MEET MIRIAM

The real "Miriam" was a humble virgin, a servant of God.  One may see this name in the Greek as “Maria” or “Mariam”.   The Hebrew origin is “Miryam” or “Miriam”(Strong’s Concordance).  

That which we can know without a shadow of a doubt to be fact and truth about Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, comes from the inspired, infallible Holy Bible, especially the Book of Luke.    

We can learn much about pleasing God from the life of this humble handmaiden of the LORD, who said “Behold, the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to Your word.”  (Luke 1:38) 

Looking in the Greek text, we can see that her name is more accurately translated Mariam, Miryam or Miriam.  A “Pierre” hailing from France might appreciate being called his true name over the English version “Peter”.  So for that courtesy and for clarity later, in this article I will use the name Miriam for the mother of Yeshua,  the Hebrew name for “Jesus”.    In keeping with that, the version most often quoted in this article, will be the World English Version – Messianic edition because it keeps the Hebrew names.  

MIRIAM’S FIRST RECORDED WORDS

Virgin: It is worded in the Greek “since a man not I know” but you have to convey the meaning of words when one does translating.

 “HOW CAN THIS BE, SEEING I AM A VIRGIN?” 

Miriam’s first recorded words are a question.   It is in the account of the angel Gabriel’s visit to Miriam to announce that the Christ Child, the prophesied Messiah and Savior of the world, would be conceived in her womb.  Miriam, wonderingly asks the angel,  “How can this be, seeing I am a virgin?” 

Young’s Literal Translation
“And Mary said unto the messenger, ‘How shall this be, seeing a husband I do not know?'”

There can be no doubt, if one believes the Bible, that Miriam was decidedly a chaste virgin,  not just a young girl as some skeptics suggest.   Here, in her own words, Miriam herself declares that fact: “seeing I am a virgin”.   Miriam was not so naive as to think that babies were delivered by a stork.  She knew it wasn’t possible in the natural for her to have a baby yet.   She hadn’t yet had that kind of relationship with any man, not even her fiancé Joseph.   So she asks the angel the logical question, “How can this be?”  

35 The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the Holy One who is born from you will be called the Son of God. 36 Behold, Elisheva [Elizabeth], your relative, also has conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing spoken by God is impossible.”  (Luke 1) 

Yes, with God all things ARE possible!   That Miriam was a virgin was no obstacle for the Almighty.   He had, after all, spoken the entire universe into existence!   

That Miriam was indeed a virgin is also confirmed in Matthew 1:

18 Now the birth of Yeshua the Messiah was like this: After His mother, Miriam, was engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, intended to put her away secretly. 20 But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take to yourself Miriam, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 She shall give birth to a son. You shall call His name Yeshua, for it is He who shall save His people from their sins.”

22 Now all this has happened, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall give birth to a son. They shall call his name Immanuel”;  which is, being interpreted, “God with us.” [quoting Isaiah 7:14] 

24 Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took his wife to himself; 25 and didn’t know her sexually until she had given birth to her firstborn son. He named him Yeshua.  (Matthew 1)

As had been prophesied, Miriam was a chaste virgin when Yeshua was born.  It is a foundational tenet of true Christianity.  Yeshua, the Messiah, Immanuel, the “the image of the invisible God” was conceived in her womb by the Holy Spirit. (Luke 1:35-37) (Colossians 1:15)   Anyone who persists in denying the virgin birth has been deceived by slick propaganda from the father of lies, the spirit of antichrist:

“1 Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit who confesses that Yeshua the Messiah has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit who doesn’t confess that Yeshua the Messiah has come in the flesh is not of God, and this is the spirit of the Anti-messiah, of whom you have heard that it comes. Now it is in the world already.”  (John 4)

Yeshua was the human Miriam’s firstborn, His Father being YHWH God.  This was necessary for Him to be “fully God and fully man”.  It is a great mystery and miracle.   Theologians have written volumes on this, so you may pursue this topic more deeply, if you so desire.  For our purposes, let it suffice that Miriam was, by her very own words, a virgin otherwise she would not have asked “How can this be?”   

MIRIAM, THE MOTHER OF OTHERS   

Miriam went on after Yeshua’s birth to have other children including “James the Lord’s brother”.  (Galatians 1:19)  She is not an eternal virgin, nor need she be to be honored.    The sexual act is sacred and holy, a gift from God, within the confines of marriage. 

“Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.”  (Hebrews 13:4)

Miriam did not sin when she at last gave herself lovingly to Joseph, her husband, as YHWH Himself instituted holy marriage between a man and a woman.   God’s first recorded words to Adam and Eve were “Be fruitful.”   (Gen 1:28)   As we can see from this passage, Miriam and Joseph had at least six other children after Yeshua! 

“Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Miriam, and brother of Jacob, Yosi, Judah, and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?”  (Mark 6:3) 

So Miriam and Joseph were indeed fruitful! Again, we see this in another Scripture:

John 2:12 After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days.

MIRIAM’S 2nd Recorded Statement 

“BEHOLD, THE SERVANT OF THE LORD; LET IT BE DONE TO ME ACCORDING TO YOUR WORD.”

 The angel Gabriel had explained to Miriam: 

“The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the Holy One who is born from you will be called the Son of God.  Behold, Elisheva, your relative, also has conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.  For nothing spoken by God is impossible.”  (Luke 1:35-37) 

Miriam’s reply to the angel Gabriel is the next of her recorded words:

“Behold, the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38) 

“THE SERVANT OF THE LORD”

It is evident that Miriam considered herself a servant, even a “slave”, of the LORD!  The Greek word “doule” is also translated “handmaiden” and female bond-slave.   It has the connotation of “one who gives himself up wholly to another’s will”.   This is something we can indeed learn from Miriam – to give ourselves up wholly to the will of our Creator God!  

Miriam was a willing vessel, willing to be used by the LORD in anyway He needed and wanted.   This is love.   This is in keeping with the First Commandment, to love God with ALL your being.  Miriam laid down her own will.   She died to selfish desires.   God’s desires became her own.   

Her Son would later teach: “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”  (John 15:13)

What are we willing to lay down to do God’s will?   Will we lay down our traditions?  Will we lay down our plans?   Would we be willing to withstand the scorn of man for His name’s sake?

Miriam would need to endure ridicule in the months and years to come from those who would not believe in the miraculous conception.  She would endure the pain of watching her Son suffer and die an agonizing death.   The prophet Simeon had told her at Yeshua’s circumcision, “Yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul”.   Miriam indeed did suffer for the will of God to be accomplished.   Are we willing to get out of our own comfort zones to please Our Creator? 

But the joy of the LORD will become our strength even in the midst of persecution.    Surely, Miriam knew also the joy that comes from walking in the LORD’s will!     

“LET IT BE DONE TO ME ACCORDING TO YOUR WORD.”

This statement expresses Miriam’s complete submission to the will of the LORD which is expressed is His Word.   God’s Word is His will.   If you want to know God’s will, you only have to read His Word for yourself.    Yeshua taught the disciples to pray to their heavenly Father, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  (Matthew 6:10)   Yeshua Himself  prayed  similarly in the Garden of Gethsemane, when in great agony, He accepted the will of the Father for His own human death: 

“Not My will, but Yours, be done.”  (Luke 22:42) 

We can learn this submission from Miriam.   But she is not alone in her obedience to the LORD.  Many others in the past and in the present are living their lives, the best they can, with the help of the indwelling Holy Spirit, according to the will of God.   This pleases the LORD.   

There is an interesting event concerning Miriam  recorded by Mark.

Yeshua had been teaching, healing and ministering.   

20 Then He went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. 21And when His family heard it, they went out to seize Him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”  

Perhaps Miriam had a motherly concern for her son’s well-being and wanted Him to get some rest and food!   Meanwhile….

22And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul”…. 

Then Miriam arrived with the family.   

31 And his mother and His brothers came, and standing outside they sent to Him and called Him. 32 And a crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking You.” 33And He answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34And looking about at those who sat around Him, He said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”  (Mark 3 ESV)

THE WILL OF GOD

Surprisingly, Yeshua didn’t jump up at once and go greet His mother.  Instead, He continued in His sermon, using this incident as an opportunity to express the importance of the spiritual family of God and of doing the will of God!   

His mother didn’t demand His attention.   Throughout her Son’s ministry, she is willing to stay quietly in the background, and not take any glory that rightfully belongs to her Son.   For grace had been extended to her by God to be the earthly mother of Christ.  It was not her own doing.  God did it through her.   Yet her submissiveness to the will of God is to be commended.   

So throughout the gospels, we never find Miriam calling attention to herself, or putting the spotlight on herself.   After all, her Son had said “so must the Son of Man be lifted up”. (John 3:14)  It is Jesus Christ, Yeshua the Messiah who needs to be lifted up!

Which leads us to….

THE MAGNIFICAT

Miriam’s humble heart can be discerned in this next of her recorded words, a beautiful expression of praise to her Savior and God, commonly called “the Magnificat”

LUKE 1:46 Miriam said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord.

47 My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior,

48 for He has looked at the humble state of His servant.

For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed.

49 For He who is mighty has done great things for me.

Holy is His name.

50 His mercy is for generations of generations on those who fear Him.

51 He has shown strength with His arm.

He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

52 He has put down princes from their thrones.

And has exalted the lowly.

53 He has filled the hungry with good things.

He has sent the rich away empty.

54 He has given help to Israel, his servant, that he might remember mercy,

55 As He spoke to our fathers,

to Abraham and His offspring forever.”  (Luke 1)

“MY SOUL MAGNIFIES THE LORD”

Miriam herself gives all the praise to God!  This Magnificat she spoke when she went to visit Elizabeth.   Now, Miriam had already had a supernatural Holy Ghost encounter when the Spirit of God overshadowed her and put within her womb the seed of Immanuel.   Now, she goes to Zechariah’s home and there will be another Holy Ghost experience! 

Zechariah’s wife Elizabeth was way past her prime for childbearing.  It is by a miracle of God that she is pregnant with John the Baptist.  Now, every mother knows the joy of feeling a baby move within her womb.   But Elizabeth senses a leap!    John, even in the womb, leaps for joy at the Presence of the Messiah!   The whole atmosphere must have been charged with the Spirit, for Miriam starts prophesying and what bubbles up from inside her is “My soul doth magnify the Lord!”   

This account clearly demonstrates that a baby is a living being, a real little person in the womb!  That’s one of the reasons Christians are PRO-LIFE!

 

“MY SPIRIT  HAS REJOICED IN GOD MY SAVIOR”

Next, Miriam acknowledges joyfully that God is her Savior.   Her very own Child is her very own Savior, the prophesied Messiah!    

Why does Miriam need a Savior?   She is a human being like the rest of us and she needs a Savior to save her from her sins.   Miriam was not sinless.  She was a sinner, like the rest of us fallen humans, but she was saved from her sins by “faith through grace,” through the sacrifice of her Son on the cross.  There is no other way to be saved from our sins to eternal life with God the Father.

The “Immaculate Conception” doctrine that Mary was conceived “without stain of original sin”  and therefore did not have a fallen nature herself, is nowhere to be found in Scripture.  This doctrine of the Roman church was made official by Pope Pius IX in 1854.   It, and other doctrines concerning “Mary”, have no basis in fact or Scripture.  These faulty doctrines do not glorify the Risen Savior Yeshua  but cause many to erroneously look to various fabricated versions of “Mary”.   Bowing down to idols, even those dubbed “Mary” is something that God expressly forbids.  (Exodus 20:4-5; Deuteronomy 5:8-9)  

How easily we can be deceived!  There is a decidedly different spirit, a haughty spirit behind these so-called “Mary” apparitions demanding veneration.  The true humble handmaiden of the LORD, Miriam, would never take any of the glory away from YHVH God!  

 

“FOR HE HAS LOOKED AT THE HUMBLE STATE

OF HIS SERVANT” 

Next, Miriam proclaims “for he has looked at the humble state of his servant.”   From everything in the Word of God, we see that Miriam is humble.    Pride is the domain of Satan.    Miriam is humble.   

Certainly Miriam, whose knowledge of Scriptures is evident in her use of it in the Magnificat, knew that God is against the proud. 

“For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be on every one that is proud and lofty, and on every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:”  (Isaiah 2:12 AKJ)

“Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the LORD; be assured, he will not go unpunished.”  (Proverbs 16:5) 

Miriam probably taught these Scriptures to her children.   Her son James wrote: 

 “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6b)

Now compare Miriam’s humble spirit to that of the “Mary” impostors.  This is what the seducing spirit called the “Lady of Guadelupe” was reported to have said to Juan Diego in 1531 in Mexico:

“Know for certain least of my sons, that I am the perfect and perpetual Virgin Mary, Mother of the True God…. It is my earnest wish that a temple be built here to my honor.”!!!!

Can you imagine the humble handmaiden Miriam ever asking for a temple to be built to her honor?   How uncharacteristic!  So my conclusion must be that the “Lady of Guadelupe” is a deceiving spirit sent to steal the worship that belongs to YHVH God alone! 

“And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.”  (2 Cor 11:14)

If you don’t know the real, how can you possibly detect the impostor?  

We know from Scripture that Miriam was not a “perpetual Virgin” because she had many children!  

Further, this Guadelupe demon has only brought misery to Mexico.   

“Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them.”  (Jonah 2:8 NIV) 

If Jesus Christ is Your Lord and Savior, repent of any connections you have with this deceiving spirit. 

Throw out all statues for the LORD has said not to bow down to statues.  

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them…” Exodus 20:4-5

Books and pictures of “Mary” or “Maria” portraying her as the “queen of heaven” are also idolatrous.  

Jeremiah 7:18  (NKJV)  ¹⁸ The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me  [YHWH] to anger.

(See the book of Jeremiah 44 where all references to the “queen of heaven” are idolatry.)

Miriam, the “Mary” of the Bible, is a saint, a holy saint of God, but she along with other saints are the bride of Christ, not the “queen of heaven. ” 

“Our Father in heaven, please deliver everyone reading this from the deception of deceiving spirits.  Give them a heart to know You, the only True God, Yahweh, who took on human flesh as Yeshua the Messiah to die for humans’ sins.   Deliver them from evil.  Fill them with Your Word and with your Holy Spirit.  In Yeshua’s name, I pray.” 

THE NAME ABOVE ALL NAMES

The name Yeshua (Jesus) is the name above every other name!

“Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “…. It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.  Jesus is  ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’  Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”  (Acts 4:8-12)

Declare out loud, if you believe this in your heart:  “Yeshua the Messiah is LORD!”   (Romans 10:8-11)  “Jesus Christ is LORD!”

Also see, Another Usurper, for how this “fake Mary” uses titles reserved for the LORD!

PLEASE VISIT  “His Inheritance Ministries” again!   SHALOM!