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- By your Spirit, concerning your Son, Jesus Christ. We thank you for opportunity once again to celebrate the birth of our
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- King and the wonder of the Incarnation, the heart of the
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- Gospel, which is our great hope. We thank you that you have given us this
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- Word that is clear, that is full of your Son, Jesus Christ, that we may hear and see and know, by your grace, of your glory and respond.
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- We pray that you would help us to do that here this morning, to get a clear view of your Son, Jesus Christ, that as we look at him in this
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- Word, we will look like him in this world and bring glory to your name. We pray these things for the sake of Jesus Christ, the one with whom you are well pleased.
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- Amen. I invite you to open your Bibles and turn with me to Luke, Luke chapter 1.
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- In Luke chapter 1, we will be reading verses 46 through 55.
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- Luke chapter 1, verses 46 through 55. We're going to practice again.
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- He is given. He is given indeed. Much better than last week.
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- And it'll be really, really good by Christmastime. He is given. He is given indeed.
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- We can rejoice in that. The angel
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- Gabriel has appeared to Zacharias and to Mary.
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- First to Zacharias to declare the miraculous birth of John, who would be the forerunner of the
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- Messiah. Then he speaks to Mary of the even more miraculous birth of Jesus the
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- Christ. And the promise of John that he would come and be the forerunner of Messiah, that promise of John and the announcement of Jesus converge in our story here in Luke as Mary travels to see her relative
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- Elizabeth, encouraged by the angel Gabriel to fortify her faith in this promise of God, to go and see that there is nothing too difficult for the
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- Lord. That even her elderly relative, barren Elizabeth is barren no more, and indeed she has conceived.
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- This was to fortify Mary's faith and to emphasize to her the truth of what was promised to her.
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- And Mary was so confirmed in her faith by the miracle that had been given to Zacharias and Elizabeth, so confirmed in her faith by Elizabeth's greeting that Mary broke into song.
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- We call it the Magnificat because in the Latin translation it's the very first word. Mary magnifies the
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- Lord. I invite you to stand with me if you're able to as we read God's holy word. Luke 1 beginning in verse 46.
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- And Mary said, my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God my
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- Savior for he has regarded the lowly. He has regarded the lowly state of his maidservant for behold henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
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- 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.
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- He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
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- 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.
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- He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever.
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- This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. The tradition of singing
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- Christmas carols, the English tradition of Christmas carols, goes as far back at least to the time of John Aldwy who compiled a little song booklet, 25
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- Carols of Christmas. And this was a little book that was to be toted around and sung by sailors.
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- Not sailors, wassailors. A word in the English which came from Old Norse, vasheil, meaning be well.
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- Be well and in good health. So by the Victorian period, wassailors would carol and go out about town and would be greeted by those who would receive those songs warmly and offer them a hot spiced drink called wassail.
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- Hence, here become a wassailing amongst the leaves so green. That means we sing
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- Christmas carols, singing of Christ our King born for us and for our salvation.
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- The Christian tradition of singing Christmas songs, Advent songs, can be traced back to 127
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- AD when a Roman bishop compelled the saints of his town to sing the
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- Angels' Hymn around Advent. We don't know what the lyrics were to the Angels' Hymn, though I suspect that Gloria in Excelsis Deo would have been present amongst the lyrics.
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- But I think we can go back even farther because when we come to the Gospel of Luke, we have four songs, poems and prayers, praises and prophecies that are offered up in praise to God because of the announcement of Jesus being the
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- Messiah, the announcement of his birth. The first of these songs in the
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- Gospel of Luke is the Song of Mary that has been titled in history as the Magnificat.
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- Interesting though, these songs, these songs have even a deeper history.
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- For many other songs were sung prior to these. And the songs that were sung before these were sung in anticipation of the
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- Messiah's arrival. Songs sung for centuries that lit up the night, anticipating the dawning of the day, the rising of the morning star, as Christ was named.
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- The oldest song in the Bible is named the Horse and the Rider, Exodus chapter 15.
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- It was sung by Moses and Miriam and the children of Israel after God had delivered them from their oppressor
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- Pharaoh. And God having killed Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, the people of Israel sang songs to praise
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- God. And it was the themes and the structure of that song, the
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- Horse and the Rider, with psalms combined, became the themes that Mary sings in our text this morning.
