A Saviour Will Be Born
What is more tiresome than a dark night when you are not feeling well and cannot sleep? The night hours pass so slowly. At last you see the first sunbeams of the morning. The birds begin to sing, and everything seems to brighten.
The state of the world before Jesus came was like a long, dark night. Israel’s prophets wrote that the people walked in darkness. The wonderful light of God’s Son would brighten the dark, sinful world.
For a long time nobody knew just when or where the Saviour would be born. Eve, the first mother, was hoping her son might be the appointed one. Moses declared that God would raise unto the people a prophet like himself. Many years later Isaiah prophesied that a virgin would bear a son. Still later the prophet Micah revealed the very town where the child would be born.
Yet nothing happened. As the years rolled by, the prophecies were gradually forgotten. There was no message from heaven for over four hundred years.
But God knew just the right time to fulfill all the prophecies. He sent the angel Gabriel to the earth with a message for a virgin named Mary.
Gabriel knew the city, the right house, and even the very room where he would find Mary. He entered and said, “Hail, Mary, you are highly favored. The Lord is with you.”
Mary was frightened by her heavenly visitor. But Gabriel said, “Don’t be afraid, Mary. You are going to have a Son. He will be very special. He will be called the Son of the Highest, whose kingdom will last forever.”
“How can such a thing happen to me?” Mary asked in wonder. “I am not yet married.”
Gabriel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and God’s power will rest on you. That is why your child will be God’s own Son. Nothing is too hard for God.”
“I really don’t understand,” said Mary quietly, “but I am God’s servant. I am ready to do anything He asks me to do.”
Luke 1:26-38
The angel Gabriel tells Mary she will have a Son.
Parents:
. . . Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)
Children:
1. Who sent the angel to Mary?
2. Was Mary afraid when she saw the angel?
3. Who would Mary’s Son be?