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we'll now call on our brother allen archer to lead us in our second uh session entitled the handmaid of the lord brother alan

thanks brother honest

surprising that my wife didn't put a hand up about speaking too quickly i always get

told at home i speak to it quickly and now you come when you're talking to people who don't speak english

makes it very hard

and by the way we don't speak australian either

we come from new zealand which is which is much different

well luke chapter one this is it

it's all happening that which the prophets have looked forward to for so many years it's now happened here it is the salvation of god and it's a marvelous story that we come across the story of of mary what a delightful person

mary was

the best in the world

best person in the world

i guess if there was a better person god would have chosen her

and so it's a delight that mary then comes upon the scene and here is elizabeth in verse 25

the old and the aged elizabeth who rejoices that god has taken away her reproach

among men for not having a child

and mary comes forth

and she's going to carry a reproach

because she's going to have a child

before she's married

there's a great contrast then elizabeth the old lady and mary comes knew the new life a young person comes springing upon the scene

and to her great credit

she accepted that which god has

involved her with

a child

without a husband and even zechariah hadn't done that he hadn't accepted the fact that they would have a child

mary to her credit does that in a very wonderful and a very gracious way not easy as we'll see well it was a six months in verse 26

which meant that john of course would be six months older than the lord jesus christ which is really quite sensible that the forerunner then would be the older of the two but of course those six months gave mary the opportunity to see

elizabeth

and what had happened to her and therefore to be reassured about her own revelation

and so we read in verse 26 the angel gabriel was sent

from god

when gabriel spoke to daniel he said i am gabriel that stands

in the presence

of god

so of all the hosts and the myriad of angels there was a very special angel

gabriel

sent

from god

to nazareth and it was as though there was an unreality in that because such a contrast from god

to that

galilee to the gentiles

to the mixed up area into the confused area the area that was in darkness unto nazareth so it's part of the drama of that story from god up on high to nazareth down on below

could any good thing

come out of nazareth

galilee

of the gentiles so it's like a fairy tale isn't it the drama of that story imagine there in galilee the light was coming as it said in isaiah chapter 9.

nazareth just sits just up in the hills at the start of the hills in

the area

with a galilean hills

i've got a bit of a picture here but it's a bit hard to actually see and if you don't actually print put the right uh box on the computer you print out a color slide and it comes out black and white and that's got me a bit confused but that slide really is in color i look at it on the screen it's in color look at it on the projector and look it up on the screen it's black and white

for some reason that i just don't understand uh but anyhow what nazareth is is really it's a valley actually if you look over and looked at before

just to flip over there for a minute it says

and you know the story they rose up and thrust them out of the city and led them up to the brow of the hill where on their city was built

and yet you can see from that picture that nazareth is in a valley

the answer to that question is that nazareth sits in a valley which is really sits on the brow of the hill so if you could look over the hills in the distance you would actually then look down and go right down this precipice into the plane of estrella

so you've got the the hills of galilee start up and then it just drops down a little bit into this valley and so that's the valley there where nazareth so you could describe it as in luke chapter 4 in the brow of a hill where on their city was built so it's a very small and a very insignificant kind of city was hardly ever mentioned

joshua never mentioned it in his description of the settlements of the tribe of zebulun

josephus

mentions 45 cities of galilee but he never mentions

nazareth

in the jewish talmud there are 68 sorry 63 towns in galilee mentioned and there is never any mention of nazareth

so small place in those days much larger now it's an arab town these days

much larger than albert very small in those days why nazareth

why would nazareth be chosen little insignificant place

i suppose perhaps paul's comment in corinthians god had chosen the foolish things of the world

that no flesh

should glory in his presence

and nazareth really then was one of the weak things of the age there was no prestige you could not stand up and say i'm from nazareth

it would be like saying i'm from nowhere virtually and so the work the whole work involved in this is a work which has no human claim to greatness it has no human recommendation it's a work that's going to be of god alone

the glory of god

alone would be what would be seen in the work of the lord jesus christ

just an interesting reference about americans

but you may not believe this and i'm just quoting from robert roberts

and what he did in nazareth revisited he actually compared

the little despised nazareth

and the great and mighty jerusalem with america and england

and guess which one america

[Music]

was and

there's no reflection against you but this is what he said america has given us the gospel

which venerable and learned england

was alone supposed to be possessed of learning enough to discover just read that sentence again so what is drawing of course the fact was that dr thomas started in america of all places

whereas england really should have been the place and he went there of course so i just read this this is straight robert roberts i'm not having you on this is straight robert roberts

america has given us the gospel which venerable and learned england was alone supposed to be possessed of learning enough to deliver and it isn't in the hands of the poor and unlearned that its work is being done

well that's uh

i'm not american

no i'm not really that's not true

well nazareth anyhow is off the highway of human trafficking so being in that little valley that was there it was close to that way of the sea but off the highway so you weren't really connected with the world except that jesus and no doubt no doubt he did could go up to the brow of the hill and look down on that plane and then would see the traffic that was going along that road would see all the events that happened in those bygone days there was there were souls they went to mil wilbur there was elijah they went up the top of the valley to to carmel all those pictures of the old testament times would be just very close at hand on the brow of the hill looking over that valley of jezreel

nazareth of course comes from a word which means branch which i would guess you would know

and there's a whole series of quotations in the old testament about the branch

just one or two because it has a great bearing upon the virgin birth if we come to isaiah chapter 11.

and there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of jesse

and a branch that's isaiah 11 and verse 1 and a branch shall grow out of his roots

so just using this glass of water for a minute to pretend that's that's now our um stem of jessie then you've got a rod that comes out from the top and then you've got a a branch which grows out of the roots of jesse so as you know the lord jesus christ of course is not only from the stem on the top he's not only at the line of david but he comes right from the very origins of jesse he comes from god himself and so it's like a sucker that's uh that's comes forth and it it shows the characteristics of the roots

you know you have a rose

suppose you have roses like we have roses which are grafted and then occasionally you'll get a sucker that'll come up and you've got to cut it off because it would be nothing like what was on top but what it is like of course is what's underneath it has that strength and that virility of the root stock which the rose has been planted into well same with the lord jesus christ he has the the characteristics then of that root stop he's the root of jesse as he comes forth and shows those divine ways in his life branch out of his stem so a right over the stem branch out of his roots just have a look at revelation and that's the whole picture carries straight through revelation chapter 22

we makes that same thing very clear i am the it's revelation 22 and verse 16.

i'm the root

and the offspring of david

there is really no other explanation than that he was born of a virgin

had to be to be the roots

of david as well as the offspring of david but just look at it a more interesting one in revelation chapter 5

and the same thing here you see in verse 5

it's got the root of david

revelation 5 and verse 5 but just notice this

and i'll just read through from verse 3

to verse 5.

notice the words i emphasize

well i'll start halfway through verse 2

who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof and no man in heaven nor on earth neither under the earth was able to open the book neither looked there on and i wept much because no man

was found worthy to open and to read the book now that look they're on and one of the elders said unto me weep not behold the lion of the tribe of judah the roots of david

have prevailed interesting isn't it no man no man the root of david it's the virgin birth which we have here betrayed them in a marvelous way there's god unto us a son is given

no man will do it he's not the the son of man he's not the seed of man he said genesis 3 15 he is the seed of the woman he is the one who is going to be raised up as a seed of the woman a righteous branch

just another one in the series of zechariah chapter six

i just put up on the screen the whole series which includes

two quotations from jeremiah but just look at zechariah chapter six

it has the same little detail here because in verse 12

thus speaketh the lord of hosts saying

behold the man whose name is the branch like the name nazareth the man whose name is the branch and he shall grow up

out of his place

now the margin

says

the branch up from

under him

interesting

see behold

the man whose name is the branch the branch up from

under him

so it's exactly the same concept no man no man he's the comes from the root of david he's the branch which grows up from from under the roots of davis and the one that therefore shows forth those great and divine characteristics truly truly they could say this

was

the son of god

there are of course the other linkages like isaiah 53 the root out of dry ground

the dry ground of course was

galilee of the gentiles

in that

despised

nazareth as we would sing in our hymn

well let's go back to luke

go through the story then in luke chapter one

gabriel then is upon the scene

and gabriel comes

from god

to nazareth it makes it clear in verse 27

that she comes to a a virgin

been to an old woman

and now to a

young virgin

and she this virgin then is

espoused to a man whose name was joseph we'll say more about that when we get to matthew one but meanwhile she's engaged

to this man called

joseph

we don't know a lot about joseph but what we do know is one of the greatest things that was said about him and it's actually in luke one of the in luke chapter two i think it is the um

luke 2 and verse 51

there is the lord jesus christ now 12

years old and upwards

coming back to nazareth and was subject

unto

them

it says a lot really for joseph doesn't it there's the lord jesus christ who knows full well who his father is at that stage whistle not that i must be about my father's business

