[00:00:01] You are listening to Theology and Apologetics with Thomas Fretwell bringing Theology to life.
[00:00:11] So we were in Luke chapter one in our Life of Messiah series. What we are doing is a study through all of the
[00:00:19] Gospels looking at the life of Jesus Christ placing him in his correct context, clearing up misunderstandings,
[00:00:26] looking at the Jewish background to this and learning about our Lord. We spent a lot of time looking at the
[00:00:31] history leading up to this period of the 400 silently years as it was told with all the Persian Empire and the
[00:00:38] Maccabean Revults and all of that interesting history that went before it. And now just we've seen the
[00:00:44] announcement of John the Baptist and we're going to look now at the announcement of another birth.
[00:00:50] So we started in Luke chapter one and we went through a whole number of different issues. We'll pick it up,
[00:00:55] I'll do a small recap of what we did before the week after I was away. Richard spoke here last week but before that
[00:01:02] we were doing this. So we are looking at the announcement to Mary this time that she would become pregnant.
[00:01:09] She would bear a son, remember and call his name Jesus and we talked about the name of Jesus being
[00:01:15] not actually the real name, the real name in Hebrew was Yeshua and it's been translated and
[00:01:20] translated and that's how we end up with Jesus but the real name was Yeshua and Yeshua means that God
[00:01:26] saves, that is the literal meaning of that name. So it's fitting that Jesus Christ has the name Yeshua.
[00:01:33] He literally means God saves and he himself is God the Son who's coming to save the world. That's the point there.
[00:01:40] That's why the angel said you need to call him Yeshua. He named him by divine right there. Yeshua
[00:01:46] he saves the world. Now we also look to how pivotal the name of Jesus Christ is to us as Christians.
[00:01:54] We went through the scriptures and we surveyed all the different things, the blessings that we have in his name
[00:01:59] and all the things that we're supposed to do in his name and we won't go through them but please
[00:02:03] go back and look if you want to look at that list. And then we came down to verse 32 where it says
[00:02:08] he will be great talking of Jesus. He will be called the Son of the Most High and the Lord God
[00:02:13] will give him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever
[00:02:17] and his kingdom will have no end. So Jesus not only will be the saviour of the world,
[00:02:23] he will be the great king who will inherit and rule on the throne of David in Jerusalem.
[00:02:29] And we talked about that because this is a key point of theology that is often missed.
[00:02:35] Yes there is the father's throne in heaven where he resides now but that is not what this promise
[00:02:40] is referring to. The throne of David was a very specific political throne that was promised
[00:02:45] to King David all those years ago that one day an eternal ruler would come who would have the
[00:02:49] eternal right to rule on this throne in his kingdom forever. This is the part of theology
[00:02:54] that we've dealt with as we went through Revelation but this is again proving that Israel still
[00:02:59] remains Israel and he will rule over Jacob. And it says he will rule over the house of Jacob
[00:03:04] that is referring to Israel. At one point in the future Israel will be saved and he will
[00:03:09] rule over them with the church and that is part of the glorious future that we all have.
[00:03:14] And then in verse 36 it said, and behold even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived
[00:03:21] a son in her old age and she who was called Barron is now in her six month. Now you
[00:03:26] remember this was John the Baptist's mother. We dealt with that a few weeks back who
[00:03:30] was also Barron and she was promised that she would give birth to a son and it was to be
[00:03:36] John. And this John was to be the person who would prepare the way for the Messiah.
[00:03:41] So now let's pick up the narrative in verse 39 so Luke chapter 1 verse 39 and we'll start
[00:03:48] with the New Text this morning. So it says now at this time, Mary arose and went in a
[00:03:54] hurry to the hill country of Judah and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.
[00:04:01] So this is Mary now Miriam young 16 year old girl living up in the Nazareth area you can
[00:04:07] see we were in Nazareth recently and you follow this kind of journey a little bit down
[00:04:12] and you come all the way down to Jerusalem in the hill country there. This is what
[00:04:15] Mary did she wanted to go and see her cousin Elizabeth to see whether what she had
[00:04:20] been told was true whether Elizabeth was now expecting a child that would be a great
[00:04:25] confirmation of her faith it would be a great confirmation that what she had been told
[00:04:29] by the angel that she was going to have a miraculous birth to would also be true.
[00:04:34] So naturally she wants to go and see Elizabeth. Verse 41 when Elizabeth heard Mary's
[00:04:40] greeting the baby leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
[00:04:45] So here we see the first fulfillment of John the Baptist divine mission. You remember
[00:04:50] what it was John chapter 1 verse 7 it says he came as a witness. This is John the Baptist
[00:04:55] his job was to witness to testify about the light so that all might believe through him.
