Here is the full transcript of pastor John MacArthur’s talk on The Christmas Story.
Listen to the audio version here:
TRANSCRIPT:
What did Mary know? What did she know? Well, I don’t think she knew that He’d walk on water, specifically. I don’t think she could know that He would give sight to a blind man, make the silent speak. She had no way to know that.
But there were some things that Mary did know. And she didn’t know them by intuition, she didn’t know them by speculation. She knew them because she was told by a heavenly visitor. It was an angel, you remember, that showed up. We’ve heard that in the music tonight, and it is an exact representation of what the scripture says.
In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel, that’s a big time angel. Only two are named in the Bible, angels that we know of by name are Michael and Gabriel. Super angel, Gabriel, was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth. Now, Galilee was kind of the rural area, and Nazareth was a hick town, out of the way, a no place, really. And for God to dispatch this very significant angel to that town was really very surprising.
And not only to that town, but to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. The best that we can assume, she was probably at marrying age, because she was now engaged, and that would make her twelve or thirteen in that ancient culture. And she was engaged to a man named Joseph.
Now, she came from the line of David. They kept records of their lineage, and she came from the line of David. And as a Jewish girl, who was very devout, that we understand, because she was highly favored by God, which is a statement about her character.
Her name, Mary, is a derivative of Miriam, so she was named for the sister of Moses, maybe the greatest hero in Judaism. They were a very devout family, so she knew what it meant to be in the line of David, because it would be in the line of David that the Messiah would be born. Whoever was the mother of the coming and promised Messiah would be a daughter of David.
It was also no coincidence that the man to whom she was engaged, Joseph, was also from the line of David. Did she expect that she would be the mother of Messiah? Hardly. But she knew it would come in her family. And she must have had the hope for the coming of Messiah that filled the heart of every Jewish family. She was a virgin, never known a man, waiting to be married.
And in a moment, her life changes in ways that are beyond imagination. Gabriel comes in to the house where Mary is. And he said to her, “Hail, favored one. The Lord is with you.” And she knew at that moment that God had chosen her for something very special. Nobody saw angels. Nobody. There hadn’t even been a prophet in 400 years until John the Baptist was about to be born.
And her relative, Elizabeth, had a messenger from heaven come to talk to her and her husband Zechariah about the birth of John the Baptist, also a miraculous birth. But apart from that, nobody had seen angels. It was a terrifying experience to see a heavenly angel.
And she was greatly troubled, it says. And she was troubled not only at the appearance of the angel, but it says she was afraid. And she couldn’t understand what he meant by what he said. “Hail, favored one. The Lord is with you.” She kept pondering, what kind of a greeting is that? It was a terrifying, breathtaking moment.
And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you’ve found favor with God.” And the first thing you might think if an angel showed up, a heavenly visitor from God, is that you’re about to be judged. You’re about to be punished. “Relax, Mary, don’t be afraid. You’ve found favor with God.”
So she knew that she had been chosen by God for some special favor. And the angel doesn’t waste any time. “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son.” You’re going to have a son. Well, she’s shocked by this.
And her response is, “How can this be, since I’m a virgin?” To which the angel said this, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” She knew who the Holy Spirit was. She knew the Holy Spirit was the power of the Most High, El Elyon. “Most High, God Most High, El Elyon.” Very familiar to Jewish people.
That was one of the great titles of God, God Most High. The Most High God overshadowing someone with His power was an image that she would be familiar with because the brother of her namesake, Miriam, had written about that in the first verses of the first chapter of his first book called Genesis.
You remember that when God began the creation, there was a mass of material for the creation, but the Hebrew verbs are tohu and bohu. It was without form and void. It was simply unformed material. And then it says in Genesis 1 that the Spirit of God — the Spirit of the Most High moved over the face of this unformed matter and out of it in six days came creation. The creation of the universe as we know it. She knew that when the power of the Most High moved, when the Holy Spirit showed up, miracles were created. Miraculous creation took place.
The angel said to her, “You shall name the Son Jesus.” In Hebrew that’s Yeshua. Jehovah saves. Jehovah saves. Joseph at another time and another place received a message from heaven.
It was the same message. “You’re going to have a Son and you shall call His name Yeshua for He will save His people from their sins.”
Mary knew she had been chosen by God, favored by God. She would be pregnant by the power of the Spirit of God without a man. Without a human father, the Holy Spirit would create life in her womb. And not just any life, but Yeshua, the Savior.
And the angel went on to say He will be great. How great? “He will be called the Son of the Most High.” That is to say, not only will He be your Son, but He will be Son of El Elyon, which means He will not only bear your humanity, but He will also bear the deity of God His Father. He will be the God-Man.
When he said He will be Son of the Most High, he added to that He will be called Son of God. They understood that in the Jewish world, that to be the son of someone was to bear the same nature as that one. “You’re going to have a child who will be the Savior. He will be placed in your womb miraculously by the creative work of the Spirit of God. He will be the Son of the Most High. He will be the Son of God.”
