Advent Trail December 12th - Luke 1:32

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. (Luke 1:32)

Having given Mary the astounding news that though she is a virgin she will give birth to a son, Gabriel goes on to say five particular things about the child she will bear, three in this verse and two in the next.

The child will be “great” and his greatness is directly connected to his unique identity – “the Son of the Most High” i.e. he will be the Son of God. It had been similarly said of John the Baptist that “he will be great in the sight of the Lord” (Luke 1:15) but the greatness of Jesus will far excel that of John, for John “will be called a prophet of the Most High” (Luke 1:76) but Jesus is God’s Son. “In the past God spoke through the prophets... but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son... the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being” (Heb.1:1-3).

It is to his Son, the one exalted above all others, that God “will give the throne of his father David”, just as the prophets had said (Is.11:1; Mic.5:2; 2 Sam.7:16). Jesus is the ruler who will reign on David’s throne for ever. And it’s because he is the Son of the Most High God that he is able to be the Messiah, and therefore our Saviour.