Mary's Song (Luke 1:46-56)

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website, morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. Let's turn once again to the gospel according to St. Luke. So this is Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1, last time, this would be three weeks ago, I guess.

God's Favor in Luke 1

We looked at Luke 1 about having God's favor. You remember the angel Gabriel told Mary that she had found favor with God. In fact, he said that Mary was highly favored. And based on what the scripture teaches, I had said in order to find favor with God, there are a few things that are necessary if we want to find favor with God.

Number one, we must have faith. That seems pretty obvious. Also, we must diligently seek God. Now, there's one thing you have faith, but it's another thing to diligently seek the Lord. And then the third thing was walk in obedience to his will, which I think is the thing that people get.

Well, you know. So what we didn't get to last time was Mary's response. After learning that she would give birth to the Christ child, after visiting her relative Elizabeth, Mary prays or she sings a song of praise known as the Magnificat.

Mary's Magnificat as a Song of Praise

So that's the title of this morning's message, Mary's Magnificat. It's called that because that's the Latin term for magnify. Look at what Mary says. Luke chapter one, verses 46 through 55. Mary says my soul magnifies the Lord in my spirit has rejoiced in God, my Savior.

For he has regarded the lowly state of his maidservant. For behold, henceforth, all generations will call me blessed. For he who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is his name. And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation.

And he has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. And he has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty.

And he has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever. And may the Lord add a blessing to the reading of his word. Maybe you notice something in this passage.

She's saying things that God has done these things. And yet at that time, Herod was still ruling. Caesar Augustus was the one ruling the known world. So these things actually hadn't taken place yet. But Mary speaks of them as though they had.

And that's going to be important to remember later on. So this section of Luke chapter one is also known, Mary's Magnificat, or the Song of Mary. So what is she doing? Basically, she is praying, or you could say she is singing a hymn of praise to God for all that he has done.

She is so moved by God's grace that she simply cannot be silent. Have you ever felt that way? You are so moved by something you read, something you heard, something you saw, something that God has done and you just can't not say anything.

Well, that's Mary here. Her soul, every part of her mind and emotions extols the name of God. She is filled with joy, admiration, and gratitude for all that the Lord has done. So in this message, we're going to follow this outline.

And I think you see this in the text. Look at verse 49. It starts with what God has done for her. And we can think of what God has done for us. So Mary begins with what God has done for her. Verse 49.

For he who is mighty has done great things.

For who?

She says, for me. And then she moves out into what God is doing in the world. In verses 51 and 52, he's scattering the proud and exalting the lowly. So that's what God is doing in the world. And then finally, in verses 54 and 55, this is all because of God's covenant.

So she remembers God's covenant promise made to Abraham and to his seed. And we'll see who she's talking about towards the end. So these three things, what God has done for me, what God is doing in the world, and then why has God done it?

Because of his covenant promise. So let's go, for the sake of context, let's go back to Luke 1 .39. Luke 1 .39 through 45. Talks about Mary visiting her cousin or her relative Elizabeth. Luke 1 .39 says, Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste to a city of Judah and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.

And it happened when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary that the babe leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. We learned from the last message that I did that Zacharias and Elizabeth, much like Abraham and Sarah, were going to have a child in their old age.

And that child in her womb would grow up to be who? John the Baptist, who was the forerunner of Jesus. John, we could say he laid the groundwork for Jesus to begin his ministry. So this is the situation.

Mary has likely just conceived. So Jesus is six months behind John the Baptist, as it were. So Mary is conceived and John is six months along in Elizabeth's womb. So when Elizabeth hears Mary's voice, John leaps inside of her.

And then Elizabeth is miraculously, I think that's what's happening, she's just filled with the Holy Ghost. So these are clearly unusual events. This type of thing just doesn't happen all the time. As a matter of fact, it's never happened in the history of the world.

It hasn't happened since. So these are unusual and even miraculous events surrounding what would be miraculous births. Not just one, because we know the birth of Jesus is miraculous. But these really are two miraculous births.

Jesus would be born of a virgin. John would be born to an old woman who is barren her entire life. And the ministries of these two men would change the world forever. But first, they changed the lives of these two women.

And this kind of follows the pattern of Mary's song. First, what God has done for me, what God has done for them. So God made a big difference in the life of Mary. And God made a big difference in the life of Elizabeth.

