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Luke 1:30-33, The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold , you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; 33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”
We’ll be talking specifically about the birth of the Christ we love and celebrate over the next three weeks. We want to let our thoughts and affections marinate in the great truths God has revealed to us about our Lord and Savior. “Write on our hearts every word,” said the song writer.
When Gabriel brought Mary the amazing news about this wondrous mystery of the virgin conception in her womb, his first description of the child is “He will be great!” Someone wrote, “Only a four-word description but even eternity shall not exhaust the depth and profundity of the greatness of Jesus.” Gabriel described John the Baptist the same way in Luke 1:15, “he will be great in the sight of the Lord,” and Jesus Himself said no one born among men was greater than John the Baptist (Luke 7:28). But John’s greatness pales in comparison to the infinite greatness of Jesus. His greatness is unsearchable. Mary’s Son is the very definition of greatness.
WHAT IS GREATNESS?
He will be great. The world defines greatness differently than God. Conquerors like Alexander the Great and Peter the Great left rivers of blood and misery in their path. The world measures greatness by political power, family wealth, the applause of the masses, brilliance, great accomplishments, profound influence. Thomas Carlyle wrote, “The history of the world is but the biography of great men.”
If we measure greatness by influence for God besides Christ, the great people in this world are people like Daniel in the Old Testament or the apostle Paul or Martin Luther or John Calvin, R. C. Sproul, John MacArthur. These are great men who served Christ and served His people. Jesus Himself said, “He who would be great among you will be servant of all.”
Now, how is Jesus great? He is great in every way. He is a great teacher, a great healer, a great sufferer, a great shepherd, a great Savior, a great conqueror of death, a great high priest, a great King and Lord, a great Judge of all human beings. His greatness is infinite. He will be great. That’s what Mary heard! We’ll look at His greatness in seven ways.
Christ was great in His identity. What a wheelbarrow of truth Gabriel dumps on Mary in these short words. He describes Christ’s greatness three ways in our text: He is the Son of God, He is the son of David, and He is destined to rule from David’s throne forever! This is a lot for Mary to take in. Maybe Mary was taking notes like the ladies tend to do, writing feverishly while the men just sit there thinking, “Wow! Uh huh. No way, really?” All of this greatness connects seamlessly with the entire Old Testament. Gabriel is saying, “Mary, you are going to have a baby boy who will be none other than the fulfillment of all those promises God made about David’s son.” Let’s go back for a few moments to see this.
As Creator.
Let’s start in the beginning, Genesis 1:1. This great one was in fact the Creator. Colossians 1:16-17 says, “All things were created by Him, through Him, and for Him; He was before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” Someone who can make suns burn, moons glow, lightning flash, thunder roll, gravity pull, electrons spin, clouds pour rain, and hearts that beat for a lifetime is a great person. Hebrews 1:3 says He upholds all things by His powerful word. He created all things and sustains all things.
As Promised.
One thousand years before Gabriel brought this news to Mary, God promised David his offspring would rule forever. This is the Davidic Covenant.
2 Samuel 7:12-13,16, When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. [13] He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. [16] Your house (dynasty) and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.
He will be the great seed of David. God will keep His promise to David. Mary, your baby is this seed of David.
About 700 years earlier in Isaiah 9:6-7 God promised a child, a son to rule on David’s throne.
Isaiah 9:6-7, For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. [7] There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.
Who is this son, this promised child, this Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Prince of Peace? Mary, your baby is this child, God’s Son, who will rule on David’s throne.
Also 700 years earlier in Micah 5:2-5a God promised a ruler who would come out of eternity, be born in Bethlehem to rule Israel, be great over the entire earth, and be our peace!
Micah 5:2,4-5, But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity.” [4b] He will be great to the ends of the earth. [5a] This One will be our peace….
Where is this One who will be great and our peace? Mary, your Son is this One!
About 600 years earlier, Jeremiah 30:9 says Israel will serve David their king!
Jeremiah 30:9, But they shall serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.
Where is He? David is dead. Mary, your baby will be this great king. He is the greater David.
Then 550 years earlier in Ezekiel 37:24-25 God guaranteed Israel that David would be their king and He would rule them forever.
Ezekiel 37:24-25, My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd; and they will walk in My ordinances and keep My statutes and observe them. [25] They will live on the land that I gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they and their sons and their sons’ sons, forever; and David My servant will be their prince forever.
This child, this baby destined to be great, is the fulfillment of all these promises. Let’s bring Daniel in here. Remember that great stone cut without hands in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream? That giant statue symbolized a succession of earthly kingdoms that would eventually be destroyed by a stone. The stone that shatters the statue represents God’s eternal kingdom, which will eventually replace all earthly powers. Mary, your child is that Stone.
Daniel 2:45, Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future; so the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.
Daniel 7:13-14, I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. [14a] And to Him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve Him.
