Blessed! - [Luke 1:39-45]

wonderful, fascinating, exciting, marvelous, and thrilling.

Those words describe not only all of Scripture, but especially Luke Chapter 1.

Turn your Bibles to Luke Chapter 1 this morning, as we dive back into this book full of all kinds of thrilling, exciting, fascinating, wonderful things.

It has 80 verses in Chapter 1. By the way, it's larger than Philemon, obviously. And it's probably about twice as long as even

Titus, chock -full of all kinds of things that some people say, well, it's odd, Pastor Mike, that we're going through all these

Christmas stories, and it's in, you know, it's April. But of course, if we back up nine months from Christmas, we're almost at the right timing, and so it works out just perfectly.

Luke is a book about the Lord Jesus. And when I come to worship, either here or someplace else,

I'd like to hear about the Lord Jesus. And I've often asked the congregation and other pastors, if someone walked in today and they never had been at a

Christian service ever, and you ask them afterwards, what do you think Christianity is all about based on the sermon?

I hope they would answer with this. It's about Jesus. It would be wrong if the answer was we're just to be good.

In light of Jesus, we are to be good. But the central message of Christianity is Jesus Christ, the risen

Savior. So today we're going to look at Luke, the Gospel of Jesus according to Luke. And it's going to be fascinating because we're going to see a little girl, 12 or 13 years old, maybe 15, and we're going to see a grandma.

And both of them are pregnant by the supernatural power of God as Gabriel visits them.

The simple outline for today is we're going to look at the passage, and we'll talk about some theological points, almost like last week.

Turn your Bibles to Luke chapter 1. Let's look at verses 1 and following. A little review, a little bit of extra things as we continue to rehearse through the beginning of the

Lord Jesus' ministry here on earth. Of course, he existed in eternity past, but now he is visiting the earth, and he is going to be born of a virgin.

Remember what it says in the very beginning of chapter 1, verse 4. Luke is writing that you may have certainty,

Theophilus, and, of course, everyone here too, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.

And I probably will say this for the next 10 years, that the theme of the Gospel of Luke is

Jesus, of course, coming to seek and save the lost, but the purpose so that you might have certainty, that you might have assurance.

Things on earth are never perfect, and therefore our assurance is never perfect.

I don't know if you've ever struggled with assurance, but most people have. I mean, my knowledge of God isn't perfect. My knowledge of Scripture isn't perfect.

How could anything here on earth except the Lord Jesus be perfect? Our assurance is not perfect.

And so, how can we bolster our assurance? Well, certainly, we could look at our lives and see the Spirit of God is working in our lives, and we see

His fruit in our life, and that would be a good way to bolster assurance. But the best way to bolster assurance is to look at Christ Jesus through the lens of Scripture.

And I love that quote by Martin Luther. It just comes off the tongue now. When I look to myself,

I don't know how I could be saved. We're honest with ourselves about our sin. But when I look to the Lord Jesus, I don't know how

I could be lost. And that's exactly what this physician wants. He's a physician in real life, healing people and bodies, but also he's a physician of the soul.

And he wants you to get a good look at Jesus so that you can remember that just shall live by faith in the risen

Savior, the Lord Jesus. And so what this writer does, he's trying to put together an orderly account from the beginning.

And if you're going to start in the beginning, it's going to start with these infancy narratives when

Jesus was born. I love the parallelism between Mary's pregnancy and Elizabeth's pregnancy.

And we saw the birth of John the Baptist foretold, did we not, in verses 5 through 25.

I won't read them all, but remember Zechariah. He was a priest. He's in the temple. He knows the

Bible. And he's chosen by lot this special privilege to go in and offer incense before the

Lord. And remember, the visitation happens. Gabriel shows up,

God's messenger, speaking on behalf of God. And of course he's frightened, and who wouldn't be frightened when you have an angel show up?

Remember that Zechariah didn't really believe the promise. Gabriel said, your old wife, your barren wife, she's going to have a child.

Zechariah should have known. This is possible because there are Old Testament accounts of barren women bearing children, right?

That's hard to say, barren women bearing children, right? What do we call those, homonyms?

