But in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent of God to a city of Galilee, of which [the] name [was] Nazareth,
Luke's account moves from the temple in Jerusalem to a small town in the north, and from a priest to an unknown young woman. The same angel carries both errands. Why did God choose this place and this person to announce the Messiah's birth?
The setting of this second visit says as much as the message. One writer draws out what the change of place means:
The angel Gabriel is sent from God in the sixth month (of Elizabeth's pregnancy) with a more important message. After the long silence of centuries, heaven speaks again. In Luke it speaks in a more familiar way than in Matthew, where Joseph receives the messages, but in a dream. Here we have open, face-to-face speech. And the most important message comes not in the temple, but in a private home. God is coming near in His grace; and He always reveals Himself more fully the nearer He comes.
Gabriel is not a new figure in Scripture. God had sent him once before with a message about the Messiah:
It was the angel Gabriel who was sent to Daniel to make known long ago the Messiah's coming and cutting off, in the famous prophecy of the seventy weeks (Dan. 9:26). Now he comes to Mary, the one promised in marriage to Joseph, and announces to her — "the virgin" of a still older prophet (Isa. 7:14) — the birth of that Messiah.
Every detail of the address points downward. The angel passes by the religious centre of the nation, and the royal line he reaches has fallen:
The angel's mission now is not to the temple, nor to Jerusalem. It is to Galilee of the Gentiles, and to Nazareth. It is to a virgin promised in marriage to a man named Joseph, of the fallen house of David. The virgin's name is Mary, or Miriam ("exalted"). All is in ruin here, when God comes in to revive and raise to higher glory.
How far that house had fallen shows up in Joseph's trade, and how little it mattered to God:
In Nazareth, that despised place, there was found a young virgin, unknown by the world, whose name was Mary. She was promised in marriage to Joseph, who was of the house of David. But everything in Israel was so out of order that this descendant of the king was a carpenter. But what is this to God? Mary was a chosen vessel; she had found favour in the eyes of God.
Nothing about the town or the woman explains the errand. That mismatch is the point:
What was there in Nazareth and what in Mary that led the angel there? The city was small, obscure, and belonging to Galilee. The virgin was unknown, and, as she says, "of humble estate" (v. 52). There was no match between the place, the person, and the promise. But we must remember that grace owes nothing to what it finds here. And He whose coming is now announced comes to lowly circumstances and to humble, repentant hearts. He did not despise the virgin's womb.
This is not an accident of history but a settled pattern in how God works, and it fits the whole tone of Luke's Gospel:
Luke records the visit of Gabriel to Mary, a lowly virgin, at Nazareth in circumstances of the greatest poverty, but rich in faith… This is in perfect keeping with the Gospel, which sets out that surpassing grace that has come down to the very lowest in the eyes of men. Mary might be poor, and Nazareth despised, but these are what God will take up to accomplish His purposes.
The priest in the temple and the young woman in Nazareth answered the same angel in opposite ways:
The priest under the law did not believe the message of grace that Gabriel brought. So this representative of Israel could not speak until the day when God fulfilled His promise in grace. Then he could praise the Author of his salvation, as the faithful remnant will one day. Mary was not only godly, but humble and simple — an object of grace, and not a representative of the law. "You have found favour with God," said the angel. She was submissive: "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord." Her confidence was in the word of God, for she added, "let it be to me according to your word."
- Sent by God. The silence of centuries breaks with open, face-to-face speech, not a dream. The nearer God comes, the more He shows of Himself.
- Sent through Gabriel. This same messenger told Daniel long ago when the Messiah would come. Now he announces that the time has arrived.
- Sent to Nazareth. He passes by the temple and Jerusalem for an obscure town in Galilee. There David's royal line has sunk to a carpenter's trade.
- Sent to Mary. There was no match between the place, the person and the promise. Grace owes nothing to what it finds here.
- Received by faith. The priest doubted and fell silent. The unknown young woman answered, "let it be to me according to your word" — the fitting reply to a message of pure grace.
to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name [was] Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name [was] Mary.
God sends the angel Gabriel to a small town in Galilee, to a young woman nobody had heard of. She is promised in marriage to a man from David's royal line, and both facts shape the rest of Luke.
