We have not learnt a great deal about the deeds of some well-known personalities in the Bible. Some of these are Mary, Joseph, Sarah and Abraham. I would like to point out some interesting things regarding these people in the following chapters.

Let’s look at Mary first, there has been very little taught about her in the church, this I feel is because of the Catholic view of her and how they have put her almost above God in their teachings. This having been said, let’s put aside the catholic slant on Mary and let’s look at what the Bible says about her and let’s look at why God chose her for the mother of His Son.

For God to choose Mary for this amazing role she had to be an outstanding woman, very close to God, keeping the Commandments and the Holy days, with great faith and belief.

As we have pointed out before in our articles, very few people believe God, they say they do but when it comes right down to it, they simply do not believe Him.

Belief is one of the most important attributes a Christian has to have in order to please God and to gain eternal life and a position in God’s kingdom.

MARY

Luk 1:27  to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.

Notice that she was highly favoured and the Lord was with her and she was blessed.

Luk 1:28  And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”

Luk 1:29  But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was.

Luk 1:30  Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

Luk 1:31  And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS.

Luk 1:32  He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.

Luk 1:33  And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

Mary must have had the right attitude when she asked this question because she then got an answer from the angel.

Luk 1:34  Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”

Luk 1:35  And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.

Luk 1:36  Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren.

Luk 1:37  For with God nothing will be impossible.”

Look at the amazing answer given by Mary. This is truly a great answer, it shows her belief of what she was told.

Luk 1:38  Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Now let’s look at what Elizabeth said to Mary.

Luk 1:42  Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

Luk 1:43  But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

Luk 1:44  For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.

Luk 1:45  Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”

Luk 1:46  And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord,

Luk 1:47  And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.

Luk 1:48  For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.

Luk 1:49  For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name.

Luk 1:50  And His mercy is on those who fear Him From generation to generation.

Luk 1:51  He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

Luk 1:52  He has put down the mighty from their thrones, And exalted the lowly.

Luk 1:53  He has filled the hungry with good things, And the rich He has sent away empty.

Luk 1:54  He has helped His servant Israel, In remembrance of His mercy,

Luk 1:55  As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and to his seed forever.”

Luk 1:56  And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her house.

JOSEPH

The husband of Mary, this man had many wonderful character traits that possibly are overlooked by many people. Let’s have a closer look at Joseph.

He had been a moral man, engaged to Mary and she remained a virgin. Today this would be a rare thing indeed between most young people. In Bible times it was expected that a woman was a virgin when she married. He had done the correct thing and obeyed God’s laws of morality.

Mat 1:18  Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.

What a hard time this must have been for Joseph, he knew he had not slept with his bride to be but she was pregnant. He must have been very worried about how this pregnancy had come about. He also loved Mary and he wanted to do the best thing for her.

To be pregnant and not married would mean death to Mary, so swift action had to follow to protect Mary from certain ridicule and death. The following scripture says that Joseph was a just man.

Mat 1:19  Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.

It must have been a very difficult time for Joseph, he thought about what he could do to save Mary from public disgrace and as he did so an angel appeared to him in a dream.

Mat 1:20  But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

Mat 1:21  And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Mat 1:22  So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying:

Mat 1:23  “BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD, AND BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,” which is translated, “God with us.”

Now Joseph knew the truth of what had happened to his beloved Mary, she was still a virgin, but was pregnant with the very Son of God. He must have been very relieved and so very happy with the wonderful news when he understood what had actually happened to Mary.

There was no need to hide her away or divorce her, there was no shame, she had done nothing wrong, in fact she was blessed among women. Joseph went ahead and married his beloved wife Mary.

Mat 1:24  Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife,

Mat 1:25  and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name JESUS.

The following scripture shows that Mary was blessed among women.

Luk 1:42  Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

Luk 1:43  But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

SARAH AND ABRAHAM

Abraham was 75 years old when God told him that He would make him a great nation.

Gen 12:2  I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.

Gen 12:4  So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

Again we see the promise from God of children to Abraham.

Gen 12:7  Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

In the following verses we see that indeed Abraham was promised that he would be the father of his heir. His descendants would be like the stars in the sky. Abraham believed God that this would happen to him.

Gen 15:4  And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.”

Gen 15:5  Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

Gen 15:6  And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.

After Abraham received the promises from God, years passed. After 11 years since God had promised a family to Abraham, Sarah still had not conceived. The only solution Sarah could see to the problem was to give Hagar to Abraham.

Gen 16:1  Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar.

Gen 16:2  So Sarai said to Abram, “See now, the LORD has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai.

Gen 16:15  So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.

Gen 16:16  Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

Ishmael was indeed Abraham’s son, but Hagar was not the intended mother of the covenant line. God wanted the covenant to begin with a child of both Abraham and Sarah.

Sarah was quite old and had no children. As time passed Abraham and Sarah got older. When Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah 90 years old God told them they would have a son.

Gen 17:17  Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?”

If you know anyone who is 90 or 100 years old, you would not think that it would be possible for them to have children. Yet here was Abraham and Sarah at this age and God made it possible for them to have a child.

Gen 17:19  Then God said: “No, Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.

God did bless the line from Ishmael and they became the Arab nations of today.

Gen 17:20  And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.

However the covenant was established through Isaac, and they became the Israelites. Today this includes nations of Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, America and others.

Gen 17:21  But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year.”

The belief that both Abraham and Sarah would have a child took a great deal of faith. Given the age of the couple. Originally both Sarah and Abraham laughed when they heard from the angel that they were going to become parents, but they had waited a long time for this tremendous event.

Gen 18:10  And He said, “I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.” (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.)

Gen 18:11  Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing.

Gen 18:12  Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?”

Gen 18:13  And the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’

Gen 18:14  Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.”

Gen 18:15  But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh!”

Now approximately 25 years from the time that God told Abraham that he would have a nation come from his body, the long awaited child of Sarah and Abraham, Isaac was born.

Gen 21:1  And the LORD visited Sarah as He had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as He had spoken.

Gen 21:2  For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.

Gen 21:3  And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him—whom Sarah bore to him—Isaac.

Gen 21:4  Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.

Gen 21:5  Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

Gen 21:6  And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me.”

Gen 21:7  She also said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age.”

The saints that we have talked about in this article, are well known to most readers. It is clear that if we trust and believe God, He will work things out for us, maybe not when or how we think it should be worked out, but what is best for us in the long run.

If we could just relax and leave things up to God, rather than reason what should be done ourselves, the outcome would be much better for us and would benefit us the most. God knows best, let’s trust in Him.