Nobody's very sure about that. I think I'm sure. Except I wasn't so sure after I saw your faces.

He, Zechariah, should have known better. And he did not believe God's word through the messenger.

And so remember, the sign that was given to Zechariah was, you're going to be mute until the child is born.

And he goes out, and he is judged by God. Not eternally or anything, but he is judged.

He should have known the Scriptures. He did know the Scriptures. Remember the last book of the Bible, the last time

God talked, 400 years earlier? It was Malachi, Malachi chapter 4, saying there's going to be a forerunner to the

Messiah. And he's going to come in the spirit of Elijah. And when the forerunner comes, you know the

King is going to come, the Lord Jesus. Malachi says in chapter 3,

Behold, I will send my messenger and prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple.

And the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming. Malachi 4, Behold, I will send you

Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord. So therefore,

Zechariah is told you're going to have a baby through your barren wife.

And he's going to be in the spirit and power of Elijah. And so therefore, fulfillment of the Messiah is on its way.

Remember how he responds? He said, I don't even know this, verse 18. How do I know it? And he has this lack of faith.

But on the other hand, there was a young girl. You could be 12 years old and be betrothed back in the society, 13 to be married.

Maybe Mary was 15, maybe she's 18. You've got a man priest, the woman

Mary. You've got the older man, the younger woman. You've got a man entrenched in Scripture and understands

Scripture, he's a priest. And you have Mary, she wouldn't know as much, she's only 12, she's only 15.

You've got the temple worship where Zechariah was. And you've got a little town called

Nazareth where Mary was. And you see the contrast between these. If anyone should have believed, don't you think it would have been

Zechariah? He's the one that should have believed and therefore I think he gets the stricter temporary judgment.

Mary, in fact, she believes when the angel shows up. And we see that in verses 26 through 38.

This calm, serene, isolated Nazareth town where Mary is compared to the bustling around the temple and the trumpets and the incense.

And here now we see in verse 26, In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named

Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David.

And now for the second time we're told, and the virgin's name, she's not a virgin, once described but twice, her name was

Mary. And he came and said to her, Greetings, O favored one, the

Lord is with you. She was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this is.

Now while Zechariah was praying for his son or daughter, do you think

Mary was praying for a son or a daughter right now? I think she probably thought when she was younger,

I'd love to be a mother someday and that's one of the goals that I have, if the Lord would allow it. But do you think she was praying to be pregnant at 12 years old or 15 years old, not married yet?

Do you think she wanted that? Of course she didn't want that. Can you imagine what Joseph would have thought?

Can you imagine what society would have thought? You could even get stoned if you committed adultery and it was proven.

She's not looking to get pregnant as a virgin. And here

I just stand back and I look at this and I think, it was God in fact who took the initiative.

This is God's working. Fulfillment is at hand and everything is driving to God takes the initiative, whether it is this or even in our own salvation.

I could ask you the question, who made you a Christian? I hope you don't answer, you did.

Yes, you responded with faith and you trusted the Lord Jesus, but it was God on the move. Salvation comes from the

Lord. Remember back in Genesis 3, verse 15, God is going to judge

Satan and there is going to be a seed of the woman who is going to crush Satan.

I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.

It was God who sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those who are under the law.

God is the one who takes the initiative. And He took the initiative in this little tiny town of Nazareth.

You think it would be Rome, you think it would be Jerusalem, but not Nazareth, this town that is not even mentioned in the Old Testament.

And of course, the greeting is so wonderful. Remember from last week, greeting, O favored one, the Lord is with you.

You are highly favored. Language that is used of you, dear Christian, in Ephesians 1, verse 6.

This isn't Mary worship. This is not Mary exaltation. She doesn't have grace to bestow.

Like you, like Noah, like David, like me, we receive grace, but we don't have it to give to other people.

We receive it because we are sinners. If you get grace, you are a sinner. You don't need grace unless you are a sinner.

You would just need righteousness. You would just need justice. And the angel shows up and says, you are highly favored.

This reminds me of Psalm 138. God has regard for the lowly. This reminds me of Isaiah 57.

The high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy. With him also, he dwells with those who are contrite and humble.

She is so grace, matter of fact, what does the text say? That God is with her. Before the angel announces what's really going to happen, it's good to know

God is with you, Mary. You are the object of God's unmerited, gracious goodness.

Do you think the writer is really wanting you to exalt Mary and worship her? Or do you think the writer is wanting you to say, here's this young lady.

She's graced. She responds rightly. That's good. We want to respond rightly. And what's the angel say, verse 30?

Don't be afraid. You've found favor with God. There it is again. You've found grace with God. Only sinners get grace.

But she is especially graced. She's the daughter of grace, not the mother of grace, as some would say.

And you're going to conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name

Jesus, verse 31. Now, John the Baptist was great in the eyes of the

Lord. He, Jesus, is great. He will be great and will be called the

Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.

Martin Luther describes it this way. Oh, Mary, you are blessed. You have a gracious God. No woman has ever lived on earth to whom

God has shown such grace. You are going to bear the

Messiah. That's amazing to me. You're going to bear the Messiah. It's like the greatest announcement in human history.

I know Scott Brown does a good job with announcements. Just saying.

There are greater announcements. Maybe we should start calling

Scott Brown Gabriel. Small G. What do you think? I don't want to look over at Scott because he's going to be going like this.

God's with you. You're going to bear this Messiah. And she just asked the question. It's of faith.

Verse 34, I'm a virgin. She understands that the way to become pregnant is with a man and a woman intimately.

She understands that. And remember last week we saw with delicate language, with wonderful language, without any kind of gross, pagan, weird cohabitation stuff.

Verse 35, the angel answered her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the

Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called

Holy, the Son of God. The Old Testament temple was overshadowed by the

Shekinah glory. God is here. Jesus, Peter, James, and John on the

Mount of Transfiguration. The overshadowing of the Shekinah. God is here.

Mary, her womb. Womb just means an empty thing. Something that is hollow.

Your womb, Mary, is going to have Jesus in it. The overshadowing of the

Shekinah glory of the Holy Spirit. God is present. Bengel said, denoting the mildest and most gentle operation of divine power.

That the divine fire should not consume Mary, but make her fruitful. One of the things, dear

Christians, we ought not to, is we ought not to go beyond what Scripture says.

We have to suppress the desire to know every little detail. It is a sign of a mature

Christian when they say, I'll just take God at His word, and I'm not going to go beyond what the Bible says.

I don't need to know everything, I just need to trust Him. I don't have to figure out every little thing, and how all these parallel lines intersect in eternity.

God says, the Spirit of God overshadowed Mary. That's all we need to know. Yes, but is it an egg from Mary, and was it tainted, and then it was made clean, or was it a brand new egg, and what about the male

DNA, and who gave that to whom? It just says, she's going to be overshadowed. It's the Spirit of God who does it.

Remember the Spirit of God, He creates the world, Genesis 1. He creates new life here. The Holy Spirit is going to make sure that that egg is holy.

And therefore, we say to ourselves things like this. In this supernatural event, it probably helps us if we say to ourselves, we're not really talking about a virgin birth, are we?

I mean, virgins don't bear children, but we're talking about a virgin conception. After all, the birth, many of you mothers understand this better than I do.

I just understand it from afar, but I understand that in a birth, the baby grows, and there's gestation period, and the cervix gets dilated, and the water breaks, and there's contractions, or all three happens at once,

I don't know the exact order. The baby comes out, nor do I really want to know. The baby comes out of the birth canal, and the head crowns, and the crying baby, the placenta is birthed.

All that was the exact same for Jesus as it was for all of us. He's a human.

He has to be born a human. But what was different, it was the conception, not the birth. We call it virgin birth, fine.

But it's the virgin conception. Jesus had to be born the way humans are born.

And it shouldn't surprise us that Jesus was conceived in a unique way, because actually Jesus existed before Mary did.

So what we do when we come to this passage, as we just say with many other doctrines in life,

I don't need to know every little detail, and that shouldn't drive me to anxiousness or angst, it should drive me to what?

To worship. I don't need to know all these details. I don't even know how a baby is formed in the womb normally.