[00:05:00] He was not the light but he came to testify about the light. That was John the Baptist
[00:05:05] he was basically saying one is coming the savior of the world is coming my job
[00:05:10] is to tell you that he is coming to witness to him to testify that the savior is coming.
[00:05:14] That was John the Baptist's role and we'll read a lot about him as we go through the
[00:05:19] Gospels. So you have now John the Baptist's mother pregnant with John and you have Mary
[00:05:26] who's just been told that she is also going to have a miraculous divine birth
[00:05:31] because she was of course a virgin at this time and these two young women that
[00:05:36] we have here or one old one young amazingly just being graced by the Lord to change
[00:05:42] the world. That's what we see here forming in these gospel narratives. Jesus was soon
[00:05:48] to come. It's a good verse 42 and she cried out with a loud voice and said
[00:05:54] blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb and how has
[00:05:59] it happened to me that the mother of my Lord would come to me. So we see here
[00:06:04] Elizabeth who is pregnant with John the Baptist she sees Mary coming to her
[00:06:08] and she immediately knows that something amazing is happening and she cries out
[00:06:12] and she says blessed are you among women blessed is the fruit of your womb.
[00:06:15] So she knows that Mary is now pregnant. You can see the Lord's hand on this whole
[00:06:19] story here and notice what it says being filled probably being filled
[00:06:24] with the spirit like we've seen she just burst forth proclaiming blessing
[00:06:28] upon Mary and upon the Messiah. Blessed are you and blessed is the fruit
[00:06:32] of your womb and if you want to know what the fruit of the spirit is one of the
[00:06:36] fruits of the spirit when you're filled with the spirit you should bless people.
[00:06:41] You understand things about the Lord you should just burst forth in praise
[00:06:45] it should just well up within you we're going to see Mary do that herself now
[00:06:49] in a moment and also notice she identifies the child as the Lord
[00:06:55] the mother of my Lord she says she identifies that the Messiah is coming
[00:07:00] and another thing about the spirit it will always produce a true and accurate
[00:07:05] identity of the Messiah. A spirit filled proclamation or preaching or
[00:07:11] testimony will always point to the true identity of the Messiah and that's a
[00:07:15] key point because remember we studied there are lots of people claiming to be
[00:07:19] saviours claiming to be messiahs false christ all sorts of things there are
[00:07:23] a lot of Christians who have very wrong understandings of Jesus simply
[00:07:26] because we kind of make our own views up without studying how he was revealed
[00:07:31] himself to us a spirit filled testimony will always have an accurate
[00:07:35] understanding of Messiah. Verse 44
[00:07:39] for behold when the sound of your greeting reached my ears the baby leaped
[00:07:44] in my womb for joy and blessed is she who believed that there would be a
[00:07:48] fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord so when the
[00:07:52] greeting was heard by the baby in the womb he leaped for joy again this is
[00:07:56] unusual language to speak of a baby in the womb leaping for joy we could
[00:08:01] speak a lot about that we did a little bit last time but the idea is that
[00:08:05] obviously the Lord's hand the spirit the Holy Spirit is upon both of these
[00:08:09] babies that we have here and as they meet the one whose job was to
[00:08:13] testify to the coming Messiah as these two women come together with these
[00:08:17] two babies in their stomach the Lord is there and he fills one of them
[00:08:21] with the spirit and even the baby in the womb jumps for joy and that is
[00:08:26] the you ever heard the expression jumping for joy that's where we get this
[00:08:29] from this is where it comes from this passage here he jumps for joy because
[00:08:33] the presence of the Messiah is there and this again for me is what's the
[00:08:38] Holy Spirit that is doing this remember the fruit of the spirit Galatians
[00:08:42] 5 the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace patience joy is one of those
[00:08:45] things supernatural joy will be produced by the Holy Spirit she believed
[00:08:50] the word of God would be fulfilled it says there and this is a question for
[00:08:54] us because we want to put this on ourselves for application sometimes
[00:08:58] when we're reading the Bible or reading the promises of God we wonder
[00:09:02] ourselves don't we whether we really believe that these things will be
[00:09:05] fulfilled because sometimes it feels like you've been waiting for so long
[00:09:09] but and you kind of get complacent in the world and you almost forget
[00:09:13] about the promises of God and I think it's important to learn here
[00:09:16] from this young woman of faith we're going to learn a lot from Mary this
[00:09:19] morning we'll see even at the age of 16 17 however old she was here it was
[00:09:23] around that sort of age she displays a faith that is far beyond her years
[00:09:27] and that's one of the reasons I believe why she was grace to become
[00:09:31] the one that the Lord would use to bring the Messiah into the world
[00:09:35] so after this amazing event where she meets her cousin the two baby the baby
[00:09:39] leaps for joy in the womb Elizabeth says how blessed are you blessed is
[00:09:43] the fruit of your womb now Mary bursts forth into praise in a very
[00:09:47] famous passage of scripture and we'll read the whole thing together
[00:09:51] from verse 46 to 55 because it all it's all one piece of text one song
[00:09:55] of praise basically it's called the Magnificat if you've ever heard
[00:09:59] that and we'll read it together this is Mary's song of praise
[00:10:03] and Mary said verse 46 my soul exalts the Lord and my spirit
[00:10:08] has rejoiced in God my savior for he has had regard for the humble
[00:10:12] state of his bond slave for behold from this time on all generations
[00:10:16] will count me blessed for the mighty one has done great things for me
[00:10:20] and holy is his name and his mercy is upon generation after
[00:10:24] generation towards those who fear him he has done mighty deeds
[00:10:28] with his arm he has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts
[00:10:31] of their heart he has brought down rulers from their thrones
[00:10:34] and he has exalted those who were humble he has filled the hungry
[00:10:38] with good things and sent away the rich empty handed and he has given help
[00:10:42] to Israel his servant in remembrance of his mercy and he spoke
[00:10:46] to our fathers to Abraham and his descendants forever
[00:10:50] that's a portion of scripture known as the Magnificat the Latin it begins
[00:10:54] with magnify my soul is Magnificat apparently in Latin I don't know
[00:10:58] Latin but apparently that is what it's called and it's a very famous verse in churches
[00:11:02] about Christmas time and for different liturgies people will read that
[00:11:06] millions go on Spotify you type in the Magnificat you'll find hundreds of songs
[00:11:10] song versions of it's been put to music many times it's one of the most
[00:11:14] read passages in the New Testament it's also worth noting
[00:11:18] that we've talked about this a little already our image of Mary is often
[00:11:22] very wrong isn't it so we have this image of Mary blue
[00:11:26] eyed blond head statue looking woman that we see adorning the
[00:11:30] fa say into interior of churches across the world
[00:11:34] she is often thought to be someone that people pray to she is the co-redemptrix
[00:11:38] of heaven all of this is Roman Catholic doctrine
[00:11:42] and all of this is you won't find any of it in the Bible so
[00:11:46] I just say I reject all of that out of hand as you're going to see here
[00:11:50] Mary was a young Jewish girl from a despised
[00:11:54] little village called Nazareth in the northern hills
[00:11:58] of Israel that was it it was a poor town we spoke about it
[00:12:02] a little while ago no trade routes no running water there it was a horrible place to live
[00:12:06] this is why you remember Nathaniel says can any good thing come out of Nazareth
[00:12:10] it was hated it was a nothing town this is where God chose to perform
[00:12:14] the greatest miracle in the world almost this is it this small little small beginnings
[00:12:18] he says and can any good thing come out of Nazareth well there was already
[00:12:22] one good thing in Nazareth there was a young woman who was faithful to the Lord
[00:12:26] and was used by the Lord young girl called Mary and through her the Messiah would come out of Nazareth too
[00:12:30] so that's the irony of the way the Lord works in this world
[00:12:34] often but this song of Mary here shows us that the
[00:12:38] roots of this whole story were thoroughly Jewish and she was a
[00:12:42] woman of the word and we're going to see that come out as we study through this
[00:12:46] now if you're familiar with the Old Testament remember
[00:12:50] Mary's would have been seeped in the Old Testament we learn this by looking at this passage
[00:12:54] there's one particular story in the Old Testament that I believe she is referencing
[00:12:58] as she goes through this and most people don't really pick up on this but
[00:13:02] it's the story of Samuel the birth of Samuel you remember
[00:13:06] Samuel's mother Hannah comes from the book of one Samuel
[00:13:10] there's a very similar event where Hannah is barren
[00:13:14] she can't give birth she goes to the temple to pray
[00:13:18] and ask the Lord for a child and eventually the Lord
[00:13:22] answers that prayer and this is the parallel much like we've just seen
[00:13:26] with John the Baptist's mother Elizabeth a barren woman is given a child
[00:13:30] through the Lord she prayed in great distress and the Lord came
[00:13:34] and then she also promises that child would be dedicated back to the Lord
[00:13:38] and would be what they call a Nazarite from birth so that's Hannah and Samuel
[00:13:42] but remember the parallel that's exactly what John the Baptist was said to be wasn't it
[00:13:46] whose mother was also barren and was also prayed the child would also be a Nazarite
[00:13:50] and as you go through these texts I want you to just see the developing themes
[00:13:54] because I want you to try and connect the New Testament to the Old Testament
[00:13:58] and see these two themes playing out really through these amazing three different faithful
[00:14:02] women that we have here three miraculous births all of them
[00:14:06] really they are the focus of this narrative to be frank and their faith that they
[00:14:10] displayed through that she ends up becoming pregnant
