Two Christmas Songs

Last Sunday morning we examined Gabriel's announcement to Mary that she was chosen to become the mother of the Messiah. Today we're going to examine the immediate aftermath of that announcement, the events that come next and are highly significant, which involved Mary's visit to Elizabeth, who was a close relative of hers, and the mother of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ.

John, or at least the forerunner, himself having been prophesied in the Old Testament Scriptures that there would be such a forerunner who would come and prepare the way for the coming of the Lord. And so there's a close relationship between the child that Elizabeth is bearing and the child that Mary is now carrying. And so Mary visits Elizabeth and both of them break forth into songs of praise.

That's what we're going to look at today. Two Christmas songs. Elizabeth's song of praise and Mary's song of praise and humble faith. We shall look first at the occasion that brought them together and then secondly at Elizabeth's song and thirdly at Mary's song. But the occasion which brought them together, the details that allowed them to be in proximity in the same place at the same time to bring forth these words that are preserved for us by the Holy Spirit of God in the Gospel of Luke.

What was it that brought these two women together? And we have first of all an account of Mary's journey in verses 39 and 40 and then secondly a couple of details about Mary's arrival in verses 40 and 41. And then the account closes with a brief description of Mary's departure in verse 56. Mary's journey, we are told, took place in those days, verse 39. Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste to a city of Judah. In those days refers to the days of Gabriel's announcement. As I said, this follows immediately upon the record of that annunciation, as it's often called, of Gabriel to Mary.

And in those days when that took place, then what we are looking at today took place very shortly afterwards. In fact, in regard to Mary's departure, we are told that she arose and went with haste, a rapid response to what had taken place when Gabriel came to visit her. An immediate desire, an immediate apparently understanding that God wanted her to go and to visit Elizabeth. Even though the record, and Luke does not tell us that Gabriel commanded that, he didn't tell her you go visit Elizabeth, he did bring up the fact that Elizabeth was with child, a miraculous child, miraculous for her circumstances.

And Mary evidently understood that to mean I want you to go and to make connection with Elizabeth and to learn from her and to be encouraged by what I have done for Elizabeth. And so Mary, picking up almost on the hint that Gabriel gave, acted quickly and made a hasty departure to go to be with Elizabeth. But the destination where Elizabeth was to be found was not close to where Mary was in Nazareth of Galilee, not at all. The destination, we are told, was the city of Judah. Mary arose with haste and went into the hill country to a city of Judah and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. A city of Judah unnamed, so any location, any identification of this location has to be speculation, and along with some commentators I'm going to make a speculative guess, but that's only a guess. But if you had to pick out a city in the hill country of Judea, which is south of Jerusalem, you would probably focus upon Hebron because, according to Joshua 21, 11, that was one of the cities that was given to the Levites.

And all the tribes of Israel, they were instructed to pick out certain cities in their territory and to give those cities to the Levites so that the Levites, who did not receive a tribal inheritance, would nevertheless be given towns to live in, places where they could live and have gardens, and so they would be scattered all throughout the nation of Israel because not only were the Levites there to serve in the temple, and they came and did that according to the schedule, but also they were to be instructors of God's word to the people of Israel, and for them to do that effectively, they needed to live throughout the territories where the tribes were. And so we know that Hebron was one of those Levitical cities, and it's very possible, we might even say likely, that Zacharias, being a priest, being a Levite, and his wife Elizabeth, lived in the town of Hebron. But we do know for sure that it was in the hill country south of Jerusalem, and that means, therefore, that it was between 80 and 100 miles from Nazareth. From Nazareth in Galilee to the north to Jerusalem is 80 miles, and this is south of there. If it was Bethlehem, which I doubt because that's such a prominent town, I think that would have been mentioned. That's where Jesus, of course, ended up being born. But if it had been Bethlehem, it would be five miles south of Jerusalem, and therefore 85 miles from Nazareth.