Ralph Davis said, sometimes it's better not to know, and sometimes

God puts us in that position. There are no intricate details about the virginal conception of Jesus.

This is rather typical with the living God. We often meet with conundrums.

The mystery of Jesus' conception, the mystery of the cross, the mysteries of Christian experience, the perplexity of unanswered prayer, the quandaries behind suffering.

Some of God's mysteries may be intentional. It may be that He does not want to feed our curiosity, but lead us to worship.

It's not that He wants you to be ignorant of things, but to be content that He is competent, and instead of speculate, adore.

Don't you think Davis is right? Doesn't that sound right? That's exactly right. So we can suppress our desire to know every little detail.

The Holy Spirit overshadows. That egg is going to be holy. Jesus is going to be tainted by sin. It's not that hard for me to believe.

If I can believe in the Incarnation, if I can believe that the Creator of the universe says in Genesis 1, and let there be light and there's light, well,

I can easily believe this. If I can believe in the resurrection from the dead, I can easily believe this.

This is divine action, not human action. The Holy Spirit overshadows.

He's active and creative and protecting. And I think if you look back at the text, and I just would read it this way, it probably would help.

Behold, you will conceive, verse 31, in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.

Verse 32, he will be great, and he will be called the son of Joseph. Is that what it says?

No. The son of God, not Joseph. By the way,

I'm going to try to trick you right now. Son of God, son of man. He's called the son of God right here.

When I say son of God, do you think of deity or humanity? When I say son of man, do you think of deity or humanity?

Well, you said it's a trick, so I'm going to go with the opposite. Yes, but do it with some kind of courage.

If I say to you, think Old Testament, think Old Testamently, son of man.

Think of the self -designation of Jesus who called Himself son of man more than He called Himself anything else.

The son of man. The son of man. What does that tell you? Does it tell you in the Old Testament of an exalted title?

Of a divine title? Of a warrior title? Of a soon -returning king title? Thank you.

I don't know who said that, but I'm thankful. When Steve Meister was here, he said,

I'm up here preaching and everything. He said, I could tell this was the New England crowd. They don't say a word. They just look at you.

They like look through you. He said, I get to California, every word is amen. Keep your finger here.

Turn your Bible to Daniel 7. I just want to make sure we understand the difference between son of man and son of God.

And I think it will help you read your Bible better in the future. This is a little excursus, but I think it's an important one.

If you look at Daniel 7, and we see this vision that Daniel had about the heavenly court of Jesus, you're going to start thinking to yourself, son of man, son of man, son of man has the privilege to forgive sins.

Son of man. He breaks the Sabbath rule, at least according to the Pharisees. What is going on with son of man?

When you think of son of man, most every single time, you should be thinking deity.

Because it's a title. Don't just think man. This is humanity. Think title.

Think Daniel 7. One of the all time greatest chapters in all the Bible. Daniel 7, 9.

As I looked, thrones were placed. The Ancient of Days took his seat.

His clothing was white as snow. And the hair of his head like pure wool. His throne was fiery flames.

Its wheels were burning fire. A stream of fire issued and came out from before him.

A thousand thousand served him. And ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.

The court sat in judgment. And the books were opened. I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking.

As I looked, the beast was killed and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. As for the rest of the beast, their dominion was taken away.

But their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. I saw in the night visions.

And behold, with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a... Here it is.

Son of man. And he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And this

Son of Man, this divine, majestic, one who has complete authority of deity, he was given to him dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, languages should serve him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away. And his kingdom, one, that shall not be destroyed.

Dear congregation, when you see Son of Man, when you hear it from the very lips of Jesus more than any other title

He gives Himself, you think Daniel 7. He's not talking about humanity per se.

He's talking about a title. The divine, glorious One. So now back to Luke.

Pastor, if that's true, then what's the Son of God thing? What's going on?

If Jesus said, you Pharisees are sons of Abraham, what was

He talking about? You should be obeying Abraham. You should be submitting to Abraham. You're the children of the one you should obey.

And if you're the Son of God, you should be obeying God. Isn't it interesting that Jesus is called

Son of God here because He's the Son who obeys God? Doesn't that match perfectly with the

Incarnation? I think it does. Son of God.

If I call myself the Son of God, I should be saying to you, I'm the kind of person that obeys God. Like Father, like Son.

I shouldn't be thinking biological terms. I should be thinking in terms of I obey, I submit.

Did not Jesus submit and obey? He's called the Son of God here in the

Incarnation. It makes perfect sense. So, to remind you one more time, when you see Son of Man, you ought to think

Daniel 7. Deity, majestic, divine, authority and dominion.

And when you see Son of God, you should be thinking it's a humanity of Jesus who perfectly obeys.

Now, this overshadowing in Luke 1, as I alluded to earlier, but I want to make sure

I really emphasize it again. Make certain that Jesus is not sinful.

He doesn't inherit Adam's guilt. He doesn't have his own guilt. If Jesus has any sin, we don't have a

Savior. Because we would need a mediator for Jesus the mediator. He would need a mediator, in other words.

He would need an advocate. Your Savior has to be sinless. Because if He dies with sin,

He's not going to be raised. Jesus has to be free from original sin, original guilt, actual sin.

Did you know Jesus never lied? How long was He on earth? Let's say 33 years.

Do you know He never coveted? Do you know He never complained?

Do you know He never gossiped? Do you know He never slandered anyone?

Do you know He never lusted? Everything Jesus did was perfect.

Of course, the Bible says none is righteous, no, not one, except for the Lord Jesus. There's no one who does not sin, 1

Kings 8, except for the Lord Jesus. If someone said,

Mike, the virgin birth is not necessary for Christianity, I would say, of course it is, because otherwise there's no sinless

Savior. The only sin that Jesus ever, ever, ever committed that He ever, ever, ever knew was, you're like, here comes heresy, the imputed sin, our sins that were credited to His account and that He bore on His body on the tree.

That's it. H .D. MacDonald said, the Jesus of the

Gospels knew more about sin than anyone, yet He Himself never betrayed the least consciousness of it.

Sin in others He saw. Sin in others He rebuked. Sin in others He forgave. Sin in others

He grieved over. He suffered for it. He knew what was in man, yet He could issue the challenge, who convinces me of sin?

Oh, wouldn't this be wonderful? With Him there was no memory of sin's defeat, no trace of sin's scars, and no shame of a bad conscience.

No wonder He's called the Holy Offspring. God with us.

Can you flip ahead a little bit to Luke 3 .23? Just to make sure we realize that this is a supernatural event, that the

Holy Spirit overshadows Mary and her womb and the eggs, etc., etc. Luke 3 .23

Jesus, when He began His ministry, was about 30 years of age, being the son, as was supposed, of Joseph.

That's His stepdad, that's for certain, but this is not His real father. Remember the thief on the cross said of Jesus, this man has done nothing wrong.

Remember the centurion at the cross? Certainly this was a righteous man. Remember the demon said?

He's the Holy One of God. And they're all right. Jesus lived a life of perfect, entire, exact, perpetual obedience.

And if He was not virgin conceived, He wouldn't do it. He couldn't do it.

Well, back to Luke 1. I love how the Lord gives encouragement just at the right time. And He says to Mary in verse 36,

Your relative Elizabeth, in her old age, has conceived a son. And this is the sixth month with her who is called

Baron. Elizabeth, she's receiving the faithful promises of God.

God kept His Word with Elizabeth. It wasn't like Gabriel showed up and said, Zachariah, your wife's going to get pregnant, and never did.

No, no. God keeps His Word. You think, well, wait a second. Isn't this a pretty big ask for Mary to believe?

Yes. Doesn't she need encouragement? Yes. Let me ask you another question. When's the last time there's been a king in Israel?

I thought this Messiah was going to come from Mary's womb, and He's going to be in the line of David and rule over the throne.

That's 2 Samuel 7 talked about. When's the last time there's a king? It's one thing that there's already a king on the throne now, but when was the last king?

It's been 600 years since the king has sat on the throne. Under Babylon, no king.

Under Persia, no king. Under Syria, no king. Now under Rome, no king.

And now, dear Mary, 13 -year -old Mary, 15 -year -old Mary, you're going to have a son and he's going to be the king.

And she believes it, and just like the Lord often does, He encourages Mary by saying, and the other promise that was made, a supernatural promise, that Elizabeth conceives in her old age is happening.

She's six months with child. Because nothing is impossible with God, verse 37.

And how does Mary respond? This is maybe the greatest response ever in terms of faith.

She's already a believer, but here believers respond, trusting the Lord. I am the servant of the

Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. If Joseph leaves me, fine. If I'm shamed in culture, fine.

This followed her her entire life, even when Jesus was older. They said, you don't have a father.

You're conceived illegitimately. And Mary says, okay, fine. Shame, disgrace.

I'm your servant. I surrender, I yield. I submit all words for Christians.

We trust in the Lord Jesus and salvation, and then our lives are a continual yielding, submitting, surrendering.

Ultimately, I hear the great fulfillment of this as Jesus says, not my will but yours be done.

You say, aren't we going to get new verses today? You say, that's the longest 31 -minute introduction I've ever heard.

Well, this is Bethlehem Bible Church. What else are you going to do today? No, I wanted to go over that so you could hear it again to lead up to this point and also learn a little bit of new information.

This passage builds on the last one. It's not isolated. Let me read it and then let's talk about it.

In those days, verse 39, Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country to a town in Judah. She entered the house of Zechariah and greeted

Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb.

And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.

And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the

Lord. Mary meets

Elizabeth. John the Baptist meets Jesus. Mary's probably three, four, five days pregnant.

And she arrives. If you take a look at verse 39, she went to a town in Judah.

Remember, she's coming from Nazareth. Take you three days, 50 miles, 60 miles. She hears the news.

She's going to go talk to Elizabeth. And off she goes with haste. She arises and goes. This is a long trip.

You say, well, she's pregnant. It's a long trip. But she's only brand -newly pregnant. And here this 13 -year -old is with a 60 -year -old, or this 15 -year -old is with an 80 -year -old.

And off Mary goes. I don't want to get too far out of things that aren't talked about in Scripture, but certainly

Mary had a lot to think about as she traveled for three or four days, don't you think? All the what -ifs and what will happen.

And she goes in a hurry. One man said this word for hurry. It means this. It means never take 20 minutes to do a 10 -minute job.

I'm using that with my kids. I guess they're older. Sorry. I'm using it with your kids.

My grandkids. It's kind of a funny word, too. Spadazzo. It just means to be in a hurry.

And then she wanted to go down and see. She's been told by the angel, this has happened here with John, who will be great in the eyes of the

Lord, but I'm having the Son who's just great. Now, when the text says in verse 41 that she's filled with the

Holy Spirit and exclaimed, this is the Spirit of God speaking through her.

This is not just Elizabeth saying it. You are blessed from among women. And I love it that the baby leaped for joy.

The word leap means to skip like a little calf. I think it's taken directly from Malachi chapter 4.

Before this forerunner of Elijah is talked about, it says in Malachi 4, This is the language of leaping that Jesus said later in Luke chapter 6 when you're persecuted on account of the

Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy. And you say, you know what, six -month -old baby?

I've felt some moving, you say, if you're a lady. And I felt the baby in me, and there's been some kicking and all that.

Of course, I remember as the children get older, and it's as if I could see in Kim, on her stomach, that kind of foot that just kind of brushed past, right?

You're like, I think that was just a foot that just pushed past. But it was the timing, was it not?

It's just not, well, the baby's moving inside of me. It's the perfect timing. It's all set up.

Elizabeth expresses the mind of God. She's filled with the Spirit. And she says, there's joy.

This is an overriding theme in Scripture. When there's a Savior who's going to come, there should be what?

Joy. Knowing forgiveness, joy. Cry it out with a loud voice.

There's going to be joy. I mean, when things happen like this, there's praise, wonder, humility, and joy.

Elizabeth doesn't bow down and worship Mary. But she sure has a lot of joy because she knows what's coming.

The Messiah is coming. And Mary, you are blessed. To me, the stunning part in all this passage is in verse 43, that the mother of my

Lord. You know what the Greek word for Lord is? It's the

Old Testament equivalent of Yahweh. God Almighty. I am who

I am. This is not like Master or Sir. This is the mother of my Lord.

