1. "Nothing will be impossible"
The phrase comes from Luke 1:37. "For nothing will be impossible with God." It is a common slogan for many Christians, especially as they approach work and study. "With God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26) and "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13). But are these texts really promising that we can do everything with God's help?
a. Supernatural power!
We read of many supernatural things in Luke 1. So seemingly incredible, they seem impossible. We read of Mary who will conceive a son without having sexual relations (1:34). In 1:11, we read of a supernatural being sent from God. He appears very suddenly.
God can work through both supernatural and natural means. Some of us may not believe the supernatural, but that does not discount the good historicity of Luke's gospel as we saw last week. We may have to change our worldview.
But that also leads to another question - does it mean that if we believe in something supernatural hard enough, it would happen?
b. Absolutely "Nothing"?
1:37 - God can do absolutely anything.
However, expecting him to do something miraculous, or anything for that matter, only applies to what he has already promised. If he has never said he would do something, then we would be presumptuous to expect that thing to happen.
c. What's promised!
Here, God promises that the Holy Spirit will come upon Mary. The power of the Most High will overshadow her and she will conceive without sexual relations (1:34-35). Elizabeth also has a child in her old age; the promise being given to Zechariah in 1:12-17.
Since God has promised them, they can have assurance that God will bring it to pass. As Mary sees her relative Elizabeth pregnant in her old age, she should even more be convinced that the promise will come true.
2. What Things Fulfilled?
a. Barren women
In 1:18-20, we see that Zechariah doesn't quite believe the angel's words. But the angel Gabriel maintains that his words would be 'fulfilled' in their time. This word is similar to the word 'accomplished' in the first verse.
What is going to happen fulfills not just what the angel is promising now, but also things in the past, in the Old Testament.
We know that Mary and Elizabeth lived around the time of 34-4 BC, when Herod was the king of Judea (1:5). We know that Zechariah and Elizabeth were Jews, since Zechariah was a priest and served in the temple of the Lord (1:5, 8-9), and Elizabeth was a daughter of Aaron (1:5). Mary was also a Jew, since she was Elizabeth's relative (1:36), and she lived in a small Jewish town of Galilee named Nazareth (1:26).
The promises do not come in a complete vacuum, but rather arrive in the Jewish context.
There had been many instances of barren women in history of the Jews. In Genesis 18:10-14, we read of Abraham and his wife being promised a child in their old age. There is a strong parallel with the account here in Luke 1. In Genesis 18:14, we see the similar sounding words "Is anything to hard for the Lord?"
The promise to Abraham that he would have a son is traced back to Genesis 12:1-3, where Abraham is promised that he would be made a great nation, that he would be blessed, that his name would be great, that he would be a great blessing, and in him all the families of the earth would be blessed. He needed to have a son from his own body if the promise was to be fulfilled! All the mess of the world as seen from Genesis 3 to 11 would be reversed through Abraham!
In 1 Samuel we also read of another woman, Hannah who was barren but later also conceived to bear a son Samuel, who becomes God's prophet to the nation of Israel and inaugurates Israel's dynasty of kings. Although Hannah's prayer was for a child, God uses the prayer to further His purpose for the nation of Israel.
When Israel is later defeated by foreign powers and brought into exile, Isaiah another of God's prophets had this to say to them: "Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married," says the LORD. "Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities. "Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called." (Isaiah 54:1-5)
There are a lot of images of barren women in the Old Testament. In the above reading of Isaiah, it seems that Israel's barrenness and their exile were closely linked, yet God would one day bring them out of exile again. However, by the time of Luke 1 the people of Israel were still under foreign rule - under the Roman Empire.
Thus, it is very likely that Zechariah was not praying for a son. He would have acknowledged that Elizabeth was barren and their chance of having children was not long gone (1:7).
Instead, Zechariah would most likely have been praying for the restoration of Israel. He would have been praying on behalf of many other Jews who likely thought the same as well (1:10). In 2:25, we read of Simeon a devout Jew who is described as doing just that - he had been waiting for the 'consolation of Israel', his nation comforted and again in great power, just like back in the golden age of King David and Solomon's time. Many devout Jews would be wanting the same thing as well.
b. Forerunner
It is true that Elizabeth was glad that her reproach was taken away (1:24-25), for as with many barren women in that time they were looked down upon, they 'will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth" because their son will be the forerunner to make ready for the Lord a people prepared. This echoes Isaiah 40:1-5:
"Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins. A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
It is literally an image of cutting a straight highway through the mountains and valleys. The people of God would be able to come straight back from exile in Babylon to Israel.
