Daily Bible Reading 9th March 2026 // Luke 1:26-38
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favoured one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
In the second place, the doctrine of the virgin birth also bears witness to how close Christ came to the pollution of sin, when He came to be our Saviour. What we mean by that is this: The Christmas carol says,
‘He came down to earth from heaven'
And how low He came! He lived on earth, not as a king, but as a carpenter; not in a palace, but in a peasant home; He was born, not in childbed, but in a stable, and laid in a manger; not with doctors and nurses in attendance, but cattle. And the circumstances of His birth were such as to cast a shadow on Him and His mother all their earthly days. It was natural that Joseph should have reacted as he did, and want to put Mary away, and the angel reassured him. But no angel reassured the world, and the misunderstanding must necessarily have remained. Who would have believed Mary, had she told?
He came down - as low as this. And it was all part of what was involved in the awesome mystery of being made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. How near He came to the pollution of sin, when He became our Saviour!