The Old Testament translated into Greek uses this word for Yahweh. The God of the universe is in your womb.

How did Elizabeth discover that fact? It had to be given by the Holy Spirit. A .T.

Roberts said, only by the help of the Holy Spirit could Elizabeth know that Mary was to be the mother of the

Messiah. See, Mary knew about Elizabeth, but how did Elizabeth know about Mary? She's filled with the

Holy Spirit. And she, Elizabeth, acknowledges incarnation.

She acknowledges the union of God and man in one. John the

Baptist would leap again for joy outside the womb. Did you know that? At least verbally.

John the Baptist said in John 3, You yourselves bear me witness. And I said, I'm not the Christ, but I've been sent before Him.

The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears Him rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice.

Therefore, this joy of mine, John the Baptist... You think of this austere John the Baptist, eating locusts, eating honey, eating locusts, eating honey.

I always thought if I had to eat crickets and locusts, I would probably have to have some of their legs used as a toothpick to get the rest of their bodies out of my teeth.

He rejoices greatly. John the Baptist rejoicing greatly. Because when the Messiah shows up, you rejoice.

You think of your own salvation. I think of my own salvation. Back up 5 years, 20 years, 30 years, and the day that it dawned on you that you were not going to go to hell and you got to go to heaven based on the work of another freely, graciously, out of mercy and kindness and steadfast love.

What did you do? Well, in California you said, Amen. In New England you just said...

But seriously, you're excited, right? We all were. That joy doesn't have to be external. It's the joy that comes from the inside.

A while ago, I was at a wedding. I forget the people's names.

Cody and Rachel's wedding. Can you imagine? Brian Bartlett gets up to pray.

Sorry, there's going to be no food. We're going to be in sackcloth and ashes for the rest of the reception.

Let's all fast together. Jesus, why don't your disciples fast?

Because I'm here, right? Right? Isn't that the passage? In Luke 5,

I'm here, so why would they be fasting? John the Baptist, austere, yes. Out of the womb.

He was austere in the womb too. But there's joy. Jesus has arrived.

There's joy. It's appropriate. Look down at verse 71 of the same chapter.

Does this give you joy? Yes. That we should be saved from our enemies and from all the hands of them who hate us.

That should give you joy. Deliverance from enemies. What should give you joy? Verse 74 of Luke 1.

Being delivered from the hands of our enemies that we might serve Him with fear. Life without fear.

Cringing fear. That should give you joy. Verse 77.

To give knowledge of salvation to His people and the forgiveness of sins. Doesn't that give you joy?

Of course, the answer is yes. Yes and yes. And so, how could

John the Baptist in the womb, or how could Elizabeth just remain calm and stoic? When even the

Old Testament talks about this great day. Sing for joy, O heavens, and exalt, O earth.

Break forth, O mountains, into singing. I mean, this is such great news. The mountains should sing. And by the way, if we don't, then

God can make the stones cry out, obviously. Mary trusted the

Lord. It says in verse 45. She believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the

Lord. She was confident. Big picture now.

Back up for a second. Guess what Theophilus is wanting you to do? Theophilus is wanting you to do through the lens of Luke the writer.

Theophilus says, I trust. I believe. He's mentioned in Acts 1. Luke wants,

Theophilus wants, the Spirit of God wants you to think God keeps His promises. The fulfillment has been there.

It is a certainty. You say, but I can't see. 1 Peter 1,

Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. Though you do not see Him now, you what? Believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.

John 20, Blessed are those who, though not seen, yet believe. People respond to the

Lord Jesus by trusting in Him and rejoicing in Him. That's what we see right here as a fulfillment.

What I don't see in this passage is Elizabeth grumbling. Why don't I get to have the Messiah in my womb?

Ever thought about that? I mean, how could she? She's filled with the Spirit of God and so she would never say such a thing.

Two things I'd like you to remember in light of this. One, I don't want you to ever think that Jesus' divine nature ceased.

