The God Who Sings
What can we learn from God's message to Mary and Joseph about the birth of their son Jesus? What can we learn from their reactions?
Listen to Pastor Jim’s sermon here, or read it below.
Do You Hear What I Hear?
In October 1962, two nuclear powers stood eyeball-to-eyeball. The Soviet Union had installed missiles on the island of Cuba, and the United States was threatening military action if the missiles were not removed. The nation was gripped with fear of yet another war. The world trembled and prayed.
One day in that same month, a man named Noel Regney was walking along the sidewalks of New York City. He was conscious of a sense of dread and despair among the people he encountered on the streets. Few of them were smiling.
Noel and his wife Gloria were a husband and wife songwriting duo, and a record producer had recently asked them to write a new song for the Christmas holiday. But for Noel and Gloria, circumstances in the world hardly evoked joy.
As Noel made his way home that day, he encountered mothers walking their babies in strollers. The little ones reminded him of newborn lambs, and in his mind a song and a prayer suddenly began to take shape. As soon as Noel arrived home, the lyrics had begun to flow, and he quickly jotted them down. When he had finished with the lyrics, he asked Gloria to write a musical score to accompany them.
On a later occasion, Gloria recalled that once the song was written, they never could sing it all the way through without crying. In their song, they attempted to poetically connect the birth of the Prince of Peace with a prayer for peace in the world. The title they gave the song was, “Do You Hear What I Hear?”
That particular question appears in the second verse:
Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy,
‘Do you hear what I hear?
A song, a song high above the trees
With a voice as big as the sea.’
Who possesses a voice as big as the sea? Only God has a voice as big as the sea, and infinitely bigger yet. I want to invite you this Christmas to think of the story and the message of Christmas as a song. Imagine that the voice singing the song is the voice of God. Does that sound a little silly or far-fetched to you? Does it sound excessively poetic?
Listen to the words of the prophet Zephaniah:
The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.
Zephaniah 3:17, Good News Translation
Let me ask you this morning: do you live with the peaceful consciousness that God, who created you, also loves you, delights in you, rejoices over you, even sings over you?
The Song Of Christmas
When our children were young, Marcie and I would sing with them and over them when we put them to bed in the evenings. We had an album of lullabies rooted in scripture that we would sing along with as they went to sleep. Why did we do that? We certainly wanted them to internalize scripture, and singing it is a very good way to do that. But even more basically, we would sing over them because we love them; we delight in them. They were precious to us, and they still are. It just seemed appropriate, the most natural thing in the world. And if they would let me, I would still sing them to sleep!
The song of Christmas is a song of love.
It is a song first sung by God himself. Think of it. The God we encounter in the Bible is not an unfeeling, aloof supreme being. He’s not an impersonal “force.” He is a Father with feelings He wants to express and thoughts He wants to communicate, a Father who loves and delights in us because we are his children, a Father who freely invites us to call him “Abba,” or “Daddy.”
Jesus told his friend Nicodemus that the ultimate expression of God’s love for humanity was demonstrated in giving us his only Son; that if we would believe in him, and receive him, God would also give to us the gift of everlasting life.
God expressed His love for the world in this way: He gave His only Son so that whoever believes in Him will not face everlasting destruction, but will have everlasting life.
That gift that God gave to all of us—the gift of His one and only Son, Jesus—is what we remember, and rehearse, and rejoice in during this season. We shouldn’t be surprised then that the narrative of the birth of Jesus in the Bible includes several songs, whether literal or figurative—effusions of love and praise. Here in the month of December, we’re going to explore them.
Two Elements To Hold In Tension
Before we open the Bible this morning, I want to just plant in your minds the thought that there are two elements that each of us has to hold in tension when we read the narrative of the incarnation of God’s Son.
“Incarnation” is the term we use to describe God becoming man, wrapping himself in human flesh. I’m going to describe those two elements as:
Other-worldly mystery
This-worldly history
It could be easy for us to relinquish the story of the birth of Jesus to the category of other-worldly mystery, because in this story we’ll encounter:
Heaven intersecting earth
The supernatural intersecting the natural
The divine intersecting the human
But the New Testament writers also intended us to accept the story as this-worldly history. The people and places named are real people known to history and the events described really happened.