and yet he comes back to nazareth nazareth and his subject under joseph and mary a great attribute really to joseph you could never find

there as the story goes in chapter 1

to a virgin espoused a man whose name was joseph of the house of david so they're both there of the house of david the virgin's name was

mary

very simply put

there's no grand genealogy at that particular point

it's very matter of fact and we wonder about mary would like to know more what does she look like

was she beautiful like rachel

or just nice eyes like leah

what kind of life did she live

was she a lively teenage girl

or was she just reflective and quiet and meditated what were the parents like how did the household live lots of questions of course but

no answers and there's no pictures of course left behind about mary although of course the roman catholic church has got plenty of those and they transfer transform her into a goddess but it's obvious looks aren't relevance it's her it's her thoughts what is relevant is is the way she had her godliness and reverence now there's three quotations or three phrases that are used

expressions which show how she was regarded first one in verse 28

she was

highly favored

or as the margin says

she was graciously

accepted or much graced

in verse 30 it says she has found favor

with god

and then she was

lest

among women

and that's in verse 42

where elizabeth says it so there's those three phrases which are showing

mary's greatness

highly favored

found favor with god

blessed among women

and then the other aspect of a character comes out from the responses

that she showed

in verse 38

an amazing response

behold

the handmaid

of the lord

view of the task that she had been given

and viewed the difficulties of that task would cause her and the heartache in the anguish she's able to say

behold the handmaid

of the lords

or in verse 46 for example my soul doth magnify the lord and all this really is from a girl whose age

how old

18

why do you say that

yeah

yeah

somehow some of the young people of adelaide seem to get married quite young these days i was taking a wedding the other day and the girl was only 18.

just turning 19 this week she was married two weeks ago but but she was actually a very mature girl she brought up in a very good household and she she was a good example actually she had a maturity probably beyond her her years and you imagine therefore that's mary isn't it

now you take most uh 18 and 19 year olds or whatever she might have been or 17 year olds

we've got a lot of them back home which are pretty sensible but you know they're still 18 and 19 year olds and i've had about i suppose four daughters which are three daughters which are passed through that age group

one approaching that age group

but here's a person who's really very different isn't it

a marvelous example really for young people isn't it when you think about it the reaction of mary no one's going to be quite like mary but but there's a thing to strive for to be so receptive indeed to god's word and to be so hearkening unto divine instruction and therefore and to control her life in such a way and be constrained and restrained

in the life that she was living may of a marvelous thing i mean there's not this little tittering about there's going to be a wedding you know big concentration that what am i going to wear and who's going to be the bridesmaids and and what are the men going to be and what cars are we traveling and who's going to what cake is going to be and all those sorts of things which go on with weddings and

we don't sort of deride that really

weddings ought to be sort of special things shouldn't they it's i mean i think the world has really sort of ruined all that hasn't it with its life of people

you know what it's like here but in australia with invariably people living together before they're married and takes a what takes everything away from the whole thing doesn't it and

it's like you go and try and block a wedding venue daphne has tried to do that three times [Music] you can hardly book a wedding reception venue

because people have got them booked up two years ahead

because of course it doesn't matter when you actually have the ceremony you know it's a crazy world isn't it so it's good that we have excitement and about them among our own young people that they they do the right thing they're restrained and then they and then they come together at that particular time of joyfulness and pleasure happiness etc so excitement about weddings is is good but

but back to mary of course it's it's the it's the lasting things which are the things which affect her

and she responds to that not thinking about a husband but thinking about the greatness of the promise that's been shown and so when the angel comes in in verse 28

hail well i suppose the catholics would say

hail mary

let's say um ave maria

which is a nice piece of music please the schubert one but unfortunately it's somewhat spoiled by the connotation that's uh

that's given to her and it that connotation really is totally lacking in the record i mean i think the interpretation is something like and it's like the margin there

where it's got much graced

so hail mary much grace

and so that that becomes totally misinterpreted to say that mary then is the source of grace

so you can obtain grace

which is more than what we think grace is

you contain that grace

by hailing mary so you go through your rosary beads and count your rosary beads and hail mary's full of grace etc

totally totally foreign really to what this record is all about this is a plain

straightforward record and she's favored

the favored one

hail

the favored one

the lord is with

blessed are they among women some translations by the way omit that

but it doesn't make much difference because it occurs in verse 42 anyway so it's okay

her reaction then in verse 29

when she saw him she was troubled well that's not very surprising she was greatly distressed

