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Why are Childless Women Prominent in the Christmas Story? #705 · Scripture Central

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  And they had no child because that Elizabeth was barren and
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  they both were now well stricken in years.
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  Hello listeners, This is Nick from Scripture Central, and
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  today's podcast addresses the question, Why are childless
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  women prominent in the Christmas story?
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  Just as the Gospel of Luke begins with the account of the
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  Angel Gabriel's appearance to the temple priest Zacharias,
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  assuring him that his wife would yet bear him a son, many stories
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  of prominent women in the Old Testament, including the three
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  great matriarchs Sarah, Rebecca and Rachel, begin with a similar
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  problem. Although each of them was
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  barren, God's promises and covenants would be kept through
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  divine and joyous means. These stories of childlessness
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  and miracle children were certainly not lost on Luke, a
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  medical physician who begins his account of Christ's birth with
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  another barren couple like Sarah and Abraham.
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  Elizabeth and Zacharias were well stricken in years.
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  In spite of seeming impossibility, none of these
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  faithful wives and husbands gave up hope that God would some way
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  give them a child who would be a special servant of the Lord.
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  In each of these cases, sacred promises and the temple were
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  central to their faith and hope. Speaking of Sarah, Paul says
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  through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive
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  seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age,
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  because she judged him faithful who had promised.
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  Joseph Smith explained Zechariah, having no children,
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  knew that the promise of God must fail.
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  Consequently, he went into the temple to wrestle with God
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  according to the order of the priesthood to obtain a promise
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  of a son. Hannah also went up to the House
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  of the Lord to pray for a son and vowed to consecrate him to
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  the Lord if her desire was granted, An Angel appears to
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  Samson's mother to declare that she would have a child and that
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  she would need to consecrate him to the Lord.
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  She and her husband interact with the Angel again, making an
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  offering at a temple altar, ask the visiting Angel for his
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  secret name, and declare that they had seen God.
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  Into this backdrop of temple hope and miraculous births, Luke
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  introduces the Virgin Mary. According to the little known
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  early Christian text The Infancy Gospel of James, Mary herself
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  was a miracle child born to an old barren couple, Joachim and
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  Anna. This text opens with Joachim
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  making offerings in the temple, but he was asked by
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  administrators to desist and leave because of his barrenness.
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  He goes into the desert lamenting ponders on the story
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  of Abraham, who was given a child in his old age, and fasts
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  and prays for a child. Anna also laments and prays that
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  God would bless her as he had blessed Sarah.
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  An Angel appeared to both Joachim and Anna and tells them
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  that they would indeed bear a child, and Anna vows that the
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  child would be consecrated to the Lord.
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  Joachim then goes to the temple to make offerings where this
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  blessing was confirmed to him. They give birth to Mary, and at
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  the age of 3, Mary, like Samuel, was dedicated to the temple and
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  raised there until she began having her menstrual periods and
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  was then espoused by the high priest to marry a worker in the
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  temple named Joseph. As the story in Luke continues,
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  Mary was soon visited by an Angel who tells her she will
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  bear a child even though she is a virgin.
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  She thus goes from Nazareth to visit her aged cousin Elizabeth,
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  who, unbeknownst to Mary, was now pregnant with a child who
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  would be John the Baptist. While in the presence of the
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  surprisingly once Baron Elizabeth, Mary utters her
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  poetic Magnificat a Psalm of praise that, as scholars have
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  noted, echoes much of the terminology and phraseology of
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  the joyful Psalm of praise given by the once barren Hannah in the
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  Old Testament. Mary no doubt felt a kinship to
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  these women, who miraculously found themselves pregnant.
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  Hannah's initial plea at the temple, and her subsequent Psalm
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  of joy included lines echoed in Mary's Magnificat, O Lord of
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  Hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine
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  handmaid, and Remember Me, and not forget thine Handmaid, my
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  heart rejoiceth in the Lord. The bows of the mighty men are
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  broken, and they that stumble are girded with strength.
