A Word about a Vision of Blessing

Today I want to share a word about a vision of blessing as I comment on Luke 1:26-45. Let’s begin by reading verses 26-33:

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 the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 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.”

The pastor of a church I know begins their worship services with asking the congregation how they are. They all reply in unison, “Blessed and then some!” The church has been blessed with a good pastor and a good ministry together, so their reply is more than just a slogan. It is the truth for them.

Sometimes, however, blessings come in unexpected ways. A young couple had been unsuccessfully trying to have a child for several years, when their doctor encouraged them to adopt. Just after their adoption of twins was finalized, they conceived themselves. Everyone involved was surprised, but the couple felt blessed.

Mary, the mother of Jesus also received an unexpected blessing as we will read in our focal passage for today.  Along with the news of being the mother of the Uniquely Begotten Son of God. Mary also experienced blessings that we also can enjoy today!

The Blessing of Revelation.

Uncertainty is troubling to our souls. We don’t have to feel like we know everything, but to feel like we know nothing is very disturbing.

During the Victorian Era, people in England were supremely confident that they knew the truth and they knew the right way to do everything. So, when the Titanic was built, it was proclaimed far and wide to be unsinkable. When, in 1912, it hit the iceberg and sank, one of the survivors lamented, “I will never feel certain about anything ever again.”

A saying we all know is, “Ignorance is bliss.” Another is, “What you don’t know can’t hurt you.” I have found out that what you don’t know can hurt you. A simple example of that is when you don’t realize your car’s wheels are out of alignment. Most of won’t know that is the case until we must purchase a new set of tires.  Such things are not usually dangerous, but they can be expensive.

In terms of our spiritual lives, we have been blessed by God because He has revealed Himself and His truth to us. In Romans 1:18-23, Paul taught us:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.  For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Paul taught us that God revealed enough of Himself in the natural world that humans should seek Him out. Instead, they deceived themselves and allowed Satan also to lead them astray.  God also revealed Himself to us in more explicit ways as well, as the writer of Hebrews 1:1-4 tells us:

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he inherited is more excellent than theirs.

God is not playing hide-and-seek with us. He is not playing peek-a-boo. He wants us to know Him. Not only is he revealed in His creation and in His word, but He is also revealed in His Uniquely Begotten Son, who is the “exact imprint of His nature.”

It is a blessing to access the revelation of God, in His Word, as well as in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. It good to know the truth and to not flounder in the darkness. On the other hand, His Word can also rock our world as we see in the next section of our Scripture for today. Verses 34-38 tell us:

And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”  And the angel answered her, “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.  And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

The Blessing of Challenge.

We saw last week that Zechariah and Elizabeth were challenged because they could not have children. This was a huge burden for them and a painful one also. 

Mary’s situation involved giving birth, but her situation was 180 degrees out of phase with Elizabeth’s. Mary could give birth, but she shouldn’t be giving birth. This could have been huge burden for her and a painful one also. 

Mary was a virgin, and she was betrothed to Joseph, but they had not been intimate. In fact, up to this point I doubt that they had ever been in a situation in which they had the opportunity to be intimate. Jewish girls of that day grew up in a very protected environment. Joseph would be certain of the fact that he was not the father, and everyone around would be certain of that fact also.

The message that Mary received rocked her world. She would be glad, even blessed to bear a child, but not yet! This was an unexpected, unwelcome, and an unexplainable situation. Her life going forward was going to be a challenge.

By their very nature, challenges are not easy, and they are not always welcome. Challenges, however, build our strength and our confidence, and they give us the opportunity to achieve more.

In the month that I became pastor of my first full-time church, our VBS director retired from that position. VBS was only two months away, and very few preparations had been made. A lady who had never before been the director of any event or group in the church felt the Lord calling to take on that task. She came to me admitting that she felt inadequate, but that she could not refuse God’s call. I promised her that I would help her and encourage her, and I did. 

The first year we were behind the power curve, and we spoke almost daily. The second year, she got an early start, and she didn’t need as much help or encouragement. The third year, we met at the beginning, and she told me what the plan was. Then she went on to execute the plan. She had been challenged, but God helped her to gain confidence and competence, and we conducted excellent schools. 

What Mary learned, and what we must learn is that blessings are not chosen, but they are presented to us by God. Not only that, but God will finish what He starts in our lives if we will present ourselves to Him.

Let’s continue by considering verse 38 again, which says, And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

The Blessing of Faith.

