In the word spoken by the archangel Gabriel, Elizabeth, Zachariah, the angel who announced the Lord’s birth, Simeon, and Anna we have seventeen matters related to the Man-Savior: Jesus, the Son of the Most High, the descendant of David, the holy thing, the fruit of the womb, the Lord, the horn of salvation, the rising sun, the Savior, Christ, the consolation of Israel, God’s salvation, a light for the Gentiles, the glory of Israel, a test to Israel, a sign spoken against, and the redemption of God’s people. When we consider all these aspects of the Man-Savior, we see that He is not only both God and man, but everything God intended to give to His people and do for them.
If we read carefully the first three and a half chapters of the Gospel of Luke, we shall see that the preparation of the Man-Savior involved two angels and at least five human beings. The first of the angels was the archangel Gabriel. Gabriel is noted for bringing good news to God’s people. Gabriel brought good news not only in Luke, but also in Daniel, where he spoke concerning the seventy weeks (Dan. 9:24-27). The second angel was the one who made the announcement to the shepherds concerning the birth of the Man-Savior. It is possible that this one who made the announcement was also Gabriel. However, it is my belief that it was a different angel who announced the Lord’s birth.
The five people involved in the preparation of the Man-Savior were Zachariah, Mary, Elizabeth, Simeon, and Anna. We may also mention Joseph, who played a part in the preparation of the Man-Savior. It was he who brought Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem.
All these people were righteous and holy, living a life according to God’s written Word. Mary and Joseph were young, and Zachariah, Elizabeth, Simeon, and Anna were elderly. Here we see that different kinds of people were involved in the preparation of the Man-Savior. I encourage you to study these three and a half chapters of Luke again and pay attention to the different aspects of the Man-Savior revealed in them.
In the Gospel of Luke we see the kind of man God intended to have in Genesis 1 and 2. This means that God’s intention was to have a God-man. In Genesis 1 we have the man created by God in His image. For man to be created in God’s image means that man is created according to God’s attributes. God is love and light, and He is also holy and righteous. Love, light, holiness, and righteousness are God’s attributes, and God created man according to these attributes. However, the man created by God in Genesis 1 merely bore God’s image. He did not have God within him. Hence, he was merely a God-created man; he was not yet a God-man.
Because God wanted the man created by Him to become a God-man, after creating man God placed him in front of the tree of life. The tree of life denotes God. God’s intention was that the man created by Him would receive Him, as signified by the tree of life, and thereby become a God-man.
In Genesis 1 we have the man created by God. In Genesis 2 there is the indication that God wanted the man created by Him to receive Him by partaking of the fruit of the tree of life. However, the created man failed in that he did not receive the tree of life. Because man did not partake of the tree of life, he remained simply a God-created man.
In Genesis 3 the enemy, the tempter, came in to tempt the man God had created. Because man had not become a God-man, because he did not actually have God within him, he was not able to withstand the enemy’s temptation. The reason Adam could not withstand the temptation was that he was merely a God-created man, not a God-man. It is very important for us to see this.