If it was Hebron, it was 100 miles south of Nazareth. And so what we do know is it was a long journey by foot. That's a long ways to go, but Mary did not hesitate, and she went that 80 to 100 miles to arrive at the home of Zacharias so that she could spend time with Elizabeth. Now this much already about Mary's journey gives some implications that I think we ought to at least touch lightly upon. Number one, it tells us something about Mary's relationship with Elizabeth, that they were not only relatives, but they must have been close enough relatives that Mary felt perfectly comfortable to travel to her house and probably arrive unannounced. She didn't have a cell phone and stayed three months. I take it that that's a pretty close relationship.

I can't prove it, but it would seem to be the case. Number two, and more interesting to me, intriguing in fact, is the implication that this has for what I would call Mary's independence. From all the account, from all the details that are given to us, Mary apparently traveled alone.

A young woman traveling alone, 100 miles. Now that tells us something about the safe conditions in that part of the world at that time. We wouldn't allow a young teenage girl to travel 100 miles by herself in the United States of America today.

It's not likely that we would, certainly not on foot. Wow. Now this has all kinds of implications. I mentioned to you last week that according to betrothal customs, Jewish young ladies were often betrothed as early as 13 years of age. And so, therefore, many have speculated that Mary was as young as 13. But I don't think so. I can't prove it.

I can't prove it one way or the other, but I don't think so because of things like this. Did her parents really let a 13 year old girl make a 100 mile journey alone by foot? I doubt it. They give every indication of being very mature, very solid, very godly parents.

I doubt that. So I don't think she was 13. I think she probably was not even as young as 15, though again this is all just speculation on my part. I think it would have been more likely that she would have at least been an older teenager, 16, 17. There's nothing in the scripture that even tells us that she had to be a teenager.

That's just the custom of the day. But it does tell us that she was unusually, well it seems to us, unusually independent. Maybe that was customary for young women in that day. It doesn't seem likely, but here she goes. Walks 100 miles from Nazareth to the home of Zacharias. Furthermore, this says a little bit about Mary's physical condition. She walked 100 miles. How many of you are up to that? I don't think I would be.

Maybe in a few decades ago, I don't know, but I don't think I would be. A hundred miles, that would have taken at least four days, walking all day every day, depending on how quickly one walked and how many breaks one needed to take. But this certainly says something about the condition of Mary. She was in good shape, as were most of the people in that day, because the common mode of transportation for nearly everybody was walking. Some have puzzled why the Bible doesn't have a little bit more to say instructing us about the importance of physical exercise for our good health. And the obvious answer is because in that day, everybody walked everywhere. They walked miles nearly every day. Nobody needed to tell them to exercise.

They did it. That would just build into their lives. We don't have lives like that for most of us. We're more sedentary, so it wouldn't be a bad idea. The Bible does tell us that bodily exercise profits a little compared to eternal things, which are far more profitable, but it does profit a little, and taking care of our physical bodies is important.

God gave them to us, and we have them here to use for his service. So just a word to the wise, but Mary was in good physical health. But more than anything, this seems to tell us something about Mary's godliness. Her eager obedience, just dropping a hint by Gabriel that she ought to go check in with Elizabeth, and she's gone. As daunting as this journey must have been, she packs quickly and lightly.

After all, she's going to have to carry whatever she takes, and she's gone. And what's most important to her are things of spiritual pursuit. She wants to go to Elizabeth because they need to talk about what's going on, what God is doing, what God is doing in Mary's life, what God is doing in Elizabeth's life, what God is doing in the world. And that interests Mary more than anything else, and this is the evidence of it, Mary's journey. Secondly, we notice Mary's arrival in verses 40 and 41. And entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. And it happened when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary that the babe leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Mary greeted Elizabeth.

Again, we don't have details. Some have speculated that that greeting included Mary telling Elizabeth what Gabriel had said to him, rather to her, and so forth. And that's why Elizabeth seemed to have that knowledge that comes out in her song in a few moments.

