph. They had to be keep separate in the period of the espousal. They were chaperoned wherever they went so that they could not possibly anticipate marriage relations. That's the idea of an espousal. She was espoused to a man whose name was Rachel. She's quite called a virgin. She, she's wife on her own behalf.
That's why he has to be instructed in Matthew chapter one to take her. I, I judge that that is the legal side of it, but... Well, that's what I had thought had happened to here, that the legal side already had taken place. Well, that could have taken place last week. It couldn't have been in Matthew chapter one, You see, it's after the fact that she was with child that Joseph takes her. Uh, that's what I would see in Matthew chapter one. It's not a, a legal wife until he's actually taken her. It's the betrothal period, I would judge is before us in Matthew chapter one, and Is what is you referred get to here.
get. The next one on the position and grade began on 7th year. The 6 months. I don't see that there's 2 phrases here. Now we're going into some Monday section, but there are 2 phrases here that are linked together, I think. If you will, look at verse 31. The angel says, behold, thyself conceive, so should your hands fear. Then when Elizabeth speaks to her, she says in verse forty five, and blessed is he that believe, for there shall be a performance of those things.
But my merely answers at this time, in this, in the house of Zechariah and Elizabeth, no better chaperones has been given this young pure virgin than God provided for her. And then she says, in the house of these two godly people, he that is mighty hath done great things for me. And I think that the idea is very clearly from these words that while she was in the house being chaperoned by these two godly people, the Holy Spirit came upon him to see. You are invited myself to the morrow. And deserve to be smit- smacked for. The first concept, uh, the sixth month.
Andrew said. Well, I take it that the six months are just a month after the five months that's referred to in verse twenty four. And he was sent to this virgin and sent to Nazareth. Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Was the question that was asked. Nazareth was in itself likely a very corrupt city, and yet here we have a virgin in that very place, and this is the vessel that God is going to make use of for to be the instrument to bring into the world his own beloved son. Would you think, Norman, that that would lead you on to verse twenty eight now? Uh, the meaning of this highly favored.
Uh, what would you say is the meaning? Well, it means to be graciously accepted. You know the way the Church of Rome uses this full of grace. We don't believe that Mary herself was full of grace. We don't believe that it's, it refers to the merits that Mary had, but that rather she was highly favored in the sense that God was taking her up as this vessel. So it has to do not so much with her character, though we agree she had good character. It has to do more with the office that she was going to fill in the divine purpose. Yes. Yes. Oh yes, we know that surely, but uh, we don't, we believe that the Immaculate Conception had nothing to do with Mary at all as far as she was concerned.
She wasn't mak- makily, makidally conceived. It was the Lord himself. But now we want to get at this here in verse number twenty eight. The Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women. Of course, a lot of the best manuscripts leave out those words at the end of that verse. And Mary's reaction to this, when she saw him, she was troubled. That was saying, as Mr. Hugen already has pointed out, she evidently wasn't too much agitated or troubled at the sight of the angel, but it's what the angel said, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. So the salutation was what's in verse twenty eight. That's what she was. Yes, that's the salutation.
Hail, thou art highly favored. The word hail simply is a word of greeting, which means to rejoice or to be of good cheer. Did you say that the word highly favored meant accepted? Well, graciously accepted. It's the same idea as you have in Ephesians chapter one, isn't it? Yes. Accepted in the beloved. Yes. Well, we are, we are accepted not because of any grace that's in us, but because of any merits that's in us, but simply because of the grace of God. beloved. Accepted in the in the beloved. Now, say that the word that I was graciously accepted? Well, graciously accepted.
It's the same idea as you have in Ephesians chapter one, isn't it? Yes. Accepted in the beloved. Yes. Well, we are, we are accepted not because of any grace that's in us, or because of any merits that's in us, but simply because of the grace of God. Accepted in the beloved. All the merits are in him. So we take it that she has been specially picked out for this, uh, uh, office for being Yes, I take it that that's what the highly favored is all about. For that reason, the Lord was with us. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Now, could we come... Yes.
And she's not to be a blesser herself, but she's only blessed from the Lord. Now, come to the, the verses now. The angel said unto her, fear not. This is very like what has already had been said to Zacharias further up. Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. Now, that would, uh, find simply means found grace. Here, it's, this is probably the first mention of grace in the New Testament. Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb. Now, I would like to divide up these three verses into seven great statements.
