"Look!" Jehovah's Slave Girl!" -

 

A Visit From an Angel

Mary's visitor was no mere man.  It was the angel Gabriel.  When he  Mary "highly favored one," she was  "deeply disturbed" by his words and wondered about this unusual greeting.  (Luke 1:29)  Highy favored by whom?  Mary did not expect to be highly favored among men.  But the angel was speaking of the favor of Jehovah God. That mattered to her.  Still, she did not proudly presume that she had God's favor. If we strive for God's favor, never haughtily presume that we already have it, we will vital lesson that young Mary fully understood.  God opposes the haughty, but he loves and supports the lowly and humble. - JAMES 4:6.

Mary would need such humility, for the angel held out to her an almost unimaginable privilege.  He explained that she was to  bear  a child who would become the most important of all humans. Gabriel said: "Jehovah God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule as king over the house of Jacob forever, and there will be no end of his kingdom."  (Luke 1:32, 33)  Mary surely knew of the promise God had made to David more than one thousand years earlier-namely that of one of his descendants would rule forever.  (2 Samuel 7:12, 13)  So her son would be the Messiah whom God's people over the centuries had been hoping for!

What is more, the angel told her that her son would "be called Son of the Most High."  How could  human woman produce  God's Son, Really, how could Marry produce a son at all?  She was engaged to Joseph but not yet married to him.  This question Mary put into frank words: "How is this to be, since I am having no intercourse with a man?" (Luke 1:34)  Note tha Mary spoke of her virginity without a trace of shame.  On the contrary, she treasured her chasity.  Today, many youths are eager to cast off their virginity and quick to ridicule those  who do not .  The world has certainly changed.  Jehovah, however, has not changed.  (Matthew 3:6) As in Mary's day, he values those who adhere to his moral standards. - Read HEBREWS 13:4.

Although she was a faithful servant of God, Mary was an imperfect humans.  How, then, could she produce a perfect offspring, the Son of God? Gabriel explained: "Holy spirit will come upon you, and power of the Most Hight will overshadow you.  For that reason also what is born will be called holy, God's Son. This was called emaculate conception; nowdays, they call it invertro fertilization, but but does not become perfect or holy, also, it is not God's seed that does it.  (Luke 1:35) Holy means "clean," "pure," "sacred."  Normally, humans pass on their unclean, sinful state to their offspring.  In this case, though, Jehovah would perform a unique miracle. He would transfer the life of his Son from heaven to the womb of Mary and then use his active force, or holy spirit, to "overshadow" Mary, shielding the child from any taint of sin.  Did Mary believe the angel's promise?  How did she respond?

Next time: "Look! Jehovah's Slave Girl!" - Mary's Response to Gabriel

From the jw.org publications