But there's no indication of that. It just says she greeted her, which I would take to mean the common way of greeting one another in that day, the various words that were commonly spoken and what you might say when you came to visit someone. Mary seems to be rather retiring and reticent. She doesn't share a lot of information. She tends to keep things and hide them in her heart and meditate upon them. That's the kind of description we have of Mary.

She didn't even tell Joseph what was going on. I really don't think it's likely that she opened, when Elizabeth opened the door and said, Why, Mary, what brings you here? She said, I'm with child.

I don't think so. I think she just said, Hi, Aunt Elizabeth or Cousin Elizabeth, whoever she is. Would it be all right if I'd come and visit you for a little while? And Elizabeth said, By all means, come on in. But when she came in, we read in verse 41 that John, the child who was three months along in Elizabeth's womb, responded to the arrival of Mary. We're told that in verse 41 and we're told that again in the words of Elizabeth. But it happened when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary that the babe leaped in her womb. And verse 44, Elizabeth says, For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. And then beyond that, we are told that Elizabeth was filled with the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit came upon her in the fashion of coming upon prophets in the Old Testament days and upon others who had special work to do as assigned by God in order to enable them to do their work. And so Elizabeth was filled with the Spirit in order to understand the significance of, number one, the movements of the baby in her womb, and number two, to prophesy about Mary and her child, which she's going to do. Now I say the Holy Spirit had to inform Elizabeth as to the meaning of this movement of the baby in her womb because even though we are told why the baby responded, responded because of the presence of Mary and the fact that the child in Elizabeth's womb knew that this was the presence of the Christ. But Elizabeth wouldn't have any way of knowing that.

Even if Mary had told her that she was expecting the Christ child, which again I doubt. But Elizabeth wouldn't have any way of knowing, of interpreting accurately the meaning of this movement in her womb. It's not miraculous for babies to jump and move when they're in the mother's womb, when they're six months along. Some of you have probably had the same experience I have had when Marty was expecting a child, and she'd say, quick, put your hand here and feel.

The baby's moving. And I don't say, well, glory to God, there's something special going on in the realm of heaven. That means that God has anointed someone for a special purpose. I wouldn't interpret it that way at all.

I just would say it feels like a healthy child. Praise the Lord. And so it took the filling of the Holy Spirit for Elizabeth to understand what the meaning of this was, the child in her womb jumping for joy, and then also to be able to prophesy about Mary and her child. So that's number one, Mary's journey. Number two, Mary's arrival. And then just we'll jump to the end, Mary's departure in verse 56 to get all of the details of this visit out of the way. And we read, and Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her house. After a three-month visit, pretty significant, that's a long time to have a houseguest, isn't it?

But there's no indication that this was a problem. After a three-month visit, then Mary departed apparently just almost immediately prior to the birth of John. You take the six months that Elizabeth was along in her pregnancy and the three months that Mary stayed in the home, that brings us to nine months. But before John was born, and we have a record of the birth here and what took place there, but before John was born, Mary said, it's time for me to go home. Now, the question is why. Why did she leave before the birth of John after having spent three months with Elizabeth prior to this birth and in anticipation of the birth? Again, we're not told why.

Anything would be speculation. The two things that come to my mind, number one, Elizabeth may have said, I would prefer that you depart now, and that would be explanation enough. But number two, probably because Mary understood that the birth of John was going to be a community celebration and there were going to be streams of people coming into the house, as indeed there were. And Mary in her situation didn't want to be part of all of that, could I call it hullabaloo, it was going to take place, and so being the quiet, retiring young woman that she was, she excused herself and she went home. But one thing this tells us is that when Mary arrived at Elizabeth's house, presumably in a matter of five or six days at most after the announcement of Gabriel, she was already with child, wasn't she?