One writer weighs the gap between the messenger and the address:
What was there in Nazareth and what in Mary that led the angel there? The city was small, obscure, and belonging to Galilee. The virgin was unknown, and, as she says, "of low degree" (v. 52). The place, the person, and the promise did not match each other. But we must remember that grace owes nothing to anything here. He whose coming is now announced comes to lowly circumstances and to broken and humble hearts. He did not despise the virgin's womb.
Another writer reads the ruin of the nation into the address:
The angel's mission now is not to the temple or to Jerusalem. It is to Galilee of the Gentiles, to Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the fallen house of David. The virgin's name is Mary, or Miriam ("exalted"). All is in ruin here, when God comes in to revive and raise to higher glory.
"Of the house of David" sounds like a title of honour. In daily life it had sunk very low.
In Nazareth, that despised place, there was found a young virgin, unknown by the world, whose name was Mary. She was betrothed to Joseph, who was of the house of David. But everything in Israel was so out of order that this descendant of the king was a carpenter. But what is this to God? Mary was a chosen vessel; she had found favour in the eyes of God.
Both Mary and Joseph came from David, but by different branches. One writer sets out which line each of them belonged to:
Mary is the principal figure of the two in Luke, and there, I believe, the genealogy is hers… There were two lines that came down unbroken to those days — the house of Solomon and the house of Nathan. Mary was the representative of Nathan's family, as Joseph was of Solomon's.
Betrothal in Israel was not an engagement in the modern sense. It carried the weight of the marriage itself.
The Jews looked on this as being as binding as marriage. Only a divorce could end it… Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus, was betrothed to Joseph. He thought about divorcing her quietly, but the angel of the Lord told him the truth about her condition.
A claim to David's throne could not rest on Mary alone.
The Messiah had to be born not merely of a virgin, nor of a virgin daughter of David, but of one legally united to Joseph — in the eye of the law, really his wife… Let people slander as they might, Mary must be betrothed to Joseph. Otherwise the Lord Jesus would not have a proper title to the throne of David.
There was a further obstacle. The royal line running through Joseph lay under a prophetic curse:
A curse struck the direct line of descent, yet the line kept its legal title. So it could hand on to another what could be of no use to itself. The marriage of Joseph and Mary was, in the wisdom of God, the means of accomplishing this. The Lord's birth from Mary made Him the real Son of David (Luke 1:32) while the marriage of His mother made Him David's legal heir.
Luke twice calls Mary a virgin. That word guards a truth the gospel cannot do without:
We may be the 150th generation from Adam, but we are simply "after his kind". We could go on reproducing ourselves and push the first man and his race endlessly into eternity. We should still only have fallen man… There never was a real and original second man until Jesus was born, and that broke the inherited chain of sin and death. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit's power. Discard the virgin birth, and you have lost this great foundation truth of the gospel.
The verse names her and gives her no title. One writer marks the limit:
She was a woman, uniquely favoured because God chose her out of all the virgins of Israel to be the mother of the Lord. Yet the more we make of Mary, the less we make of the divine miracle of this holy birth.
- Place — Nazareth was small, obscure and in Galilee. The angel went there, not to the temple or Jerusalem.
- Person — an unknown young woman of humble estate, betrothed to a carpenter who came from the royal line.
- Promise — the place, the person and the promise did not match — grace owes nothing to anything here.
- Proof — betrothal was as binding as marriage. So Jesus was Mary's real Son and Joseph's legal heir, and His title to David's throne stood up in law.
- Purity — "virgin" is not decoration. Without conception by the Holy Spirit we have only Adam's fallen race again, and the foundation of the gospel is gone.
And the angel came in to her, and said, Hail, [thou] favoured one! the Lord [is] with thee [blessed art *thou* amongst women].
In Luke's Gospel, the birth of Jesus opens with an angel greeting a young woman in Nazareth. Two questions follow. What does the greeting say about Mary? And what does it say about the God who sent it?
The place had no standing. The household had no wealth.
This was the last place man would have chosen for God's purpose. In the world's eyes, the name of the town was enough to condemn anyone who came from there. There a young woman, unknown to everyone the world recognised, was engaged to a poor carpenter. Her name was Mary. But everything was in confusion in Israel: the carpenter was of the house of David. God never forgets His promises, and He never overlooks the people they concern. Here was the place where they would be fulfilled. Whether Nazareth was small or great made no difference. It only showed this: God expects nothing from man; man expects everything from God.
Gabriel had brought news of the Messiah before.
