Mary, the Virgin who Magnified the Lord

In God’s eternal plan, even after humanity was deceived by the devil and fell, God still sought a way to save them. He chose Abraham from all nations, and the Israelites became His chosen people. However, due to their idolatry and sin, they were conquered and taken into exile. After the Israelites repented, God allowed them to return to their homeland. For a long time, the God-fearing and spiritually discerning people among the Israelites had been waiting for the coming of the Messiah.

The birth of Jesus—the Incarnation—was foreordained by God and was the Lord’s voluntary act, but it still required human cooperation. In the Gospel of Luke, there was the righteous and devout Simeon who was waiting for the birth of the Christ (Luke 2:25), and the prophetess Anna who fasted and prayed in the Temple (Luke 2:36–38). However, there was still a need for a pure virgin to be the vessel for the Lord’s Incarnation. Mary lived in Nazareth, a town in the Galilee region. She was a girl who grew up in a rural village, far from the religious center of Jerusalem, its Temple, its priestly elite, and its wealthy lifestyle.

When the angel conveyed God’s message to Mary, “The Lord is with you… You will conceive and give birth to a son,” the virgin Mary was understandably surprised. She had not expected that the prophet’s words, “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14), would be fulfilled in her. Yet, Mary was spiritually prepared. She feared God and longed for the Messiah’s arrival. So when the angel said, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God,” Mary was able to reply, “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.” She said, “My soul glorifies the Lord” (Luke 1:46). The Lord was the king of her life, and although she faced great risk and public shame for an unmarried pregnancy—and even the possibility of losing her life—she was still willing to submit to the Lord’s plan.

At the time, Mary was already betrothed to Joseph. After Joseph, guided by God’s revelation, took Mary as his wife, they had to travel to Bethlehem to register for the census decreed by the Roman emperor. It was there that Mary gave birth to Jesus, fulfilling the prophecy God had spoken through the prophet. “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

Edited and compiled based on the Chinese Union Version of the Bible and a comprehensive biblical interpretation.