Bulletins - Fellowship Baptist Church (Madison, FL)

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The word angel is (Greek angelos) means ‘messenger’. There are 2 types of angelos - meaning ‘messengers’ - earthly messengers like John the Baptist & heavenly messengers like Michael & Gabriel (the only 2 names of angels mentioned in Scripture). But the angel is NOT the focus of the story. He is only the messenger of the most wonderful MESSAGE: The King is Coming!

You would think this kind of announcement would be trumpeted from the temple of God in Jerusalem, but God sends Gabriel to a young, peasant girl in an insignificant town.

4 Facts about Mary & Joseph

1) Mary lived in Nazareth and this is where the angel Gabriel is sent.

Nazareth is obscure & insignificant, never mentioned in the Jewish writings of the Old Testament, the Talmud, nor the writings of Josephus. There are no major trade routes there and it was far away from the important centers of Jewish culture, like the he Temple (over 60 miles away in Jerusalem).
Nazareth was even referred to as “Galilee of the Gentiles” (Isa. 9:1; Matt. 4:15) because it bordered Gentile regions. Nazareth did not have a good name among most Jews as they thought interaction with Gentiles meant contaminated morals. Years later when Phillip tells Nathanael that they have found the Messiah, who is from Nazareth, Nathanael says, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:45-46) Others were shocked to hear that Jesus had come from a town in Galilee (John 7:41). Luke (the author of this writing) was a Gentile writing to Theophilus, another Gentile. This message was for all nations…it still is.

2) Mary was a virgin. It was the ancient norm that a Jewish woman would remain a virgin until her marriage ceremony. Sex is a great gift, intended for marriage alone. Mary believed this…so Mary waited for her future marriage.

3) Mary was pledged to Joseph.

Joseph's father would have approached Mary's father and struck a deal, a formal agreement. After the payment and signature or verbal oath, the couple was engaged. This engagement was legally binding, and any sexual contact with person was considered adultery. The engagement could not be broken except through divorce (Matt 1:19), because the couple was considered husband and wife at this point (Matt 1:19–20, 24).
The normal age of the woman for engagement at this point was 12-13 years old. Mary would now be engaged with just 1 year until the marriage ceremony & moving in with her husband. During that year, Joseph would have been preparing a home for his new bride while Mary was living in purity & preparing to move away and invest her life in her husband.
Parents - Are we giving our teenagers freedom without responsibility or are we using each day to train them to become husbands, wives, daddies, mamas - responsible members of society?

4) Joseph was a descendent of King David

This fact will become very significant to this story. The Jews believed the Messiah would have to come from David’s family. Matthew notes that Jesus asked the Pharisees this question:

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