It was Gabriel who was sent to the prophet Daniel long ago, to make known the Messiah's coming and cutting off in the famous prophecy of the seventy weeks (Daniel 9:26). Now he comes to Mary, the one engaged to Joseph, and announces to her — "the virgin" of an even older prophet (Isaiah 7:14) — the birth of that Messiah. No wonder he greets her as a favoured one, with whom the Lord was… She is the chosen channel of the wonderful purposes that would yet fill her own people, and the whole world, with blessing. She is the appointed mother of One in whom God was about to solve every difficulty sin had brought into the world, and to do it by a righteous triumph over it. He would even make it possible for God to bless those who believed, sinners though they had been.
The words are not a random compliment. They move outward in three steps, and the first word carries the theme of the whole Gospel.
Gabriel's greeting speaks of great grace given to Mary. ("Favour" and "grace" translate the same Greek word.) It speaks of the Lord's presence with her, and of her being blessed among women. So her personal blessing comes first: great grace given to her. Then comes her relationship to the Lord: His presence with her. Then her relationship to others: blessed among women.
Older translations render the greeting "highly favoured"; the ESV has "O favored one." A moment later Gabriel tells Mary she has found favour with God.
The expressions "found favour" and "highly favoured" do not mean the same thing at all. She herself had found favour, so she was not to fear. But God, by His own choice, had given her this grace — the immense favour of being the mother of the Lord. In this she was the object of God's sovereign favour… Finding favour with God refers to Mary's own spiritual state. Being highly favoured refers to her being God's chosen vessel for the birth of Jesus. But the two are truly connected.
Gabriel's praise is high. His wording is also measured.
The angel tells her she is "highly favoured" (Luke 1:28). Could any woman have a higher favour than to be the mother of our Lord in His human birth? "Blessed are you among women" (Luke 1:28) is the angel's greeting. "Blessed" she certainly was. Note, it does not say "Most blessed." The language is restrained. There is no room there for the worship of Mary.
There is also a question about the text. Some manuscripts add a second clause here and others do not, and the ESV ends the greeting at "the Lord is with you!"
"Hail, favoured one!" said Gabriel to Mary. The words "Blessed are you among women" belong to the meeting with her cousin Elizabeth. The Revised Version agrees, following the best authority. The Latin Vulgate leaned towards heaping honour on Mary, and many followed it.
There is an opposite mistake.
Humanly speaking, Mary was most highly favoured. God singled her out by a supreme distinction. It is even possible that, in a right desire to keep clear of Roman Catholic error, Protestants have overlooked the remarkable honour God gave her. If that is an error at all, it errs on the right side.
- Favour, not merit. "Favour" and "grace" translate the same Greek word. The greeting names a gift to Mary, not a wage she earned.
- Favour lands low. God chose a despised town and a poor carpenter's home. Man expects everything from God; God expects nothing from man.
- Favour has two senses. She had found favour with God herself. She was also chosen as the vessel for the Lord's birth. The two are linked, but not the same.
- Favour flows outward. Grace given to her, then the Lord with her, then blessing reaching others.
- Favour keeps its measure. The wording is restrained: "blessed," not "most blessed." The best manuscripts leave out the second clause. Yet the honour God gave her is real.
But she, [seeing] [the angel], was troubled at his word, and reasoned in her mind what this salutation might be.
Gabriel has just greeted Mary, and her first response is not speech. She keeps silent and turns the greeting over in her mind. Was her trouble a failure of faith, or something else?
Who Mary was explains how she took the greeting.
But Mary, when she saw the angel — who no doubt appeared in human form (see Luke 24:4) — "was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be." That is, she reasoned inwardly about the nature of Gabriel's words. She was asking what their "aim and meaning" were. We can understand this if we recall her character and position. She was a devout, God-fearing woman, and, whatever her ancestry, she seems to have lived in lowly circumstances. Meekness, humility, and faith were the clear marks of her spiritual life. So she might well be troubled at what she had heard, and reason about what the angel's words meant. This was not the natural mind reasoning as the offspring of doubt. It sprang from perplexity of soul.
Older translations say Mary "cast in her mind." The Greek word behind that phrase turns up all through Luke, translated differently each time.
The word "thoughts" (dialogismoi) stands for inward reasonings. The same Greek word occurs in the following passages, though it is not always translated "thoughts." (1) Mary "cast in her mind" what manner of greeting the angel's was (Luke 1:29). (2) The people "mused" in their hearts whether John the Baptist was the Messiah or not (Luke 3:15). (3) Jesus said to the disciples when He appeared among them, Why do thoughts arise in your hearts? (Luke 24:38)… (5) The rich man whose crops were plentiful worked out his plans for future ease after he had "thought within himself" (Luke 12:17).
