They were indeed prepared for it in Eden when the Lord promised the woman that her seed should bruise the serpent's head.
The secret of the mysterious birth was probably known to only a very few. No public feeling was offended, for Joseph took Mary to wife; they were publicly married. Joseph knew that that which Mary had conceived was to be the Son of God, the Messiah of his race, the deliverer of mankind, as did Zacharias and Elizabeth, and those nearest to them. But there was no suspicion of scandal; instead, overwhelming gratitude that, through them, God was fulfilling prophecy. Mary treasured all these things in her heart in order to give them to future generations, and all generations have indeed called her blessed. Through Mary as a chosen instrumentality of the Lord the Messiah came into the world, from her as a virgin in whom the Divine soul-form was Divinely placed. "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." God could not come directly into the world in any other way. It was orderly, pure, chaste, holy, holier than any other birth.