[00:14:14] she dedicates Samuel to the Lord and there's lots of parallels as we go
[00:14:18] between the story of Hannah and Samuel and Mary
[00:14:22] and Jesus at this point let me point out a few of them
[00:14:26] they both happened at times when the Lord had been silent for a long time
[00:14:30] in 1 Samuel 3 1 it says the word of the Lord was rare
[00:14:34] in those days visions were infrequent this was Hannah's time
[00:14:38] and remember this time with Mary the Lord had been silent for 400 years
[00:14:42] and he'd only just broken that silence with these announcements that John the Baptist and Mary were going to be born
[00:14:46] so it's a time when visions were in the word of the Lord was rare
[00:14:50] both Hannah and Mary became pregnant miraculously
[00:14:54] both presented their sons to the Lord in the sanctuary both sang a similar
[00:14:58] hymn of praise after this and both gave up their sons
[00:15:02] really to the service of the Lord these are what we see for these two women
[00:15:06] but it's more than that the promised son Samuel you remember the story of Samuel
[00:15:10] he was a priest he was a prophet and he was a judge and he was also a
[00:15:14] king maker these are all roles that Jesus Christ fulfills
[00:15:18] he wasn't a king maker he was the king but a prophet priest
[00:15:22] and all of these things are pointing towards Jesus in some ways
[00:15:26] in the Hebrew we get even more the name Elkhana
[00:15:30] which was Hannah's husband means God has created
[00:15:34] the name Hannah means grace and the name Samuel means
[00:15:38] named of God think about what we read about Mary
[00:15:42] it says that she found grace with God
[00:15:46] Hannah she found grace with God her son was created
[00:15:50] miraculously by God the virgin birth that's what Elkhana means
[00:15:54] and then we also remember the angel said and you shall call his name Jesus
[00:15:58] the son was also named by God so even in the
[00:16:02] Hebrew meaning of those three names of that event thousands of years area
[00:16:06] with all those parallels you have a picture of the coming Messiah just in the names
[00:16:10] you see in the Bible does this a lot throughout the whole Bible
[00:16:14] this is one of those ways that we know even though written thousands of years apart by different
[00:16:18] authors God is the one who has joined all of these things up for that story of bringing
[00:16:22] his son into the world you shall call his name Yeshua
[00:16:26] God saves this is what the idea that we're getting here so let's just break down some
[00:16:30] of Mary's statements here with that background just remembering that she is
[00:16:34] well Hannah was probably a hero of hers being a student of the Old Testament
[00:16:38] she probably looked to the story of Hannah and all the young women probably would have
[00:16:42] looked to Hannah as a heroine of the faith so it says
[00:16:46] verse 46 in Bec and Luke and Mary said my soul
[00:16:50] exalts the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour
[00:16:54] now we're not going to turn to Samuel or Hannah's prayer
[00:16:58] I'm just going to read parts of it for the sake but look how Hannah's prayer starts
[00:17:02] so the same event after Hannah had had this miraculous child she said this
[00:17:06] in 1 Samuel 2 it says then Hannah prayed and said
[00:17:10] my heart exalts in the Lord my horn is exalted in the Lord
[00:17:14] my mouth speaks boldly against my enemies because I rejoice in your
[00:17:18] salvation the two themes exalting in God rejoicing in salvation
[00:17:22] that those the prayers are almost identical in their introduction there
[00:17:26] they're very similar but Mary it says here exalts the Lord with her soul
[00:17:30] that speaking from inside her springs forth a well of
[00:17:34] praise at this moment with all of her being she wants to exalt the
[00:17:38] Lord to exalt the Lord with all of her soul this
[00:17:42] means to exalt the Lord is to magnify the Lord to declare his greatness
[00:17:46] to those around and this is something just really challenging really her very
[00:17:50] being a soul is referring to sort of everything that you are in this context
[00:17:54] was for the purpose of exalting the Lord that was really her main
[00:17:58] desire and mission in life this was what I mean she was a faithful woman
[00:18:02] her desire was to exalt the Lord and then it says she rejoiced in God my
[00:18:06] savior my spirit rejoiced in God my savior so her soul exalted and her spirit
[00:18:10] rejoiced soul and spirit obviously being the whole of a person of who
[00:18:14] they are everything about her rejoiced at the presence of the Messiah
[00:18:18] in her womb and this is interesting imagine the effect it will have
[00:18:22] on us this is just from the Messiah in the womb
[00:18:26] it caused her everything in her whole being to just burst forth in praise
[00:18:30] and the Lord that was just from the Messiah in the room and I think about this
[00:18:34] imagine the effect it will have on all of the faithful saints on all of us
[00:18:38] when we see the King coming in glory he is no longer just incarnate in human flesh
[00:18:42] in a womb where you can't even see him at this moment and it's causing Mary to
[00:18:46] just burst forth with all of her being in praise when he comes in his glory
[00:18:50] he'll cause the whole earth to burst forth in praise it will be uncontrollable in the sense