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- She had help though. Someone else had reflected upon the Horse and the Rider. Someone else had thought about God's goodness in giving her a child, and her name was
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- Hannah. And she reflected upon the Horse and the Rider. And she took the structure and the themes of that song, and she prayed her prayer in 1
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- Samuel 2. And all of this is working together in how Mary composes her praise to God.
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- What does this teach us? Well, I think it teaches us to magnify God. What is our business?
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- What is our response to the surprising gift of God's Son who brings us salvation?
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- What is our response? But to rejoice in the Lord and to magnify His name, to respond as those made in His image, to respond in worship and praise to God.
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- This is what we learn here. Rejoice in God. Make great the
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- Lord. We see this in verses 46 through 47. Rejoice in God. Make great the
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- Lord. Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my
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- Savior. What's going on here?
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- Mary speaks of what goes on inside. Her soul and her spirit.
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- But what goes on in the inside comes to the outside. And she sings and she gives praise to God.
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- She's responding to something. If you look in your text, chapter 1 of Luke, and look with me at verse 39.
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- Mary arose in those days after the angel Gabriel had given her her promise that we saw last time.
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- The promise of the coming Messiah. She would be the mother of the Lord. Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste to a city of Judah.
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- So she traveled from Nazareth to Judah. It takes a little bit of time, even though you're going in haste.
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- It takes a little bit of time to get there. And entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.
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- And it happened when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary that the babe, John, leaped in her womb.
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- Leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she spoke out with a loud voice and said,
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- 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
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- 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.
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- Blessed is she who believed. For there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the
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- Lord. Mary doesn't have to explain anything. Because John the Baptist, filled with the
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- Spirit, uses his mother's womb as the pulpit and preaches his first sermon. He leaps with joy because the mother of Christ has arrived.
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- He's the forerunner. That's his job. Is to announce the arrival of the
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- Messiah. And he did it even from his mother's womb. And Mary hears the
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- Amen of Elizabeth. The Amen that she gives to her own son's sermon. And Mary responds with a benediction.
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- She responds with praise. This exuberance of Elizabeth rolling down upon Mary.
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- This avalanche of blessing and affirmation. This Holy Spirit rejoicing comes down upon Mary from Elizabeth.
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- And what is she supposed to do? All that grace must redound to God's glory.
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- What other response should there be? This is not a making much of Mary. This passage is not making much of Mary.
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- Mary is not to be venerated and prayed to and appealed to because of this passage. This is a passage that makes much of Christ.
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- Her soul and spirit. Her psuche and her pneuma.
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- The full range of her inner life comes bursting forth out of the abundance of Mary's thoughts.
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- Her mouth sang. She rejoices in this miracle.
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- She rejoices in the meaning of her child's conception. Mary heard
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- Gabriel's word. She makes her plans. She makes haste.
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- She travels to the hill country of Judea. Every day of her preparation and journey.
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- Every step that she took of this journey. These things that Gabriel had told her kept reverberating in her mind and swirling in her heart.
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- And then, when John's and Elizabeth's warm welcome come. Then the clarity of joy is united to the fire of faith.
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- And a sailing within Mary occurs. A carol bursts forth from her lungs.
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- This is the best way to sing, isn't it? Do you find it hard to sing from the impoverishment of your soul?
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- It's hard to sing from the impoverishment of your soul. It's easy for Mary to sing.
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- Her soul is so full. Her spirit is so full of the word of God. So full of the promise of God.
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- So full of the fellowship with those who are directed by the spirit. Her heart is full.
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- And so singing is the most natural thing to do. How hard it is in contrast to sing from the impoverishment of one's soul.
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- Psalm 137 reflects upon the time. The exiles were taken away from Judah.
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- Jerusalem is burned. Their time in the land has come to an abrupt interruption.
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- So many dead. So many displaced. So much confusion. And there upon the banks of the
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- Euphrates, these exiles are taunted by their captors. Sing us a song.
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- Sing us a song. And they hung up their hearts in the willows and refused to sing.
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- Indeed, how could they? And their impoverishment of their soul, how could they sing? When they remembered
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- Zion and they closed their eyes, what would they see except blood -covered rubble scorched by pagan fire?
