The Annunciation\u2014Luk_1:26-38<\/p>\n
If there be joy in heaven\u2014joy among the angels of God\u2014over one sinner that repenteth, we may be sure that it was not with indifference, but with glad songs of praise and shouts of adoring joy, that the heavenly hosts beheld the great arch-angel depart to revisit earth, to bear hither the tidings of great joy\u2014so long looked for, and desired so long.<\/p>\n
This high rank of the ambassador evinced the grandeur and importance of the mission with which he was charged. The angels knew it; they knew that it affected deeply the most essential interests of the race of man, not only in time but in eternity. But to man himself, seeing only its outer aspect, the immediate result would have seemed inadequate and disappointing. He went not to any of the great nations of the earth; he visited not any of her mighty cities\u2014not Rome, not Athens, not Alexandria, not Antioch, nor even Jerusalem: his mission was to a small and dependant country\u2014to the most despised province of that country\u2014to the most ill-reputed town of that province. Ay, but surely some great king had his sojourn there\u2014or some great prophet, or some holy priest, or some sage renowned for wisdom? Not so. His mission was to one of the humblest abodes of that humble place; and neither to prince, to prophet, to priest, nor to philosopher\u2014but to a poor maiden of Nazareth, named Mary\u2014which is the same name as Miriam\u2014betrothed to a carpenter named Joseph.<\/p>\n
It is no marvel that the damsel was startled when the angel presented himself before her in her humble home. Although women were then\u2014or at least among the Jews\u2014much less secluded than is at present the case in the East, it was not usual for a woman to be spoken to, or pointedly noticed in any way, by a stranger, or by any but a very near relative. If for a damsel to be accosted anywhere by a man unknown, were a strange and startling circumstance, much more to be addressed by an angel, and suddenly, in her own house. The appearance of the angel was doubtless human; and we do not, with the painters of pictures, suppose that he exhibited that splendor of appearance which is usually ascribed to him, and which could only have added to Mary\u2019s dismay and apprehension. Yet, although his semblance was human, we doubt not there was that in his air, and in the manner of his appearance, which must have suggested that he was a being not of earth; and if she had doubted, his words must soon have disclosed that he was a ministering spirit who stood before her. It may well be, however, that he manifested such glorious peculiarities, as at once made him known; and if the angel who descended from heaven to roll back the stone from the door of our Lord\u2019s tomb, had his \u201ccountenance like lightning, and his raiment white as snow,\u201d there was no reason why the great angel who came to announce tidings of such signal importance should exhibit a less distinguished appearance; unless it be, that in the case mentioned the angel assumed the lightning for the purpose of striking terror into the hostile watchers of the tomb. This is the more likely, as, when he was seen soon after by the faithful women who came to the sepulcher, he seems to have laid the lightning of his countenance aside, and appeared only as \u201ca young man, clothed in a long white garment.\u201d As to the wings, which the painters bestow so bountifully, we do not believe in them, notwithstanding that the Romish church claims to possess a feather which dropped from Gabriel\u2019s wing on this occasion\u2014a very pretty pink feather, the real source of which naturalists have not yet, we believe, been able to determine.<\/p>\n
The announcement of this heavenly visitant to the lowly damsel of Nazareth, hailed her as the one of all women most favored, who had been singled out for that honor\u2014so long coveted by many generations of Hebrew women\u2014of giving birth to the Messiah.<\/p>\n
The language in which this was expressed was very plain to her, familiar as she manifestly was with the prophecies concerning Him, and with the expectations which her people entertained. And, indeed, the general expectation that the Messiah was then speedily to appear, must in some measure have diminished her surprise at the purport of the communication. In fact, her astonishment that the choice had fallen on herself may have been less even to her lowly mind than is usually supposed, for the hope was as open to her as to any other Hebrew woman; and her evident study of the prophecies concerning Christ, evinces the interest she had taken in the matter; while she must have known that she\u2014however obscure her lot\u2014was one of the not large number of women to whom the later prophecies had limited that hope. The keen apprehension with which she seized the full meaning of the angel\u2019s intimations, well shows her preparedness of mind. That the Son thus announced should be \u201cgreat;\u201d that He should \u201cbe called the Son of the Highest;\u201d that \u201cthe Lord God should give Him the throne of his father David;\u201d and that \u201cHe should reign for ever and ever,\u201d\u2014nothing of this astonished her. But there is one thing that did. She understood rightly that this was then to take place; but how that she should become a mother, while not yet fully married, perplexed her. And observe, she had no incredulity as to the fact itself, but was at a loss to know in what manner it could be accomplished. She said not, \u201cCan this thing be?\u201d But, \u201cHow shall this thing be?\u201d Like all her people, she supposed, as the Jews still suppose, that there would not be anything miraculous in the birth of Christ; but that He should be born in ordinary course, in the house of David. She now therefore learned, and learned it with surprise, that the higher functions which belonged to Him than the Jews in general recognized, required that He should take man\u2019s nature on Him in such a manner as should evince his heavenly origin. The idea was new; but when reminded that the power of the Highest was sufficient to accomplish this, she needed nothing more to satisfy her, although the angel, to let her see that with God nothing is impossible, disclosed to her the strange fact, that her aged cousin, Elizabeth, had conceived a son in her old age, and that it was now the sixth month with her who was called barren.<\/p>\n
This was enough for her. To know that the Lord would accomplish this, satisfied her that it could be done, though contrary to all thought and experience. She questions no further how. It was his will, his purpose; and it would be accomplished in the way that seemed best to Him. That she, who was personally interested in the matter, questioned so little of the mode in which this prodigy was to be effected, is a fair lesson to our faith. \u201cThe faithful heart, when once it understands the good pleasure of God, argues no more, but sweetly sets itself in a quiet expectation.\u201d \u201cBehold the servant of the Lord: be it unto me according to thy word.\u201d<\/p>\n
Autor: JOHN KITTO<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Annunciation\u2014Luk_1:26-38 If there be joy in heaven\u2014joy among the angels of God\u2014over one sinner that repenteth, we may be sure that it was not with indifference, but with glad songs of praise and shouts of adoring joy, that the heavenly hosts beheld the great arch-angel depart to revisit earth, to bear hither the tidings … Continue reading ““639. THE ANNUNCIATION\u2014LUKE 1:26-38””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16991\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}