It is easy to travel a known and well-travelled path. It is much harder to navigate around a new and unknown land.  It is easier to walk through a lighted room than a darkened room. In fact, that is what Isaiah said about the coming of Jesus in Isaiah 9:2-3:

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy, they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil.

Sometimes, however, you have no choice but to travel unknown paths or in times of darkness. This was the case for Joshua and the Children of Israel when the fought the five kings of the Amorites in Joshua 10. The Gibeonites had tricked Joshua into making of covenant with them, and the five kings of the Amorites made war against them. The Gibeonites called for help, and this is what happened in Joshua 10:7-10:

So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. And the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you.” So Joshua came upon them suddenly, having marched up all night from Gilgal.

In those days people did not travel at night but went home or found another secure place to sleep. Joshua and his fighters had no GPS, or night vision goggles, or even flashlights. All that that had was their faith and God and each other, and they acted on that faith. And they won.

Mary was stepping out in faith. She was risking ridicule, rejection, and worse because of this message from God. She was only the latest personality in the Scriptures to put her trust in God. Among these, the writer of Hebrews identified:

• Abel
• Abraham 
• Isaac
• Jacob
• Moses
• Rahab
• Gideon
• Barak
• Samson
• Jephthah
• David
• Samuel
• The Prophets

Rahab the harlot is an interesting case, because she was the opposite of Elizabeth and Mary in terms of her righteousness and her reputation, but she put her faith in the God of Israel, and that made all the difference in her life and the life of her family.

The blessing of faith does not come from exercising it, but in the fidelity and righteousness of the one in whom you are investing your trust. I have known of more than one case of a traffic accident caused by bad data in a car GPS system. People have lost their lives because they trusted a system that failed them.

God will never fail us. He is the only source of guidance and help that is perfect and infallible and in whom we can place our unalloyed trust in the same way that Mary did.

Finally, let’s read verses 39-45:

In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

The Blessing of Confirmation.

Have you ever thought how many important documents are put into mailboxes without any confirmation that they actually arrived at their intended location? If a bill is paid by check, the sender isn’t notified when it arrives or doesn’t. The same is true for a business or utility that mails bills to their customers. They have no idea if the envelope went astray or not.  If taxpayers submit their tax returns by mail, they get no confirmation that the return was received by the IRS. Unless you get a tracking number or if you pay for a return receipt, a great deal of uncertainty exists if a letter actually arrives on time or at all.

In the same way, how do we know if a message to us from God was really from God or not? God often asks people to do things that are challenging and even difficult. How do we know if that was God speaking or some other, less benevolent or less reliable source? Fake news is a thing, as are the wiles of the Devil who can appear as an angel of light?

First, God confirms His call on our lives through the moving of the Holy Spirit. As Romans 8:16 tells us, “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.” Good parents will not lead their children astray, and God is the greatest parent of all.

Also, God confirms His call on our lives through the counsel and approval of others.  It might be an ordination counsel or a church nominating committee that confirms God call, or it might be a pastor or a parent or a trusted Christian friend. When Paul and Barnabas believed God was calling them out on the first missionary journey, the church at Antioch confirmed their call by the laying on of hands and sent them out. The kings of Israel were anointed by prophets.

Even Jesus presented Himself to John for baptism, and He was also affirmed by the voice of God from heaven and the coming of the Holy Spirit like a dove.

Have you ever left home and wondered if you had left the stove on? Have you ever left home and wondered if you locked the door? How much more troubling if you left home for a ministry and began to wonder if God had called to go?

God will not let you wonder in doubt. He will never ask you to do something that violates Scripture or violates what the Scriptures reveal about His character and being. He will never call you without confirming it through the counsel of the Holy Spirit and the counsel of other God people.

We should beware of anyone who says that they are on a mission from God without other’s recognizing that mission.  Conversely, we should also beware of failing to answer God’s clear call upon our lives, because if we do, we will surely miss the blessing of serving Him!

Conclusion.

Our lives are infectious, and our manner of life affects others. 

A true saying is that hurt people hurt others. It also true that scared people scare others. This is the view from the negative side of life. On the other hand, blessed people bless others. Forgiven people forgive others. Discipled people disciple others. Restored people restore others. Joyous people enjoy others.

Christmas is a time when we celebrate and remember the blessings of God on our lives. Let’s enjoy those blessings and also determine to be a blessing to others asl well!

Thanks so much for visiting with me today! I'll be back soon with another word from the Bible that we can share together.

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt