Mary was a woman of great faith. It was evident when the angel told her she was going to have a son. That at the very moment of her expression in response to God by the Holy Spirit, as the Holy Spirit comes upon her, she begins her song with a heartfelt utterance. of adoration. My soul doth magnify the Lord.
That's a lesson we can all learn, isn't it? Welcome to the Thursday edition of Renewing Your Mind. I'm Nathan W. Bingham. Since Tuesday, RC Sprawl has helped us understand Jesus' mother from a biblical perspective.
Some have confused Mary's role, while others have discounted her. But Doc Despral wanted us to know that we have much to learn from Mary.
So even though this is the final day that we'll spend in the series, you can study this topic further when you request the entire series before midnight tonight at renewingyourmind.org. As our way of saying thank you for your generosity, we'll unlock all five messages and you can always call us at 800-435-4343.
Well, here's Dr. Sprawl on Mary and her magnificent Savior. One of the great hymns of the history of the church. That through the influence of the Holy Spirit is sung by Mary, which hymn is called. The magnificat.
The hymns that we find in the New Testament, such as the Nukdimitis of Simeon, the Benedictus of Zachariah, and the Magnificate of Mary, get their name from the opening words in the Latin Vulgate of the songs that are sung.
Now with respect to the magnificent. We hear Mary, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, crying out, singing, as it were, My soul doth magnify the Lord. And my spirit doth rejoice in God my Savior. Those are the opening lines of the Magnificent. Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century Looked at the magnificent.
And saw in those words of Mary. An acknowledgement of Mary's personal need for a Savior. And even though the Church had not yet defined the doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary or the sinlessness of Mary, Thomas at that point believed that Mary, like other women in the world, was a sinner. And he drew that inference from the second verse of the magnificate. My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit doth rejoice in God my Saviour.
Now the term saviour, or the word soter, which means saviour, is used somewhat abundantly in these infancy narratives. He is to be called Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. And so the immediate context of saviorhood That is related to these events has specific reference to salvation from sin. And so the prima fascia Reading of these lines of the Magnificate would lead one to believe, as it led Thomas to believe, that when Mary says, My spirit doth rejoice in God my Saviour, that she is acknowledging that she is in need of a Saviour from her sin. Which would only be true if she were a sinner.
And this is not just a humble self-designation here, but it is an inspired self-designation. And if under the Holy Spirit, Mary declares herself a sinner, then we know with certainty that she is indeed a sinner in need of a Savior, and that the one that she bears as her son is also Her Redeemer and her Saviour.
Now it is possible linguistically. to take another view, though I personally think it's highly unlikely, extremely unlikely. It is possible that another meaning could have been in view when Mary uttered those words. And that is this, that salvation. in biblical terms, is used to refer to different things.
There can be salvation or rescue from some clear and present danger or calamity, such as an illness that threatens one's life. or financial disaster, or conquest in battle, and if God intervenes and causes Israel to be victorious in battle, they have experienced a kind of salvation. If a person is restored from a life-threatening illness, they have received a kind of salvation and so on. Just as we, in a similar figurative way, speak that way today. And even in boxing, when a boxer is knocked to the canvas and the bell rings before the count of 10 is made by the referee, we have the expression that the boxer was, quote, saved by the bell.
We don't mean that the boxer's eternal soul was reconciled with God and it was now guaranteed a place in heaven. We just mean he was saved from the ignominy of defeat in the pugilistic arena.
Now It's possible that all that Mary means when she says, My spirit doth rejoice in God, my Savior, is that she is acknowledging that God has saved her from her low estate, from the humble origins of her past, but now has exalted her to a high degree by giving her this supreme blessing of motherhood over the Messiah. That could be what she meant. Again, I think that that is unlikely because the primary meaning of soter or savior in this general context of scripture has specific reference to the one that she is bearing, whose mission is not simply to save us from financial disaster or military calamity, but to save us from the ultimate calamity, namely from the judgment of God upon our sin. And so I agree with Thomas Aquinas that Mary here is acknowledging plainly. And clearly, that she is numbered among fallen human beings who are sinners.
And yet we can get so sidetracked into the theological controversy that attends that phrase that we miss the basic thrust of the Magnificat itself, which is the expression under the influence of a Holy Spirit of a woman Whose soul is on fire for God.