Mary, that Son of Man is your child. And someday the entire world will worship Him and His kingdom will never be destroyed. The Son who will be miraculously conceived in your womb, who you will bring forth and care for and watch grow up, will become the great teacher in Israel. HE WILL BE GREAT. He is very God and very man, two natures side by side in one Person, otherwise known as the hypostatic union. That’s the great mystery of the incarnation. HE WILL BE GREAT. He is God’s answer to all those amazing prophecies. How could David’s descendants rule forever? Here is God’s answer. Mary will bring forth a Son, the long-promised Son of David. HE WILL BE GREAT in His identity.
Christ was great in His earthly ministry. Christ’s greatness is seen in His miracles, His teaching, His claims, His authority to command men, expel demons, turn water to wine, walk on water, forgive sins. Remember when He healed that demoniac in Luke 8. Clothed and in his right mind the man begged, “Lord, I want to follow you.” Jesus told him, “Go back and tell your people what great things God has done for you.” What did the man do? He went back and told everybody what great things Jesus had done for him! Jesus Christ was great in His earthly ministry!
Christ was great in His sacrificial death. Spurgeon asked, “Who thought Him great when they bound Him and led Him to the judgment seat as a criminal, or when they smote him, blindfolded him, and spat in his face? Or when He was scourged, led through the streets bearing his cross, and afterwards hung up between two thieves.” At any moment He could have come down from that cross, but the cross is why He came. His great love held Him there. He came to save His people from their sin and death, and nothing stopped Him.
His greatness is evident when He died in the place of sinners, a substitutionary sacrifice. On that cross our Great Savior forgave sinners, saved sinners, assured sinners that He was paying the punishment for their sins in full. He cried, “Tetelestai “ – “I have paid your debt in full.” He even promised a repentant criminal hanging there with Him, “Today you will be with me in Paradise!” He was great in His sacrificial death and in the great salvation He provides for sinners – full forgiveness and eternal life. Titus 2:13 says He is “our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” – giving proof of His deity. Peter declared of Him, “Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Christ was great in His resurrection. He came out of that grave in victory, the greatest great in an incomparable way. Only Christ defeated death and the devil for His people. He is the Great One! John MacArthur said, “The greatest of all miracles that attested to His greatness was that He was raised from the dead. He with His own power shattered the bonds of death and the grave and came forth alive. This is the greatest child ever born.”
Christ is great today in His session. Christ now sits at the right hand of God with authority as our great Prophet, Priest, and King. He is building His church, interceding for us, sovereignly calling His sheep by name to follow Him, and He’s giving them eternal life. Have you received His gift of eternal life? Romans 6:23a tells us, “The free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” He is a great welcoming Savior, “Come to Me, all who are weak and burdened down with sin; I’ll give you rest” (Matthew 11:29). “As many as receive Him, to them He gives the authority to become God’s sons” (John 1:12).
Christ is great in His glorious return. Christ will return as Faithful and True, Lord of lords and King of kings, coming to rule the nations with a rod of iron and to sit on His glorious throne.
Revelation 19:11,16, And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. [16] And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
No one will escape the greatness of His Person as He sits on that Great White Throne and judges every person who ever lived and breathed God’s air, ate God’s provisions, rejected grace, and refused to repent. Every person who refuses to repent will stand before this great One – Mary’s baby, miraculously conceived in her womb, the God-Man – and will be judged and cast into the lake of fire as just punishment for sins of rebellion against His majestic greatness.
Christ is great in His final eternal glory.
Revelation 22:13, 16b, 20, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. [16b] I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” [20] He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
Notice how verse 16 ties His identity back to Mary. He is the root and offspring of David, child of Mary, son of David, Son of God. Just as Gabriel had assured Mary, the baby to be conceived in her womb became great. He became great in His identity, His earthly ministry, His sacrificial substitutionary death, and His resurrection. And one day we will see His greatness in His future glorious return and His final eternal glory.
SO WHAT?
Greatness is measured by influence. Jesus’ birth even influenced our calendar: BC and AD, although some want to get rid of this reminder of our Great Lord and Savior. More importantly, Jesus Christ through the power of His Spirit influences and changes human lives. He gives guilty-repentant sinners new hearts, wraps them in His righteousness, gives them eternal life, and rules over them with mercy as they follow and obey Him. He turns liars into truth tellers, selfish people into giving people, angry and bitter people into loving and kind people. He transforms immoral people into people who pursue purity and drunkards into Christ-loving sober disciples. He rescues marriages that have fallen apart under sin’s influence. He gives strength to weak people and wisdom to fools. He guides and leads His people as the great Shepherd guides His flock. He keeps them by His great power.
HE WILL BE GREAT. Measuring His greatness is like trying to pour the oceans of the world into a 2-liter bottle. Do you love this great child of Mary? Is He great in your eyes? Does He rule your life? We sang “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus,” which includes the line “Joy of every longing heart.” Is He the joy of your longing heart? Let’s not forget the unsearchable greatness of Mary’s baby as we remember Christ’s birth during these weeks of Christmas.