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- They could still smell the smoke. They could still hear the wailing.
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- So how could they sing? But on this side, on this side of the incarnation, on this side of the
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- Messiah being given to us, on this side of His death and resurrection, on this side of the new covenant, when we remember
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- Zion, we have a city that is unshakable, unassailable, a kingdom that will never be shaken and never come to an end.
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- When we remember Zion, our hearts should be full, for our King reigns.
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- And the banners of His salvation still hang.
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- Rejoice in God. Make great the Lord. He saves us in His might. Mary explains why she rejoices.
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- Verse 48, For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant.
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- You hear this? Why does she rejoice? Why does she magnify God? Here's the reason she gives. Verse 4,
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- He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
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- For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name, and His mercy is on those who fear
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- Him. From generation to generation, He has shown strength with His arm.
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- He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. Why does she rejoice in God?
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- Oh, He has done great things for me, she says. He has done great things for me.
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- Holy is His name. He did it for His name. Yes, He did it for me, but ultimately He does it for His name.
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- He's brought glory to His name, even as He does good unto me. What is this good?
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- He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant. What an eloquent translation. What does she say?
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- She says He has looked upon, He has taken notice of, He has paid attention to the abasement of His slave.
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- That's what she says. Pardon me, Mary. My goodness. Why so heavy?
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- He's paid attention to the abasement of His slave? Why is she talking like this? Because these gales of glory are blowing, and she grabs for the deepest roots that she can to make sense of what is being told to her.
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- She's trying to understand it in light of all that she has been taught.
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- In Exodus chapter 2, back when we find the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the children of Israel, in bondage in Egypt.
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- Exodus chapter 2, verses 23 through 25. Now, it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died.
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- The Pharaoh who knew Joseph, new dynasty comes in. Then, the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage.
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- They were enslaved. They were abased. And they cried out.
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- And their cry came up to God because of the bondage. And God heard their groaning.
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- God heard them. And He remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
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- Now, listen to verse 25. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.
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- Do you hear that language in Mary's opening? She's identifying with this situation.
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- Why is that? How is she thinking about this? God did mighty things for Israel in delivering the people from slavery in Egypt, promising to bless them generation after generation.
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- He promises to bless them if they would fear Him and keep covenant with Him. And they were not to boast in themselves, but boast in God who had given them this covenant.
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- And for the sake of His promises, He set His love upon them. And so now Mary is reaching back to the roots of her own history, of all that she knows about God and the way that He works.
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- And she takes up this language and says, All generations will call me blessed.
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- And all these generations will have the mercy of God upon them. And God has done great things for me.
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- And He has looked upon the lowliest state of His slave. What is she recognizing?
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- She's recognizing that God's salvation is coming through her son, coming through the
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- Messiah in a fashion compared to, but greater than what happened with Moses.
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- Someone greater than Moses has come. And so it makes sense that she links her song to this other song in Exodus 15.
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- Very first song in the Old Testament, Horse and the Rider. Very first song in the New Testament, The Magnificat.
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- And the related. Who would have guessed? God did mighty things.
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- Listen to how she sings. Luke 1, verse 51. Listen to what she says in that verse.
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- He has shown strength with His arm. With His arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
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- So, it's the Lord's arm that scatters the proud. Brings down His enemies.
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- It's not man's strength, is it? It's the Lord's arm that does the work. And she says, so He's shown strength with His arm and He scatters the proud.
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- He brings down the proud. What she says here is in harmony with another mother.
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- Hannah. In 1 Samuel, chapter 2. In the midst of her prayer,
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- Hannah says, For by strength no man shall prevail. The adversaries of the
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- Lord shall be broken in pieces. In other words, scattered. So, it's not man's arm.
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- It's the Lord's arm. And the enemies are scattered. Broken in pieces. Well, where did
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- Hannah get that idea from? Remember Miriam sang with her brother Moses. The horse and the rider.
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- Exodus 15, 6. Your right hand, O Lord, has become glorious in power. Not man, but the
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- Lord's arm. Your right hand, O Lord, has become glorious in power. Your right hand,
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- O Lord, has dashed the enemy in pieces. You see how the song sung by Moses and Miriam fuels the prayer life of Hannah.
