Five months pass, during which Elisabeth remained in seclusion, and in

the sixth month of her conception, the same angel Gabriel was sent by God to

Nazareth to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of

David.  The announcement by the angel of the birth of John was made to the

father, who was stricken with dumbness for his reluctance to believe.  The

announcement at Nazareth was made direct to Mary, Joseph being unacquainted

with the facts of this extraordinary case until later.

If the record of the birth of John the Baptist was important enough for

Luke to commence his instruction with so circumstantial an account, how much

more must that conception and birth be of Him Who is designated The Son of

the Highest, Emmanuel, God with us, of Whose kingdom there shall be no end.

Accordingly, we must allow this brief chapter of the story of one who came

'in the spirit and power of Elias' to form an introduction to the birth of

Him Who, though of Israel according to the flesh, yet was according to the

Spirit, declared to be the Son of God with power, and indeed to be 'God over

all, blessed for ever' (Rom. 1:3,4; 9:1-5).

Luke assured Theophilus that he would give him a consecutive account of

those things in which he had been instructed, and in harmony with the rule

laid down in Acts 1:22, he begins with John the Baptist and ends with

the Ascension, conducting his reader by three converging paths to the goal.

John the Baptist was important not for his own sake but because he was sent

'to prepare the way of the Lord'.  We look in vain for any specific reference

to Isaiah 7:14, which is quoted by Matthew, and therefore, following our

guide, and believing that his testimony is all-sufficient, we proceed to

attend to the way in which he presents the great truth of the miraculous

conception by Mary of the Saviour of the world.  In the sixth month of

Elisabeth's pregnancy, the angel Gabriel, who had earlier appeared to

Zacharias, was sent to Nazareth in Galilee, 'to a virgin espoused to a man

whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary'

(Luke 1:26,27).  There seems to be an intended contrast between the place

where Gabriel appeared to Zacharias 'on the right side of the altar of

incense' in the temple at Jerusalem, and Nazareth of Galilee.  Both names,

Nazareth and Galilee are treated with a measure of contempt, or if not with

contempt, yet spoken of with an air of superiority.  'Can there any good

thing come out of Nazareth?' asked Nathaniel (John 1:46), and it is the same

John who records the words of the Pharisees 'Search, and look: for out

of Galilee ariseth no prophet' (7:52).  In these two geographical terms are

expressed what the apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 8:9:

'For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was

rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty

might be rich'.

Nazareth and Galilee were symbols indeed of that 'poverty' suffered

'for our sakes'.  Bethlehem, the city of David finds its place in Luke 2, but

it is Nazareth which is spoken of in chapter 4:16 as the city 'where He had

been brought up'.  The modern place accorded to women robs the words of Luke

1:28,29 of something of their point.  In the synagogue prayer book of the

Jews, is found the clause, 'Blessed art thou, our God, King of the Universe,

Who hath not made me a woman'.

Dr. Lightfoot quoted from Kiddushin Fol. 70:1: