Characters at the Cradle: Mary and Elizabeth, "Blessed are You"
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick Mary and Elizabeth had a very special relationship. They were cousins. They were pregnant at the same time, Elizabeth with John and Mary with Jesus. Both of their pregnancies were supernatural in nature. Both of them were very blessed. Today, we see how extra significant Elizabeth’s honor was for her cousin Mary. Let’s take a look at Luke 1:42-44. Mary travelled from Nazareth to the hill country of Judea to visit her cousin Elizabeth. If you remember yesterday, when she entered Elizabeth’s home, the baby John leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy...
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Characters at the Cradle: Mary and Elizabeth, Supernatural Pregnancies
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick Mary and Elizabeth. Two women called by God, both of whom were carrying children with tremendous purpose. Jesus, the perfect God-man, was conceived in Mary’s womb by the power of the Holy Spirit. The angel Gabriel delivered the news to her. In addition to this news of her supernatural pregnancy, Mary was also informed of her cousin Elizabeth’s miraculous conception in her later years. If we think family news spreads fast, imagine how quickly this news must have spread from family to family and from village to village. The fulfillment of biblical prophecy was happening...
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Characters at the Cradle: Mary and Elizabeth, Called by God
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick This week, we will continue to look for glimpses of glory throughout the life of Mary, but specifically in the context of her very special relationship with Elizabeth. Both called by God to very high, very important tasks. Let’s briefly recap where we are in the story. Zechariah was visited by Gabriel and given the news that he was going to have a son named John. But because of his unbelief, he was made silent until the birth of his son. Can you imagine for a moment how Zechariah communicated the news to his wife without the ability to speak? Did he write down what the...
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Characters at the Cradle: Mary, A Servant of God
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick I hope you are enjoying these characters at the cradle. These are stories of biblical figures who find their lives intersecting with the entrance of Jesus into the world. In each story, you will see so much wonder, purpose and significance. After Mary had the encounter with the angel Gabriel, her response spoke volumes. However, before we see how she responded, do you remember what Zechariah’s response was when Gabriel told him that he would have a son after many years of waiting and praying? Zechariah spoke words of doubt and unbelief, and because of that, he was made mute...
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Characters at the Cradle: Mary, Nothing is Impossible
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick Mary. Cousin to Elizabeth. Betrothed to Joseph. Visited by the angel Gabriel. While she wore many hats, the most important one was this: Mary, mother of Jesus! After Gabriel visited Mary, she became aware of the divine conception that would take place in her womb. She also found out that her formerly barren cousin, Elizabeth, was now with child. The story of Mary is full of faith, hope, and wonder. Threaded throughout Mary’s life is a strong and fervent belief that with God, nothing is impossible! In fact, these were Gabriel’s last words to Mary (Luke 1:37). Take a moment...
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Characters at the Cradle: Mary, Gabriel's Message
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick Gabriel’s initial appearance to Mary left her “greatly troubled” as she tried to figure out why he said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” The angel went on to tell Mary not to fear and explained that she had found favor with God. Mary settled into the news that she would bear a son and would call him Jesus. He would be the Son of God and the Savior of the world. Gabriel went on to say that the Holy Spirit would come upon her and the power of the Most High would overshadow her. With every word that she held in her heart, her fear turned to faith....
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Characters at the Cradle: Mary, The Divine Conception
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick There are many holy and purposeful connections that took place between the Creator of the universe and his creation leading up to Jesus’s entrance into the world. Join me as we continue to look at some of the special characters at the cradle. I love the significance of both Gabriel and Joseph as characters at the cradle. But today, I want to place our focus more specifically on Mary, who played the very special role as mother of the Savior of the world. I left you with a cliffhanger yesterday, thinking about the profound question Mary asked after hearing from Gabriel of the...
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Characters at the Cradle: Mary, An Introduction to Gabriel, Mary, and Joseph
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick This week, we will continue to look at some more characters whose lives had profound intersections with the cradle of Jesus. Over the past two weeks, we studied Zechariah and Elizabeth. This week, we study Mary, the mother of Jesus. But in order to understand Mary, we have to understand Gabriel and Joseph as well. After Gabriel visited Zechariah with the amazing news that his wife would give birth to a baby named John (the Baptist), God gave him a second assignment. He told him to go visit a young virgin girl named Mary in the town of Nazareth in Galilee. She was betrothed to...
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Characters at the Cradle: Zechariah, Husband to Elizabeth
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick After the encounter with the angel Gabriel and being rendered mute by the Lord, what did Zechariah do next? Luke 1:23 says this of Zechariah: “And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home.” To Elizabeth and to his safe place of love and care. I can only imagine how he felt as he pondered all he had just seen and heard, probably praying in his spirit to the Lord about John. And have you ever thought about how he told Elizabeth about his experience with the angel Gabriel? Hand gestures? A game of charade? Writing it out? Surely he found a way to tell her....
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Characters at the Cradle: Zechariah, Made Speechless
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick In Luke 1:18-22, the angel identified himself as Gabriel. Gabriel also appears in the book of Daniel in chapters 8 and 9. In the Bible, whenever Gabriel came on the scene, he was addressing prophecy about the Messiah. The same holds true in this story with Zechariah. Gabriel came to Zechariah from the presence of God and told him that he was sent by God to share this wonderful, good news of a coming child. After all this information from Gabriel had been given to Zechariah, Zechariah asked the question, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in...
info_outlineHonor. Such a powerful word. To honor is defined as this: “to regard with great respect, to prize, to admire, to give special recognition, to demonstrate high respect or great esteem for someone."
In historical biblical culture, the word “honor” carried tremendous weight. Even today, there are cultures around the world that place a high value on honor.
In God’s original intent, honor is a tool to bestow on one another, to bless, to prefer someone else over ourselves.
Unfortunately, in the modern American Christian culture, people seem to gravitate to one of two extremes regarding honor. It’s either overused or missing in action, not used at all. Neither extreme is biblical.
Biblical honor does not demand artificial respect to cover up someone’s deeper insecurities or evil agendas. Biblical honor does, however, create an atmosphere of respect, rooted in the Word of God, where leadership is revered and everyone can flourish.
From the call to honor parents in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:12) to Paul’s desire that all Christians honor one another (Romans 12:10) to husbands commanded by Peter to honor their wives (1 Peter 3:7), honor is interwoven throughout all of Scripture.
For the next two weeks, we are going to look specifically at how husbands can and should honor their wives. If you are single, take notes and begin to train your mind and your heart, even now, with things that could bless a future marriage.
If you are married, start to put these principles into practice in your daily lives. The goal is for two to become one (Genesis 2:24).
And honor is a great tool God has put in the hands of husbands to help this take place.
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This series is adapted from the book, 8 Great Ways to Honor Your Wife by David Chadwick. To download your free PDF copy of this book, please visit our website by clicking here!