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The Annunciation

Luk_1:26-38
If there be joy in heavenjoy among the angels of Godover one sinner that repenteth, we may
be sure that it was not with indifference, but with glad songs of praise and shouts of adoring joy,
that the heavenly hosts beheld the great arch-angel depart to revisit earth, to bear hither the
tidings of great joyso long looked for, and desired so long.
This high rank of the ambassador evinced the grandeur and importance of the mission with
which he was charged. The angels knew it; they knew that it affected deeply the most essential
interests of the race of man, not only in time but in eternity. But to man himself, seeing only its
outer aspect, the immediate result would have seemed inadequate and disappointing. He went
not to any of the great nations of the earth; he visited not any of her mighty citiesnot Rome,
not Athens, not Alexandria, not Antioch, nor even Jerusalem: his mission was to a small and
dependant countryto the most despised province of that countryto the most ill-reputed town
of that province. Ay, but surely some great king had his sojourn thereor some great prophet, or
some holy priest, or some sage renowned for wisdom? Not so. His mission was to one of the
humblest abodes of that humble place; and neither to prince, to prophet, to priest, nor to
philosopherbut to a poor maiden of Nazareth, named Marywhich is the same name as
Miriambetrothed to a carpenter named Joseph.
It is no marvel that the damsel was startled when the angel presented himself before her in her
humble home. Although women were thenor at least among the Jewsmuch less secluded
than is at present the case in the East, it was not usual for a woman to be spoken to, or pointedly
noticed in any way, by a stranger, or by any but a very near relative. If for a damsel to be
accosted anywhere by a man unknown, were a strange and startling circumstance, much more to
be addressed by an angel, and suddenly, in her own house. The appearance of the angel was
doubtless human; and we do not, with the painters of pictures, suppose that he exhibited that
splendor of appearance which is usually ascribed to him, and which could only have added to
Marys dismay and apprehension. Yet, although his semblance was human, we doubt not there
was that in his air, and in the manner of his appearance, which must have suggested that he was
a being not of earth; and if she had doubted, his words must soon have disclosed that he was a
ministering spirit who stood before her. It may well be, however, that he manifested such
glorious peculiarities, as at once made him known; and if the angel who descended from heaven
to roll back the stone from the door of our Lords tomb, had his countenance like lightning, and
his raiment white as snow, there was no reason why the great angel who came to announce
tidings of such signal importance should exhibit a less distinguished appearance; unless it be,
that in the case mentioned the angel assumed the lightning for the purpose of striking terror
into the hostile watchers of the tomb. This is the more likely, as, when he was seen soon after by
the faithful women who came to the sepulcher, he seems to have laid the lightning of his
countenance aside, and appeared only as a young man, clothed in a long white garment. As to
the wings, which the painters bestow so bountifully, we do not believe in them, notwithstanding
that the Romish church claims to possess a feather which dropped from Gabriels wing on this
occasiona very pretty pink feather, the real source of which naturalists have not yet, we
believe, been able to determine.
The announcement of this heavenly visitant to the lowly damsel of Nazareth, hailed her as the
one of all women most favored, who had been singled out for that honorso long coveted by
many generations of Hebrew womenof giving birth to the Messiah.
The language in which this was expressed was very plain to her, familiar as she manifestly was
with the prophecies concerning Him, and with the expectations which her people entertained.
And, indeed, the general expectation that the Messiah was then speedily to appear, must in
some measure have diminished her surprise at the purport of the communication. In fact, her
astonishment that the choice had fallen on herself may have been less even to her lowly mind
than is usually supposed, for the hope was as open to her as to any other Hebrew woman; and
her evident study of the prophecies concerning Christ, evinces the interest she had taken in the
matter; while she must have known that shehowever obscure her lotwas one of the not large
number of women to whom the later prophecies had limited that hope. The keen apprehension
with which she seized the full meaning of the angels intimations, well shows her preparedness
of mind. That the Son thus announced should be great; that He should be called the Son of
the Highest; that the Lord God should give Him the throne of his father David; and that He
should reign for ever and ever,nothing of this astonished her. But there is one thing that did.
She understood rightly that this was then to take place; but how that she should become a
mother, while not yet fully married, perplexed her. And observe, she had no incredulity as to the
fact itself, but was at a loss to know in what manner it could be accomplished. She said not, Can
this thing be? But, How shall this thing be? Like all her people, she supposed, as the Jews still
suppose, that there would not be anything miraculous in the birth of Christ; but that He should
be born in ordinary course, in the house of David. She now therefore learned, and learned it with
surprise, that the higher functions which belonged to Him than the Jews in general recognized,
required that He should take mans nature on Him in such a manner as should evince his
heavenly origin. The idea was new; but when reminded that the power of the Highest was
sufficient to accomplish this, she needed nothing more to satisfy her, although the angel, to let
her see that with God nothing is impossible, disclosed to her the strange fact, that her aged
cousin, Elizabeth, had conceived a son in her old age, and that it was now the sixth month with
her who was called barren.
This was enough for her. To know that the Lord would accomplish this, satisfied her that it could
be done, though contrary to all thought and experience. She questions no further how. It was his
will, his purpose; and it would be accomplished in the way that seemed best to Him. That she,
who was personally interested in the matter, questioned so little of the mode in which this
prodigy was to be effected, is a fair lesson to our faith. The faithful heart, when once it
understands the good pleasure of God, argues no more, but sweetly sets itself in a quiet
expectation. Behold the servant of the Lord: be it unto me according to thy word.

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