Did you know Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would be born of a virgin and of the lineage of King David 700 years prior to the birth of Jesus? This is the message from the book of Isaiah.

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of His government and peace, there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over His kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” Isaiah 9:4-7

This child would be of the lineage of King David, of which Joseph was of the lineage of David. In fact, in the book of Matthew, you will find the complete ancestry from Abraham forward. The book of Luke traces his lineage through King David all the way back to Adam. The child would also be born of a virgin, and they would call the baby Immanuel which is also a name for Jesus, and it means “God with us.”

Fast forward to the New Testament and you find the first appearance of a virgin whose name was Mary. She is first introduced to us with the appearance of Gabriel, the archangel. At this time, Mary was betrothed to a man named Joseph, which would have been arranged by the families. According to Jewish tradition, the betrothal or engagement would have been legally binding. Whenever the wedding took place then the young virgin would go to the home of the husband’s family

“In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!’ But she was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and His kingdom will have no end. And Mary said to the angel,’ How can this be since I am a virgin?’ And the angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason, the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God. And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. For nothing will be impossible with God.’ And Mary said, ‘Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word.’ And the angel departed from her.” Luke 1:26-38

We don’t know where Mary was when he appeared or how she knew he was an angel. It seemed apparent that Mary knew Jewish traditions and scriptures, she must have been spiritual because she was trying to understand and discern what sort of message the angel was giving to her. She responded to all of this with an answer that seemed mature in that whatever was God’s will that was the direction she wanted to go. She obeyed God. Was she surprised about the information of a coming Messiah? No, she was brought up in a Jewish home, that was their hope. What she was surprised at was that God had chosen her.

Once the angel left and she began to put it all together, can you just imagine how excited she would be to run to her cousin Elizabeth’s house to hear the experience that the angel Gabriel had told her about. That the one who was called barren would now bear a child also. This must have confirmed to Mary that she wasn’t in a dream, that this was real. Who else could she tell? This wasn’t any ordinary situation where you would be running to friends. Can you imagine the apprehension she might have had at the prospect of telling Joseph? What would he think of her? Was she mad? Had she been with another man? How would they tell the families?

In the book of Matthew, we find information about Joseph, his thoughts, and the angel’s appearance to him.

“Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall call his name Immanuel.’ When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.” Matthew 1: 1-25

Joseph contemplated divorcing Mary even though the marriage had not taken place, legally they were bound together at the betrothal. Jewish law gave him the right to put her away.

“When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house.” Deuteronomy 24:1

But Joseph chose to take her as his wife. He believed and obeyed the angel as he followed the instructions the angel gave him.

Then we know that they were to go to Bethlehem because a census was being taken and taxes were to be collected by the Roman government and because Joseph was of the house of David he had to travel to that city. While they were there, Mary gave birth in a lowly stable where animals were and only the straw for the baby to rest. What is interesting is that the angels and messengers of God appeared to shepherds in the field and not to the king, high priest, rabbis, Pharisees, or Sanhedrin. It was a spectacular appearance of heavenly hosts to tell them of the Savior’s birth. When the shepherds found Mary, Joseph, and the baby, they began to tell them of the sky filled with the appearance of angels and the good news they brought of a Savior. Luke records that Mary treasured up all these things and pondered this in her heart. Another affirmation is that this baby was the Messiah that had been prophesied in Isaiah.

The next incident is Mary and Joseph bringing baby Jesus to Jerusalem as he was circumcised the eighth day according to Jewish laws and was presented to the Lord in the temple where a sacrifice was offered on his behalf. There in the temple was a man named Simeon that through the Holy Spirit recognized that this was indeed The Son of God: “a light to the Gentiles and a glory to Israel.” Once again this was an affirmation to Mary and Joseph of the Messiah’s birth and his purpose.

Not long after that, Joseph was approached by an angel and told to flee with his family to Egypt because King Herod had heard from the wise men that a king had been born. Herod surmised that the boy must be about two years or under based on what the wise men had said and so he made a decree to kill all the baby boys under the age of two. Joseph obeyed the angel and took his family to Egypt. There they stayed until after Herod died and then returned to the city of Nazareth.

Nothing else is told about Mary and Joseph until Jesus was twelve and they had gone to Jerusalem to observe the annual feast of the Passover. As they traveled back toward Nazareth (about a six-day journey) with family and acquaintances, Jesus was missing. They traveled a day’s journey back to Jerusalem and finally on the third day they found him in the temple among the teachers listening and asking questions. It is recorded that the teachers were amazed at his understanding and His answers. Luke 2:41-52

We are not told any more about Joseph after this story and have to assume that he died sometime between this incident (Jesus is twelve) and the wedding feast at Cana of Galilee (Jesus was about thirty).

Mary, was in attendance at the wedding feast as well as Jesus and a few men that were following him after his baptism by John the Baptist. It is supposed that the wedding party might have been relatives because she cared that the wedding party had run out of the wine normally served. She related this to Jesus. He scolded her as he was just starting the ministry and was not there to show off. I think that the request should not have come through her on behalf of the family. Symbolic maybe for the fact that we as children of the Most High God can go directly to Him through Jesus Christ and we don’t need a priest or Mary. What was the reason He came to earth? You can read more about that in John 2:1-12. Nevertheless, He did provide. It may have been an opportunity for the disciples following Him to confirm who He was to them and also as it was at the beginning of the ministry where He would heal the sick and afflicted.

Since our thoughts are about Mary and Joseph, I will continue with several other instances in which Mary was mentioned. John 2:12 states that Jesus, his mother and brothers and His disciples traveled to Capernaum and stayed there a few days. This is the beginning of his ministry and Mary was there. She was at one of his first gatherings where the twelve disciples were chosen. She was at the cross (John 19:25), She was with the group of believers praying in the upper room after the Ascension of Christ. (Acts 1:12) After this, we are not told anything else about Mary.

I leave you with these two thoughts:

God takes ordinary people who are willing to obey and does spectacular things,

“For nothing will be impossible with God.” Luke 1:37