[00:18:54] that you won't be able to really stop it imagine that impact and we see
[00:18:58] the Bible Isaiah 55 verse 12 for you will go out with joy
[00:19:02] be led forth with peace the mountains and the hills will break forth into
[00:19:06] shouts of joy before you and all the trees of the field will clap their hands
[00:19:10] the picture that we have here is that when the Messiah comes everything
[00:19:14] will just burst forth in praise and obviously speaking symbolically even the
[00:19:18] creation is going to burst forth in praise because the King of the world is coming
[00:19:22] the glory you see Mary does it when he's just a baby in the womb
[00:19:26] at the first stages of development but when the King comes in glory
[00:19:30] everything every tongue will confess and it says in the Psalms everything that has
[00:19:34] breath will praise the Lord that is our future that awaits this
[00:19:38] world now we can also take a moment just to reflect on this
[00:19:42] when we think of the faith of this young woman exalting the Lord
[00:19:46] ask ourselves is that do we have that as the purpose of our life
[00:19:50] a lot of people search for what they should be doing in life what their purpose in life is
[00:19:54] you go through various different identity crisis in your life for me looking
[00:19:58] for meaning and looking for purpose we can tell you if you are a believer in Jesus Christ
[00:20:02] you have many divine purposes placed on your life one of them
[00:20:06] is to exalt the Lord with your life to describe his greatness to the nations
[00:20:10] to speak of his mighty deeds to give him praise give him thanks for who he is
[00:20:14] and what he has done this is what Mary was obviously doing even in that
[00:20:18] small village of Nazareth and also look she rejoiced
[00:20:22] in the Lord that does his presence excite us
[00:20:26] do we love his people do we love his body the communion and fellowship of
[00:20:30] the saints she rejoiced in these things we should rejoice
[00:20:34] in these things too and I believe she's rejoicing because one of the focuses
[00:20:38] of this whole narrative you probably notice is that the Holy Spirit is very present
[00:20:42] in this narrative filling everyone with the spirit of the Lord
[00:20:46] and I think this is one of the things that comes from being filled with the spirit of the Lord
[00:20:50] you will rejoice in the holy things of God
[00:20:54] you will be fulfilled you will get that satisfaction you will burst forth in your soul
[00:20:58] with praise and you will have all of that meaning and all of that purpose that comes
[00:21:02] with knowing who the King and who your Lord is Mary had
[00:21:06] that but yet I also think if we're honest with ourselves too often
[00:21:10] it's not the sole focus is it we all know this
[00:21:14] life creeps in on us it's very easy to actually start focusing
[00:21:18] on the circumstances around us focusing on the different sins that we see around the world
[00:21:22] all the different brokenness and on and on we hear
[00:21:26] about it we experience it we have it in our own lives in many ways
[00:21:30] yet it's at times like that when we need to take a step back
[00:21:34] and just think about Mary here she said I rejoice in God
[00:21:38] my Saviour and when she said Saviour that's an acknowledgement that she needed a Saviour
[00:21:42] it's not like the Roman Catholic's teach that she was perfect that she was sinless
[00:21:46] no no she needed a Saviour and she knew that she was a sinner that needed to be saved
[00:21:50] she knew God was her Saviour and that is why the Spirit fills her
[00:21:54] and she burst forth in the song of praise that we have here it's an amazing thing
[00:21:58] so go verse 48
[00:22:02] it says for he has had regard for the humble state of his bond slave
[00:22:06] for behold from this time on all generations will count me blessed
[00:22:10] for the mighty one has done great things for me and holy is his name
[00:22:14] you see Mary sees herself here as the word bond slave or bond
[00:22:18] servant of the Lord she knows that the Lord is king
[00:22:22] and she's really there she serves the Lord and this is what the term bond slave is getting at
[00:22:26] she willingly serves the Lord this shows her humility
[00:22:30] of this young woman only 16 most likely at the time displaying
[00:22:34] great faith and also look at how she describes the Lord she says
[00:22:38] she calls him the mighty one the holy one holy is his name
[00:22:42] and this again is very similar to Hannah this is where I believe she's getting
[00:22:46] that from in 1 Samuel 1 Hannah makes this statement
[00:22:50] oh Lord of hosts basically saying the mighty one it's the same
[00:22:54] sort of term there if you will indeed look on the affliction of your maid servant
[00:22:58] and remember me and not forget your maid servant now maid servant pretty much the same
[00:23:02] as bond servants the same phrase that we have there and Hannah also in her song
[00:23:06] of praise expresses holiness for God she says there is no one holy
[00:23:10] like the Lord there is no one besides you nor is there any rock
[00:23:14] like our God so again both Hannah and Mary two things that stand
[00:23:18] out they knew their position they were humble in the sight of God
[00:23:22] and because of that both of them were exalted in the kingdom we still