Gabriel does not press on with his announcement while Mary is still unsettled.
God gave Gabriel insight into Mary's feelings. So he first calms her mind. Then he assures her that she has found favour with God, preparing her for the amazing message he was sent to bring. We say "in preparation" for Gabriel's message, because a soul must be at peace and free before it can receive divine things.
How she waited matters as much as what she heard.
Mary was perplexed at such words, as no doubt also by the sudden appearance of the angel, but wisely waited in silence for an explanation. "Fear not," he says, to set her at rest. Again he speaks of her as favoured by God — grace, or favour, is a subject Luke brings out beautifully. No human merit could deserve such honour as being chosen by God to be the mother of the Messiah.
The greeting that unsettled her carried an enormous weight.
No wonder he greets her as a favoured one, with whom the Lord was… Mary, though troubled, pondered what the meaning of this greeting might be. The angel tells her not to fear, for she has found favour with God. She is the chosen channel of the wonderful purposes that would yet fill the world, and her own people too, with blessing. She is to be the appointed mother of One in whom God was about to solve, by a righteous triumph, every difficulty that sin had brought into the world. In Him God could even bless those who believed, sinners though they had been, and make them triumph righteously through Him and with Him.
Commentators separate two kinds of favour here.
"The expressions 'found favour' and 'highly favoured' do not at all mean the same thing. Personally she had found favour, so she was not to fear. But God had given her this grace of His own choice, this immense favour: to be the mother of the Lord. In this she was the object of God's sovereign favour." We can add that finding favour with God refers to Mary's spiritual state. Being highly favoured speaks rather of God choosing her as the vessel for the birth of Jesus. But the two things are certainly connected.
- Troubled — Her trouble came from perplexity of soul, not from a doubting mind. She waited in silence for the meaning of the greeting.
- Thinking — The same Greek word covers the crowd musing over John and the rich man planning his future ease. The word is neutral. The heart behind it decides.
- Calmed — Gabriel settles her before he announces anything. A soul must be at peace and free before it can receive divine things.
- Favoured — "Found favour" and "highly favoured" are not the same. One speaks of her spiritual state. The other speaks of God's own choice of her, which no merit could earn.
- Purposed — Through the Son she would bear, God would solve every difficulty sin brought into the world, and bless believing sinners with a righteous triumph.
And the angel said to her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God;
Gabriel had already brought a message to Zacharias the priest. Now he comes to Mary, and his first word deals with her fear. The verse turns on one phrase — she has found favour with God — and the message that follows rests on it.
The greeting troubled Mary, and the angel does not press on until she is settled. Commentators see an order here: peace first, then the message.
She might well be troubled at what she heard, and reason about it — not out of doubt, but out of a puzzled heart, wondering what the angel's greeting meant. God gave Gabriel insight into Mary's feelings. So he first calms her mind. Then, to prepare her for the astonishing message he came to bring, he assures her that she has found favour with God. We say "in preparation" for Gabriel's message, because a soul cannot receive divine things until it is at peace and free.
Mary was not the only one who needed that word.
Sometimes He reveals Himself only by an angel, a mighty heavenly messenger. Even then the soul He speaks to is deeply troubled. It needs, like Zacharias or Mary, this very comforting word, "Fear not."
Luke's Gospel keeps grace in view, and favour is another word for it. Nothing in Mary earned what she was about to receive.
"Fear not," he says, to set her at rest. Again he speaks of God's favour toward her. Luke emphasises this subject — grace, or favour — beautifully. No human merit could deserve such an honour: that God should choose her to be the mother of the Messiah.
Verse 28 calls her highly favoured. This verse says she has found favour. Writers keep the two apart.
The expressions "found favour" and "highly favoured" do not have the same meaning at all. She herself had found favour, so she was not to fear. But in His sovereignty God had given her this grace, this immense favour, of being the mother of the Lord. In this she was the object of God's sovereign favour… Finding favour with God refers to Mary's spiritual state. Being highly favoured speaks more of her place as God's chosen vessel for the birth of Jesus. But the two things are certainly connected.
The priest Zacharias doubted his message. Mary submitted to hers. Commentators trace the difference to grace.
