The Seed of the Woman: Narratives That Point to JesusSample

Nazareth, where the angel Gabriel would find Mary, is mentioned nowhere in the Hebrew Scriptures. It appeared to be an insignificant village without prophetic importance, yet God chose this town for his Son. He sent a glorious messenger down to earth, to the poor obscure home of a virgin, the lowliest of maidens, the betrothed of a simple carpenter named Joseph. This young woman, Mary, would be the mother of the long-expected promised Savior.

Young Mary was familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures (her later song in Elizabeth’s home will prove this). She knew that women before her had conceived children foretold by God. Isaac had been announced to Sarah and Rebekah was told of Jacob and Esau. Other women, like Hannah, had mothered divinely ordained mediators like Samuel. From the protoevangelion (the first gospel announcement in Genesis 3:15) onward, women in Israel had been the bearers of a glorious nation. Yet which of them had ever heard the words now spoken to Mary by the angel Gabriel? Her child would be called the Son of the Most High!

The young woman pondered this astonishing news, then posed a question: “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (Lk. 1:34). Gabriel’s answer would further set Mary apart from every other mother in human history. In Luke 1:35 we learn that Mary’s firstborn child wouldn’t come by natural means. The Holy Spirit would overshadow the virgin, as he had done over the face of the earth at the beginning (Gen. 1:2). She wouldn’t conceive by sexual intercourse. Rather, the baby born of Mary would be generated by the Spirit of God. The child would be a unique God-man: one born of woman and thus fully human and conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and therefore fully God.

Jesus’ nature makes him a unique Savior: as a human being, he is qualified to serve as the representative Head of humanity. And as the divine Son of God—free from original sin—Jesus alone can earn for us the righteousness required for our justification. He’s the Second Adam able to crush the curse brought on by our first father. He is the Seed of the Woman, the hope of Eve. And he’s also the Son of lowly Mary from Nazareth.

Human wisdom would have painted the mother of Christ as wealthy and prestigious. Instead, we find a seemingly insignificant girl from a despised village. Yet God’s choice of Mary reflects the general pattern of the One who chooses the obscure for his work in salvation. God used a poor yet faithful girl, filled her with his grace, then used her in a unique way in salvation history. And for that, as Luke tells us in 1:48, all generations will call her blessed.