[00:23:26] speak of their names today across the world everyone knows these Jewish women
[00:23:30] they were exalted now let's think about this what is it that
[00:23:34] caused causes humility what we're often told that Jesus
[00:23:38] likes the quality of being humble and being humility but
[00:23:42] that can often produce in us our flesh to start trying to be
[00:23:46] humble you know what I mean you know that and this often manifests as a false
[00:23:50] humility doesn't it and when you see someone who's trying to appear pious
[00:23:54] or devout it's quite off-putting almost hypocritical
[00:23:58] to the state and many non-Christians have used that as an excuse of why
[00:24:02] they don't want to become Christians because they've seen a lot of hypocrisy in the church
[00:24:06] and these things people speaking like they're righteous but acting like they're not
[00:24:10] and this is something that unfortunately we've probably all slipped into that a few times
[00:24:14] but when we do we do have to just again come back to the words of Mary
[00:24:18] I rejoice in God my saviour I am your
[00:24:22] bondslove and you are the mighty one you are holy what is it that
[00:24:26] produces true humility it's not actually focusing on our conduct on what we do
[00:24:30] I believe Mary gives us the insight here and Hannah here what
[00:24:34] produces true humility is of course the presence of the spirit in your life but ultimately
[00:24:38] it's an understanding of who God is you notice these terms here
[00:24:42] there is no one besides you you are absolutely unique utter
[00:24:46] above and far beyond any other God thing person in this world you are the mighty
[00:24:50] one you are the rock these are just how they are talking about their God
[00:24:54] and when you understand God like that that he is holy there is nothing or no
[00:24:58] one that can compare to him what else can you do except say I am your servant
[00:25:02] and it automatically creates the correct position between us and God
[00:25:06] and that creates that is how you get humility really by focusing on God
[00:25:10] the moment you start to focus on yourself I believe you'll go off track
[00:25:14] because you'll fall into legalism and you'll be a conduct based humility
[00:25:18] and it will appear false because we all need the grace of God we're all sinners
[00:25:22] and we all need God to save us really and when he has saved us we still need his
[00:25:26] forgiveness and confession when we fall and when we trip up in this world
[00:25:30] it all comes I believe from that expression you are the mighty one
[00:25:34] the mighty one the Lord of Heaven the Lord of hosts the king of the earth
[00:25:38] verse 50
[00:25:42] it says, and his mercy is upon generation after generation towards those who fear him
[00:25:46] he has done mighty deeds with his arm he has scattered those who were
[00:25:50] proud in the thoughts of their heart he has brought down rulers from their thrones
[00:25:54] and has exalted those who were humble
[00:25:58] remember this is Mary saying this remember this is this young woman and here again now
[00:26:02] in verse 50 she quotes from Psalm 103 when you see the text there
[00:26:06] all in capitals you know that's a quotation from another part of the Bible
[00:26:10] and it's an interesting quote because it's a verse that is emphasizing
[00:26:14] the covenant loyalty of God the mercy there is chesed
[00:26:18] this is a word that refers to God's loyalty to keep his promise
[00:26:22] God's actually this one thing that is emphasized in the Bible that you can trust that God
[00:26:26] can keep his promise that's why the promises of God are so precious
[00:26:30] us we often break promises don't we sometimes through no fault of our own
[00:26:34] through circumstance but we don't have the power in many ways to do that although
[00:26:38] God does encourage us when you make a promise the best thing to do is to keep it
[00:26:42] but we look to the one whose word cannot be broken
[00:26:46] God in fact cannot break his promise this is what we have here and she is
[00:26:50] emphasizing that mercy upon generation after generation
[00:26:54] she obviously is very well aware of the covenant love and loyalty
[00:26:58] of God tells us she knows who God is
[00:27:02] you can see her faith just in the way that she can quote that verse and then she can reference that element
[00:27:06] of his character she then goes on and she talks about his mighty deeds
[00:27:10] his humbling of those who were proud and on their throne
[00:27:14] those rulers who had lifted themselves up in defiance of God we see much of that
[00:27:18] still in our world today and we will do until the king returns
[00:27:22] and again this is again word for word almost from Hannah's prayer
[00:27:26] this I believe Hannah was one of her heroes of the faith that she had obviously studied
[00:27:30] Hannah prayed something very similar 1 Samuel 2 verse 7 to 8
[00:27:34] Hannah said the Lord makes poor and rich he brings low and he
[00:27:38] exalts he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with nobles
[00:27:42] and inherit a seat of honor the same theme here exalting
[00:27:46] and humbling and bringing those down who put themselves up
[00:27:50] verse 53 it says he has filled the hungry with good things
[00:27:54] and she says this he has filled the hungry with good things and sent away the rich
