One Verse at a Time

This episode looks at Luke 1:36, “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.” We can look at what God has done in the lives of those around us in order to draw hope for what God will do moving forward into the future. May God grant us grace to do this.

This episode looks at Luke 1:35, “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.” The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, creates something out of nothing in Mary’s womb, and thus the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, is conceived in Mary’s womb as fully God and fully man. Praise God for his wisdom in giving us the perfect representative for man and the only acceptable sacrifice for sins before God.

This episode looks at Luke 1:34, “And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” Mary doesn’t ask for proof like Zechariah in his doubt. Instead, Mary asks a process question: How is God going to work this out? When we face seemingly impossible situations, may we not doubt God’s ability to keep his promises, but instead may we disbelieve only out of lack of understanding. Disbelieve stands under God and asks him for help to understand; Doubt stands over God and tells him to prove himself.

This episode looks at Luke 1:33, “and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” King Jesus comes to fulfill the prophecies of the Old Testament looking forward to a Messiah King on the throne of David. Not only will he rule over Jacob, however, but his kingdom will have no end, and his people will reign with him. We yearn for this day. Come, King Jesus, come.

This episode looks at Luke 1:32, “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.” This verse gives us three more reasons to stand humbled and amazed before our great God and King, Jesus (cf. Titus 2:13). Jesus is God, and Jesus is coming as King (and now reigns as King!). We praise God for our King.

This episode looks at Luke 1:31, “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.” We praise God for the fully human, fully divine conception of our Savior. We also praise God for Jesus, whose name means “salvation.”

This episode looks at Luke 1:30, “And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.” Mary’s humble response in verse 29 only serves to highlight the axiom that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. God has poured out his grace upon Mary, not because she has done great things to deserve it but instead because she knows how low she is compared to the most high God. May we have similar hearts that ask for humility so that we can stand in the pathway of grace.

This episode looks at Luke 1:29, “But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.” Zechariah was also troubled by his meeting with an angel, but his trouble came from sight not substance. May God give us grace to wrestle not with our first impression of his word or of others, but instead to wrestle deeply with substance of his word and the word of others.

This episode looks at Luke 1:28, “And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” God poured out his grace upon Mary, and he exhibits his grace toward her in his presence with her. He pours out his grace toward us in his presence with us by the Holy Spirit.

This episode looks at Luke 1:27, “to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary.” In this act of God we see his wisdom (knowing where to go to find a woman of extreme faith and the way to make her capable of divine things), power (giving a child to the womb of a virgin), goodness (elevating the lowliest of society), and freedom (ability to do what he pleases as God).