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Fear not Mary Luke 1:30.
Thou shalt call His name Jesus Luke 1:31.
He shall be called the Son of the Highest Luke 1:32.
The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee Luke 1:35.
Her days were accomplished Luke 2:6.
She brought forth her firstborn Son Luke 2:7.
Angels and shepherds, all wondered Luke 2:8-18.
Circumcised the eighth day Luke 2:21.
His mother kept all these sayings in her heart
Luke 2:51.
Simeon's prophetic revelation Luke 2:26.
The Child grew, and waxed strong in spirit
Luke 2:40.
The words 'of the Holy Ghost' were written by Matthew, but did not come
within the knowledge of Joseph. His action 'not willing to make her a public
example' revealed a kindly nature; 'was minded to put her away' revealed his
own innocence. While he thought on these things, an angel spoke to him,
saying:
'Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife:
for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost' (Matt. 1:20).
'Between betrothal and marriage a certain time intervened, during which
the bride remained in her father's house, and all intercourse between
the parties was carried on through a bridegroom's friend' (Imperial
Bible Dictionary).
'In the East a woman is never consulted, but is literally "given in
marriage" and never sees, or at least is never supposed to see, her
betrothed until after the wedding takes place' (Pictured Palestine,
Jas. Neil, M.A.).
The relation of both Joseph and Mary with the house of David, will be
better considered when the genealogy of Luke 3:23-38 is before us. The
titles of the Son which should be born are wonderful.
'He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest'.
Hupsistos is the title of God 'The Most High' (Acts 7:48) and Christ was
hailed as 'Jesus, the Son of the Most High God' by the man possessed of the
legion of demons (Mark 5:7; Luke 8:28). The damsel possessed of the spirit
of divination testified of Paul and his companions that they were 'the
servants of the Most High God' (Acts 16:17), and Melchisedec is called in
Hebrews 7:1 'the priest of the Most High God'. It might well be thought that
such a title 'Son of the Most High' would be reserved exclusively to the
Saviour, but it is Luke himself who records the Lord's own words:
'Love ye your enemies, and do good ... and ye shall be the sons (huios)
of the Highest: for He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be
ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful' (Luke 6:35,36).
We cannot, therefore, avoid the thought, that in Luke 1:32, the title 'The
Son of the Highest' stresses not only dignity and Deity, but moral likeness.
John the Baptist was 'The prophet of the Highest' (Luke 1:76), and the
extended explanation of this use of the term is 'For thou shalt go before the