The conception had already taken place. Elizabeth understood by the Holy Spirit that Mary was carrying, not would become pregnant with, but was already carrying the Christ child. And John the Baptist understood that. And in fact, I would say this is John's first activity in his office as the forerunner of Christ. We can see what he did later. He got the nation ready, he preached, he called people to repentance, and then when Jesus came walking along by the Jordan River, John dutifully pointed him out, said, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. This is the one of whom I spoke, the lot of whose sandals I'm not worthy to untie. He pointed people to the Messiah.

Well, he's doing that already. Even before he's born, the mother of Jesus comes into the house and John says, Here he is, here he is, here he is. But Mary returns to her home in Nazareth to notice her home in Nazareth, not Joseph's. They are betrothed. They're not yet married.

There's another piece of the story that's got to be filled in before they can come together. And Lord willing, we'll deal with that next Sunday morning, the angel's announcement to Joseph to get him prepared for his responsibility. But Mary goes back to her home. We know nothing about it, nothing about her parents, nothing about her family, except she has every evidence of a godly upbringing. But we come now to Elizabeth's song, and I want to touch upon it quickly in verses 42 through 45.

But let me tell you a couple things about it. Number one, it is a poem, but it's not as well constructed as Mary's. Mary's is a masterpiece of poetry. We sing it, we listen to it often. It's not very often that during the Advent season you'll hear anybody reciting or making reference to Elizabeth's song, but you will hear many references to Mary's song.

In fact, it even has its own name, Mary's Magnificat, as most of you know. But Elizabeth's song is not as well constructed as Mary's, but it is nevertheless a song. And now you need to understand that the word song does not necessarily mean something that you sing.

That's what we think of. And that would be the first definition in my Webster's dictionary. But the second definition is just a poetical composition. That's called a song. The songs that we sing are poems that have been set to music, but a poem, even if it's not set to music, is properly called a song. So when I'm talking about Elizabeth's song, I'm not saying necessarily anybody sang it. And when I'm talking about Mary's song, it's true that now people do sing it, but it wasn't sung at the time when it was rendered. But one further thing about Elizabeth's song, and that is we're told that it was spoken with a loud voice.

Let me read it. Verse 42, then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. But why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.

Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord. She spoke out with a loud voice. That's particularly noted here in contrast to Mary. It doesn't say Mary spoke with a loud voice. We read next, and Mary said, not shouted, and literally that's what the word for Elizabeth speaking with a loud voice is in the Greek language. Elizabeth shouted. Mary said. Elizabeth spoke with a loud voice. Mary spoke with a soft voice and a calm demeanor.

There's a difference here. The question is, why did Elizabeth speak with a loud voice? And some think it's because she was under the power of prophetic impulse. The Holy Spirit had filled her, and this caused her to speak with a loud voice. And some people have the idea that that's one of the evidences of the filling of the Holy Spirit, because you speak loud. But Mary was also filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke soft, so that wouldn't quite explain it, would it?

And I just chalk it up probably to the difference in personality. Elizabeth probably had a more boisterous personality than Mary. We know Mary was a woman of quiet demeanor. Elizabeth apparently was of a different personality, to Elizabeth's song.

And there are four things, and I'll tell you what they are and then we'll look at them briefly. Number one, Elizabeth honors Mary. Number two, Elizabeth honors Mary's child. Number three, Elizabeth honors her own child. And number four, Elizabeth honors Mary's faith. Elizabeth honors Mary. Blessed are you among women.

Blessed. The Greek word, eulogemina, is where we get our word eulogy, and at its most basic meaning, it means to be well-spoken of. That's what a eulogy is in a funeral.

It is to say a few kind words about the person that they may be well-spoken of by the eulogy. Now, it rises above that level to mean something more, you who are highly favored, you who are highly honored. And when it is God that is doing the blessing, it even rises higher than that. There's special divine favor involved in the blessing. But at its basic level, it simply means to be well-spoken of. But what Elizabeth is saying is, blessed are you among women, not, as some have pointed out accurately and importantly, not above women.

Blessed are you among women, but it still means you are the most blessed of all women. It doesn't place Mary in a category different in nature or kind from other women, as has been erroneously asserted about her. She is not sinless. She did not have an immaculate conception. She does not have grace that she can bestow upon others. But all of that error laid aside, she is the most blessed of all women in the world before or since her presence in the world for this one simple reason. She has been chosen to become the mother of the Christ child, who will, of course, grow up and die on the cross, and there's only one Christ.

There's only one Messiah. So there can only be one mother of the Messiah. And she's chosen for that honor, and no one else can share that honor with her.

Blessed indeed are you among women. Elizabeth honors Mary. Secondly, Elizabeth honors Mary's child because she goes on to say, And blessed is the fruit of your womb.

Mary's already with child. Blessed is the fruit of your womb. Well spoken of is the fruit of your womb, yes. Most blessed is the fruit of your womb.

Most highly favored. And again, this blessing rises higher and higher as we learn more and more about who this one is because the child that Mary is carrying is the most blessed one who has ever been born into this world. And Elizabeth indicates that when she says this in verse 43, Why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? The mother of my Lord. She recognized that the child in Mary's womb was her Lord.

And that's a synonym for saying she recognized that the child in Mary's womb was her God, was Almighty God. How blessed am I that the mother of my Lord, God Almighty, should come to me. And Elizabeth is amazed at such gracious favor. She feels favored that the mother of the Lord should come and visit her, even though the mother is a younger relative, a niece or a much younger cousin or something in that category, who is clearly more blessed than Elizabeth, who herself was highly blessed, but there does not seem to be the slightest hint of resentment or jealousy, no envy whatsoever.

Just amazement that the mother of my Lord would come to me. Elizabeth honors Mary's child. Thirdly, Elizabeth honors her own child, verse 44.

For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. John leaped for joy when Mary arrived and the Holy Spirit enabled Elizabeth to understand the meaning of that. And this, as I've already pointed out, therefore serves as John's first act as the Messiah's forerunner, and Elizabeth points this out. Her own child is now acting in his capacity as the forerunner of the Messiah, and so in this way she honors her own child. The question is, is this response in the womb of the baby John an evidence of his own filling by the Holy Spirit?

And I would tend to answer that question, yes, I think so. How else do you explain this child recognizing Christ and communicating that announcement? And of course, Zacharias and Elizabeth were told in verse 15 of chapter 1 of John, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He also will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb. Now that raises a lot of questions. And I can't answer them, so I'm going to move on.

Let's just leave it at that. The Holy Spirit is very much at work in the lives of all of these people. And so Elizabeth honors her own child. And then number 4, Elizabeth honors Mary's faith. Verse 45, blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord. Blessed is Mary's faith, well-spoken of is Mary's faith, highly favored is Mary's faith because her faith was unquestioning. There was no doubting when Gabriel told her that she would conceive the Christ child. She did ask to explain how this would happen since she didn't have a sexual relationship with a man. And Gabriel told her, but there is not the first evidence of any doubt or questioning on her part unlike Uncle Zacharias, remember? When the angel told him about the birth of John, he was highly skeptical.

Remember that? Verse 18, and Zacharias said to the angel, how shall I know this? For I am an old man and my wife is well advanced in years. And the angel answered and said to him, I am Gabriel who stands in the presence of God and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. Gabriel almost sounds like he feels insulted, I think he was, by Zacharias' lack of faith.

But, verse 20, behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their own time. So Elizabeth has just seen in her own home, her own family, an example of someone who was given a divine revelation from an angel and had trouble believing it, eventually did, but had trouble believing it. But Mary, immediate, believed it.

Why? Because it came from God. Faith is believing the revelation of God and acting accordingly. And Mary shows exemplary faith, remarkable faith.

She believes the revelation of God and immediately responds in an appropriate way. Most blessed, therefore, is immediate faith. Mary is an example of that. But also blessed is delayed faith.

Zacharias is an example of that. His faith eventually was exercised and it was genuine, nevertheless, and there's great blessing attached to all faith in God's word that is true heart faith. But most tragic is no faith. Most tragic is unrelenting resistance and skepticism to the revelation of God, which is given to us in the Bible. Most tragic are those who refuse to believe the Bible, refuse to acknowledge it as God's word, refuse to accept it by faith.

There are tragic consequences to those who go on unrelentingly in that condition. That brings us now thirdly to Mary's song and we'll have to cover this one quickly, more quickly than I would like, but I will read it. It's beautiful. Saturated the Old Testament quotations and allusions. Similar in some respects to Hannah's song.

It's Hannah, the mother of Samuel. But here's in itself is a testimony to Mary's godly upbringing and her saturation with the Bible. When she started to speak, Scripture rolled out. It was said of John Bunyan, I think, that any place you pricked him, he would bleed Bible. And Mary is pretty much like that.

Any place you pricked her, she would bleed Bible. And that's what comes out in this Magnificat, called Magnificat because in the Latin Vulgate, this song of Mary, the first word is magnificat, which means magnify. My soul magnifies the Lord.

And so now we read it. And Mary said, my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior, for he has regarded the lowly state of his maidservant. For behold, henceforth, all generations will call me blessed. For he who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is his name. And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his seed forever. My mind recalls that in the King James Version it says he has, am I right? It says he has hoping his servant Israel.

I think that's what it says. He has helped his servant Israel. What did Mary's song contain? Number one, Mary exalts the Lord. Number two, Mary acknowledges personal blessings. Third, Mary acknowledges God's mercy. Fourth, Mary acknowledges God's justice.

And finally, number five, Mary exalts God's covenant faithfulness. Mary exalts the Lord. My soul magnifies the Lord.

Magnificat. My soul magnifies the Lord, makes great God, exalts God with praise. To the extent that I'm able to magnify him with my words, to magnify him before others, my soul magnifies the Lord.

And my soul rejoiced in another phrase of great significance. God my Savior. Some erroneously teach that Mary was without sin. Mary was somehow immaculately conceived, in which case, of course, Mary wouldn't need a Savior. But Mary didn't get the memo. She recognized herself to be a sinner in need of a Savior.

My soul has rejoiced in God my Savior. Mary exalts the Lord. Number two, Mary magnifies personal blessings. She makes reference here to the fact that God in his kindness has raised her from her lowly condition, a humble background, low economic status, in a part of the nation that was not in the center of power and political activity. But God nevertheless reached down to her in her lowly condition, a spouse to be married to the village carpenter.

I mean, she was born into a lowly condition, and it looked like that was going to be her condition for the rest of her life. And nothing wrong with that. But God had other plans. And he says, God has highly exalted me, and from henceforth all generations shall honor me. All generations shall call me blessed. And that is indeed true.

Here we are in the year 2020, 2,000 years after Mary spoke, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that there are easily more than a billion people in this world who know who Mary is, know she is the mother of Jesus Christ, and honor her for her faith in what she did. Wow. You talk about an exaltation.

That's it. And so she was raised from her lowly condition. She is a recipient of God's mighty power.

He has come to bear upon her with his mighty arm, his omnipotence, in order for her to be able to conceive a child in a miraculous way. She is aware of God's holiness. Holy is his name. That means God is holy.

When it says name, it means the person that bears the name. God is holy, which probably in this instance has emphasis upon God being separate. I don't have time to go through the whole meaning of holiness, but it starts with the idea of being separate. And of course it's separate from sin. That's the holiness that we think of.

But separate from his creation, transcendent above his creation, glorious and mighty and majestic and unlike anything in this universe that he created is God. And how does God richly favored one so undeserving? Mary didn't have the attitude that so many have today. Well, it's about time I got recognized. It's about time I got what I deserved. Mary recognized, I thank God I don't get what I deserve.

