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"And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give 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."
(Luke 1:31-33)
Christmas is all about Jesus. Had He never come to earth and lived, then we would have no reason to celebrate Christmas, because there would be no Christ. Not only is He the reason for Christmas, but He is also the reason why Mary should not fear.
When you compare Mary's fear with who Jesus is, there is no room for it. Notice the five things Gabriel says about Jesus, whose name means "to save":
1. Great
And great Jesus was! He is the most recognized Person to ever live. Even today, 2000 years later, He is worshiped as God by over two billion people. Why is that? He was great; Jesus lived a life of love and compassion. He cared for people. He claimed to be the Son of God, the Savior of the world, and then demonstrated the truthfulness of those claims by dying for our sins and then rising from the dead. No doubt about it, Gabriel you are right, He is great!
2. Son of the Highest
This means He will be the Son of God, equal with God. Now, that is a bold claim, and one that Jesus said as well in John 3:16, the most recognized verse in the Bible: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." He is indeed the Son of the living God.
3. Throne of David
This Person Mary will conceive will be great, the Son of God, and will be given the throne of David, a reference to the fact that the Messiah would come from David's lineage and rule as predicted in 2 Samuel 7:13: "He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever."
4. He will reign forever.
Jesus will reign as the King of Israel, as prophesied, but not just over Israel: also in all the hearts of those who believe. Most of Israel rejected Jesus then as they do today. But He still reigns in the hearts of those who believe. 2 Samuel 7:16 states, "And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever."
This text reminds me of Handel's Messiah: "and He shall reign forever and ever, and ever and ever!"
5. His Kingdom will never end.
Jesus' Kingdom has been firmly established by Him since He inaugurated it in His time on earth. But that was only the beginning. He reigns and will continue to reign.
Think about it this way: if what the angel is saying is true (And why would it not be true? Why would he lie?), then Mary's fear and your fear and my fear have no grounds upon which to stand. Faith in Jesus removes all fear.
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