God Takes The Initiative

God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth.   Luke 1:26

The birth of Jesus was entirely at the initiative of God. He chose Mary as the one who would bring Christ into the world, and he sent the angel Gabriel to announce to her, “Don’t be afraid, Mary, . . . for you have found favor with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus” (Luke 1:30-31).

Mary did not see how she could have a child, given that she was a virgin. The angel’s answer takes us to one of the great and wonderful mysteries in the Bible: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).

Joseph would have no role in the conception of Mary’s child. If God had not told him what was happening, he would not have had the faintest idea. God completely bypassed him; Joseph made no contribution whatsoever.

The Bible contains other stories of miraculous births. Isaac, Samuel, and John the Baptist were all born as the result of special interventions of God. In each case, God worked through the union of a father and a mother, but Mary was a virgin. Not only did Joseph have no union with her before the child was conceived, but he had no union with her until the child was born (see Matthew 1:25).

The angel did not tell Mary to do anything. All she was told was that God would do something. It is God who acts. It is God who takes the initiative. Mary’s privilege was that one of God’s greatest miracles would take place in her body.

Human history has seen many remarkable leaders, but God did not wait for a deliverer to arise from the human race. He sent his Son to the human race. We can be thankful that God did not wait for us to save ourselves. He took the initiative.

For further reading, see Luke 1