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- Which informs the way that Mary sings. Do you see how it works? They're reflecting on these very same themes.
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- The themes of salvation. The themes of how God brings about His saving work.
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- Now, this whole bit about dashing enemies into pieces. In connection to God's salvation.
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- Is not the kind of themes that you hear sung on K -Fluff. However, all throughout the
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- Bible. There is no salvation described that does not involve judgment.
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- God's salvation comes through judgment. Deliverance of His people means judgment upon something or someone.
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- And this is always to the glory of God. God's salvation is not a mere fancy.
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- It's not a therapeutic notion. It is not merely an emotionally uplifting candle.
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- It is not the music in the elevator. In the background.
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- It is a symphonic oratorial.
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- It's Handel's Messiah. All encompassing. Attention grabbing.
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- God's salvation always comes through judgment to the glory of His name. And Mary knows that. Mary sings that.
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- And these are the deep themes that the carols are constructed from. She says, hope is not in man.
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- Hope is in the Lord. And what He does. Where is the hope of people today?
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- Where is the hope of people today? Listen to what is said.
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- Where is the focus of people today? Listen to the way each new situation is analyzed and understood.
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- What people tend to harp about. When we look at this, my soul magnifies the
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- Lord. My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. And then she sings all this song.
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- This is what is filling her heart. And so that's what comes out. When I was in my undergrad in seminary, we had this little unwritten ruled game called poke the prof.
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- And every professor had his favorite subject. Which would not be on the test.
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- Right? So to make things easier on ourselves so we wouldn't have to take notes that day, we'd poke the prof.
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- Whatever his main subject was, we'd hit that nerve with a question.
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- And off he went. Oh, good. We don't have to take notes now. He just went on and on and on and on about his favorite subject.
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- See, that's what it's like. My soul magnifies the
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- Lord. My spirit rejoices in God my Savior. All you had to do was just poke
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- Mary. And this is what she'd go on and on and on about.
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- What else are we supposed to do? In light of who Christ is. In light of this gift that God has given to us.
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- To so rejoice and to so magnify and go on and on about how good
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- God is in light of who Christ is. But what do people go on and on about today?
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- Poke your neighbor. Poke the news. What comes pouring out?
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- Mostly copium laced with myth. People clamor for a strong national leader.
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- Here is our hope in our Savior. The artists sing ballads for Superman.
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- Politicians heap all the blame on all of our problems on a single sacrificial scapegoat.
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- That explains it. The elites fear the boogeyman hiding in the populist closet.
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- Over and over it's centralizing upon a man, upon a man, a man. But what does God see?
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- Justice is turned back. And righteousness stands afar off.
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- For truth is fallen in the street. And equity cannot enter.
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- Isaiah 59 verse 15. So truth fails. And he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.
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- What a picture. The man who would depart from the path of evil makes himself a prey, vulnerable for destruction.
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- Then the Lord saw it. And it displeased him that there was no justice.
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- Verse 16. He saw that there was no man. He saw that there was no man.
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- And wondered that there was no intercessor. So what is there to do?
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- Therefore his own arm brought salvation for him. It's the title of the
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- Messiah. The arm of the Lord. Our Messiah who is our intercessor.
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- Therefore his own arm brought salvation for him. And his own righteousness, his own righteousness, it sustained him.
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- And listen how our Lord comes clothed.
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- Christmas we think of the swaddling cloths. And well we should. But how does
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- Christ come? Verse 17. For he put on righteousness as a breastplate.
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- And a helmet of salvation on his head. He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing.
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- And was clad with zeal as a cloak. Here comes our Savior. The music of Christmas truly is not to be.
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- The smooth jazzy tones in the background. Filling up what otherwise is static.
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- It is in the forefront. A battle chant. A war hymn.
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- The arm of the Lord. All the world centralizing again and again.
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- All the problems. Poke your neighbor. Poke the news. Oh it's about a man, a man, a man. What is this?
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- This is PTSD from the garden. Adam behold the fallen father.
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- This wretch Adam. He cannot help us. Adam cannot help us.
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- He cannot save. He has left us in bondage to sin and death. None of his sons.
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- None of his sons can build a boat big enough. Raise a family large enough.
