Four words give context to a miraculous promise

Annunciation by El Greco

Four words can say a lot.

When Luke begins the story about Mary, a young virgin visited by the angel Gabriel, Luke starts off with four words. The four words give context to the miraculous promise God gave to the young woman. The four words indicate timing, purpose, and awesome beginnings.

What were the four words? In the sixth month.

Luke begins his narrative about Mary by signaling time (Luke 1:26). Scholars believe it indicates the sixth month of the pregnancy of Elizabeth, Mary's older cousin and the wife of Zacharias. When Elizabeth's sixth month actually occurred is debated, but the answer lies in tracking when Zacharias served in the temple. (Read a great discussion about this on Hebrew4Christians.)

Some scholars think Elizabeth and Zacharias's son John the Baptist was conceived during the Jewish month of Sivan (May/June) and was born on Passover, Nissan 15 (March/April). If this is the approximate time, Jesus was conceived roughly around November/December, during the month of Kislev. Interestingly, Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, falls during Kislev/Tevet. The first Hanukkah was the 25th of Kislev in 164 B.C. By the way, this year Hanukkah starts at sundown this Sunday, Dec. 6 and ends Dec. 14.

Even more interesting to note is that Kislev is considered a time of darkness in Jewish tradition. Isaiah prophesied that the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light (Isaiah 9:2). Jesus called Himself the Light of the world, and that "he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life" (John 8:12).

In other words, the time in which Gabriel came to Mary signaled a context for the miraculous birth of Jesus. Our Lord is purposeful, even when announcing His promises. He's a promise-keeping God. He wants the entire world to experience a covenant relationship with Him without the barrier of sin. 

So God chose the most intimate way to reach men and women and the most intimate and effective way to keep His covenant eternally. He kept His word to the patriarch Abraham (Gen. 22:17 and Galatians 3:29) and came as a Jewish man and offered an everlasting relationship to Jews and the entire world!

For God expressed His love for the world in this way: He gave His only Son so that whoever believes in Him will not face everlasting destruction, but will have everlasting life (John 3:16, The Voice)

During this Christmas season of loving and giving, may we remember God's divine context. Understanding divine context can build our faith in God's promises and help us trust Him. His timing isn't just perfect. It's multidimensional in its everlasting purpose.

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. (Gal.4:4-7, ESV)

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