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  They that were hungry ceased. The Baron hath borne 7 He
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  raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar
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  from the dunghill, to set them among Princess, and to make them
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  inherit the throne of glory. Mary's words clearly echo those
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  of Hannah. My soul doth magnify the Lord,
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  and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior, for he hath
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  regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden.
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  For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me
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  blessed. She will not be forgotten.
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  He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of
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  low degree. He hath filled the hungry with
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  good things, and the rich he hath sent empty away.
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  He hath hoping or helped his servant Israel in remembrance of
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  his mercy, as he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his
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  seed forever in temples, and through the covenants associated
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  with them, the Lord's people in all ages received certain
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  promises. Such promises were given to Adam
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  and Eve when God gave them dominion, royal and priestly
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  authority over the earth or the land, and commanded them to be
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  fruitful and multiply. In Genesis, chapter one, verses
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  26 through 28, These same promises were given to Abraham
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  and many others when God gave them priesthood land and
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  promised posterity as numerous as the stars.
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  These same promises have been restored in our day and figure
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  ultimately in the sealing ordinances of the temple.
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  The Father's great plan involves the coming forth of his children
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  into this world, including the great and the small, the noble,
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  and even his only begotten to fulfill his purposes.
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  God can direct and protect the birth of children, both in time
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  and throughout all eternity. The fact that the promises of
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  God pertain not just to eternity, but also to the mortal
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  era is also taught in the Book of Mormon.
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  The promises which we have obtained are promises unto us
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  according to the flesh that my covenants may be fulfilled,
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  which I have made unto the children of men, that I will do
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  unto them while they are in the flesh.
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  A belief that God's promises were for time as well as
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  eternity may have spurred the barren women and men to keep
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  hoping and acting in such faith even in the face of old age and
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  seeming impossibilities. As Paul said that Sarah had
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  faith to conceive because she judged him faithful who had
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  promised, and as Joseph Smith said that Zacharias knew that
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  the promise of God must fail if he didn't have a son, So the
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  Angel informed Mary concerning Elizabeth.
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  With God, nothing is impossible. The miraculous pregnancies of
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  these women were signs to all Israel and all the world that
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  God can indeed fulfill His promises in time as well as
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  eternity, as if to punctuate God's full might and ability.
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  Mary's own pregnancy was an even greater miracle than the
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  pregnancies of very old couples. Her only child comes into the
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  world in such a way as to be the sign that deliverance from all
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  of sins, all of our lowly fallen states, has been given and has
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  been given, and that all the promises of God and temples will
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  indeed be fulfilled in time, just as Mary's first Christmas
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  song declares. Through his covenant God indeed
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  lifts up the poor and beggars and makes them kings and Queens.
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  He protects his people from their enemies, and all who are
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  barren, both literally and figuratively, will indeed bear
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  fruit, and not just an eternity, but in this temporal and
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  temporary world as well. Exactly when or how he will
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  fulfill his promises to each of us is not fully known, and as an
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  individual matter, but surely the Millennium will have
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  something to do with it. That era is part of the time of
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  mortality and is the appointed moment when Christ will restore
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  all things that His faithful followers can become kings and
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  Queens in the Father's eternal Kingdoms of glory, healed with
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  resurrection's power, and brings joy from every tear.
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  As the scriptures above testify, God works miracles among those
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  who constantly act in faith even before that eternal day.
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  And even when the fulfillment of His covenantal promises seems
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  impossible at Christmas time, we can be assured that if God the
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  Father can cause a virgin to conceive, that he is able to
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  fulfill, both in time and eternity every promise He has
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  made to all who follow his Son. With that assurance, we too can
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  break forth in song with Isaiah and Jesus.
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  Sing, O Baron, thou that didst not bear break forth into
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  singing for a small moment have I forsaken thee?
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  But with great mercies will I gather thee in a little wrath?
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  I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting
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  kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord Thy
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  Redeemer. Thank you for listening to this
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  presentation from Scripture Central.
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  For more information, please visit scripturecentral.org.