Other-worldy mystery and this-worldly history—heaven and earth—no wonder the chorus of the well-known and loved Christmas carol says, “Let every heart prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing!”
Setting The Scene
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 call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.”
And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Verses 26-27 introduce us to the main characters in the story.
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.
First is God.
Everything begins with Him. He is the singer of the song of love that is the message of Christmas. God is always the Initiator in the relationship we enjoy with Him. The apostle John wrote:
This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
Next is the angel Gabriel.
The author of the New Testament book titled Hebrews wrote, “The angels are spirit-messengers sent by God to serve those who are going to be saved.”
Gabriel is one of two angels of God whose names we know. The other is Michael the Archangel.
Gabriel is the angel who ministered to the prophet Daniel. It was Gabriel also who announced to Zechariah the priest that he would become the father of John, whom we came to know as John the Baptist, the cousin and forerunner of Jesus. You can read that story earlier in Luke chapter 1.
To Zechariah, in Luke 1:19, he introduced himself this way:
I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.
Then there is Nazareth.
This is not a character, per se, but a place, an insignificant little town in the hill country of Galilee, with a population of no more than 2,000 in Jesus’ day. It is so insignificant in Israel that it is never even mentioned in the Old Testament, and in the New Testament it is only referenced as the hometown of Jesus.
A virgin.
The word is repeated twice here in verse 27, and the fact is repeated in verse 34. The word here meant then what it means today: a woman who has never had sexual relations with a man.
The virgin’s name is Mary, and when we first meet her she is betrothed (though not yet married) to a man named Joseph.
Betrothal was not like engagement today. A Jewish betrothal involved two steps.
The formal engagement and the exchange of a bride price
A wedding a year later
From the moment the betrothal took place, right on through the wedding itself, the couple were considered by the community to be husband and wife. Betrothal could be dissolved only by death or divorce. The only restriction during the one-year period was that the couple could not consummate their relationship sexually. Since betrothal usually took place soon after puberty, it’s possible that Mary could have been in her teens.
Luke adds that Joseph was of the house of David, and so was a descendant of the great king. So Jesus, too, was a member of the royal line, the son of David.
Mary’s Story
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.
Message
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 call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Let’s examine the angel’s surprising message to Mary: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”
Notice that this declaration echoes the angel’s greeting in verse 28, “Greetings, O favored one!” Mary is indeed highly favored, uniquely blessed among all women because she alone, out of all the daughters of Israel, was chosen to be the mother of long-awaited Messiah. Every young Jewish girl longed for that privilege, that indescribably great honor.
“And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.”
I’m struck with how matter-of-factly Gabriel makes this announcement. Notice those two-word phrases, “You will” and “you shall.” The first is a declaration of what Mary will experience: she will conceive and give birth to a son. The second is a command as to what she must do: “You shall call his name Jesus.” There are to be no negotiations. This is Mary’s new reality.
But who is this son she will bear? The angel Gabriel went on.
He will be great. His greatness will be unparalleled, unmitigated: neither defined nor limited in any way or by anyone.
He will be called the Son of the Most High. In Hebrew, “Most High” translates El Yone’: God the Exalted One, high, lofty, lifted up, supreme over all creation. Mary’s baby will be the Son of God.
He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. “Son of David” is a title for the promised Messiah.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. The house of Jacob is the house of Israel. Not only will Jesus’ reign be an eternal one, but the angel’s announcement promises an eternal future for the Jewish people.
Means
In verses 34-37, the conversation turns to the question of means.
For Mary the question was not if, but how. It was not whether she would cooperate; she simply wanted some understanding of the means by which this would happen.
And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
Here’s the third reminder of Mary’s virginity. Her question doesn’t actually include the word “virgin,” but the way she asks the question makes it very clear. In contemporary terms, her question would sound like this:
“How’s that going to happen, given that I am not now, nor have I ever been sexually active?”
And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.”
In Genesis 1, at the dawn of creation, we read of the Spirit of God hovering over the face of the deep. This same Creator God would, in another powerful creative act, overshadow Mary and cause her to conceive in her womb. God had allowed Mary’s relative Elizabeth to become pregnant by her husband Zechariah in their old age. Nothing is impossible with God.
