Luke 1:28-33
28. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, THOU THAT ART HIGHLY FAVOURED THE LORD IS WITH THEE: BLESSED ART THOU among women.
29. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
30. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for THOU HAST FOUND FAVOUR WITH GOD.
31. And behold THOU SHALT CONCEIVE in thy womb, AND BRING FORTH A SON and shalt call his name Jesus.
32. He shall be GREAT and shall BE CALLED THE SON OF THE HIGHEST: and the Lord shall give unto Him the throne of his father David:
33. And He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom, there shall be no end.
The message that the angel brought unto Mary on that day is the same message brought unto us through Jesus Christ our Lord when He read the scriptures in Isaiah.
Luke 4:18-21
18. The SPIRIT OF THE LORD [IS] UPON ME, BECAUSE HE HAS ANOINTED me [the Anointed One, the Messiah] TO PREACH THE GOOD NEWS (the Gospel) to the poor; HE HAS SENT ME TO ANNOUNCE RELEASE to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, TO SEND FORTH AS DELIVERED those who are oppressed [who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity].
19. TO PROCLAIM THE ACCEPTABLE YEAR OF THE LORD [the day when salvation and the free favours of God profusely abound].
20. Then He rolled up the book and gave it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in the synagogue were gazing [attentively] at Him.
21. And He began to speak to them: TODAY THIS SCRIPTURE HAS BEEN FULFILLED while you are present and hearing.
He is saying to you, “Arise, lift your head, you who are HIGHLY FAVOURED by God. Grace has visited you. You son and daughter of Adam. Born under a curse. Born in the bondage of sin and death. Born in darkness without a glimpse of light. Born without hope. You have been found worthy. The Holy Spirit of God will come upon you and you will conceive and that holy one that will be born from you will be called the son of the Highest. The very son of God. You have been set free from the body of sin and death you have been given a new life. Within you, within your earthen vessel, within the body sin and death you inherited from your father Adam, within that earthen vessel, is a treasure. Within you is the son of God ready to be born into this fallen world by the power and Spirit of God.” All creation is in earnest expectation groaning out for the sons of God to be revealed in these last days!!!!!!
Luke 1:34-35
34. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
35. And the angel answered and said unto her, THE HOLY SPIRIT SHALL COME UPON THEE AND THE POWER OF THE ALMIGHTY SHALL OVERSHADOW THEE: THEREFORE, ALSO, THAT HOLY THING WHICH SHALL BE BORN OF THEE SHALL BE CALLED THE SON OF GOD.
Like Mary you might ask, but how will this be? Hear the word of Jesus. He is saying to you, the same Holy Spirit of God that anointed me, the same Holy Spirit that made me be the Son of God is the same Holy Spirit that will come upon you and the power of the Almighty will overshadow you. What will be born of you will not be by the will of man, but by the will of the Father. What will be born of you will have nothing to do with the flesh but what will be born of you will be by the power of the Holy Spirit of God. What will be born of you is not ordinary in any way but what will be born of you is extraordinary. You are of a new species. A heavenly being. There is nothing natural about you for everything concerning you is supernatural. You are no longer counted among those of the earth but you are counted among those that are of heaven. You will lay down this body of sin and death and you will put on this new man, made in my image and my likeness and you will no longer be called a son of Adam, a son of the earth and flesh. You will be called a son of heaven, a spirit son. You will be holy, set apart for His glory. You will be great upon the earth and you will do great exploits in the Name of your Father and you will bring many unto my salvation. For as I am in the world so are you. As my Father sent me so I send you. I am the first Son of many to come after me and I have come to show you the way. Walk in it and do not turn to the left nor the right but behold me at all times. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father or will be accepted by the Father until my image has fully been formed in them. As with any birth and the pain experienced with labour, you will experience pain and distress in your body but it will be part of the process of giving birth to this NEW LIFE WITHIN YOU. For I tell you the truth, MY IMAGE IN YOU, IS THE ONLY HOPE OF GLORY. Without holiness, it will be impossible to see God. The suffering you will endure now can never be compared to the glory awaiting you.