The law does not produce confidence. Grace alone calls that out. The priest under the law did not believe the message of grace that Gabriel brought… Mary was not only pious. She was humble and simple — an object of grace, not a representative of the law. "You have found favour with God," said the angel. She was subject: "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord." Her confidence was in the word of God, for she added, "Let it be to me according to your word."
In her own song, Mary names her own need.
Mary was the mother of our Lord according to the flesh. She was surely "blessed among women," chosen for the highest honour possible to a woman. In her song she says, "my spirit rejoices in God my Savior" (Luke 1:47). Now if Mary had been sinless she had no need of a Saviour — and she certainly needed a Saviour, like the rest of us.
Another writer holds both sides together.
Mary is great in that she is nothing. Yet God favours her in a way no one else shares.
The favour was not a private honour.
The angel tells her not to fear, for she has found favour with God. She is the chosen channel of wonderful purposes. Those purposes would yet fill her own people, and the world too, with blessing. She is to be the appointed mother of the One in whom God was about to solve every difficulty sin had brought into the world, and to do it by a righteous triumph over sin.
And what came to her as a rare distinction is now the settled ground of every believer.
David the king found favour in the sight of God, and so did Mary of Nazareth, the mother of Jesus. But these were exceptional cases. The New Testament shows that standing in the favour of God is not limited to a few. All who are justified have it alike.
- Fear stilled. God quiets the heart before He entrusts it with anything. Gabriel's "Do not be afraid" clears the way for the message.
- Favour given. "Found favour" is the language of grace — no merit could qualify anyone to carry the Messiah.
- Favour distinguished. Found favour speaks of her own state before God. Highly favoured speaks of the unique task God gave her.
- Favour received. Law left Zacharias doubting; grace made Mary submissive — "let it be to me according to your word."
- Favour extended. Hers was an exceptional case. In the New Testament the same standing in God's favour belongs alike to all who are justified.
and behold, thou shalt conceive in the womb and bear a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus.
The angel tells Mary what is about to happen, and he names the child himself. Everything he says next about greatness, a throne, and a kingdom rests on the one who carries that name.
"Jesus" is not just a label. The name carries a meaning, and that meaning is far bigger than the home the child was born into.
As you can see from Hebrews 4:8, Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua, or Jehoshua. The name means "Jehovah is salvation," or "whose salvation is Jehovah." So there is good reason for the common observation that the name Jesus means Jehovah the Saviour. If so, what a subject this sets before our souls to think about — yes, and to adore! God Himself declares that a child born into the world, of lowly parentage in man's esteem, is Jehovah the Saviour!
The name would have raised no eyebrows in first-century Israel. Other men wore it, before and after Him.
"Jesus." The name (Jeshua), Nehemiah 8:17, was very common among the Jews of the time. Colossians 4:11 mentions a Jesus called Justus, one of the Jews. One of the Lord's own human ancestors bore the same name — see Luke 3:29. The Talmud wanted to get rid of the original meaning of "the name" (James 2:7). So while it uses "Jeshua" for everyone else who bore that name, it regularly calls the Lord by the clipped name Jesu.
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The lowliness of the name and the glory in it belong together:
It is His personal, human name: the name which tells us of His grace and tenderness, His lowly life, His sorrow, and His death. But this name also carries divine glory with it, for it means JEHOVAH THE SAVIOUR. Yes, the very name of His humiliation, the one written in mockery on His cross, declares to us the greatness of His person and the love of His heart.
The angel says the conception happens in her womb. That small phrase settles a question about where the Lord's humanity came from.
It is wrong and misleading to say that the human nature of Christ was created in the virgin's womb — that is, formed out of nothing. Such a claim plainly departs from Scripture. Mary undoubtedly had her part in the sacred mystery, as the angel said to her, "You will conceive in your womb and bear a son." Some claim that the Lord's "holy humanity was created by a creative act of the Holy Spirit." That claim in effect denies the angel's own words to Mary about her conception.
In Matthew, the angel gives the same instruction to Joseph. Each Gospel has a reason for its choice.
Here again Joseph was the one who acted in public, while in Luke (Luke 1:31) Mary gave the name. The difference comes from the point of view the Holy Spirit gives us of our Lord's person in the two Gospels. In Luke He was proving that Jesus, though divine, was truly man — a partaker of humanity apart from sin. In our case it is sinful human nature; in His case it was holy… One great aim of that Gospel was to prove His holy manhood. It shows how fully and how suitably He could be a Saviour of men. He could take up the sorrows and the misery, and on the cross suffer for the sinfulness of others — Himself the Holy One.