Okay. who wants to adore God and praise God. and exalt God from the deepest chamber of her heart. There is a parallelism here when she says, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit doth rejoice in God my Savior. The parallelism there is not to give us a distinction between two parts of the anatomy, spirit and soul, but it is a repetitive, synonymous form of parallelism, where basically what Mary is saying is that the deepest part of my being.
Is filled with joy. and praise for the God of my redemption. And I said back at Christmas time, and I've said many times that I commend to people, men and women alike. Uh to try to memorize the magnificent. Because what a marvelous expression of prayer.
It is. We say that the traditional elements of prayer. Include four. we have a little acrostic to remind ourselves of those elements that spell out the word Acts, A C T S, like the book of Acts in the New Testament. The A in the acrostic stands for adoration.
And the C stands for confession. And the T stands for Thanksgiving. And the S for supplication. And if you look at this Song of Mary. And if you look at the prayers of the saints of Scripture.
and immerse yourself in the inspired prayers of the Psalms of the Old Testament. You will see that these prayers frequently contain elements of supplication. by which we are making our requests before God, and pouring out our concerns and cares and needs before Him, as the New Testament invites us to do. Where we are told to come before God and let Him know our requests, even though we know He knows before we give those requests what we need, and so on. And yet, we are told by Paul that all of these requests should always be accompanied by thanksgiving.
And we also understand that the prayers of the saints of Scripture are replete with acknowledgments of our own unworthiness. And of our confession of our sins before God, which is an integral part of every godly prayer. But the one thing that we find, ladies and gentlemen, Emphasized. in the biblical prayers. is the first part.
Adoration. And I would say, if there's anything that defines the very essence of godly prayer. It is that accent or emphasis upon adoration. By the same token, if there's anything that tends to be missing. From the prayer life of the contemporary church.
It is this deep accent and stress upon adoration.
So again we turn our attention to Mary. That at the very moment of her expression in response to God by the Holy Spirit, as the Holy Spirit comes upon her, that she begins her song. with a heartfelt utterance. of adoration. My soul doth magnify the Lord.
If you don't take the time to memorize the whole magnificent. At least memorize that. That should be part of our prayer every day, that we are people whose souls can't wait to see the enlargement, the exaltation, the greatness. of our God. Let us magnify the Lord in our souls.
Let us rejoice in the God. of our salvation.
So at this level, we look once again to Mary as a profound model. of godliness. In that she was a woman whose heart was filled with joy, and whose heart was filled with adoration. for God.
Now, as we move beyond the Magnificate and its parts, which I gave a more lengthy exposition of at Christmastime. We go to another incident that takes place in these early days, and that is. In chapter 2, where we have the record of the birth of Jesus, we read in verse 8, Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about, and they were greatly afraid. And here we get this record, the narrative of the astonishing breakthrough of divine glory, the transcendent majesty of God explodes on this plain outside of Bethlehem.
And these again peasants, the shepherds, are given the unspeakable privilege of seeing the unveiled radiance of Divine glory. Such a sound and light show had never perhaps been seen before or since on this planet. And we know that the angel to these terrorists. Terror-filled shepherds announced to them the birth of the Messiah and told them how to find him, to look for the babe in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes there in Bethlehem. And they come.
To Bethlehem. to find the Christ child. And we read in verse 15, So it was when the angels had gone away into heaven that the shepherds said to one another, Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us. And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. And now when they had seen him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this child.
And all who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. Verse 19 is the one I want us to look at. But Mary Captain. All these things and pondered them in her heart. Do you realize?
How often we are exposed. to a taste of the glory of God. Every time we are in church on Sunday morning, we have a taste of heaven. Every time we are in spiritual retreat or in biblical study, that our souls are moved by the grandeur of God. We experience those things, but our tendency, beloved.
is not to keep them. We let them slip through our fingers. We let them escape from our soul. They don't take residence. They don't abide with us.
But what Scripture is saying about Mary is when she, as this new mother, sees these shepherds come. to pay homage to her child that is born. And here's the story of the outbreak of glory just outside the town where she has given birth. And the amazing things that are happening here. She doesn't forget them.
She keeps them. And the scriptures tell us she ponders them in her heart. See, it's not enough for us to be exposed to the glory of God. It's not enough for us to hear the word of God or to periodically attend the worship of God. And then never let it.