Throughout His ministry the core of His message that Jesus preached was that you must be born again, born of water and the Spirit, to be accepted into God's kingdom. It is required, there is no alternative, you must go through the baptism of death through water, cleansing your robe, leaving the natural man in the grave of the water and emerging as the spiritual man, the new creation in Christ, through that the Holy Spirit will come upon you and overshadow you to seal you as belonging to the Father. The question remains: WILL YOU CLEANSE YOUR ROBE, AND LAY DOWN THIS BODY OF SIN AND DEATH THROUGH BAPTISM IN WATER TO TAKE UP THE NEW LIFE IN CHRIST, TO NO LONGER BE CALLED A SON OF ADAM, A SON OF THE EARTH; BUT TO BE CALLED A SON OF GOD, A SON OF HEAVEN; IT REQUIRES A LAYING DOWN OF THE ONE TO BE ABLE TO TAKE UP THE OTHER. WILL YOU RECEIVE THE HOLY SPIRIT? He is hovering over you, WHEN YOU LET HIM IN, the striving begins, but should you grieve Him through unbelief and resistance He lifts up and away from you.
Luke 1:38
And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.
Mary made up her mind that day that she would submit to the will of God revealed to her by the word of the angel no matter the cost. She would submit to the working of the Holy Spirit within to conceive and bring to full term this new life within her until He was fully formed in her and ready to be born into the world. She did not care much for the mocking, the finger-pointing, the looks of despise, the rejection and she did not care much for the changes in her body and the discomfort of the process of this new life growing in her or even the pain of giving birth that she would have to bear. She knew and understood the extraordinary favour bestowed upon her above that of any other woman in her time. She was found worthy to bring the Son of God into the world. The saviour of all mankind.
Each one of us has received that same extraordinary favour with God and He has allowed each of us to give birth to the son of God. If we would make up our mind to submit to the will of the Father revealed unto us through Jesus Christ our Lord and the working of the Holy Spirit, no matter the cost. To bring to full term this new life conceived within us through the Holy Spirit, until Christ is formed in us and ready to be revealed unto the world. We must make up our mind to not be offended by the mocking, the finger-pointing, the looks of despise, the rejection we will face because of this new life growing within us. We must make up our minds not to care much for the changes in our body or the discomfort that will be part of the process of this new life growing within us or even the pain of giving birth to the son of God. The hour is now for the sons of God to be revealed in glory unto the world but for each one of us that will in this hour give birth to reveal the son of God that has been conceived within and have become fully grown, the revealing will not come easy. Like with any birth the hour of giving birth is the most painful but it is so worth it. Will you lay down daily the nature of the natural man to take up the nature of the spiritual man being led by the Spirit of God? Will you lay down your will to take up His will? Will, you submit your body to the process of giving birth. Again, it requires the laying down of the one to take up the other. Jesus through the same process of conception and birth through water and the Spirit was born into the world as the Son of God. He sacrificed His life and suffered severe affliction far above that which any man could bear, even suffering the shame of death on a cross, so that we, in the same manner, can go through the same process of conception, and being born through water and the Spirit, being born again as the sons of God. The baptism of Jesus through the baptism in water and the Holy Spirit ascending upon Him are both outward pictures of what happened inwardly. Therefore, He said to John the Baptist when He asked him to baptise Him in the Jordan, let it be so, for it is needed for us to fulfil ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS. Jesus demonstrated to us what was required of each of us to happen inwardly to be accepted as righteous and pleasing unto the Father. It was not the outward practices that declared Jesus righteous and pleasing unto the Father, it was the inward work that declared Him righteous and pleasing unto the Father, to be called the Son of God. In the same manner, our receiving the message of Christ through faith and the baptism in water is the outward picture of the inward new birth through the water. Leaving the body of sin and death, the son of the first Adam, the son of the earth in the grave of the water, and breaking up out of the water being born again through the power of the Holy Spirit. Being born of the Spirit, we come out of the water as the new man, old things have passed away, all things have become new. We come out of the water as a son of heaven, the son of God. There must be an inward heart change for us to be called the sons of God, for, without the inward change, the outward action remains to be dead works of the flesh. Only then will the Holy Spirit ascend upon us to seal us as the sons of God. Only those born of the Spirit and led by the Spirit will be called the sons of God.