The angel does not stop at the name. He goes straight on to speak of a throne.
So he says, "you shall call his name Jesus" — a Divine Saviour. "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 is another and quite different glory. It joins His title of Messiah to saving power… Even in the lowest sphere, how far His kingdom is from being a mere human dominion!
The first half of the angel's message has already come true. Commentators read that as the guarantee of the rest.
Surely every "shall" in this wonderful passage must come true, as really and as literally as the birth of Jesus did. God said He should be born: it came to pass. God says He shall reign over the house of Jacob: it will surely come to pass.
- Named — Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua. It means "Jehovah is salvation," so God calls a child of humble parents Jehovah the Saviour.
- Common — the name was ordinary among Jews of that day. The name of His humiliation is the very name that carries His divine glory.
- Conceived — the angel says Mary will conceive. She truly had her part, so His humanity was not formed out of nothing.
- Holy — Luke sets out to prove real manhood without sin. That is why Mary gives the name here, while Joseph gives it in Matthew.
- Reigning — the saving name comes with a throne and a kingdom. The "shall" of His birth came true, so the "shall" of His reign will too.
*He* shall be great, and shall be called Son of [the] Highest; and [the] Lord God shall give him the throne of David his father;
Gabriel tells Mary who her child will be, and what God will give Him. Two glories meet in one person — a divine title and a royal throne — and the angel speaks both over a child not yet born.
Gabriel had already promised Zacharias a great son, John. The two announcements do not describe greatness in the same way.
The contrast between these two messages is worth noticing. John would be "great in the sight of the Lord." Of Jesus the angel said, "He shall be great." All John the Baptist's greatness depended on the Person whose herald he was. Jesus was great in Himself and of Himself. From where I write, I can see the shadow of a chestnut tree in the light of the rising sun. The shadow grows to a giant size. Yet the shadow does not show how big the tree is. It witnesses to the sun's rising and splendour. Such was John.
Where the ESV reads "Son of the Most High," the older translation used in the quotes below says "Son of the Highest." The title was not new. It had a long history among the people who heard it.
"The Highest." The Old Testament Elyon. It was the usual name for God among the Greek-speaking Jews scattered abroad. It appears again in verses 35 and 76.
The striking thing is who carries that name: a child about to be born.
Here we are told that He — the One who should be born — "should be great," and, born into this world, "should be called the Son of the Highest." He had been the Son of the Father before the world was. But this child, born on earth, would be called the Son of the Highest — such as He was down here. He would fully prove His right to that title by His acts, and by everything that showed what He was. It is a precious thought to us, and full of glory, that a child born of a woman rightly bears this name, "Son of the Highest." It is supremely glorious for One who is in the position of a man, and really was such before God.
The order of the angel's two statements matters.
He (not Mary) would be great, called "the Son of the Highest," a dignity far higher than could be given to Him by Mary, indeed an eternal dignity. Therefore the Lord God would give to Him the throne of His father David. First mentioned is His being Son of the Highest, His eternal deity; then Son of David, which involves His manhood, being born of Mary.
God gives this throne. The gift rests on birth-right and on God's own purpose.
But other things still were connected with the One who should be born. God would give Him the throne of His father David. Here again we plainly see that He is considered as born, as man, in this world. The throne of His father David belongs to Him. God will give it to Him. By right of birth He is heir to the promises — the earthly promises which, as to the kingdom, belonged to the family of David. But it would be according to the counsels and the power of God.
Joseph was not the child's real father, so how does David's line reach Him? Commentators differ over whose family record Luke traces, but not over the descent itself.
Whose line does Luke give us, Joseph's or Mary's? Some have long held it is Joseph's, as Matthew's is; others say it is Mary's. No one has yet settled the question. The Lord's Davidic descent is unquestionable, whichever view is adopted. Peter affirmed it (Acts 2:30), and Paul also (Acts 13:23; Rom. 1:3; 2 Tim. 2:8), and the Lord Himself declared it (Matt. 22:45; Mark 12:37; Luke 20:41; Rev. 22:16). The angel Gabriel's words to Mary (Luke 1:32) speak of it, and so does Zacharias in his song (1:69). Yet both knew — certainly Gabriel, and doubtless Zacharias — that Joseph was not the real father of the child about to be born. Mary's child was really David's seed.