Remember that wisdom's house was built on seven pillars. Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb. Here is the information that she's going to conceive. That would link us back with the great prophecy of Isaiah chapter seven: A virgin shall conceive. Now, how that came about is answered for us in verse number thirty five. It wasn't by natural means. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, the power of the high shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. The conception of the Lord Jesus was something that came about by an act, a creative act of the Holy Spirit of God.
Now, just a minute, please. Thou shall conceive. That's her conception. And shall bring forth a son. Now here is again the great fulfillment of Isaiah chapter seven. A virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son. And here is the fulfillment of the first great prophecy of scripture, the seed of the woman. And here is Mary, a virgin, and she's going to bring forth a son. Thirdly, and shall call his name Jesus, Jehovah the Savior.
That again would link us with Isaiah chapter 7, because you'll remember that his name was to be called Emmanuel, which means God with us. And that's the way that is brought in in Matthew chapter one. you remember, they shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins, and he's also referred to in that chapter as Emmanuel, Paul the Ros. Then he shall be great. That is the uniqueness of the son that he, she's going to give birth to, his personal superiority, none to confer with him. He's going to be great in every sense of the word that you could think of greatness.
Great in holiness, great in majesty, great in power, great in love, great in grace. This is greatness in all its wonder. And then he shall be called the Son of the Highest. And that is the son that Mary was going to give birth to is going to be called the Son of the Highest. This is his divine title. That is his coming into manhood in no way would defect from his eternal Godhead and Deity. We must keep that in mind. He would be the son of the highest. Then it says that the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. Uh, this is now referring to his coming earthly kingdom, the throne of his father David.
So this is David's greater son. At the present moment, the Lord Jesus is sitting upon his father's throne, Revelation chapter three. But in a coming day, he's going to sit upon the throne of his father David. That will be an earthly throne. That is yet to come. Then you'll notice that... that would link also with Isaiah chapter nine, as we have said, because in chapter nine he is spoken of as the one who would be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and so on, and the one who would sit upon the throne of his father David. And then we are told that he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever.
Uh, it's nice to notice that it says he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, not over the house of Judah or over the house of Joseph. Because when the Lord Jesus takes up the kingdom in a coming day, the two sticks of Ezekiel chapter thirty seven will be united together. Both sections of the nation will be made one. And in that coming day, the nation will be one. The breach will be forever healed. And the Lord Jesus is going to sit upon the throne of his father David and reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. It's not only going to be a kingdom to last for a millennial, but a kingdom that will last forever, an eternal kingdom.
Remember, Peter speaks about the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So that here we have these seven marvelous statements announced by the Injil, as I've said, like seven pillars that wisdom builds her house upon. And as I remarked earlier, the whole fabric of Christianity depends upon what we have revealed to us in this announcement. Are you half as Well, now we'll come to that in a moment or two. Let us consider verse thirty first, now verse thirty one. Any comments in verse thirty one?
You said the conception was miraculous? It was miraculous. The birth. The birth was natural, yes. And the conception was also immaculate. That holy thing, or that which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God. Now I ask you what you mean by immaculate. Well, I know there's a bit of controversy. Distinguish so that the saints don't get the idea we hold the wrong Catholic idea. Oh, we d- well, we have, we've already hinted at that. This word immaculate refers to the conception of Christ, not to Mary herself. Rome believes in the Immaculate Conception, but they refer that to Mary, that she was without sin.
We believe in the Immaculate Conception of Christ. It was he that was conceived without sin. Mary admits herself further down, Mr. Gooding's Bible reading, my soul doth magnify the Lord, my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. She needed a savior like the rest of us. She wasn't a seed without sin. She would come under that broad statement of scripture, all have sinned. Exactly. And come short of the glory of God. Yeah. The incarnation and the birth of Christ. Well, when we think of incarnation, incarnation has to do with one of the persons of the Godhead becoming man.
Not only becoming a man to live on earth and to be here on earth for thirty three and a half years, but taking upon him a body, a human body, in which he will remain eternally. That's what incarnation means. Also means the effect of conception, and the virgin birth means that a very good birth is made. Oh yes, the virgin birth was the means by which the birth took place. It was through a virgin. But it was natural. The birth was natural, but the conception was miraculous and also immaculate. Did you say that the word incarnation puts the emphasis on the divine side?
Yes. It is a member of the Godhead coming into humanity, Yes. incarnate, becoming body. Yeah. But the virgin birth has to do with the method by which he came into the world. Exactly. I had a dream from Psalm 22, the essence of the born made God. And the birth of the thing was from God sent forth his son. And Psalm 22 says they just picked The up a hope hook and they our walked. hope. Yes. On the second round here, John addresses the first round that they are forever.
