Greetings Truth seeker! Welcome to my website where I write articles about Biblical concepts most people ignore. This article is a follow up of my previous one about the Virgin Mary Myth. I will be writing on the same topic but instead I will examine a slightly different account of Mary’s conception of the Christ child. The wonderful disciple Luke wrote about how Joseph’s wife had received an angelic visit on behalf of her future condition.
While many people truly believe that Mary was a virgin, as in a woman who has never had sex before to conceive Christ, the scriptures disagree. However, upon reading Luke’s perspective on the matter, I can see how someone thinking in the Greek mentality would perceive his writings as such. I am here to tell you that she was most definitely not a virgin but she was a virgin also known as an unmarried maiden. Not that she had sex with another man other than Joseph, but that she totally had sex with Joseph before they had their marriage ceremony. All I really gotta say is that when God tells you to make love, you don’t ask questions! That’s the gist of the entire article but before you leave, please let me explain.
Interpreting Luke Chapter one.
The verses I am diving into are chocked full of different elements. It has symbolic, hidden word, historical, prophetic and customary details all in a few verses. I will try my best to explain. At the beginning of the chapter, Luke highlights Zacharias and Elizabeth’s conception of John the baptist. He tells us that the angel Gabriel informed Zacharias in the temple that his wife will be pregnant with a holy seed. Approximately six months after this the same angel visits Mary and forewarns her of her future condition. John 1:26-28
26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
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.
Verse Breakdown Abut Mary.
It is important to realize how Mary is mentioned alongside Joseph. They are engaged, as in engaged together at this time. Now Mary is called a virgin meaning an unmarried woman that’s engaged to be married to Joseph, from the lineage of King David. The angel Gabriel, salutes Mary before he gives her good news.
Now Mary is scared just like Zacharias, and Gabriel had to tell her to relax. Then he explains that she will conceive Christ. The words used here are “thou” and “shalt”. Thou means you and shalt is a future tense command meaning will. The verse is saying that Mary will conceive a son and she will call his name Christ. The verse does not say that she has already conceived or that there is a child in her womb upon meeting Gabriel.
Interpreting “Thou Shalt”.
There are other places in the Bible where the phrase “thou shalt” has been used. In fact this phrase is used over 1,000 times throughout the biblical text. It is used as a command meant to be done in the near future. Let’s look at a few examples: remember in the book of genesis that Israel (Jacob) was about to die? He then asked and commanded his son Joseph to bury him with his fathers.
Genesis 47:30-31 30 “But I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their buryingplace. And he said, I will do as thou hast said.”
31 “And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head.”
As we see that Joseph obeyed his father gladly and did this after he died. Or how about the first command The Highest God gave Adam about the tree of knowledge. Genesis 2:17 “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die”. The phrase “thou shalt” is used to give a future command or demand a future happening. We know that The Highest God commanded Adam not to eat that fruit. He was also told what WILL happen if he disobeyed and is he ate it anyway. Unfortunately Adam ended up dying just like he was told but these commanded future events took a space of time to occur.
Gabriel’s Divine Message To Mary.
This logic is also applied to Gabriel’s message to Mary, “Thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Christ”. Therefore Mary is not pregnant yet but she will be pregnant to the man she is espoused to, Joseph. Now Mary seemed a little naive because she thought that the angel was telling her that she was already pregnant when she asked Luke 1:34 “Then said Mary, unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?”
Gabriel answers her saying v35 “….The Holy Ghost shall come upon the, and the power of thee Highest shall over shadow the: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called Son of God.” Here we have a well loaded verse to break down. Take some notes! First we see that the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee… We know that shall is a future tense word meaning will, therefore this future act is inevitable. The phrase “come upon” should also seem familiar throughout scripture. Although in the strongs concordance there’s no super specific meaning to what this means, we can reference the verses that use this phrase.
Example Verses With “Come Upon”.
With context observation of the multitude of scriptures, to “come upon” more likely means an action, physical circumstance or strong emotion influenced by an external source. In some cases which had, has or will have happened. For example Lamentations 3:47 “Fear and a snare is come upon us, desolation and destruction”. In this case we see that the emotion of fear had formed within Israel because of their destruction. This is not talking about intercourse like the term “came in unto” sometimes means. This “come upon” is used in the book of Revelation 3:10 “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth”. In both instances a type of situation that causes a type of emotion is being influenced by an external/spiritual source.
Come Upon vs. Came In Unto.
Therefore, knowing the context meaning of the words “come upon” we understand that in Mary’s case the external source of the Holy Ghost will influence her to feel a type of way in order for her to engage in the action of reproduction with her fiancé. Furthermore, Gabriel says that they will be protected by The Highest God’s power (to overshadow). In other words Gabriel is telling her that she should act on the divinely influenced intimate feelings she will experience for Joseph so that she can conceive christ. This is an event that will soon take place, not a supernatural conception that had already happened.
The term “come upon” has been confused with the meanings of the phrase “came in unto”. In the old testament, Genesis 6:4 “There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them….” Immediately following after the phrase came in unto, someone conceived a child. This is hinting that the act of “came in onto” is mostly sexual. Accept in some cases, it is used to refer to someone coming into another person’s personal space. Or it could also mean an uninvited and unannounced meeting: Exodus 10:3. Whitch the phrase “came in unto” is in Luke 1:28 when the angel came in unto her, but then he said hail… The sentence means that the angel invaded her personal space univited and unannounced. It does not imply that the angel impregnated her in that moment.
Conclusion.
Conclusion: Luke’s perspective is more about Mary’s role in the prophesied event. We had to interpret the words and phrases used in the text. Then we considered some cultural norms to understand what really happened. Although at first glance one would think that she was divinely impregnated at the moment that she saw Gabriel. However, the act of divine impregnation with humans is shameful. It was the first sin that caused the most famous Noah’s Flood. Congratulations, now you know that Mary was not a virgin, but was a young unmarried woman engaged to Joseph. Mary was then divinely influenced to consummate their marriage before their ceremony to conceive the Christ child.