[00:27:58] empty-handed again now we see this young woman crowed scripture
[00:28:02] and this time she quotes Psalm 107 you can see she's
[00:28:06] saturated with the word of God she's quoting scripture she's referencing prayers in the Old Testament
[00:28:10] it's just coming forth from her soul at this time and this is a very interesting
[00:28:14] verse again that's again there's nothing here by accident in the Bible
[00:28:18] God has planned all of this and these two scripture quotations link
[00:28:22] us to two different facets of God one is covenant loyalty and now
[00:28:26] remember this is all happening in the context of the Messiah coming into the world
[00:28:30] through Mary this verse here Psalm 107 he is very
[00:28:34] interesting we just have a small part of it quoted by Mary he has filled the hungry
[00:28:38] with good things if you go back into the Hebrew and read that it says this
[00:28:42] well he has satisfied the thirsty soul and the hungry soul
[00:28:46] how he has filled with what is good so this is referring really not
[00:28:50] to physical hunger as in filling your tummy this is referring to
[00:28:54] filling your soul this is spiritual hunger that is being referenced here
[00:28:58] and it is referring that the Lord will be the one that fulfills
[00:29:02] the spiritual hunger in everyone this is all the more important when we
[00:29:06] understand that she is bringing the Messiah into the world and what a description this
[00:29:10] is of the ministry of Messiah it's no mistake that when you see Jesus
[00:29:14] speaking to the people he uses these sorts of analogies he said
[00:29:18] that he would be the one to give living water to people that whoever
[00:29:22] drinks of it will never thirst he will be the bread from heaven
[00:29:26] and whoever eats of it will never hunger again you see he is referring to the
[00:29:30] spiritual elements that we have here being referenced from Psalm 107
[00:29:34] being referenced by the mother or by Mary here in this
[00:29:38] little small hymn of praise it's amazing the way these things link up
[00:29:42] John 635 Jesus said I am the bread of life and he who
[00:29:46] comes to me will not hunger and he who believes in me will never thirst
[00:29:50] hunger and thirst they are used in a spiritual way to speak of our
[00:29:54] spiritual life and believing in Jesus Christ if you want to
[00:29:58] satisfy the thirst and hunger of the soul is basically put into today's
[00:30:02] kind of language people want that existential fulfilment in life
[00:30:06] you have to be saved you'll find fulfilment in knowing
[00:30:10] the Lord that is it that hunger and thirst for your soul can only
[00:30:14] be satisfied by the bread of heaven and by the living water and Jesus is
[00:30:18] the one who did that even his name remember says that's what he's going to do
[00:30:22] it's a wonderful verse that Mary quotes and then let's just look at the last
[00:30:26] couple of verses of Mary's song it says he has given help to Israel
[00:30:30] his servant in remembrance of his mercy and he spoke to our fathers to Abraham
[00:30:34] and his descendants forever so here she displays
[00:30:38] knowledge of God's covenant with Israel she says
[00:30:42] Messiah is to be Israel's helper what does that mean it means
[00:30:46] basically he was the fulfilment of all the covenantal promises that had been promised to
[00:30:50] Israel going right back to the days of Abraham through Isaac through
[00:30:54] Jacob through King David through all these lines and these promises through the whole
[00:30:58] narrative of the Old Testament history he was coming to Israel he was
[00:31:02] their redeemer their savior their future king he was the seed of the woman in fact
[00:31:06] the way back in the book of Genesis he is the fulfilment of all of these things
[00:31:10] he is the guarantee that all of these covenantal promises will be
[00:31:14] fulfilled remember Simeon in the temple when he sees the baby Jesus
[00:31:18] he says thank you I've seen the consolation of Israel the one who will bring all these
[00:31:22] things together it's an amazing again acknowledgement of Mary's
[00:31:26] faith and the depth of the theological knowledge that she has if you think of
[00:31:30] everything that she's gone through in these few verses and then it just briefly
[00:31:34] says in verse 56 and Mary stayed with her about
[00:31:38] three months and then returned home so this would bring her up to pretty
[00:31:42] much the time when John the Baptist was born it doesn't say definitely but I'd imagine
[00:31:46] she was there to see the birth of John the Baptist that's what we have here
[00:31:50] the one who would be the one who would testify to the baby that she was going to
[00:31:54] give birth to a little later it's an amazing sort of meeting of people as you
[00:31:58] see this so with both of these women Hannah
[00:32:02] Mary we just we see such a remarkable display
[00:32:06] of the qualities of faith that we should emulate Mary was graced by God
[00:32:10] Mary had great humility she identified herself as a born servant of God
[00:32:14] she identified herself as someone who needed a saviour
[00:32:18] she had a correct understanding of her position she had a correct understanding of who God was
[00:32:22] she had a wonderful knowledge of God just in these few verses
[00:32:26] she calls him Lord she calls him saviour she calls him the mighty one she refers to him