The Lord Jesus prays the Lord from heaven and pleads with the Holy Ghost. The second round will not be taken. Well, I don't think that comes in here so much. It's referred to the second round, certainly on the last Adam in First Corinthians chapter fifteen. but, uh, we must keep in mind in that chapter that it has to do with resurrection, and it's a risen Christ that's in question. Yes, Luke traces a genealogy, Luke traces a genealogy back to Adam. Oh, definitely. Because the first man is not born.
The first man was Adam, yes. And the second man also Christ is the resurrection, and the Lord Jesus Yes, it's linking him with the, the new creation. He's the head of the new creation, and in that sense, he's the second man and the last Adam. Bring forth a son, isn't it? Yeah. Verse thirty one. Now, did you say there's a difference between the son of verse thirty one and the son of verse thirty two? Yes, when- Yes. Well, Mary thinking of Son of Mary, isn't it? She's thinking of her own son, at least it's her own son that's in question in verse Thirty one, bring forth a son.
Whereas in verse thirty two, it's the son of the highest. That is, the son that she's going to bring forth is the son of the highest. She did, he didn't become the son of God or the son of the highest. Oh, by no means, by no means. The eternal sonship of Christ Yes. is more as involved. Yes. But he was the son of God before he died, before he became Mary's son, he was eternally the son of God. Exactly, yes. Well, I have connected these verses, if you have noticed, with Isaiah seven and Isaiah nine. as a very close link with all these statements that are made in those two psalms. Born, born, unclean, not a clean thing, not an unclean.
No, not one. Gabriel's son said he was born in sin and Satan the manipulator of the natural birth of the birth of Jesus. If you think of it, the whole force of nature was arrested in the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ's son, who was born for us. That's something that could never happen from Adam until us. And yet I know well what our brother is making, but at the same time, because of the number, as his birth, as his conception was miraculous, so was his birth unique than all the rest. I think I make the emphasize of the whole mission to make one point.
Well, how does birth not, had his conception not been miraculous and immaculate, his birth never would have been sinless. When we speak of his birth being natural, we simply mean that the deliverance of the child was in a natural way. That's what we have in our mind. Yeah. You be born into this world, the true nature, born in God, and not yet taken forever.
Exactly. Are we not going over in one time? I have a go on hard. I have to go to verse The All right. The angel answered and said unto her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and so on. Now, you'll notice in this verse that we have the persons of the Trinity all mentioned. The Holy Ghost, the power of the highest shall overshadow, shadow thee, that must be God himself. Therefore, that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God, the three persons of the Trinity. Now, if you could elaborate on this verse for us a wee bit. It's been very quiet this past five minutes or so. It's not my fault. Uh, the uh, the word overshadowed is used, as you know, in the Mount of Transfiguration, and it seems as if it's the power of God and not, uh, almost like the tabernacle being overshadowed.
Now that brought about the conception. It doesn't mean that the Holy Spirit was the father of the child. Never once is he referred to in that way, but it's the power of the Spirit that operated and enabled Mary to produce a child in that abnormal way. I think we should be clear on that. Now, I personally have thought, on neighbor alone, that the next verse tells us when that took place. The next verse? Uh. Verse thirty Uh, that's the verse. You said the next verse. Yes, I take it that that's when the conception took place, verse thirty eight. She submitted Yes. to the revelation that was given to her, as much as she said, just do that now.
Yeah. I think it's when it happened. That's it. Yeah. And what, what she says, behold, the handmaiden of the Lord did unto me according to thy word. She's as much as just saying, Lord, here's my body, you can take it and make use of it. It's like Romans twelve and 1. She's presenting her body, a living sacrifice, fully acceptable unto the Lord. From that point on, that she talked in the past tense. Yeah. The Lord has done, as our brother said, has done past from there. And the answer to Neri's question in verse thirty four, how shall this be? The answer to that question is given us now in verse thirty five. This is how it's going to be.
And thirty seven shows us that such a thing could never take place except God could do the impossible. Yes, it's the omnipotence of God that's in question, and this is the great rock of faith that she rests upon. With God, nothing shall be impossible. She leaves out reason altogether, for where reason begins, faith ends. And here's a woman, and she's prepared to simply believe what God has said. This will come about. The Holy Spirit will be the miraculous work. Would you say that the order shed away, I agree with what Barahona said, it's in the, in the sense of envelop. Now, there were very dangers, weren't there? There was what Barahona already, uh, mentioned, there was the problem of the entail of sin.