She knew that she was a sinner. I thank God for his mercy, his salvation. I rejoice in God my Savior. Mary acknowledges personal blessings. Number two, Mary acknowledges God's mercy now flowing out beyond herself, but her acknowledgment of God's mercy is also intertwined with Mary's acknowledgment of God's justice.

The two go together and they're in a poetic manner in couplets are paired one against the other. You'll see that. And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation.

He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty. Mercy for those who fear God. God delights to exalt the lowly, even as God had exalted Mary. That's just an example of the way God is and the way God operates.

He delights in exalting the lowly, all those who fear him. And God satisfies the hungry, which is more than saying that God supplies physical food, though he does that and promises to for his children. And we pray, give us this day our daily bread.

And in America, where we really don't have to worry, most of us, most of the time, have to worry about where our next meal is coming from, that petition doesn't carry quite the weight that it does, say, in Zimbabwe, where many of the people there don't even know where their next meal is coming from and have some days go by when they have nothing to eat. But give us, and yet God miraculously supplies for them. And they rejoice and praise God for his supply and thank him amazingly and immensely. But God satisfies the hungry physically, yes indeed. But this probably has more to do with the thoughts that Jesus gave in the Sermon on the Mount, that he satisfies those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.

Those who are spiritually hungry, God feeds them, God satisfies them. That's God's mercy. But Mary also acknowledges God's justice.

There are many in our day who want to talk about God's goodness, his kindness, his mercy, his love, but somehow don't think it's appropriate or helpful to talk about God's justice, God's judgment. Take a lesson from Godly Mary. She puts them together and exalts one as much as the other. She honors God because he scatters the proud, thwarts their proud plans and ambitions and desires far more times than we even know. She honors God because he puts down the mighty from their thrones.

Gabriel told Mary that her child would be on David's throne and would have an everlasting kingdom that would never end. And all other kings, kingdoms, presidents, premiers have all come to the end and God puts them off their throne at the proper time, every one. And God sent the rich away empty. Again, this doesn't necessarily mean that he destroys their riches, though sometimes he does.

But it probably has more of a spiritual significance. Those who live for money, who make that their main goal in life, whose object is to accumulate wealth, to try to find satisfaction and happiness and wealth, eventually go away empty because that doesn't satisfy, it doesn't produce what they want, and in the meantime they have cut themselves off from what really satisfies, which is Christ and his word and salvation and life eternal. And they lived for the wrong things and God sends them away empty. And finally, number five, Mary exalts God's covenant faithfulness. He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers to Abraham and to his seed forever. He helped Israel in a special way, no question about it. Why? Because he promised to.

In remembrance of his mercy, his promised mercy, that's why. Did they deserve it? Not at all. If you think so, you haven't read the same Old Testament scriptures I have. Does Israel deserve God's special favor?

Not at all. But they have it anyway because God promised it and God always keeps his promises. He fulfilled his promises to Abraham and to his seed and having made those promises you can be sure he's going to fulfill them. So God is merciful and kind. God keeps his promises. Mercy for those who trust him and judgment for those who spurn him.

I will read a few sentences in conclusion. There is abundant blessing for those who believe God's word. I hope that's you. There is deserved judgment for those who refuse his word.

I hope that's not you. God favors the lowly and resists the influential. Which are you striving for?

A lowly maid, a lowly carpenter, a lowly stable. We could go on and on and on. To bring the most exalted being into the world, to accomplish the greatest work that has ever been known, redemption of a people and all creation. What a story. What a truth. Shall we pray? Father, seal these truths to every heart. Oh Lord, create faith in every heart. Oh Father, work in mercy, undeserved mercy upon those who are by birth and by choice sinners and rebels against you. But oh dear Lord, in mercy help us and bring us to our knees and to our saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ in whose name we pray. Amen.