or were of course when they saw an angel like that

greatly trouble

she didn't understand of course why why her

why would she be visited by this angel

and so she in verse 29 says she was troubled as saying and cast

in her mind

what manner of salutation this should be

what do we imagine [Music]

cast in her mind

there's a few references isn't that to mary in her mind remember what they are

whereabouts are they the verses

good just just a few references in this particular section

is in verse 29 oh sorry chap so that's the one we've got 129. the next one is chapter 2 verse 19

where it says and mary kept all these things

and she

pondered them in her heart so i guess that's two things isn't it she keeps them

and then she ponders them in her heart

and then

without going on to that other incident just staying in chapter 2 verse 51

[Music]

but her mother

kept all these signs in her heart

so there's a remarkable thoughtfulness i've just got on the screen just a few little words

that they say is reflects the meaning of these ideas a cast in her mind she she pondered them in the first one when the angel comes she ponders what's to happen

chapter 2 verse 19 she kept all these things it's like it's like retaining them

memorizing them if you like

pondered them in her heart

so she's

linking them through

turning them over

working the whole things out

then 251

as though she's sort of watching carefully and she sees these things happening before her with her son [Music] and she's trying to work it out and watching carefully at what happens isn't she a marvelous person like that you know reflector

meditator

and mind really filled with the scriptural import of what's happening

a great woman mary the best ready there was

at least in the line of david in those days all that from a girl who's just about to be married

an amazing maturity in her mind

wonder

what she really thought in chapter 1 and verse 9 29

she cast in her mind

what manner of salutation

this should be

now of course the chances are that events occurred so quickly that

there wasn't much time through a lot of thinking but

if you did have time to stop and think

and you thought about angels appearing to women

then the old testament really would make you start thinking about children

because

the mothers of isaac and the samson and

possibly moses and jacob they were sort of tied up with this angelic visitation the they were to do with the impending births

of children

could mary possibly have thought about that

could mary possibly have thought

that she might be involved

in the working out of god's purpose

no well

possibly yes

i mean she at least was the right generation and if they thought that that was the time of the birth of the lord but she was the right age

and there weren't many direct descendants

of david

and she was

one of them

it seems like she had no brothers we only say that because it remember john at the crucifixion is given in charge of mary not any other relations

and she was espoused to another person who was actually in the kingly line so it was really a remarkable circumstance that maybe they had maybe they hadn't maybe they had thought about that situation but i guess never of course would she ever thought about the fact of a virgin birth never because verse 34 how shall this be saying i know not a man but they may have thought that may have been some involvement possibly possibly not but anyhow

whatever it was she cast those things in her mind there was something ticking something great really going on with that

verse 30 then gabriel says

fear not mary

for that has found

favor

with god

and by now gabriel was getting quite used to

saying that because he said finn up to daniel

and he said fear not to zechariah

and he says fear not then to mary

if you're not mary for

the hast found favor

with god

and behold thou shalt conceive

in thy womb

there's no mention of course of any man that's the point that mary immediately then picks up but who would it be his father then they shall conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son who would be his father world it's obviously second samuel chapter seven i will be his father or when the fullness of time was come in galatians chapter four when the fullness of time was come god sent forth a son made of a woman

i will be his father

was ringing in the ears of david write down those in the line of david

and that shall bring forth a son and shall call his name

jesus

yah shall save

he's going to be

emmanuel

and we know the way that all happens and i think i've got a table in those notes there just that link up together the luke 1 verse 31

and the isaiah 7 verse 14. so you see the whole both cases they shall conceive in thy womb a virgin shall conceive bring forth the son bear a son and thou shall call his name which i'll call his name jesus or

emmanuel it's the case in isaiah 7. so there's a very direct direct cross linkages between luke 1 and isaiah 7.

you will actually remember that matthew 1 quotes luke 7

verbatim but luke 1

then

strings together the ideas of isaiah chapter 7.

and so he shall be great in verse 32.

