Big Idea: Jesus will be miraculously born from a virgin mother and will be the Son of God and the promised Messiah.

Understanding the Text

The mention of “the sixth month” in 1:26, 36 ties this episode in closely with the preceding one (note “five months” in 1:24), and the angel’s news about Elizabeth (1:36) keeps the two angelic announcements closely linked, thus preparing for the meeting of the two pregnant mothers in 1:39–56. The similar announcements to Zechariah and to Mary by the same angelic messenger prepare the reader for the parallel accounts of the births of John and Jesus in 1:57–66 and 2:1–20. But there is also a significant escalation between the two announcements, both in the status of the one to be born (prophetic forerunner as compared with Son of God) and in the scale o…