Expository Thoughts (continued)
and pray. Now is the time for carrying the cross, and for fellowship with Christ's sufferings. The day draws near when Christ shall take
His great power and reign; and when all who have served Him faithfully shall exchange a cross for a crown.
Notes on 1:26-33
27. Pledged to be married. Let us note the wise providence through which the mother of our Lord, though a virgin, was a virgin pledged to be married. It screened her reputation from unseemly remarks. It provided a helper and protector for her in her time of weakness and need.
28. "Highly favored." "The angel greets the virgin; he does not pray to her. He greets her as a saint; he does not pray to her as a goddess" (Bishop Hall).
29. Greatly troubled. The Greek word here is very strong and intense and is used nowhere else in the New Testament.
LUKE 1:34-38
Let us mark, in these verses, the reverent and discreet manner in which the angel Gabriel speaks of the great mystery of Christ's incarnation. In reply to the question of the Virgin "How shall this be?" he uses these remarkable words— "The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you."
We shall do well to follow the example of the angel in all our reflections on this deep subject. Let us ever regard it with holy