Mary and the Angel

My children never cease to amaze me with their observations and questions.

Here's my most recent example...the other night we rented "The Nativity Story" and watched it together as a family.

Granted, there were parts in the movie that weren't in total keeping with God's Word, but we talked about creative license, and how Hollywood adds things out of imaginiation to make the story more realistic for the viewer.

So today we're running errands (Yeah! I'm finally feeling better!) and a song comes on the radio that talks about how someone will react when they see Jesus face to face.

Caedmon says, I don't think I'll stand. I think I'll bow.

I said, "I know what you mean, Caedmon. I think I'll be face flat to the ground."

"Why Mommy? Why all the way down?"

"Because, son. There never was a sinner worse than I was. I KNOW how much I've been forgiven, I KNOW what a great gift my LORD is to me. I want to honor Him in the best way that I know how to, to thank Him."

Then Brennan asked, "Mommy, is it ok for us to bow down to anyone other than God?"

"No, baby. Only God deserves that level of honor from us. No one else."

"Why did Mary bow down to the angel, then?"

It took me a minute, and a few questions of her to realize that she was referencing the movie that we watched a few nights ago.

"Did Mary really bow down to the angel?", I ask.

Then they both emphatically told me that she did.

"Well, kids. I don't remember the Scripture saying that she did that..so we'll need to go back home and look it up in our Bible and see for sure."

From just that one observation, we had the most awesome talk about angels, and how God doesn't want us to worship angels. We talked about how we're not to worship the creations of God, only the Creator, and that angels are created beings.

Then Caedmon asked, "Mommy. What do I do if an angel ever comes and wants to tell me something?"

WOW! Where do they get these questions?!

So I told him, "Caedmon, I don't think that an angel would ever come to you and speak on behalf of God. That's what the angel Gabriel was doing...he was being God's spokesperson to Mary and to Elizabeth. However, he was speaking prophesy, he was revealing God's plan for the future. So, I don't believe that angels come and speak prophesy to men anymore. Today, son, for someone to prophesy means that they will point you back to Scripture. But, there is no NEW revelation. The revelations of God are found in His Word."

We didn't have the talk about entertaining angels unaware, because Mommy hasn't studied that passage enough to be able to explain it adequately. :)

It was just such a neat conversation to have. I am amazed by how much of the Word these kids absorb...and so hoping that their very imperfect Mom's failures from day to day won't keep them from loving God and His Word for all the days of their lives.

Here's the passage from Luke about Mary...it doesn't mention anything about her bowing down.

Luk 1:26
Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth,
Luk 1:27
to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
Luk 1:28
And coming in, he said to her, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord {is} with you."
Luk 1:29
But she was very perplexed at {this} statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.
Luk 1:30
The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.
Luk 1:31
"And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.
Luk 1:32
"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;
Luk 1:33
and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end."
Luk 1:34
Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?"
Luk 1:35
The angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God. Luk 1:36
"And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month.
Luk 1:37
"For nothing will be impossible with God."
Luk 1:38
And Mary said, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.

The Next Time Someone Tells Me They Have a "WORD" for Me From God...

Recently, I had the second person in a short period of time come up and tell me that they had a "word" for me from the Lord.

I remind you that in my last post about this, I shared that in the Old Testament, God was so serious about false prophets, that He required them to be killed.

It's not acceptable in His eyes for one to say that they are speaking on His behalf, when in fact, they are just speaking out of their own feelings.

He does not tolerate that!

In fact, now that we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which people did not have during the times of the Old Testament, I believe that that God loves me enough that He'll speak right to my heart.

He doesn't need to tell someone else to come and tell me what He Himself is fully capable, and desirous of telling me.

In addition, I've been learning through the example of Josiah's life, that even when God spoke to Josiah through a prophet, what was spoken related right back to the book of the law. To be more specific, it was directly out of Deuteronomy.

And today, we have the full cannon of Scripture. It's complete. Lacking nothing.

So, even more so today...if God wants to speak, He will do it by pointing people back to His Holy Word.

I do believe that the gift of prophesy is still an active gift...but I believe that a true prophet only points people back to God's Word.

I don't believe that there is new revelation. Yes, it might be new to us, in that we might never have seen a truth in Scripture before..but it isn't "new" in that God just came up with it!

So, the next time someone tells me, "I have a word for you from the Lord", I'm going to say, "Super! I love hearing from God. Please tell me what book and verse it is, and I'll go home and get on my face before Him, and I'll read it"!

Chapter and verse, please...that's all I need.

Chapter and verse, please...no more, no less.

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