And even though our children maybe are not miraculous births, or they're not going to grow up to be people like John the Baptist or Jesus, you can think that your children made a massive impact in your life.

I mean, they truly are a gift from God. But God changed Mary's life and Elizabeth's life forever. What God has done for me. And then it moves on to what God is doing in the world. And it all stems from God's faithfulness to keep his covenant.

Look at verse 45. Elizabeth says to Mary, Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord. So made a difference to them, then they recognize it's going to make a difference in the world.

And what she's saying, if I can put it in other terms, Elizabeth is saying, Mary, you are blessed because you believed what God said to you. You believed every word of what God had said. Mary, you remember, was told of God's plan.

And she said, let it be. She accepted the word of God fully. And that's what we need to do. We need to hear what God says, read the word of God, and just trust it 100%. Can you do that?

That's hard.

I mean, I have to admit that is hard to do. We can say that, well, I have faith and I believe the word of God. But when the rubber meets the road, it's difficult. But God will give us the ability to do that.

So she remembers all the things that the scripture had said, I believe, about the Messiah. That unto us, remember Isaiah, he says, unto us, a child is born, a son is given, the government will be upon his shoulder.

Mary knew something about what her son would accomplish. There were those prophecies going all the way back to Abraham. God preached the gospel to Abraham when he says, in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

So I think Mary understood something that Jesus wasn't just going to be the king of the Jews. He's going to be the savior of all men. That was declared at his birth, certainly. So God does wonderful things.

Here's the point. God does wonderful things for his people, but he's also doing wonderful things in the world. We just have to look for them. Because Satan wants to muddy it all up. He wants to blind everybody to it.

Look at verse 42. Then she, Elizabeth, spoke out with a loud voice and said to Mary, blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped for joy in my womb. Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.

So does this sound like Elizabeth had faith?

Yes, she did.

And Mary responds with the Magnificat. My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God, my savior. Those of you who know the Old Testament well, this is reminiscent of Hannah's prayer in 1 Samuel chapter 2.

There was another woman who was barren, couldn't give birth until God opened her womb and she gave birth to a son. Hannah, like Sarah and Elizabeth, it was the same type of situation. Do you remember who Hannah gave birth to?

Samuel. And Samuel was the man who anointed David, who was kind of the prototype of the Messiah. So Hannah, having her womb closed, it's just really neat how all these stories sort of intersect in that way, and they're very similar.

Now this statement, my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God, my savior. What is she saying here? Verse 46, she talks about her soul. And then verse 47, she talks about her spirit.

So what is Mary saying? This could either be one of two possibilities, either a Jewish way of poetically expressing the same thing in two different ways, or the soul and the spirit are two different things.

It could be that Mary is saying, referring to the soul as her seat of emotions and desires and affections. It's so moved to tell of the greatness and glory of God, while at the same time her spirit, which is that part of her which governs the soul and matters relating to God, is exceedingly glad communing with God, who she calls her savior.

So you can decide. I'm not exactly sure how to take that. But we see it's a statement praising God, right? My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit has rejoiced in God, my savior. And not to make too big a point about this, but what does Mary call the Lord?

Her savior, right? Now that doesn't really, of course. He is her savior. He is our savior. He is the savior of the whole world. So I don't want to make too big a thing of this, but there are those who believe and teach.

I think it needs to be said. I've preached two sermons on Mary, so I think it needs to be said. There are some people who view Mary and exalt her to such a level that she's almost like a goddess in the eyes of some people.

She is called by over a billion people on this earth. She is called or referred to as the queen of heaven. Mary is prayed to. Cathedrals are built in her honor, where if you look at the artwork, especially in Europe, it often depicts Mary as above Jesus and sometimes even above God himself.

Some go as far as to call her the redemptrix, that she, along with Jesus, has redeemed the human race. They've made Mary almost like an idol. They have exalted her above measure. The reason why that has happened is because many believe that she is the perpetual virgin.

So my purpose in telling you this is to teach you what the Bible says and to teach you who Mary was. And unfortunately, in the day we're living in, you kind of have to teach who she wasn't.

Thanks for listening.

I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Moores Cornick Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, moorescornickchurch .com. And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett.

Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.