Luke 1:37 For with God nothing will be impossible." New King James Version (NKJV)
Mary's statement "let it be done to me" in yesterday's verse was said in response to what the angel had just told her about what God was about to do in her life. We often think of this but we should never leave out of the story that it is also in response to the final portion of the angel's statement before he departed, today's verse, "for nothing will be impossible with God". We considered yesterday that Mary's statement could be thought of as a prayer of submission but it was also an indication of her faith, her accepting the final portion of the angel's statement.
I read the following statement on faith in Thomas Brook's "Heaven on Earth" last night. After reading it I couldn't help but think of it in the context of this passage. "Faith alters the tenses; it puts the future into the present. Faith makes absent glory present, absent riches present, absent pleasures present, absent favors present. Faith brings an invisible God, and sets Him before the soul. Faith sets the divine before the soul. It sets peace, it sets pardon of sin, it sets the righteousness of Christ, it sets the joy of heaven, it sets salvation, before the soul; it makes all these things very near and obvious to the soul: "Faith is the evidence of things not seen". .... Faith makes invisible things visible; absent things, present; things which are far off, to be very near unto the soul - by convincing demonstrations, by arguments and reasons drawn from the Word."
One line from "O Little Town of Bethlehem" stand out to me as I think about this. "The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight". It represents and puts on display the attitude of today's verse that "with God nothing will be impossible. He alters the tenses and puts the future into the present. What seams impossible for you today, peace, pardon, joy? May you find it in Him.
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. NKJV
In Christ,
Mike
Follow the Verse of the Day blog at http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com
Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace NIV
Luke 1:31-38
Amplified Bible (AMP)
31 And listen! You will become pregnant and will give birth to a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus.
32 He will be great (eminent) and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His forefather David,
33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob throughout the ages; and of His reign there will be no end.
34 And Mary said to the angel, How can this be, since I have no [intimacy with any man as a] husband?
35 Then the angel said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you [like a shining cloud]; and so the holy (pure, sinless) Thing (Offspring) which shall be born of you will be called the Son of God.
36 And listen! Your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is now the sixth month with her who was called barren.
37 For with God nothing is ever impossible and no word from God shall be without power or impossible of fulfillment.
38 Then Mary said, Behold, I am the handmaiden of the Lord; let it be done to me according to what you have said. And the angel left her.
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