Annunciation to Mary about Jesus Christ. Luke 1: 26 - 38. Luke continues the story after 6 months of the Annunciation of John to Zacharis. The Angel Gabriel was again sent by God to contact Mary, living in the area of Galilee to a city called Nazareth, betrothed to Joseph a carpenter, who was of the house of David. For more on this refer to my first post of this study. Mary is a virgin, and was betrothed to be married to Joseph, young women were to be virgin's according to God's Law. The Angel Gabriel came to Mary and told her "Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!" But Mary was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. Gabriel continued to say "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 shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end." Gabriel told Mary a lot here. Jesus was to be the Jewish Messiah, foretold in the Old Testament and prophets. God had been silent for a period of about 430 years, and now He tells Mary through His Angel Gabriel, that she will give birth to the Messiah. Mary reminds Gabriel that she is a virgin. Gabriel replies, "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 is impossible with God." And Mary said, "Behold, I am your servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her. Mary's response was completely different from Zacharis; she believed the angel and was happy.
Mary decided to visit her cousin Elizabeth to check on her condition. It seems here Mary, is not quite sure if what the angel had told her was true. This could be viewed as a form of unbelief that Zacharis suffered from. The Lord is clear about "To whom much is given, much is required." Zacharis should not have questioned the Will of the Lord, it was because of this he was struck dumb.
Mary had to travel from Nazareth to the hill country to a town in Judah. This journey would have been approximately the distance of about 80 miles. Several day journey from Nazareth to the hills of Judah. When Mary arrived and met Elizabeth, Elizabeth told Mary that her child leaped inside her womb. The Angel had foretold that the Holy Spirit would be with John, even inside her womb.
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