he'd used those words of john the baptist but gabriel then uses them in a greater sense of the lord jesus christ 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 it's going to be the lord god

who would give him that throne

now it's interesting come back to second samuel chapter seven this is quite fascinating really

it's the lord god shall give him the throne of his father david

that you know that's like the expression the lord yahweh

or adonai yahweh in the hebrew the lord god shall give unto him the throne of his father david not a very common expression it's not used very much in the in the old testament but you take 2nd samuel 7 and there is the promise which is given to david i will be his father and he shall be my son and then in a remarkable way in verse 18

king david went in and sat before the lord

i mean that's remarkable you never did that

the priest stood

david comes in and sits and what does he say what he says from verse 18 through to verse 29

whom i owe lord god and then verse 19

and this was he had a small thing in thy sight o lord god

at the end of the verse and is this the manner of man o lord god and then in verse 20 for thou lord god knoweth thy servant and verse 22

wherefore thou art great o lord god

and then verse 25

and now o lord god the word they hath spoken to concern thy servants and then in verse 28 and now o lord god there are that gods and then finally in verse 29

oh lord god

thou hast spoken an interesting connection gabriel comes and says the same words

unusual phrase

the lord god shall give unto him the throne of his father

david that's amazing isn't the way the scripture connects with all those things

it's also of course said he's the son

of the highest

the most high god

when was that first used

who said that or who was it set off the most high god

abraham yeah said about what

in the time of abraham

that melchizedek yeah yeah the priest of the most high god so here's melchizedek the type of the lord jesus christ he's of the most high god so jesus comes then he's the son of the highest and how many times does it say in luke about the highest

well let's count them there's there's one in verse 32

the son of the highest

there is one in verse 35

the power of the highest

there's one in verse 76 said by zechariah that child shall be called the prophet of the highest

and when the angels came outside bethlehem and they heard the voice it was glory to god in the highest

so it's interesting that the whole sort of expression is surrounding those events are surrounded by that idea the highest the high hope that we have we have the the most high god before us who's coming who's intervened for our salvation

the son of the highest is about to come

and so he's going to have the throne of his father david then in verse 32

a throne which is going to show mercy judgment

and righteousness and it's going to reign in verse 33 over the house of jacob

forever

you stop and think

why does it say the house of jacob

i mean i mean wouldn't it be more sensible to have said the house of israel

because remember jacob is more often used as the confined sort of word for israel the nation of israel and israel then can be used then for a more expansive

idea

generally so but not always it's interesting to go back to their prophets let's come back to isaiah and just see the way that sort of expands so that the house of jacob starts really it is a focus then upon israel but it's referred to in an expansive kind of sense you take isaiah the two

and it's got that well-known part in verse 3

come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the lord to the house of the god of jacob and that's referring of course to the kingdom age when gentiles will come in to the house of the god of jacob so that's next phrase then becomes a an inclusive phrase to bring people in you see what was the house of jacob doing at that stage

well in verse 5 it says o house of jacob come ye and let us walk in the light of the lord

so the house of jacob literally was in darkness

and there was suicides verse six involved with all these soothsayers and like the philistines that were there and so the encouragement then of israel is to come out of that darkness the house of jacob comes and comes out of that darkness and they worship the lord jesus christ at jerusalem so that the house of jacob then is used in this sort of kind of expansive sense isaiah chapter 14

for the lord will have mercy on jacob

and will yet choose israel and set them in their own land and the strangers shall be joined with them and they shall cleave to the house of jacob

so gabriel saying he shall be of the house of jacob holds together this expansion that's going to come in isaiah chapter 49

has the same sort of thing

so the ringing of the prophets isaiah 49

and now set the lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant to bring jacob again to him though israel be not gathered yet shall i be glorious in the eyes of the lord and my god shall be my strength and he said it is a light thing that thou should have been my servant to raise up the tribes of jacob and to restore the preserved of israel i will also give thee for a light to the gentiles that there must be my salvation unto the ends of the earth

so that's the the idea then that's behind that phrase that gabriel says in luke chapter one thirty three

he shall reign over the house

of jacob because that house

is going to be a house which will pull together all people

well

mary's perplexed

but at least you can't work out how it's going to happen in verse 34

how shall this be

saying i know not a man

how should this be sing

i know not a man it's pretty obvious what's happening here is that mary is she's not questioning the fact that it will happen

she doesn't doubt the fact

but like abraham did

he questions she questions the mode

remember that's the difference with abraham and sarah sarah laughed because that would never happen they could never have a son abraham believes it but doesn't know how

so mary then

doesn't know how but believes it but zechariah early in the chapter

couldn't believe it

and so he was struck down

that's a marvelous thing isn't it mary she just accepts it she believes it but is puzzled to know how

how's it going to be

verse 35 and the angel answered and said unto her the holy spirit should come upon thee

and the power

of the highest

shall over shadow thee

now there's another case where it talks about the highest himself and that's psalm 87.