Mission
And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
I see a strength, even a nobility in Mary’s response here. We’ll get a fuller view of that next week when we examine Mary’s Song in Luke 1:46-55. But notice with me that Mary didn’t come back with objections or conditions or anything like, “My body, my choice.” Mary’s response to the angel flowed out of a prior fundamental decision regarding her identity. Her self-understanding was this: “I am the servant of the Lord.”
There were many, many yet-to-be-asked-and-answered questions. But the one that mattered most had already been answered. She had decided that her body and her future belonged to the Lord, that He had the right to use her for His kingdom purposes in any way He chose, and so the final word was, “Bring it on. Let it be to me according to your word.”
Joseph’s Story
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”
(which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
Dilemma
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.
Joseph was conscious of two heartbreaking facts: first, Mary, his betrothed, was pregnant, and two, he was not the father. It was apparent to him and everyone else that she had committed adultery. Jewish law allowed a few options in these circumstances:
Stoning, but the Romans had taken the right of capital punishment away from the Jews
A public divorce
A quiet divorce
Decision
And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
Here we learn something important about the man whom God chose to be the earthly father of His Son. That he was a just man means that he was submissive to the law and counsel of God. That he was unwilling to put her to shame tells us that he was compassionate and merciful. Joseph fulfills the mandate of Micah 6:8:
He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Dream
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.”
We’re not told which angel appeared to Joseph in his dream, but he informs Joseph of what had been told Mary in much greater detail; for Joseph he adds instruction and insight. He is to participate in this new thing the Holy Spirit is doing by taking Mary as his wife, and he is to give their son the name Jesus. The insight is this: he is to call the child’s name Jesus because it is He who will save his people from their sins. Jesus means, “The Lord saves.” Jesus comes to be our Savior.
Determination
Luke inserts this editorial comment to verses 22-23:
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” (which means, “God with us”).
God is fulfilling ancient prophecies, in this case the one found in Isaiah 7:14, and Jesus is “God with us.”
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.
He got up that next morning with a heart of determination. He married her, kept her a virgin until she gave birth, and they called their son’s name, Jesus.
In Conclusion
The song of Christmas is a song of God’s love, sung over us, song for us, sung to us. It is a song that invites us to follow Him wherever, and however, He leads us.
We recently received a card in the mail from some dear friends here at Life Pointe. It read, “Here is God. Mark it down. You will never go where God is not. God has gone before you, and He is with you.” The angel said the same and so much more to Mary and Joseph.
The angel sent from God invited them to take a journey they had not anticipated. I’m struck by three observations in conclusion.
The unity of the angelic message to both Mary and Joseph. God doesn’t call married couples to separate, individualistic missions. We each have different gifts and talents, different capacities, different manners of serving, but when he calls us to become husband and wife, He calls us to walk the journey of obedience together, in the same direction.
Yet the decisions made first by Mary and then by Joseph were not made through discussion or collaboration or negotiation. Each of them made a definitive decision on their own. They had each made a set of prior decisions that prepared them for the one that confronted them on this occasion. They had each individually said to God, “Whatever, wherever, whenever, however,” without presuming what that might look like. They left it up to Him.
We cannot presume to understand the mind of God, or the fullness of why, of all the young couples in Israel, He chose Joseph and Mary. But when you stand back and examine it, there is an observable logic in his choice. God chooses to work through people like them: people who don’t have to go through the motions of sorting out values and priorities in the moment, who don’t come back with a list of conditions for their obedience, but who are ready, responsive, and willing to be used by Him when He calls.
I want to ask you this morning, are you that kind of person? Have you made the decision that you are the servant of the Lord? Have you adopted it as your identity? Are you ready and willing to become who God wants you to be, to do what God wants you to do without preconditions, and to go where He wants you to go, no matter the cost?
Are you hearing the song? Maybe today, early in this Christmas season, you will drive a stake in the ground and say, “I choose to believe in Jesus. I choose to be a servant of the Lord. I choose to allow Him to use me in whatever way He sees fit.”
This post is based on the transcript of Pastor Jim Hays’ sermon on December 8, 2019. Due to the nature of oral sermons, it may include thoughts and ideas from outside sources beyond those explicitly cited. If you have any questions or would like to know more about what he’s shared, please contact us or visit us this coming Sunday!