[00:32:30] the holy one she describes his mercy his covenant love his mighty deed
[00:32:34] his provision for the hungry and the thirsty and his help for Israel
[00:32:38] I challenge many of us is our theology of the Messiah that advanced
[00:32:42] could we describe all of those things of the Messiah she's doing this
[00:32:46] before the Messiah's even in the earth before the New Testament was even written she had such a deep
[00:32:50] knowledge of the God of Israel just in a few verses she herself
[00:32:54] was saturated in the word of God there's over 15 references to Old Testament
[00:32:58] passages in these few verses remember what Jesus said
[00:33:02] if you continue in my word you are truly my disciples and you shall know the truth
[00:33:06] and the truth will set you free if you want to be a disciple of Jesus Christ
[00:33:10] you have to continue in his word it is the truth it is
[00:33:14] the guiding as the light that we have in this world
[00:33:18] Mary was a saint whose life was expressed to be for the purpose
[00:33:22] of exalting the Lord and because of this she rejoiced in her
[00:33:26] saviour we should be above all people joyful because
[00:33:30] we have the spirit and we know the king we should rejoice in everything our saviour
[00:33:34] has done for us and that's a challenge to us because like I said it's easy
[00:33:38] to take her eyes off that and to become discouraged by everything that we see in the
[00:33:42] world especially when we see what would seemingly look like the enemy having victories
[00:33:46] but we must remember Christ has already won the victory
[00:33:50] everyone who becomes a Christian is transferred from the kingdom
[00:33:54] of darkness to the kingdom of light they are given a new identity a new
[00:33:58] citizenship in that coming kingdom and they are then called in the New Testament sons of
[00:34:02] the kingdom they beat the power of death that Satan has when you become
[00:34:06] a Christian Christ gives you new life and he will guarantee that one day you will
[00:34:10] be resurrected and reign in glory with him these are the hopes and promises of the Bible
[00:34:14] and they are founded upon the truth of his word and we've spent much time
[00:34:18] going through these and proving many of these things to be true it is a wonderful
[00:34:22] day Mary is testifying to these things even at this stage with her life
[00:34:26] she was a saint whose life exalted the Lord and
[00:34:30] ultimately as we read through the New Testament we find out she became a devoted mother
[00:34:34] and she was one of the most dedicated disciples of the Lord that we see
[00:34:38] you remember the end of Jesus's life there's a touching episode where Jesus is
[00:34:42] on the cross and you still see Mary there right her son she understands
[00:34:46] that Jesus was always going to be greater than just her son in that respect
[00:34:50] he had a purpose for the world but there's that touching scene where Jesus says
[00:34:54] it says standing John 19 this is but standing by the cross of Jesus
[00:34:58] where his mother and his mother's sister Mary the wife of Clopus and Mary Magdalene
[00:35:02] all of these women there standing not turning away
[00:35:06] watching everything it says when Jesus then saw his mother and the
[00:35:10] disciple whom he loved that's John standing nearby he said to his mother woman
[00:35:14] behold your son and then he said to the disciple behold your mother and from that
[00:35:18] hour the disciple took her into his own household even on the cross
[00:35:22] Mary was such a devoted mother that the Lord loved her and he wanted to make
[00:35:26] sure that she was taken care of in her old this is how it had to happen in the ancient world
[00:35:30] there's no help from anywhere else family did everything like that and she turns to
[00:35:34] John's and she just makes that small they both understood what was going on
[00:35:38] it's just an amazingly touching scene and this was Mary and she was devoted
[00:35:42] the last time we see Mary really mentioned in the Bible is in the book of Acts
[00:35:46] chapter 1 verse 14 she's seen praying in the upper room with the
[00:35:50] disciples with the disciples praying in the upper room right before the spirit of
[00:35:54] God falls it says these all with one mind were continually
[00:35:58] devoting themselves to prayer along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus
[00:36:02] and his brothers so she was there really from the beginning to
[00:36:06] the end absolutely devoted a woman of faith who was
[00:36:10] really displaying faith far beyond her years the Lord can
[00:36:14] use young people in the Lord he can use anyone really for his purposes
[00:36:18] but let's learn the lessons of these two women of faith I say Mary and also
[00:36:22] Hannah who was I believe her hero and her motivation for much of her
[00:36:26] faith that these time we should seek to exalt the Lord with our lives
[00:36:30] we should seek to understand all of those elements of God that Mary knew
[00:36:34] and we can go further because we have the revelation of his entire life
[00:36:38] and death and resurrection and the history of the church and our own personal
[00:36:42] testimony all of these things we too should know that the Lord is the mighty one
[00:36:46] and he has done great deeds and we should proclaim them to the earth amen
[00:37:12] thanks for listening
