Devotional for the weekend of Dec. 10

Choose someone to light the first candle (purple) from last week.
Choose someone to light the second candle (purple) for this week.

Scripture Reading: Luke 1: 13—23, 26—38.

Devotional:

Two angelic announcements.
Two different responses.

Zacharias and Elizabeth are old. Don’t be offended. That’s how Zacharias describes himself and his wife in verse 18. But they are told that they’ll have a baby boy. They’re supposed to name him John.

John’s going to be one interesting fellow, too. He will be joyful and be glad. People will be happy that he was even born. He’ll be great in God’s eyes. He’ll never touch alcohol. He’ll be filled with the Holy Spirit (which didn’t happen to everybody in the Old Testament, either) even while he’s in Elizabeth’s tummy.

He’ll be pretty remarkable, too. Lots of the sons and daughters of Israel, God’s chosen people, will turn back to the Lord their God. He’ll even have the privilege of announcing that the Messiah is coming.

Remember that silence we learned about last week? The one that lasted 400 years? Yeah, well, that’s going to be over soon. In nine very short months. The people living in darkness will see a great light.

An angel told Zacharias these things. But it didn’t sound right. He’s old, remember? So’s his wife. Too old to be having children, anyway.

The angel told him he wouldn’t be able to talk until the child was born. See, Zacharias didn’t believe what the angel told him.

Mary is young. Probably somewhere between 14 and 17. She was engaged to be married to Joseph. From what we can gather she’s a pretty good girl, too. She’s also related to David…the great king of Israel. Remember what we read in Isaiah? Yeah. THAT King David…the one in which the Messiah would sit on his throne.

An angel told her she was going to have a baby, too. He’ll be pretty remarkable, too. He’ll be the Son of the Most High. God will make this baby a king who sits on the throne of David and rules over the nation of Israel. His kingdom will never end.

Yeah. That’s a great light to people in darkness.

An angel told Mary these things. He also told her nothing is too hard for God to accomplish. Mary said that she would be the Lord’s willing servant, no matter what the cost to her personally.

Two angelic announcements.
Two reactions: one lacking faith and one showing a deep faith.

What's our reaction to the absolutely amazing reality that a virgin will bear a child? And what does that mean to us today?