As you journey through the book of Hebrews, we encourage you to invite the Lord into your studies through prayer, reading of the word, and reflection.

• Pray: Before you start each devotion, ask the Lord to use it to grow you up in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
• Read: Invite God to open your eyes and deepen your understanding of His Word through each daily passage.
• Reflect: Ask the Spirit to help you take to heart what He wants to show you.

Angels and Announcements

Heaven has been silent for over four hundred years.

Then one day, in the holiest place on earth, the angel Gabriel broke through the distance and surprised a man named Zacharias praying in the temple in Jerusalem. He came to announce that God had heard Zacharias’ prayer.

Thus begins Luke’s Gospel, a narrative of eyewitnesses—people who saw for themselves Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Luke, a physician, said he examined all the reports in close detail and wrote to give us confidence in what we believe about the Lord Jesus Christ.

Chronologically, Dr. Luke begins with the birth of John the Baptist. (That was John's father in the temple.) Zacharias and Elizabeth, John’s parents, were righteous—that is, they were right with God. For a lifetime they had longed for a child. Now, Gabriel says, they will have a son and they should name him John.

Zacharias had trouble believing this glad news, so Gabriel answered his doubt with a consequence: “Because you won’t believe me, you’ll be unable to say a word until the day of your son’s birth.”

Zacharias immediately became mute. He went home to his wife Elizabeth, now an older woman, who soon was wearing maternity clothes.

Six months later a hundred miles north, the same angel Gabriel surprises Mary, a young virgin in Nazareth. He delivers an amazing, very clearly explained announcement: “Mary, God has favored you. You are blessed among women. You will become pregnant,” Gabriel said, “and give birth to a son and call His name Jesus. He will sit on David’s throne.”

How could I be pregnant? Mary was the first one to question the virgin birth. Gabriel answers her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you” (v. 35). No man had anything to do with Jesus’ birth. The union of a man and woman can only produce a child with a sin nature. Mary is told she is not bringing a sinner into the world, but the holy Son of God.

Mary’s immediate response was complete submission to whatever God wanted to do. “Let it be to me according to your word” (v. 38).

At that very moment a cloud came over her life, lingering until the Lord Jesus Christ came back from the dead. Jesus’ resurrection proves His virgin birth. The virgin birth and the Resurrection go together; they stand or fall together.

Gabriel also told Mary that her cousin Elizabeth was six months pregnant—a miracle, considering Elizabeth’s age. “For with God nothing will be impossible” (v. 37). This is a good truth to hold on to: Anything God determines to do, He can accomplish.

Mary traveled 100 miles south to visit with Elizabeth and when she walked into her house and called out a “hello,” the baby in Elizabeth’s womb leaped for joy and she was filled with God’s Spirit. Elizabeth burst into song, the first of three songs in this Gospel. Elizabeth sang about the wonder of God, Mary sang about what the Savior will do, and Zacharias sang about prophecy.

The months of silence had been good for Zacharias, who now believed what Gabriel had told him—that his son would announce the Messiah’s arrival. Praise God—the Messiah is on His way! Zacharias also knew John would be “the prophet of the Highest” (v. 76) and “give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (v. 79).

John the Baptist would grow up to be a very unusual person, uniquely gifted and called by God to do a special task.

1. Zacharias and Elizabeth weren’t the first childless couple God blessed with a child in a story of the Bible. Why do you think God so frequently intercedes in history this way?
2. What lessons about unbelief can we learn from Zacharias?
3. How can we learn from Mary’s example of submission to God’s will for her life?

Additional Resources

Listen to Dr. J. Vernon McGee’s complete teachings on Luke 1:1-4, Luke 1:5-35 and Luke 1:36-80.