In the
sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a
virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The
virgin's name was Mary. 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 be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give Him
the name 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 the house of Jacob 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 upon 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. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and
she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible
with God." – (Luke 1.26-37)
"Good morning,
Mr. Phelps."
If you were a fan of the classic TV series (or the more recent Tom Cruise
movies), "Mission Impossible," you know those words always began a
riveting and exciting adventure. Jim Phelps, the head of the Mission Impossible
Force, would listen to a tape, which would start with the words, “your mission, should you choose to accept
it…” Mr. Phelps would then listen to a brief outline of this assignment
that seemed, well, impossible. Key word – “seemed.”
The tape would then self-destruct and Jim Phelps would immediately begin
building a team of specialists and concocting this elaborate, perfectly-timed
plan to do what couldn't be done. And, yes, every time they did get the
seemingly impossible mission accomplished.
That's
the conclusion you reached after watching that show for a while. And for them,
there was really no such thing as “Mission Impossible.” That's great fantasy
stuff. It's a much greater reality when it comes to rescue missions undertaken
by the One of whom the Bible says, "For
with God, nothing shall be impossible" – (Luke 1.37)
That
might be important for you to know right now – because there may be a person in
your life that seems beyond His reach, a situation beyond your ability to
manage, a struggle or maybe an addiction that’s been too great for you alone to
overcome. Maybe you’re involuntarily unemployed and your financial situation
seems increasingly impossible – the job prospects are bleaker than ever. Maybe
you’ve just been given some really bad news about your health and what you will
be dealing with is beyond the reach of modern medical cure and therefore seems
just hopeless. Maybe there’s a relationship that just doesn’t seem possible
anymore to deal with. Whatever seemingly “mission
impossible” you are facing right now you need to know that with God –
nothing is impossible… that with God – all things are possible!
The
angel Gabriel told Mary that God was planning to do something humanly impossible. All human logic
would agree that a virgin cannot possibly give birth to a child. It is simply impossible.
Yes, that’s absolutely true, it is humanly impossible! And contrary to a
frequently repeated saying, “God will not
give you more than you can handle” (where is that in the Bible?!) – He does,
in fact, give us more than we, within our own finite, human limitations, alone
can handle. And, according to God’s own word – this is exactly what was to
happen in the life of Mary and Joseph. That’s why Mary asks a perfectly natural
question, “How can this be… since I am a
virgin?” I believe Mary’s question was a realization of her own human
limitations – not a reflection of a lack of faith in God’s supernatural
ability. It probably just seemed crazy that a virgin could have a baby – it is
still a crazy notion to many today. But when God speaks of doing the humanly
impossible, it is no longer absurd. “For
no word from God will ever fail” – (Luke 1.37, NIV 2010) When was the last
time God did the impossible in your life? When was the last time God directed
you about what He wanted to do and you were scared to death by its scope and magnitude?
You
see, God still does the impossible! Too often we acknowledge our belief that
God can do whatever He wants, but then we add a safety-escape clause: "But I’m pretty sure God will not do
that with me!" In theory, we believe, but in practice, we become functional atheists, believing that maybe
God can perform miracles but never expecting a miracle in our own lives. We say
we believe – but our behavior often proves otherwise. Quite possibly, we may
not even believe God does miracles anymore — that is something solely in the
past — and we give some other natural explanation for what only could be God —
something for which He should receive the honor, the glory, and the praise. So,
has God changed? Is He still the Almighty, Omnipotent Creator?
God
wanted to bring salvation to all of humanity. It was critical that Mary not
only believed God could perform a miracle but that she also adjusted her life
to the awesome miraculous work He planned to do through her. This illustrates the
difference between a true follower of Jesus and a moral person – the Divine!
The difference between the church and a social club is the reality of the miraculous.
Some can imitate the morality of a Christian, but no one can reproduce the
miraculous that is part of the new birth experience. Do you believe that
nothing is impossible for God?
Now there's another thrilling aspect of how
God works found in this first Christmas “Mission Impossible” for the young
virgin and her husband to be. That Mary would travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem
in her ninth month of pregnancy – probably a four or five day trip – is
absolutely amazing. I've listened to people who have traveled the road from
Nazareth to Bethlehem by car or bus, not as Joseph and Mary did. Whether they
traveled on foot or rode on a donkey — from what I’ve heard it's a tortuous
journey through hills and mountains, and it's about 90 long miles of rugged
terrain. There's no way you're going to get a loving husband to go with his
very pregnant wife on a trip like that on the eve of their baby's birth, right?
Wrong!