Stick with us. We don't think about these things. And I like the word that is used in the text. Ponder. Ponder reflects deeply.
And lasting thought, careful reflection and examination of the things of God. That defined Mary. Mary was a woman who persevered in godliness, who kept the things of God at the front of her mind all the time. She pondered these things in her heart that had already taken place. The visit of the angel Gabriel, the announcement that the angel had made to her, the expressions that she had heard from the shepherds.
Later, the expressions that she would hear from Elizabeth, her cousin. But one of the things I'm sure she pondered as long as her son was alive were the words of the prophet Simeon that took place shortly after the birth of Jesus. We know that after this incident here in Bethlehem, that the days came to pass after the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were completed, that they brought the Christ child to Jerusalem for the purposes of his dedication. And we read the story then in the latter portion of the second chapter of Luke in verse 25. And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.
And the man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
Now we know this story: that Simeon had been promised by the Holy Spirit that he would not die. until he had physically, visibly seen The Christ. And on the occasion when Joseph and Mary came into the temple with Christ in their arms. The moment Simeon saw the baby Jesus, he knew this was the fulfillment of the prophecy that he was now seeing in his dimmed vision the very consolation of Israel that had been promised. And he sings his song, the Nuktimidus: Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen the salvation, and so on.
Now that's the glorious part of his experience. But then we read in verse thirty-three these words. Listen carefully. And Joseph and his mother marveled at the things that were spoken of him, that is, of Jesus. And then Simeon blessed them, And said to Mary his mother, Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and as a sign that will be spoken against.
A sword will pierce through your own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. This was a joyous occasion for Mary, a time of great rejoicing. But if she pondered anything in her life, if she kept anything in her memory, it had to be these ominous words of prophecy from Simeon. Yea. A sword is going to pierce your own soul.
If you heard those words from a prophet of God. But a sword was going to pierce your soul. You would think about that. And it was obviously a sword that was linked with this child that she had just born. As our time is running out, let me direct your attention.
to a passage that we find in John's Gospel. In the nineteenth chapter. Verse 25. Where we have this account.
Now there stood by the cross of Jesus. His mother. And his mother's sister. Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing by, he said to his mother, Woman.
Behold your son. And he said to his disciple, Behold your mother. And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home. In the seven last words of the cross, one of the final utterances that our Lord ever made before he died. was to ensure the care of his mother.
And he looks at John, the disciple whom he loved. and says son Behold your mother. And directs his attention to his own mother. He gives John to Mary and Mary to John. But while this transaction is taking place, the Mother of God.
Is looking at the Son of God. hanging on the cross. She is there. when they crucified. Our Lord.
She is there when they nail him to the cross. She is there when he utters his last words and breathes his last breath and dies in front of her eyes. She is there when the soldier takes the sword and pierces the side of Christ, and blood and water gush forth. Is there any mother in the world that would not feel that sword? In her own soul.
When she sees it thrust. into the side of her son. It is for our benefit. that we look to Mary. As not just a heroine.
but one who shows epic proportions of faith. Who is faithful to God throughout her lifetime, knowing. That God has appointed a destiny of suffering and humiliation to her child. She ponders the waiting. There's no way that this woman of Galilee could understand in her youth.
very much of the implications Of what the death of her son would mean. Mary was not a systematic theologian. Mary was not trained and skilled in the nuances of redemption. How could even a person who was a theologian begin to grasp the Magnitude of the passion that lay in store for Christ. And Mary thought about that sword.
and pondered that sword that Simeon had predicted. Until the moment and she stood at the foot of the cross. She was there. But in the grace of God. She was also there.
On the day of resurrection. Mary's great faith is an example to us all. Thanks for listening to Renewing Your Mind Today. I'm Nathan W. Bingham.
Protestants and Roman Catholics view the Mother of Jesus in very different ways. Protestants cringe at the Roman Catholic notion that Mary was without sin. But as R. C. Sproul has pointed out this week, some Protestants have attempted to correct that error by ignoring Mary altogether.
Dr. Sproll has helped us see Mary biblically. as favored and blessed by God. Continue preparing for Advent season as you think more deeply about Mary and her magnificent Savior. By requesting access to this entire series when you donate today at renewingyourmind.org or by calling us at 800-435-4343.
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