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Seeing life's events in the light of God's Word.

Just What Did Mary Know?

on December 17, 2023

Luke 1:28-35 “The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”

In 1984, Mark Lowry wrote the lyrics of one of my all-time favorite Christmas Songs, Mary Did You Know? In 1991, Buddy Greene put it to music. In the song, the writers asks Mary if she knew that her firstborn son, Jesus, would one day do such things as walking on water, give sight to the blind man, calm storms and die for the sins of all mankind (just to mention a few).

As I listened to the song last night, I wondered what the Bible has to say about “what Mary knew.” As I looked through God’s Word, I found this verse giving some insight about what this young teenage girl was told ahead of Jesus’s miraculous birth.

I went to Luke’s account, finding that although Mary was troubled at first, she believed what the angel told her, which was that 1) she was highly favored of the Lord; 2) she would become pregnant by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit; 3) she would give birth to a son, who would be named Jesus; 4) He would be known as the son of the Most High God; 5) He would be given the throne and reign over a kingdom that would never end.

This remarkable girl who believed God’s message and not only followed his instructions, she believed this was a blessing on her life.

The next portion of scripture is called, Mary’s Song. These are just the first several lines:

“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name.”


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