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- Conquer a land prosperous enough. Or reign from a throne high enough to save.
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- We need the eternal son of David. We need the true Israel. We need the seed of Abraham and the
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- Lord of the Sabbath. The last Adam himself. Jesus of Nazareth. Christ the son of the living
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- God. Born of the Virgin Mary. He saves us in his might.
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- And God rules in wisdom by his word. Wisdom is so surprising.
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- Verses 52 and 53. Mary says, He has put down the mighty from their thrones.
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- And he has exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things.
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- And the rich he has sent away empty. These are not just contrasts.
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- These are surprising reversals. How did that happen? How is it that those who are so entrenched in their power.
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- To seem that they were immovable. Suddenly have no power at all. How are those who seem they would have nothing.
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- All of a sudden they have everything that they need. How does this come about?
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- And how often are we discouraged? How often are we discouraged when we observe.
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- The calcified corruption. And the broken systems of our world. How often it is when we poke the neighbor.
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- And poke the news. What comes forth is this story line. That the poor keep getting poorer.
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- And the rich keep getting richer. And the evil breeds like rabbits. And how often as well.
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- The psalmist and the prophet. Send up that lonesome mournful lament to God.
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- How often we sing the blues. But Mary's song you will notice.
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- Mary's song bursts with a different type of energy. A distinguishing hope.
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- She speaks of the reversals of what was. There is no hope in these situations. But now she is singing of great reversals.
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- That no one could do but God. Those reversals were Hannah's praise as well.
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- 1 Samuel chapter 2 verses 4 -8. Hannah prays and gives praise to God. She says the bows of the mighty men are broken.
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- And those who stumbled are girded with strength. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread.
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- And the hungry have ceased to hunger. Even the barren has borne seven.
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- And she who has many flesh has become feeble. The Lord kills and makes alive.
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- See she's explaining why all these reversals. How are these things going so topsy -turvy.
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- How is it that the world keeps getting turned upside down.
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- It's God. God does it. Verse 6. The Lord kills and makes alive. He's the one.
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- He brings down to the grave and brings up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich. He brings low and lifts up.
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- He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the beggar from the ash heap. To set them among princes and make them inherit the throne of glory.
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- For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's. And he has set the world upon them. Hannah praying at the tabernacle.
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- Explains how the world works. All these political prognosticators.
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- All this analysis trying to figure out why do things happen the way they do. And Hannah on her knees praying to God says.
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- Oh the Lord owns it all. He made it all. He controls it all. He governs it all.
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- Glory to his name. Glory to his name. Mary as well magnifies the
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- Lord. And rejoices in God her savior. Because he rules and he governs. And he directs. He puts down.
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- He raises up. And he does all according to his word. Magnifying his name.
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- His actions and his word coalesce in his wisdom. And the wisdom astounds and undoes.
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- And reverses and stuns the arrogant and prideful. Central and sinful planners.
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- Iron swinging down from Zion. Whistling in the wind. Shattering fired clay.
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- Has such a lovely ring. Such a satisfying crunch. How often men stand.
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- Mouths agape. Cheeks red with shame. These who thought they ruled the world.
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- And understood and operated. According to the principles and forces. That they thought they understood and controlled.
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- And then they're reminded of their true limitations. When that happens.
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- Merry Christmas. Why is that happening? Why is that happening?
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- Because God has set his son upon his holy hill. And Jesus Christ is king of kings. And lord of lords.
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- And we are to magnify the Lord. And rejoice in God our savior. The incarnation of God the son.
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- The advent of Jesus Christ. The conception of Jesus Christ in the womb. Did not sneak in quietly.
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- But came in like a roar. Jesus was conceived in the virgin womb of Mary.
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- Wrought in the silence of mystery. But he broke forth upon this world. With such weight and light.
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- That you know the story. Angels cut the gloom of night with heavens light.
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- Temple shepherds who were raising sacrifices. Went and found the lamb of God in a feeding trough.
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- Herod lost his mind. Jerusalem was put into chaos. Bethlehem was shattered.
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- Magi from the east traveled from afar. And nothing, nothing, nothing was ever the same ever again.
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- And all of history is divided between B .C. before Christ. And A .D. Anno Domini in the year of our
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- Lord. Nothing was ever the same again. Jesus was flipping tables from his birth.
