He Shall Be Great |
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Elder
Mark D. Rowell |
Luke 1:32:
“He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the
Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of
his father David:” When Gabriel was
sent to Mary to testify of the conception of the Saviour, he
was given such a wonderful message; one that denotes the
greatness of Jesus Christ!
Lest there be any confusion about the matter, we should
understand that the word “shall” does not mean that the Lord
wasn’t great prior to the virgin birth. There are many
scriptures that teach us of the eternal sonship of Christ.
This was not the beginning of the Son of God. He is from
everlasting to everlasting! However, this was the
announcement of the manifestation of the second in the
Trinity in the flesh. Paul said that part of the “Mystery of
Godliness” was God being “…manifest in the flesh…” (1
Tim 3:16)
Just a few verses further in Luke, Gabriel tells Mary,
“…The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the
Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of
God.” This further proves the eternal greatness of the
Son of God! He was (and is) that “holy thing”! So we MUST
understand that Gabriel’s announcement to Mary was specific
to Jesus Christ being manifest in the flesh, and in so
doing, there is something very specific about the greatness
of Jesus in that capacity.
Looking at the angel’s statement to Joseph in Matthew 1:21
gives more insight into the greatness of Jesus Christ we
write of: “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou
shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from
their sins.”
A question
about a portion of 2Sam23:5 “yet he hath made with me an
everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure:”
Has, or will there ever be, a man of any age, with any
evidence, for a proof: “The everlasting covenant, has failed
in the slightest way, to be either ordered in all things, or
sure?” Nay!
This shows the definitive purpose of God regarding His Son
and His people. The three SHALLS of Matthew 1:21 build to
the greatness of Jesus Christ:
1) She SHALL bring forth a son: let there be no doubt, there
is absolutely nothing that could have prevented the birth of
the Saviour. God’s will, pleasure, and purpose can never be
thwarted by any devised means of man. No matter what would
transpire in and around this, Mary SHALL bring forth a son
2) Thou SHALT call his name JESUS: much could be said about
this, but suffice it to say that His name is Jesus because
He is the Saviour. There was no debate about names with this
child! Do you see the “greatness” building regarding this
child?
3) He SHALL save his people from their sins! Herein lies the
greatness that Gabriel speaks of in Luke! When Gabriel says
“He shall be great” he is specifically referencing the
reason Jesus came into this world - to save sinners! To
redeem the people of God!
I like to step through Matthew 1:21 like this: did Mary
bring forth a son? Yes. Did they call his name Jesus? Yes.
If the first two be the case, then surely the last one is as
well: did he save his people from their sins? Absolutely! He
is great!
Even Jesus testifies of His greatness when teaching about
his work on Calvary when he says, “The queen of the south
shall rise up in the judgement with this generation, and
shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of
the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a
greater than Solomon is here.” (Mat 12:42)
Sheba
heard of Solomon’s greatness and went to him to see for
herself. Now Jesus says that a “greater than Solomon” is
here! We were judged righteous in Jesus Christ when He gave
His life for His sheep! He was “…made to be sin for us, who
knew no sin…” He is the greatest because of both who He was
and what He did while in this world!
Finally, Paul testifies of the greatness of Jesus Christ in
relation to His work on Calvary:
“Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express
image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of
his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down
on the right hand of the Majesty on high; being made so much
better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a
more excellent name than they.” Heb 1:4
Paul shows us the greatness of Jesus Christ by explaining to
us that He was indeed God manifest in the flesh. He is the
second in the Trinity: the brightness of God’s glory and the
express image of God’s person (“He that hath seen me hath
seen the Father”), and then he goes into more of the
greatness of Jesus Christ by showing us that His word of His
power upholds all things! Finally, he shows the greatest of
the greats by telling us that Jesus Christ, by himself,
redeemed the family of God from all their sins!
Even though Gabriel, being an angel from Heaven, must have
been an amazing sight to see, Paul shows us that Jesus
Christ was greater than the angels because He obtained a
“more excellent name” because He was, and is, the Son of
God!
“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised!”
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