But how would Elizabeth's son prepare the people exactly?
1:16 - "He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just."
Elijah is another great prophet in Israel's past. He brought many people back to God by destroying the prophets of Baal and showing that the God of Israel was the only one true and living God. Yet, Elizabeth's son is not a reincarnation of Elijah, nor is he Elijah himself. He would be in the spirit and power of Elijah, someone like Elijah who turns people back to God, and someone who makes ready for the Lord.
When people look at Elizabeth's son, they will see the one who comes after him.
c. Virgin birth
They should not be focusing on Elizabeth's son. There is a strong parallel between the 2 stories of Elizabeth and Mary both being promised a son. Yet, the second story is far greater - Elizabeth was barren and old, but Mary was a virgin who never even had sexual relations! The impossibility of conception is raised a notch in Mary's case.
1:35 is not saying that the Holy Spirit 'came upon Mary' and had sexual relations with her, thus causing Jesus to be 50% God and 50% man. Jesus is not a hybrid of God and man. He is fully God and fully man.
The significance of the virgin birth is hard to find, since there is little in the Old Testament which speaks of the significance of a virgin birth, except for Isaiah 7:14, which the writer in Matthew 1:22-23 accepts as referring to the Messiah. Another possible significance of the virgin birth is that it proves God can do anything.
The virgin birth does not mean immaculate conception is true, that is, it does not mean Mary must be a virgin for Jesus to be sinless. In saying so, it somehow implies the Y chromosome from Joseph is sinful, and Mary is sinless herself. By pushing the argument that she's sinless, it is easy to then conclude that she is a co-redeemer with Jesus, with some Christians even pointing to 1:38 as showing that she had 100% faith in Gabriel's word, compared to Zechariah's wavering faith in 1:18. This view seems very unlikely, since 1:34 also shows that Mary doubted.
d. Son of God
Mary is chosen to conceive a very special child. In 1:35, Jesus is called the 'Son of God'. To us Christians today, we equate the term with 'God the Son', the second person of the Trinity, but in fact this is not the case. Son of God in Jewish culture really has a much more significant idea. It refers to the King of Israel. All the Kings of Israel since the time of King David were referred to as sons of God. This idea appears from 2 Samuel 7:12-16, as God addresses David.
"When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.'"
e. Angel's good news
What is the significance of the angel's good news? It is not that it was supernatural (1:26). An angel means 'messenger'. Gabriel was a bearer of God's word. Rather, the timing is really significant, because in Luke 1, the Jews had not heard a direct word from God for almost 400 years! Many nations had changed, yet they were still under a foreign power, though a different one from 400 years ago. There was absolute silence from God.
However, in just a matter of months, they had received 2 words from God. And in Jesus, God had finally spoken a word and turn the pages of history.
3. Impossible is Nothing
a. Adidas & Nike
Just like the Nike advertisement, the Adidas slogan is "Nothing is Impossible." Both exude a lot of self-confidence and trust in the human potential. They are very similar.
It is not at all different to many Christians who have say God can do anything we want. It is false advertising. God has not promised to always heal us, or give us riches, or help us to succeed in our jobs and rise up the career ladder.
b. Angel from God
The verses like Luke 1:37 cannot be too quickly applied to us! What is spoken to Elizabeth and Mary are words with a lot of significance and meaning! They do not come in a vacuum. The promises arrive in the Jewish context with heavy Old Testament influence. What is spoken to them is also special for all of history. What happens in Luke 1 concerns eternity. The word from the angel affects everyone's eternity.
c. Eternity with certainty
In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, there is mention of a mirror, the Mirror of Erised, which shows people their 'deepest most desperate desires of our hearts'. 'However, this mirror will give us neither knowledge or truth. Men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen, or been driven mad, not knowing if what it shows is real or even possible' (Rowling, 1997).
It is similar to many of our goals in life. Some of us may desire to be rich, others may desire to make a significant contribution to humanity via research, while still others may desire a stable income with a happy family. However, while those things may happen, God has never promised any of those things for each one of us.
With Jesus' birth now announced, the climax of God's eternal plan is now about to happen. Because God's promise was fulfilled as written down for us in the pages of the Bible, we can be certain that whatever else God promises in the Bible will happen as well. We must not be distracted by the temporary things of the world. We must approach eternity with certainty of the promises we have in Jesus.
Rowling, J. K. (1997). Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
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