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- It just so happened that he did the same when he got to the temple. What about in your life?
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- What about in your life? There's no neutrality about Jesus Christ. There's no standing from afar and considering with some sort of cerebral examination.
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- He is Lord of Lords. He is King of Kings. We're to bow the knee. And when we bow the knee, he does not leave the temple of the new covenant unclean.
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- He comes in to all those that he saves and fills with his spirit. And he comes in and he starts flipping tables.
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- Nothing is ever the same ever again. There's only before Christ in your life. And in this day when
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- Christ has and is and shall save you. And he changes everything in your life.
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- And when he does that, out of the abundance of the heart, we can sing. We can sing.
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- God rules in wisdom by his word and turns our faith to sight.
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- Verses 54 and 55, Mary says, He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy.
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- She reflects upon the promise that God has given to her. That she would be the mother of the Messiah. Confirmed by what
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- Elizabeth and John communicate. And then she reflects on this and says,
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- He has helped his servant Israel. He has remembered his mercy.
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- Just as he spoke, verse 55, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever. Mary, how much did she hear from her father and from her mother's knee?
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- How many psalms did she have memorized? How many readings of the
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- Tanakh, the Torah, the Nevi 'im and the Ketuvim, the Old Testament. How many readings had she heard in growing up?
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- How often had she been reminded of the date setting by Daniel?
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- Oh, the Messiah will soon come. How much had she been prepared and anticipating the answer of God's promises in the person of the
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- Messiah? And she knows the promises that God gave to Abraham and to his seed.
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- She knows the promises that God gave to the patriarchs. And as she reflects upon this announcement of the
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- Messiah, she says, Here his help has come.
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- Here his salvation has arrived. This is the remembrance of his mercy.
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- He's being faithful. This word mercy covers the old
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- Hebrew word, chesed, his covenant faithfulness. Whatever God promised to the fathers, whatever he said to them, that which was everlastingly promised to Abraham and to his seed, in all of its height and depth and length and breadth, it is wrapped up in one glorious package, the gift of Jesus Christ.
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- God makes the promises. God keeps the promises. God gets the glory. The Apostle Paul says in Galatians 3 .16,
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- Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He does not say into seeds, as of many, but as of one.
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- And to your seed, singular, who is Christ? Christ.
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- No wonder Paul also says in 2 Corinthians 1 .20, For all the promises of God in Christ are yes.
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- And in him, amen to the glory of God through us. Christ is the yes, and we resound as the amen.
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- All these promises long awaited in shadow are fulfilled in the brightness of the substance
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- Jesus Christ. The birth of Jesus Christ, the advent of Messiah, is the dawn after a long night.
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- How faithfully the old covenant moon shone, cutting into that gloom.
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- How often did the prophets point to it and say, Pay attention. Pay attention.
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- Well, light has broken the darkness by the arrival of Christ. Christ is given.
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- He is given indeed. Our Lord has gone to a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.
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- I love that story from Luke. I often ponder that picture. Our Lord has gone to a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.
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- And he has that kingdom, and he reigns, and he will cause all of his enemies to become a footstool for his feet, and he shall return.
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- I say this because whatever we sing in rejoicing of his birth must necessarily take into account the accomplishment of his life, the success of the mission for which his father sent him.
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- You say, so what? What's the point of it all? The point of it in seeing the glory of Christ is that we would rejoice.
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- The point of it is that we would magnify the Lord. Just as Mary responded, so fitting it is that we would respond in rejoicing and magnifying
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- God. Rejoice? Magnify? Is that all? Is that all?
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- Beloved, there will be when that is all. And in the meantime, as we walk, the joy of the
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- Lord is our strength. The joy of the Lord is that weighty differential between all that is chaff and all that is wheat in a man's life.
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- Let us magnify the Lord. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this word that we have received from your word.
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- We thank you that Mary responded in the way that she did.
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- Luke faithfully records it for his patron Theophilus, and your
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- Holy Spirit brings it to us for us to consider the glory of our Savior Jesus Christ, the worthiness of your name, and how we ought to praise and magnify our
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- Savior. Help us to do so. Help us to do so this season and in every season to rejoice and to magnify you.