EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/1/2026
7:36 PM
My
Worship Time Focus: Intro: “The Divine Announcement to Mary”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference:
Luke
1:26-33
Message of the verses: Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel
was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to
a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name
was Mary. And coming in, he said to her,
“Greetings, favored one! The Lord is
with you.” But she was very perplexed at
this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid,
Mary; for you have found favor with God.
And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall
name Him Jesus. He will be great and
will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the
throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever,
and His kingdom will have no end.”
In this evening’s SD I am going to quote the
introduction to this fourth chapter in John MacArthur’s commentary of his first
volume of Luke.
“Christmas is arguably the most
widely celebrated of all the world’s holidays, involving more people and
nations than any other. But at the same
time, it is perhaps the most misunderstood of all the major holidays. Other holidays honor famous people or
commemorate significant historical events (as, for example, President’s Day,
Independence Day, and Veterans’ Day do in the United States). Christmas, however, honors a divine person
and remembers a divine event; it does not celebrate human achievement, but
divine accomplishment. Santa Claus, crowded
shopping malls, office parties, alcohol consumption, gift giving holiday
decorations, and family get-to-gathers do not reflect the true meaning of
Christmas. There is nothing man-made
about the Christmas story. It is the
most miraculous, compelling narrative in history, as the Holy Spirit relates the
dramatic story of Jesus Christ’s birth.
Those who truly celebrate Christmas do so by remembering the profound
reality that God sent His only begotten Son to die for the sins of all who put
their faith in Him.
“Although the most complete accounts
of Christ’s birth appear in the gospels of Matthew and Luke (Matt. 1:18-2:12;
Luke 1:26-2:20), they are not the first biblical reference to the coming of God
the Son. After Adam and Eve’s
disobedience plunged the human race into sin, God promised that one called the
seed of the woman would come (Gen. 3:15) to ‘destroy the works of the devil’
(1 John 3:8). In his prophecy concerning
his sons, Jacob said about Judah, ‘The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh (the one to whom it
belongs; i. e., the Messiah, the true King, the Lion of the tribe of Judah
[Rev. 5:51]) comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples’ (Gen.
49:10). Moses had in mind the future
coming of Messiah when he told the people of Israel,
15 ¶ "The LORD your God will raise up for you
a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers— it is to him you shall
listen— 16 just as you desired of the LORD
your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear
again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I
die.’ 17 And the LORD said to me, ‘They
are right in what they have spoken. 18 I
will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will
put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.”
(ESV)
“Psalm
2:6-9 records God’s promise that His Son, the Messiah, would come to rule the
world:
6 "As for me, I have set my King on Zion,
my holy hill." 7 ¶ I will tell of
the decree: The LORD said to me, "You are my Son; today I have begotten
you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the
nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You shall break them with a rod of iron and
dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel." (ESV)
“Isaiah
predicted that ‘a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will
call His name Immanuel” (Isa. 7:14). He
further wrote concerning this amazing child,
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is
given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be
called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish
it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth
and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. (Isa. 9:6-7 ESV)
“Isaiah
also predicted in detail Messiah’s sacrificial death as a substitute for the
sins of His people (52:13-53:12); Daniel predicted the time of His coming (Dan.
9:25-26); Micah the place of His birth (Mic. 5:2). The Old Testament is replete with other
prophecies concerning His life and ministry (e.g., Pss. 40:7-8; 110:1, 4;
118:22, 26; Isa. 8:14; 11:2, 10; 28:16; 61:1-2; Jer. 23:5; Zech. 9:9; 12:10;
13:7), so much so that on the road to Emmaus the risen Christ chided His
followers for failing to recognize their
significance and applicability to Him:
25 And he said to them, "O foolish ones, and
slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should
suffer these things and enter into his glory?" 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets,
he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
(Luke 24:25-27 ESV)
“The promise of a Savior, for centuries the hope of
the faithful, believing remnant of Israel, continued its realization with
Gabriel’s second appearance, this time to a young woman. Luke’s simple, unadorned, unembellished
account of Gabriel’s announcement to Mary emphasizes the divine character of
Christ’s birth. It reveals the divine
messenger, the divine choice, the divine blessing, and the divine child.”
Now we know what the outline is for
this section of verses, and Lord willing I will begin in the morning with “The
Divine Messenger.”
3/1/2026
8:13 PM
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