You
see, for 700 years the prophecies of God had promised that Immanuel (God with
us) would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7.14) and for almost 500 years, the
prophecies also said that Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5.2).
Little problem: Joseph and Mary are living some 90 miles away in Nazareth.
There's apparently no way you'll ever get Mary to Bethlehem when the Messiah in
her womb is full-term. But the plan of God says born of a virgin and born in Bethlehem.
What God does is absolutely amazing, and may prove to be a very special
encouragement for you right now in your present circumstances.
We
read in God’s word, "In those days
Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire
Roman world ... and everyone went to his town to register. So Joseph also went
up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem, the town of
David, because he belonged to the house and line of David" – (Luke
2.1-4).
Now
the man who appears to be making all this come together is the Roman Emperor,
Caesar Augustus. History tells us that he murdered members of his own family,
he actually was a mass murderer, and he instituted emperor worship. He was, in
many ways, a monster. And here is Joseph caught up in the great whirlpool of
history, appearing to be directed by an imperial decree. But that is an earthly
perspective. The apostle Paul gives us the heavenly perspective when he writes,
“But when the time arrived that was set
by God the Father, God sent His Son, born among us of a woman…” –
(Galatians 4.4, MSG). Note these Spirit directed words, “the time – set by God… God sent His Son.” It was God calling the
shots – not any mere man!
You
see it is Caesar Augustus who turns out to be the bit player in this divine
drama, the footnote to history. He thinks he's flexing his muscle with this
universal census, but this most powerful man on earth is only an unsuspecting
instrument in the hands of sovereign, Almighty God — (“The Lord can control a king’s mind as He controls a river [The
heart of a king is a canal-stream in the hand of the Lord]; He can ·direct [turn;
incline] it as He pleases” – Proverbs 21.1, EXB). And God will get His
destiny people to His destiny place to accomplish His destiny purpose, even if
He has to move an entire empire to do it!
So,
as the Christmas story is still maybe lingering in our hearts and minds, let’s
not miss this very powerful statement — that God's missions are not impossible!
No, they’re unstoppable – including His plans for you. Plans, as He says in
Jeremiah 29.11, “to prosper you and not
harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." As The Message puts
it, “I know what I'm doing. I have it all
planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the
future you hope for” – (Jeremiah 29.11, MSG). Plans for you that the
apostle Paul declares, “There has never
been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in
you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ
Jesus appears… The One Who chose you can be trusted, and He will do this” –
(Philippians 1.6, MSG; 1 Thessalonians 5.24, CEV)
Now
it may be that at this very moment there appears to be no way things can turn
out right – it really does look to you as just completely, totally impossible!
The money simply isn't there, your health just isn't there, the relationship
looks impossible (or even being in a relationship seems impossible), the job
frustrations are mounting, the mountain isn't moving and it’s getting bigger
and bigger, and the answer isn't coming. It looks as if there's no way for
things to work out, not enough time for an answer to come – it’s just
impossible! Now, the moment of truth — do you really believe “nothing is impossible with God”?
You
belong to the same God who, with the stroke of an evil man's pen, moved an
empire to place His kids, Joseph and Mary, right where they were supposed to be,
for God to do what He had promised hundreds of years earlier. So, yes, there
was a difficult process, there was a humanly impossible mission, but God
delivered them exactly where they were supposed to be to accomplish exactly
what He planned at just the right time – “All
this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The
virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him
Immanuel’—which means, ‘God with us’ ” – (Matthew 1.22-23, NIV) And God
will get His plans for you accomplished if He has to move an empire to do it,
or use even a godless instrument to do it.
Jesus
was born in Bethlehem… of a virgin – the one a definite human impossibility,
the other a human improbability at the very least! Don’t forget that getting
Him there in the first place was an act of divine orchestration! So relax in
the strong arms of the God of Bethlehem and trust the One who entered this
world in the flesh through the womb of a young virgin. He will move whatever or
whomever He has to move and do whatever He has to do in order to finish what He
has started in your life!
Remember,
whatever “seemingly” mission
impossible you may be facing – “With men it is impossible, but not with God;
for with God all things are possible.” – (Mark 10.27, NKJV)
So,
your mission today, should you choose to accept it, is to trust an all-powerful
God Who loves you with a steadfast, enduring, unfailing, perfect, everlasting love,
demonstrated most dramatically in the sending of His Son into this world to die
for your sins and mine. And then, quite possibly,
no matter what is or isn’t going on right now in your life, with Him and by Him
and for Him, you will have a peaceful, joyful, Happy New Year!
In
a nutshell – in Him,
Web Shepherd
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