Gabriel announces the throne. Announcing it is not the same as receiving it.
He was about to come as the Son of David according to the flesh, but He is also David's Lord. He is the One who spoke these words to the prophet Nathan. Of Him God announced: "the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David. And He shall reign forever and of His kingdom there shall be no end." That throne and that kingdom He has not yet received. He fills the Father's throne in the highest heaven.
- Great. John was great in the sight of the Lord. Jesus is great in Himself, and every other greatness only points to Him.
- Named. "The Most High" is the Old Testament name Elyon. The child born on earth is called His Son, and He proved that name by everything He did.
- Ordered. The angel names the eternal dignity first and the throne second: Son of the Most High, therefore Son of David.
- Given. God hands over the throne. It is His by right of birth, held by God's counsel and power.
- Awaited. David's true heir came through Mary's line. He has not taken that throne yet. He fills the Father's throne in heaven while the promise still stands.
and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for the ages, and of his kingdom there shall not be an end.
The angel's message to Mary ends with a throne, a people, and a length of time. It raises three questions: which kingdom is meant, who its subjects are, and how an endless reign fits a Saviour who suffered.
Christ does not take this reign for Himself. God gives it to Him, and He receives it as a man born into David's line.
Here again we see Him clearly: born into this world as a man. The throne of His father David belongs to Him. God will give it to Him. By right of birth He is heir to the promises. These are the earthly promises about the kingdom that belonged to David's family. But it would all come about by the counsels and the power of God. He would reign over the house of Jacob, not only over Judah. His would not be a weak, passing power with a short life. It would last throughout the ages.
The angel names the people He will rule: the house of Jacob, wider than Judah alone. Some writers take that name at face value.
Why should we not expect this word of the Lord, spoken by His angel, to be fulfilled? I cannot see any reason why I should doubt this, or any other part of God's word. The subjects, then, of His Kingdom will be the house of Jacob, not the Church of God.
Behind the angel's words stands God's older promise to David. That promise has not yet come true in Israel's history.
Again, "Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever" (2 Sam. 7:16). God has never yet fulfilled this promise to Israel. The question is whether it will come true literally in their history, or spiritually in the Church. Nothing in the prophecy seems to point to the Church, and nothing in the Church seems to point to the prophecy.
The obvious objection is that Jesus never reigned. Writers answer it by dividing His two comings.
We all know full well that instead of reigning, He suffered when He was here before. But when He comes again, He comes to reign. He will reign over the house of Jacob, as we have seen in so many Scriptures. But more than that, as we have seen in many others, He will "have dominion from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth."
Jeroboam once seized ten parts of Israel's kingdom. Christ's reign carries no such weakness.
The foundations of His throne rest in the deep places of eternity. His sceptre carries the stamp of immortality, and His crown the stamp of incorruptibility. No Jeroboam will rise then to seize ten parts of the kingdom. It will be one undivided whole forever, under the peaceful rule of Him who is "gentle and lowly in heart."
Commentators differ over what "no end" covers. Davison reads it as a guarantee against any successor, not a claim about the eternal state.
after
It does not mean that the kingdom will go on forever in the eternal state. It means that it will not have a successor. Kingdoms exist to keep hostile powers in subjection as well as to protect their subjects. Indeed one is the outcome of the other. But there are no hostile powers in the eternal state, so the kingdom will not be necessary. This is clear from 1 Cor. 15:24-26.
Darby traces the same point back to Daniel's prophecy.
As Daniel had predicted, no one else would ever take it. It would never pass to another people. God would establish it by His counsels, which never change, and by His power, which never fails. Christ will exercise a royal rule that nothing can dispute. He will hand it over to God when all things are fulfilled, but nothing will ever tarnish its royal glory in His hands.
One question remains. Is this just an earthly throne like any other?
Even at its lowest level, how far His Kingdom is from being a mere human dominion!
- Given — The throne is not taken by force. God gives it to the One born as heir of David's line.
- Given to a people — He will rule the house of Jacob, which writers keep distinct from the Church.
- Given, but delayed — At His first coming He suffered instead of reigning; the reign belongs to His return.
- Given without rival — No Jeroboam divides it, and no successor replaces it.
- Given without limit — Even in its most earthly form, this rule is far more than human dominion.