So our last two messages have been based on prophecies of Messiah, glimmers of light that he would bring. And today we are looking at the announcement of his impending arrival as it's recorded for us in Luke chapter one, in the verses that Brian read for us this morning. And in the interest of trying to save my voice a little bit, I'm not going to read through that passage again. We just read it. But as we look at this, I find three key things within this. The first is the messenger. And we're told in verse 26, in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. And so this messenger, Gabriel, We are introduced to him actually just a few verses before in Luke 119, when he was sent to Zechariah the priest, announcing that Elizabeth would give birth to a son. And of course, that was referenced in his message to Mary. He said, your cousin Elizabeth is in her sixth month, that her who had been called barren. But this is actually not the first place that the angel Gabriel is mentioned to us in the Bible. He's also introduced to us in Daniel 8 and 9, when he is sent to give Daniel understanding regarding the vision of the ram and the goat that Daniel had, and also in response to Daniel's prayer of confession regarding Israel's sin and captivity. And in those passages, Gabriel is sent to Daniel in the appearance of a man. He's described by Daniel as the man Gabriel came to me. But he's clearly sent by God. And by the way, could I point out here that typically in our artwork, When we see angels depicted, they're depicted more feminine, like this picture that we have up here, or the little cherubic children with wings. When we look at angels as the Bible presents them, they are strong, manly, and fearsome, actually. And in fact, when we start getting into the cherubim, the descriptions of them, that would be the thing of nightmares. If you didn't know what what this was describing for you So the artwork we typically find about angels is not remotely accurate But coming back to our text in Luke chapter 1 Gabriel had told Zechariah I am Gabriel I stand in the presence of God and and I was sent to speak to you and bring you this good news. So we have here, both in his introduction to us back in Daniel, here in Luke chapter one with Zechariah, and then also with Mary, a primary job for angels, or at least one group of angels, is to be messengers. And in fact, that Greek word on gloss means messenger. Various times throughout the Bible, we have records of angels delivering messages from God to people and the common factor that we find so many times in these interactions when the angel appears, what do people typically do? They are fearful they fall on their faces in fear or they you know uh... any number of things but they exhibit fear and most times when these angels appear to men they have to say don't be afraid i'm not here to destroy you basically right because that's you think about it if suddenly you see just appearing out of nowhere a person standing there. That's a fearful thing. It's not a normal thing. Or if you go back to Zechariah in Luke chapter 1, he was serving in the temple, in the holy place. And so he was doing his business and suddenly this unknown person appears in the temple, in the holy place. That shouldn't be. Yeah, and so fear, and Gabriel told Zechariah, do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. And could you imagine what that would be like to be alone praying, and then someone suddenly standing there next to you? That's what happened to him in the temple. Then six months after that event with Zechariah, Gabriel appears in Nazareth of Galilee to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. Just like Zechariah, Mary was startled by the angel's presence, and he said, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And I emphasize this aspect of fear or startling because typically when we think of angels in the context of the birth of Christ, we picture their beauty and their glory and I mean, you think about the pictures that we see on Christmas cards of whether it's at the nativity scene, or the shepherds in the fields, and the angels up there. And it's like people see them every day, and they don't think about it. It's like, oh, yeah, it's the angels again. Great. Hey, glad you're here with us. Or that they don't even notice that they're there. But the reality is throughout the, Nativity accounts when the angels appear. It's like whoa. What is that? what's going on there there is fear and part of it is because They just appear out of nowhere part of it is also because of what Gabriel said about himself I stand in the presence of God These angels whose real full-time job, if you will, is to worship and serve God in his presence. When they come to earth to deliver a message to mankind, do you suppose they carry with them a certain afterglow, if you will, of the glory of the presence of God? Kind of like Moses when he came down off the mountain from receiving the law, his face glowed because he had been in the presence of God. And it was a fearful thing because it was a reflection of the holy presence of God. The people said, we can't look on you, Moses. It's a fearful thing. So it covered his face. And so I think that's one of the reasons that