What Child is This? Mary’s viewpoint

Today the message is entitled “What Child is This? Mary’s viewpoint!” This week is the advent candle of hope! We are going to look at how Mary handled this life of Jesus that God gave her to love and raise. We will see the hope that Mary had before and after Jesus was born. The same hope we can have too.

The advent video we watched spoke of this hope. It should give us freedom to move forward and not get bogged down in despair and doubt.

The video of Mary talking gave us a different viewpoint of the story of Jesus. Mary discussed being thirsty for more knowledge of God and how her son, Jesus, was the water to drink. She had hope that he was the source of eternal life.

First, let us look at the hope that Mary had before the coming of her son, Jesus. All her life, she had been taught that the Messiah was coming. This had been prophesied by the prophets many centuries before, and the people waited and hoped, expectantly.

Isaiah 11: 1-5 NIV
1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of power,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord—
3 and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;
4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
5 Righteousness will be his belt
and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

Isaiah spent a lot of time talking about the coming Messiah. He tells us what family line the Messiah will come from and what the Messiah will do.

Isaiah 9: 6-7 NIV
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.

Even the Psalmists talked about God in the same way that others did of the coming Messiah.

Psalm 62: 5-8 NIV
5 Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
my hope comes from him.
6 He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
7 My salvation and my honor depend on God;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
8 Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge.

Isaiah even gave a more direct item to watch for in the coming Messiah. Mary did not grow up knowing this was talking about herself.

Isaiah 7: 14 NIV
14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
Then along comes an angel and turns Mary’s world upside down. The Angel connects the dots from all the prophecies and Mary is the first dot. All the hope she had was to now become a reality through her.

Luke 1: 30-33 NIV
30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.
31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.
32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,
33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”

Mary’s response, now named “Mary’s Song”, shows how she now hopes for what her son will do for the people of our world. This was the reading given during the lighting of the advent candle today

Luke 1: 46-55 NIV “Mary’s Song”
46 And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
50 His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
55 to Abraham and his descendants forever,
even as he said to our fathers.”

What hope does all this give us today? We, like Mary, have the hope of the coming Savior – the Lord Jesus Christ. That hope is in the return of Jesus to earth. The apostle Paul wrote of this in his letter to the Thessalonica Church.

1 Thessalonians 4: 16-18 NIV
16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Then the apostle John wrote about what we are hoping for in Revelations.

Revelations 21: 3-6 NIV
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.

And here we are back at Mary’s hope – to drink of the everlasting water of God. Mary’s hope is our hope!

As we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus this Christmas season, do not forget why Jesus was born of a virgin, in a lowly manger, an outcast with a death sentence that even King Herod did not understand the effect of.

May you go out today with more understanding of God’s Word and plan for you. May you rest in the hope we have of the return of Jesus and all that it means for you.

Christ came to earth for you! You are special in God’s eyes! Allow God to show you His love and grace and forgiveness because God cares for you!