Gabriel Announces the Birth of Jesus

Having described the announcement of the birth of the forerunner of the Messiah, John the Baptist (Luke 1:5–25), Luke now moves to tell us how the mother of the Messiah first learned that He was to be born. This announcement, we read in today’s passage, took place in a much less grand setting than the temple in Jerusalem. Instead, during the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, Gabriel went to Nazareth in Galilee, a tiny town of no special significance in that day, to convey God’s message regarding the coming of the Savior (v. 26).

Luke 1:27 tells us that Gabriel appeared to a virgin named Mary, who was betrothed to Joseph, of the house of David. The mention of David’s house recalls messianic prophecies in texts such as Psalms 2 and 110, where the presence of God among His people and blessed reign of the Lord are associated with the installation of the Davidic king. God’s return to His people, as predicted in Malachi 3–4, could not occur without His setting the promised Son of David on the throne of Israel, so John’s going before the Lord (Luke 1:13–17) would also mean that he would be going before the Davidic king. In fact, the Lord God Almighty and the Davidic king would be one and the same. The Messiah would be born to a virgin and would be Immanuel, “God with us” (Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:18–25). In the birth of the Messiah to the Virgin Mary as an adopted son of David’s line through Joseph, biblical prophecy would be fulfilled. Accordingly, Gabriel told Mary to name her son “Jesus,” which means “the Lord is salvation” (Luke 1:28–31).

When Gabriel made his announcement to Mary, he addressed her as “favored one” (v. 28), and indeed one would be highly favored to give birth to the Savior. But this favor was a matter of sheer divine grace, for the Greek participle kecharitomen, which is translated “favored one” in the ESV, highlights Mary as a recipient of grace and not the source of grace. In other words, Mary holds a special role in the history of salvation because she was shown grace; she was not shown grace because she was inherently deserving of this favor. No less than any other sinner, she needed salvation, and she is not a special mediator of grace, for that role belongs to Christ alone (1 Tim. 2:5).

In keeping with other messianic prophecies, Gabriel told Mary that Jesus would be “the Son of the Most High” and would reign over a never-ending kingdom (Luke 1:32–33). God’s most incredible act of salvation was about to begin.