there was fear with the response of people because these are angels who are in the presence of God carrying some aspect of that glorious presence with them. And so here was a messenger of Almighty God carrying an important message from heaven. And so now we look at the message. He said, and behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. So he was telling Mary, this child is going to be the Savior, the promised Messiah, the Son of David and the Son of God. If you remember from last week's message from the prophet Micah, God said that there would be no king until the Messiah comes and now in this message He will be given the throne of his father David this kingdom that has been brought to an end by the judgment of God is Going to be restored by this child. This is the son of promise that goes back to Micah's prophecy And This is 750 years roughly from the time of Micah. God is announcing, this is the child who will receive the throne of his father, David. We read in verse 27 that Mary was betrothed to Joseph, who was of the house of David. When we look in Matthew chapter one, it gives us Joseph's genealogy showing that he was a direct descendant of David through Solomon's line. But included in that genealogy is a man by the name of Jeconiah, the last king before the deportation to Babylon. And we run into a problem here because the prophet Jeremiah in chapter 22 of his book uttered a curse on Jeconiah which said none of his offspring shall succeed in sitting on the throne of David and ruling again in Judah. So how could this child who is being announced to Mary ever fulfill what the angel was saying if Joseph came from that cursed lineage of Jeconiah? Well, we go back to a detail that we're given in this text and how it ties actually to our first message, the one from Isaiah. We're told in verse 27 Mary was a virgin betrothed to Joseph. Isaiah 7 had foretold that God would give a sign. A virgin would conceive and bear a son. We talked about a near and a far fulfillment in that prophecy. The young woman in Ahaz's day was to get married and have a son named Emmanuel. It was not to be a miraculous birth, but it was to have miraculous implication in the sign. This young woman, Mary, to whom the angel now spoke, was a virgin, soon to be married, but her circumstances were much, much different. Mary even asked the angel, how will this be since I am a virgin? And Gabriel answered, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God." There was to be no human father involved in this conception. It was a miracle. God directly causing a virgin to be with child. Thus, voiding both the curse of sin passed down from the father all the way from Adam. as well as the curse specifically on Jeconiah's line. And so Joseph was able to pass on the legal right to the throne to this child, yet the child was truly holy from birth without the curse on either part. If we go back to the very first hint, of God's provision of a Messiah that was found in Genesis 3.15, God declared that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. From the very beginning, God had a plan in mind to provide the Messiah through a virgin birth through the seed of a woman. This is a miraculous birth that is not God trying to find some way to thread the needle through unplanned circumstances. This is God who knows the end from the beginning, knowing before it ever occurred the way to get what is needing to be done, making the plan and making that happen. It's truly a reminder of God's grace, wisdom, and provision in our salvation. We have the added information given to us in Luke chapter three, that Mary was also from the family of David. So her baby was truly a physical descendant of David through her side and through David's son, Nathan, rather than Solomon. And so then he was physically descended from David. through Mary's side of the family. He was legally a descendant of the throne of David through Joseph's side of the family. Joseph, his adoptive father. And as the angel told Mary, nothing will be impossible with God. The virgin birth was an absolute necessity in order for God to keep his promises, to uphold his justice, and still to provide graciously the salvation for His people. Jesus Christ is truly Immanuel, God with us, the true Son of God and the Son of David. Let's pray. Father, we want to thank You for Your amazing plan, Your amazing grace that has been made known to us through the provision of a Savior who is God in the flesh, Emmanuel. Lord, we thank you for these reminders that you made this plan at the very beginning, that you have carried it out to perfection. Lord, we thank you that we are able to have salvation through faith in Christ because of your provision. Lord, help us to be like Mary, who, when she was told these things, said, May it be to me as you have said. Lord, help us to humbly accept the things that you tell us, to obey you, that you would be glorified through our lives. Lord, help us to make known to others the truth of the gospel, the true meaning of Christmas. It is about the provision of the Savior, the Savior promised since the foundations of mankind, that you've kept your word exactly as you have said. And for this, we thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.