Advent Day 14: Peace

SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT – SATURDAY December 14, 2024

READ Luke 1:26–56
The angel Gabriel tells Mary of the incarnation. Mary is the first person who hears the name “Jesus.” She is the first one who gets the message that salvation is coming into the world through a baby who is going to be born in Bethlehem, who is the Lord, and who is descending into time and space to save us.

26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”

38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”

46 And Mary said:

“My soul glorifies the Lord
47     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49     for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
50 His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
55 to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he promised our ancestors.”

56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.

REFLECT
When God calls Abraham in Genesis 12, he promises in verse 2 and 3: “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing … and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

This incredible promise—that ultimately God is going to save his people through Abraham’s family—rests on another foundational promise. In verse 7, God says that Abraham will have “offspring.” But Abraham’s wife, Sarah, is barren. Genesis 11:30 says that Sarah was “childless because she was not able to conceive.” So, the redemption of the world hinges on the miraculous birth of a child to a barren woman. And yet we read in Genesis 21:1–3, “Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him.”

It is hard not to notice that centuries later an angelic messenger comes to another incredulous woman to tell her about another miraculous birth, and he answers her doubts by saying, “No word from God will ever fail” (Luke 1:37). Unless Isaac was born, God’s people could not be blessed and saved, but in the end, he only points to the ultimate “Isaac” through whom all God’s promises are ultimately fulfilled.

PRAY
Pray for willingness to trust God on whatever path he takes you, whether to the green grass or through the valley of shadow (Psalm 23).