Advent2025_Dec5
The King Is Coming
Luke 1:26–38
The God who restores life now creates life by His Spirit.
In a quiet town in Galilee, far from the temple courts and priestly garments, another messenger from heaven appears. The angel Gabriel, who once spoke to Zechariah in Jerusalem, now comes to a young woman named Mary in Nazareth. His greeting is startling: “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you.”
Mary is startled, unsure what such words could mean. Yet Gabriel speaks again with steady reassurance: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.” Then he declares the impossible: she will conceive and bear a son, and His name will be Jesus. He will be great, called the Son of the Most High, and will reign forever on the throne of David.
Mary’s question is natural: “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” The answer lifts the story from miracle to mystery: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” The same God who once spoke light into darkness now speaks life into Mary’s womb. This is Creation language . . . God doing what only God can do.
Luke wants us to see the continuity and the escalation of God’s power. The same verb used to describe Elizabeth’s conception reappears here, but with a crucial difference. Elizabeth’s body had been healed; Mary’s body becomes the dwelling place of the divine. One conception restored the natural order; the other is ushering in the New Creation. The promise given to David, the covenant sworn to Abraham, and the hope whispered to Eve are all converging in this humble, believing girl.
Mary doesn’t ask for another sign or delay. She simply says, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” Her quiet surrender is faith in its purest form; a willingness to trust that nothing is impossible for God.
___________
For Young Ones: What did the angel tell Mary? How did she respond to God’s plan?
For Older Ones: Where is God inviting you to trust His Word, even when you can’t see how His promise will unfold?
Pray: Lord, thank You for Mary’s humble faith and Your miraculous power. Help us to trust You with our whole hearts and say, “Let it be according to Your Word.”
Family Practice: Read Luke 1:46–49 aloud together (Mary’s song). Take turns naming one way you’ve seen God’s power at work in your life this year.
Luke 1:26–38
The God who restores life now creates life by His Spirit.
In a quiet town in Galilee, far from the temple courts and priestly garments, another messenger from heaven appears. The angel Gabriel, who once spoke to Zechariah in Jerusalem, now comes to a young woman named Mary in Nazareth. His greeting is startling: “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you.”
Mary is startled, unsure what such words could mean. Yet Gabriel speaks again with steady reassurance: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.” Then he declares the impossible: she will conceive and bear a son, and His name will be Jesus. He will be great, called the Son of the Most High, and will reign forever on the throne of David.
Mary’s question is natural: “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” The answer lifts the story from miracle to mystery: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” The same God who once spoke light into darkness now speaks life into Mary’s womb. This is Creation language . . . God doing what only God can do.
Luke wants us to see the continuity and the escalation of God’s power. The same verb used to describe Elizabeth’s conception reappears here, but with a crucial difference. Elizabeth’s body had been healed; Mary’s body becomes the dwelling place of the divine. One conception restored the natural order; the other is ushering in the New Creation. The promise given to David, the covenant sworn to Abraham, and the hope whispered to Eve are all converging in this humble, believing girl.
Mary doesn’t ask for another sign or delay. She simply says, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” Her quiet surrender is faith in its purest form; a willingness to trust that nothing is impossible for God.
___________
For Young Ones: What did the angel tell Mary? How did she respond to God’s plan?
For Older Ones: Where is God inviting you to trust His Word, even when you can’t see how His promise will unfold?
Pray: Lord, thank You for Mary’s humble faith and Your miraculous power. Help us to trust You with our whole hearts and say, “Let it be according to Your Word.”
Family Practice: Read Luke 1:46–49 aloud together (Mary’s song). Take turns naming one way you’ve seen God’s power at work in your life this year.
"Dig Deeper" Text Note:
Two Kinds of “Conceiving”
Luke is a careful historian and a thoughtful theologian. When he tells us that Elizabeth conceived and that Mary will conceive, he uses the same Greek root (sullambanō), but he changes the grammatical form. And it’s not accidental. The shift is meant to make us pause and ponder the miracle unfolding.
1. Elizabeth’s Conception: A Miracle of Restoration
In Luke 1:24, the word appears in the aorist active form.
This is the ordinary way to describe a woman becoming pregnant, even though the circumstances here are anything but ordinary. Elizabeth is advanced in years, long past childbearing, yet God restores what had been barren.
Her conception is miraculous, but it still works through the natural order God designed. It is grace restoring what was broken.
2. Mary’s Conception: A Miracle of New Creation
But in Luke 1:31, Luke uses the future middle form. The middle voice often signals that the action happens to the subject . . . she receives it rather than initiates it. Mary’s conception does not come through any natural process at all. There is no human father. Instead, the Holy Spirit “overshadows” her, echoing the Spirit’s creative work in Genesis 1.
Here is something entirely new. God is not merely restoring life. God is creating life, the human life of His eternal Son, directly by His Spirit.
3. What Luke Wants Us to See
By placing these two conceptions side by side, Luke leads us gently but deliberately toward worship:
The God who opens a barren womb now brings forth His Son from a virgin womb. This is restoration giving way to new creation. Elizabeth’s pregnancy shows us that nothing is too hard for God. Mary’s pregnancy shows us that nothing is impossible for God.
And together they teach us this: the Child Mary carries is not simply another blessing from God; He is God Himself, come in the flesh.
Luke is a careful historian and a thoughtful theologian. When he tells us that Elizabeth conceived and that Mary will conceive, he uses the same Greek root (sullambanō), but he changes the grammatical form. And it’s not accidental. The shift is meant to make us pause and ponder the miracle unfolding.
1. Elizabeth’s Conception: A Miracle of Restoration
In Luke 1:24, the word appears in the aorist active form.
This is the ordinary way to describe a woman becoming pregnant, even though the circumstances here are anything but ordinary. Elizabeth is advanced in years, long past childbearing, yet God restores what had been barren.
Her conception is miraculous, but it still works through the natural order God designed. It is grace restoring what was broken.
2. Mary’s Conception: A Miracle of New Creation
But in Luke 1:31, Luke uses the future middle form. The middle voice often signals that the action happens to the subject . . . she receives it rather than initiates it. Mary’s conception does not come through any natural process at all. There is no human father. Instead, the Holy Spirit “overshadows” her, echoing the Spirit’s creative work in Genesis 1.
Here is something entirely new. God is not merely restoring life. God is creating life, the human life of His eternal Son, directly by His Spirit.
3. What Luke Wants Us to See
By placing these two conceptions side by side, Luke leads us gently but deliberately toward worship:
- In Elizabeth, we see God’s power to restore.
- In Mary, we see God’s power to create.
- In both, we see the faithfulness of God fulfilling His promises.
- And in the difference between them, we see the wonder of the Incarnation:
The God who opens a barren womb now brings forth His Son from a virgin womb. This is restoration giving way to new creation. Elizabeth’s pregnancy shows us that nothing is too hard for God. Mary’s pregnancy shows us that nothing is impossible for God.
And together they teach us this: the Child Mary carries is not simply another blessing from God; He is God Himself, come in the flesh.
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