Matthew 3:13-17
13. Then come to Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptised of him.
14. But John forbad Him, saying, I have to need to be baptised of thee, and comest thou to me?
15. And Jesus answering said unto Him, suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to FULFIL ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS. Then He suffered Him.
16. And Jesus when He was baptised, went up straightway out of the water; and lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him:
17. And lo a voice from heaven, saying, THIS IS MY BELOVED SON, IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED.
Luke 1:45
And blessed is she that BELIEVED: FOR THERE SHALL BE A PERFORMANCE OF THOSE THINGS WHICH WERE TOLD HER FROM THE LORD.
Mary believed the word spoken by the angel and because she believed and trusted in God to bring that word to pass her faith in that word would bring those things which were told to her into fulfilment. In the same manner when we believe the message of Christ and we trust and rely on the extraordinary favour and the gift of grace we have received from the Father our faith in the word will bring that which was spoken into fulfilment. God’s word that has gone forth cannot fail for His word is infallible. He said my word will accomplish that which I send it to do. The only thing that will hinder the word of God to accomplish in our life is our lack of faith; our unbelief. But when you believe and rely on and trust in the gift of grace and you hold fast unto it, God will move heaven and earth to bring that word into fulfilment. He is with you and you are never alone.
Matthew 3:13
And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy Him.
Behold the mystery found in the scripture, the moment you say, “Be it unto me according to your word”, BECAUSE YOU BELIEVED, firstly, the Holy Spirit comes upon you and the power from on high overshadows you, and secondly, an angel is appointed over you, this is done as to bring this word into fulfilment. The Holy Spirit empowers you against every and any plan of Satan brought against you, for greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world and the angel protects and guards you and if need be he fights for you against any and every enemy that Satan sends to destroy you. THERE IS A POWER FROM WITHIN AND A POWER FROM WITHOUT.
Psalms 91:11
For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
In the same manner that God protected His Son Jesus, God has brought you, son of God, to the attention of heaven and you will be protected on every side and He will keep you in all of your ways. The enemy, Satan will try in diverse ways and on every occasion to abort this life within you. To prevent this son of God to be born, for there is nothing in this world he fears more but the Son of God and His offspring. But we have a faithful Father who loves us so much who will with all His might protect you and keep you in all your ways.
For those of you that are pregnant with the son of God and you are groaning in great expectation to give birth and reveal the son of God in you. Arise, you who are highly favoured for the hour is at the door. The hour is now!!!!!! Therefore, Rise in splendour and be radiant, for your light has dawned, and Yahweh’s glory now streams from you! Will you say like Mary, “Let it be unto me according to your word?” Will you believe like Mary that God will fulfil the word He has spoken regarding you and that He will complete the work He has begun in you? If you will, the Spirit of God will come upon you in these last days and overshadow you and what will be born from you in this hour will be holy, it will be the image of the son of God revealed in you in glory and power!!!!! It will take a complete yielding of self, not resisting the work of the Holy Spirit in any way for Him to take you from glory to glory until Christ is formed in you.
2 Corinthians 3: 18
BUT WE ALL, WITH OPEN FACES BEHOLDING AS IN A GLASS THE GLORY OF THE LORD, ARE CHANGED INTO THE SAME IMAGE FROM GLORY TO GLORY EVEN AS BY THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD.
Thereze Barnard
Editor-in-Chief
Thread of Hope Blog