I don't want you to think that Jesus' divine nature ever ceased. Jesus' incarnation, how many natures does

He have? Human nature? Divine nature. I don't want you to ever think that divine nature ceased.

Is this a mystery? Yes. But God is immutable and He never changes and so God the

Son is never going to change. One writer said, The one in the manger is both swaddled tightly yet filling the heavens.

See, human nature, divine nature. Clinging to His mother, human nature, yet holding every atom in place, divine nature.

Crying for comfort, human nature, yet sustaining the stars, divine nature. Sleeping among donkeys, human nature, yet adored by the angels, divine nature.

It has been said in Colossians 1 that in Him all things hold together.

Even when Jesus was in the womb. It is said of Jesus in Hebrews 1,

He upholds the universe by the word of His power. In the womb, because His human nature is in the womb and did

God stop being God when He was in the womb of Mary? Of course not.

Because then He wouldn't be God. I ask you this question. Who upheld the universe before the incarnation?

I hope you say the triune God did. Jesus included. Who upheld the universe while Jesus was on earth 2 ,000 years ago?

I hope you say the triune God does. Jesus. Who upholds the universe right now?

I hope you say the Lord Jesus does. Of course, if I think of the Father, then I think of the Son, and then I think of the

Spirit. But Colossians 1 and Hebrews 1 talks about the Lord Jesus upholding the universe. Who upheld the universe when

Jesus was in the womb of Mary? Answer? Satan? Jesus just quit, stopped being

God and let the Father and the Son do it? How could that be? There's only one God. They inseparably work.

They always work together. They always do things together because there's one God, three Persons. So I just want you to just walk through that in your mind sometime this week and think, little baby

Jesus, one day old, upholding the universe.

I also want you to think, if Jesus was aborted by Mary at month one, would that abortion just be a potential human, somebody that's not quite human?

If Elizabeth would have aborted baby John the Baptist in the womb at one month, six weeks, three weeks, would that just be like a potential person, not a person?

And you know the answer. Heidelberg Catechism, question 47.

But isn't Christ with us until the end of the world as He promised us? Where's Jesus now?

Well, Jesus is in heaven. His glorified human body is in heaven. Where's His divine nature?

Is He no longer omnipresent because He's in heaven? Is He no longer omnipotent because He's in heaven? Is He no longer changeable because He's in heaven?

No, no. His divine nature is with us. That's why He can say, and lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age.

Yet He's up in heaven because He has a human nature, heaven, and a divine nature filling the whole world.

You think, wow. That even gives us joy, does it not?

Who's a God like this? You can't figure this out. You can't make such a God up. Okay, how can

Jesus be our representative and substitute unless He's human? Because to be my representative in yours,

He has to be human. To be a substitute, He has to substitute human for human. So how can the eternal God, immutable, unchangeable, of Himself, omnipresent, and the list goes on with all

His divine perfections, the God who is, how can He be a representative and substitute?

The answer is found in a virgin's womb. Don't let anybody ever tell you that somehow

Jesus emptied Himself of divine attributes in the womb. And even that song that we've since changed the lyrics of, but He emptied

Himself of all but love. Can God empty Himself of anything? He just is.

So in the womb, the human nature is there. And outside the womb, controlling the world, is

His divine nature. Heidelberg Catechism says, but isn't

Christ with us until the end of the world as He promised? Answer, Christ is true man and true God. In His human nature,

Christ is not now on earth, but in His divinity, majesty, grace, and spirit,

He is never absent from us. That is amazing.

That is absolutely amazing. The virgin birth should make you think, I can trust

God. There's joy when I know salvation is here. I don't need to know every little detail, but I can respond with wonder.

And to know that even though Jesus is in heaven, He's close to me now. I rejoice in that.

Let's pray. Father, thank You for Your Word. We're thankful we have a pure representative, the

Lord Jesus, who is our advocate and mediator. We're also thankful for a spotless substitute who died on our behalf, not as a sinner, but taking our sins.

And we're especially thankful as we contemplate the Lord Jesus today, that while He represented us on earth as a human,

He continues to represent us now before you and makes intercession for us.

We thank You for that. Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free.

For God the just is satisfied to look on Him and pardon me. We rejoice today that the last