When God became man: The promise to a maiden

"And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end" (Luke 1:31-33).

The angel Gabriel delivered the next promise to a young woman named Mary in the Galilean city of Nazareth. It was the sixth month of Elizabeth's unfathomable pregnancy, but the conception and birth the angel promised Mary would be even more unbelievable. She would give birth though she was a virgin as a result of the work of the Holy Spirit, Gabriel said.

The son Mary would bear would be called "the Son of the Most High," the long-awaited Messiah. The virgin prophesied in Isaiah 7 as the mother of Immanuel was now revealed, and God would become man through this young Hebrew woman. To Mary's astonishment at how this could occur, Gabriel ultimately said, "For nothing will be impossible with God" (Luke 1:37).