Characters at the Cradle: Mary and Elizabeth, God's Promises are True
Release Date: 12/04/2025
Characters at the Cradle: Mary and Elizabeth, Pondering with Wonder
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick This week, we have looked at Mary and Elizabeth, two characters at the cradle who loved one another deeply and who both played a significant role in ushering in the birth of Jesus to this world. These two women were full of faith and chose to play their part in God’s redeeming story with the utmost humility. They are both to be admired and respected. Especially Mary, as the mother of Jesus, the Savior of the world. Today, I would like to wrap up our week by focusing on one more specific insight to Elizabeth and Mary’s relationship. Imagine for a moment what it must have...
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Characters at the Cradle: Mary and Elizabeth, God's Promises are True
A Moment of Hope
by David Chadwick Elizabeth’s next words to Mary are amazing. Follow along with me as we look at Luke 1:45. Elizabeth said, “And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” Did you catch what Elizabeth blessed in this verse? She blessed Mary’s faith. Mary heard from the mighty angel Gabriel and she believed that every word that he had said to her was true. We all need examples of faith. It doesn’t matter if we are old or young, we all need the gift of faith. We must fight to believe that all of God’s promises are true. We...
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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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Elizabeth’s next words to Mary are amazing. Follow along with me as we look at Luke 1:45.
Elizabeth said, “And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”
Did you catch what Elizabeth blessed in this verse? She blessed Mary’s faith. Mary heard from the mighty angel Gabriel and she believed that every word that he had said to her was true.
We all need examples of faith. It doesn’t matter if we are old or young, we all need the gift of faith. We must fight to believe that all of God’s promises are true. We must train our minds to believe that faith can cause mountains, the seemingly impossible situations of life, to move from here to there (Matthew 17:20). We must believe that what God has promised to us is received even when we can’t see it (Hebrews 11:1).
We can find many examples of people who modeled this kind of faith both in the Bible and throughout history.
Historically, consider missionaries like Hudson Taylor who went to China with little resources to claim it for God’s glory. Or Jim Elliott who endured tremendous hardship to reach the unreached in Ecuador, ultimately losing his life. How about David Livingston? He spent decades evangelizing in Africa. There are countless more examples.
Or biblically speaking, take a look at Abraham. He waited 25 years for Isaac, the child God had promised him. Or what about Joshua? Even though the Promised Land was within reach, he had to wait 40 years before entering it. Or King David, who was faithful in the pasture before he was ever entrusted with the palace. How about Paul? He spent years in prison for the sake of the Gospel where he had to wait on the Lord. Yet in prison was where he wrote most of the New Testament.
Then, there’s Mary. Perhaps she should be at the top of the list! As a virgin, she believed the child in her womb truly was the fulfillment of biblical prophecy. That this Jesus whom she bore was the Savior of the world. And that all of God’s promises really are true!
This is the kind of faith we must seek to emulate!