Death passes on all men for all sin, and normally speaking, sin would have passed upon the child. So I take it that the Holy Spirit would envelop Mary Rome so that our Lord Jesus did not inherit the sinful nation. Did that sense? Then, of course, there is, as you talk, well, you do know, uh, there is the theory that Mary was waylaid on the hills of Palestine, uh, near to Nazareth, where a lot of soldiers would be wandering. She would be, was waylaid, and consequently she gave birth to a child that was, uh, not born, not born of God and not born of Jesus.
That's a theory the world puts forward. I, don't think they've got one, but you have the idea in the Old Testament scriptures of God protecting a woman in circumstances like that, and I'm thinking of the second occasion when, uh, Abram took his wife down in the Abimelech land. God stepped in, shut up all the wounds in all the land, and because it was in the period when after God had made a promise at the time of life, Sarah shall bring forth, fall to side. You see, it was in that danger field, and there might have been an interference, and God stepped in and protected. And here I say that God stepped in and, and protected me from any influence of any other man.
Then you get the idea of Joseph in, in Genesis chapter one. He knew her not. Now that was the loss of self-control. For man to take to himself his wife and know not colossal self-control given to him actually by God in order that the Christ of God might be born of the enemy maker. You following me, Norman? Yes, I'm following you. Well, it's not going to make any difference even if you leave right the of the, it's...
which shall be born, that holy thing which shall be born shall be called the Son of God. It wasn't born of anybody else. It wasn't born of anybody else. But it's nice to notice that in becoming the son of Mary, he did not seek to become the son of God, and we want to keep that before us. Now the times. Oh, yes, definitely, yes. This is information, not a testimony. Sorry, well, this is my brother. Yeah.
I don't think I heard you at the back, brother. This is the only time, Mr. McBride is pointing out that this is the only time where the neuter word is used concerning the person of Christ, that holy thing. Some are not happy about that, but I don't know if it's a big level. I'll look at it in the authorized version. Will it not refer to the holy humanity of which the Lord Jesus forsaken that quite significant here? Adam, he forsook the innocent humanity. We have forsaken of a whole humanity, but one human person forsook of a whole humanity. Yeah. Do it some translate, leave it single together. Oh, they do, yeah.
Well, we'll have to stop. Thank you very much, all you brothers, for your help. Our loving Father, we bow in thy holy presence to return thanks to thee for our time with us this afternoon. We thank thee for the moments that we've spent together around thy precious word. We thank thee for the person of thy lovely son, the one who is the Alpha and Omega, the one our God who liveth and was dead, and behold, he is alive forevermore. The one our Father whom thou hast sent into this world, not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.
We do give thee grateful thanks for the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank thee for all that he means to thee. We thank thee, Father, for all that he means to us. We thank thee, our God, for all that he's accomplished for us in his death of shame at Calvary, and we look forward to that blessed moment when faith will give way to sight, and we shall gaze upon him. We shall see him as he is, and we shall be with him and be like him throughout the countless ages of eternity. And we pray that in the interval, the little while it lies between, that thou would preserve us as thy people, keep us pleasing to thyself and to the word of thy grace, and help us, loving Father, that we might seek to be faithful to thee, faithful to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and faithful to thy word, as thou would leave us in this world where sin abounds on every hand, where the Son of God and the word of God is under constant satanic attack.
We pray that thou would help us, our Father, to be faithful to thee. We thank you for all who have gathered with us this afternoon, and we pray now, as we would, uh, take an interval for tea, that thou would be pleased to bless our time of fellowship together. We give thee thanks for food that thou hast provided for our bodily needs, and ask that as we partake of it, that thou wilt bless it to us. Thus we commend us to thee, and look that thou wilt remember us in the evening meeting, when thy servants will stand to tell the great things that thou hast been doing as they have preached the gospel and brought the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Savior, mighty to save, to the notice and to the gaze of Paris and Simmonds.
We pray that thou wilt be with us in that meeting. Grant a deep sense of thy presence. Grant help, our God, to make these things known, and do grant, our Father, that one and all will be blessed of thyself as a result of our coming together today. First, we commend us to thee. We give thee thanks for all thy mercies, and we would make request in our Savior's worthy and precious name. Amen. Now standing to sing, please, hymn number seventy two, There is no name so sweet on earth, no name so sweet in heaven, the name before his wondrous birth to Christ the Savior given. Number seventy two, rising to sing, please.