Not only that, the angel said this, “The Lord God will give Him the throne of his father David. He will be the Messiah.” Way back in 2 Samuel 7, God promised to David that a son would come out of his loins sometime in the future, and that son would be an eternal king. The king of kings. All this Mary knew.
Mary received a full explanation of who the child was to be. The Savior, the Son of God, the promised Messiah, the eternal King. And she said this, “Behold the slave of the Lord, be it done to me according to your word.” I submit to this. And you might say, well, who wouldn’t? I mean, what a privilege. She must have been a smart enough girl to have figured out that there would be some very challenging realities to the realization of this.
For one, how do you explain that you’re pregnant by the Holy Spirit and have everybody buy into that? That’s a hard sell. Can you hear the whispers around Nazareth? She’s not married yet. She hasn’t been married to Joseph. She’s pregnant, and she says it’s by the Holy Spirit.
And not only did she have to explain that for nine months, but for 30 years. Because in the first 30 years of the life of Jesus Christ, there was no reason for anybody to think He was the Son of God. He didn’t do any miracles. He didn’t teach anything. He lived with the family in Nazareth for 30 years in a carpenter shop working with his father. It’s a long time to try to explain something. It never becomes clear until the Son reaches the age of 30.
And then for most people, they rejected all of His claims to deity anyway at that point, including His own half-brothers and sisters who had been born to Joseph and Mary after Jesus was born. They didn’t even believe in Him.
And it wasn’t only that. When Mary took Jesus to the temple to be presented at the appropriate time of the ceremony of purification, she was told that this child was going to make life very difficult for her. In fact, a sword would go right through her heart. And it did. When the spear went through His side, the sword went through her heart. When she was standing at the foot of the cross, watching Him hang on four wounds, this is her Son, the Son of her love.
She had raised this perfect child. Can you imagine that? No. I can’t. What would it be like to have a perfect child? What kind of love did she have for Him? Knowing that He was not just her child. The child that you deliver will soon deliver you. She knew He would be her Savior as well.
Now, there was a lot to think about for Mary, an awful lot. But she was submissive and she was willing. And she was full of joy. This is what she did know, what the angel told her. And her response is given in the first chapter of Luke, and this is what it says, “Mary said, ‘My soul exalts the Lord. My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.'” She worships.
This is worship. It’s internal. “My soul exalts the Lord. My spirit rejoices.” This is internal worship. It’s intense, exalts, rejoices. It’s humble. “The Mighty One has done great things for me.” “He has had regard for the humble state of His slave.” This is humble worship. This is internal. This is intense. And it’s habitual. “My soul, present tense, continually exalts. My spirit, present tense, continually rejoices.” This woman is launched into unending praise and worship.
Why is she so excited? Because of the fame that will come to her? No. She never expected that. That’s why she said, “He has had regard for the humble state of His slave.” The reason she rejoices is because God has sent my Savior, she says. She rejoiced in God, her Savior. It may come as a surprise to many people, but Mary knew she needed a Savior. Because she was a sinner. And she knew it.
And her joy comes because God has sent her Savior to save her from her sins. And not just her, but she goes on to say, “From this time on, all generations will look back and see the blessing of this event.”
Not only was Jesus, Yeshua, Jehovah Saves, Mary’s Savior, but Jesus is the only Savior the world has ever had or will ever have. That’s why the Bible calls Him the Savior of the world, because He’s the only Savior in the world. There is no other Savior. There’s no salvation in any other name than the name of Jesus Christ.
Mary’s joy is connected to the fact that she knew she needed a Savior, and she knew the world needed a Savior. And as the angel said it would happen, it happened. Nine months later, she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.
And in the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were terribly frightened. Again, people didn’t see angels, and shepherds were the lowest people on the social ladder.
They were the low end of society. And an angel appearing to them, terrified. The angel said to them what Gabriel said to Mary, “Don’t be afraid. Behold, I bring you good news of great joy which shall be for all the people. And here’s the good news, today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior who is Christ the Lord.”
And with that pronouncement the angels began praising God, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth, Peace among men with whom He is pleased.” Mary knew that she was going to give birth to the Savior, the only Savior, the Savior of the world. That’s where her joy came from. And that’s where our joy comes from, isn’t it?
Why are we singing? Why do we sing? Why do we sing about His birth? Because we understand that there has been born for us a Savior, the only Savior. There is no salvation apart from Him. What we pray and hope for you is that you not only know the Christmas story, that’s somewhat incidental. What is far more important is that you know the Savior.
Father, we thank You that You have opened up the truth to us as You did to Mary. We’ve all heard Gabriel speak. We heard the message. A Savior has been born. We heard the angel speak on the hillside to the shepherds. Today, there is born for you a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And the whole angelic host burst forth singing, ‘Hallelujah, glory,’ because peace is available between sinners and God through the Savior.
We thank You that He came, lived a perfect life, died as a sacrifice for our sins, taking our punishment on the cross, rose again from the dead, that He might give us life, and that by faith in Him, we are saved from our sins forever and given the promise of eternal heaven. Fill our hearts with joy in believing this greatest of all truths. May we truly honor Christ, not in sentimental ways, but in saving faith. Amen.