remember psalm 87 is a psalm that has the bringing together of the people from different countries the ethiopians philistines and tyrions and they come together and where are they all born they're all born in jerusalem because that's where their heart and their hope is

so it's a

it's the highest himself it says that in that psalm the highest himself brings all these gentiles in and brings them into the hope of israel and so they're all born in zion like us birthplace

zoro birthplace

zara first place zion and it's the highest himself so that reference to the highest really again like the phrase house of jacob becomes

a phrase which brings people in there's going to be a new relationship there's going to be gentiles as well as jews now participating in the things of the house of david

therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the son of god

and there weren't many that

appreciated that

what would it mean to mary

at that stage

difficult what does it mean to be

in a household with a son who's the son of god

i guess she could never really appreciate that

she found it hard obviously as the record later says to know

that this was the son of god

there were of course a few occasions when he was said to be such

nathaniel when he read nathaniel's mind under the fig tree says that this is the

son of god

right at the beginning of the ministry but

it didn't happen for many others peter

about the christ the son of the living god he said at one stage

in his enthusiasm that peter show

martha said it too

martha said lord i believe that there are the christ the son of the living gods

but i wouldn't open that tomb

because he's been there for four days and it's not good

one thing isn't to

say he's the son of god but the reality of it is it was hard for them to to know what that really was doing they really saw it before their eyes all happening and it was only afterwards they probably realized the greatness of it the son of god i guess the greatest one really was the centurion

he sees him on the stake or the cross

a time when really he was no one's son no one wanted him who would want a son on the cross and the jews certainly said he's not our son

and the centurion is able to stand back and say truly

this was

the son of god

amazing really well all those things of course are ahead at this point of time and mary really cannot really appreciate what was happening but what mary does

do in the greatness is she accepts it

it said in verse 36 and behold thy cousin elizabeth she hath also conceived a son in her old age

and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren

but with god

nothing shall be

impossible

nothing

shall be

impossible

actually that was said later on

remember when it was said

the end of the life of the lord

and he's in the garden

and he says father

all things are possible unto thee

take away the cup

so it's interesting right from the beginning of the minister the birth of the jesus to his final hours

nothing with god would be impossible

and the fact of course that she's actually been able to go and see elizabeth it's a six month now with her who was called baron and she probably had not known about lizards because elizabeth had hit herself for remember for five months

so no one really knew what was happening with elizabeth so probably this is the first time then which mary has heard about those things and you can imagine the encouragement that therefore it's given so she can go there

and be reassured

of those things

behold

the handmaiden

of the lord

be it unto me

according

to thy word

did mary have an option

could she have said

no thank you

possibly she could have

and possibly some would have

shrinking from the very difficult situation that they were going to be faced with

the malicious talk

that was going to inevitably follow

the gossip

the looks

and so on would you go along with this

would you volunteer to be in mary's situation

who's going to believe your story

no one

but she voluntarily chooses

the handmaid

of the lord and what lay ahead for her

elizabeth was going to have this child to take away her approach as we said mary's child was going to bring her approach upon her

elizabeth could come and she could proudly proudly carry the child that she had looked for for so long but

mary couldn't

here she was living in a group of people who were very moral it was a moral age

i guess all of us have seen an age change very dramatically at least if you're over perhaps 40.

there was a great much greater sense of morality at least in our part of the world and i probably are part of the world is worse now than your part of the world

a sense of of shame if that was going to happen having a child

outside of marriage and now it's all confused it's all changed and women see it as their right to have a child even if they haven't got a husband the programs ivf programs and big thrust in australia to make those ivf programs available to women with no husbands or even with other women

dramatic change that we've seen

well i mean in those days of course there was a great morality around the place might have been wrongly directed but there was a great morality and mary then has been asked

to go among those

to show the shame that would come from her condition but she accepted it all and she was god's slave be it unto me according

to your word

and so she expresses very quietly

the submission

she had to face the unknown

the unknown reaction of joseph to her pregnancy

she wasn't yet married to him

what's his reaction going to be likely to be very strong

what's going to happen to her if joseph deserves her

how she can offend for herself and her baby and what support possibly would her parents give to a disgraced daughter

and there was a penalty of course for adultery

well

there is the greatness before and i guess she probably didn't understand everything the sword that would come upon her

but in a great way she comes

and she

ponders those things

and in a grand example willingly accepts

those things and she resolved

yes we should all resolve men women or young people or so on

to be handmaidens

of the lord

to be it unto us

according to god's word