Personhood of the HS - SS class

Question: "Is the Holy Spirit a person?"

Answer: Many people find the doctrine of the Holy Spirit confusing. Is the Holy Spirit a force, a person, or something else? What does the Bible tell us?

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What does it mean to be “a person?”

Person definition from Dictionary.com in Philosophy. a self-conscious or rational being or the actual self or individual personality of a being:

“What are the distinctive characteristics, or marks, of personality? Knowledge, feeling or emotion, and will. Any entity that thinks and feels and wills is a person.”
― R.A. Torrey, The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit

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I’ve got a couple quotes here that I think are potential conclusions we could land on about the HS if we don’t use the Biblical passages about the HS as guardrails to our beliefs….

Movie paraphrase (Star Wars TFA): Name the movie -

Maz Kanata: I am no Christian (Jedi), but I know the Spirit (Force). It moves through and surrounds every living thing. Close your eyes... feel it... the light... its always been there... it will guide you. The Spirit (saber), take it!

Name that denomination – This was in an order of worship at an actual big name Church Denomination’s service: The Old Testament reading from the Prophet Joel was printed in Polari the passage was "rend your thumping chest and not your frocks - and turn unto the Duchess your Gloria: for she is bona (good) and merciful". And instead of the traditional "Glory be to the father, and to the son, and the Holy Spirit" the prayer offered was: "Fabeness be to the Auntie, and to the Homie Chavvie, and to the Fantabulosa Fairy".

From BBC article: Church of England 'regret' as trainees hold service in gay slang

While ordained priest trainees had been given permission to hold a service to commemorate LGBT history month. The translation was based on the Polari bible, a work compiled from Brit gay slang, as a project in 2003 by the self-styled Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

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The Bible provides many ways to help us understand that the Holy Spirit is truly a person—that is, He is a personal being, rather than an impersonal thing. First, every pronoun used in reference to the Spirit is “he” not “it.” The original Greek language of the New Testament is explicit in confirming the personhood of the Holy Spirit. The word for “Spirit” (pneuma) is neuter and would naturally take neuter pronouns to have grammatical agreement. Yet, in many cases in John, masculine pronouns are found (e.x., John 15:26; 16:13-14). Grammatically, there is no other way to understand the pronouns of the New Testament related to the Holy Spirit—He is referred to as a “He,” as a person.

Matthew 28:19 teaches us to baptize in the [singular] name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is a collective reference to one Triune (3-1) God. Also, we are not to grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30). The Spirit can be sinned against (Isaiah 63:10) and lied to (Acts 5:3). We are to obey Him (Acts 10:19–21) and honor Him (Psalm 51:11).

What does the HS do?

The personhood of the Holy Spirit is also affirmed by His many works. He was personally involved in creation (Genesis 1:2), empowers God’s people (Zechariah 4:6), guides (Romans 8:14), comforts (John 14:26), convicts (John 16:8), teaches (John 16:13), restrains sin (Isaiah 59:19), and gives commands (Acts 8:29). Each of these works requires the involvement of a person rather than a mere force, thing, or idea.

The Holy Spirit’s attributes also point to His personality. The Holy Spirit has life (Romans 8:2), has a will (1 Corinthians 12:11), is omniscient (1 Corinthians 2:10–11), is eternal (Hebrews 9:14), and is omnipresent (Psalm 139:7). A mere force could not be described as possessing all of these attributes, but the Holy Spirit does.

Read John 3:1-14 on regeneration (conversion) And Acts 5:1-11: ”You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”

The Holy Spirit is a person, as Scripture makes clear. As such, He is to be revered as God and serves in perfect unity with Father and Son to lead us in our spiritual lives.

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“It is of the highest importance from the standpoint of experience that we know the Holy Spirit as a person.”
― R.A. Torrey, The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit

“We feel the breath of the wind upon our cheeks, we see the dust and the leaves blowing before the wind, we see the vessels at sea driven swiftly towards their ports; but the wind itself remains invisible. Just so with the Spirit; we feel His breath upon our souls, we see the mighty things He does, but Himself we do not see. He is invisible, but He is real and perceptible.”
― R.A. Torrey, The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit

Deity of Christ

Opening quote - The deity of Christ is the key doctrine of the scriptures. Reject it, and the Bible becomes a jumble of words without any unifying theme. Accept it, and the Bible becomes an intelligible and ordered revelation of God in the person of Jesus Christ.

Dr. John Oswald Sanders (October 17, 1902—October 24, 1992) was a general director of Overseas Missionary Fellowship (then known as China Inland Mission) in the 1950s and 1960s.

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Why is the question of the deity of Christ important?

It gives us a better picture or understanding of who God is & what he’s like. And clues us in on the unity of God in Salvation: the Father plans (predestines), the Son atones (substitution), the Holy Spirit applies (regeneration).

How does the Truth of the deity of Christ effect us?

Well if Christ is God & he died for our sins then we can have assurance of both the length God will go to rescue us & trust that Jesus’ atonement for our sins was a sufficient substitution.

What are some ways Jesus claimed to be divine himself?

What are some reasons the disciples give for believing Jesus is YHWH? – Unknowable knowledge, control over nature, sovereignty over the animal kingdom, miracles & specifically the resurrection.

Answer: In addition to Jesus’ specific claims about Himself, His disciples also acknowledged the deity of Christ. They claimed that Jesus had the right to forgive sins—something only God can do; as God is the grieved party in sin (Acts 5:31; Colossians 3:13). Jesus is also said to be the one who will “judge the living and the dead” (2 Timothy 4:1). After his resurrection is proven; Thomas cried out to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). After his dramatic conversion Paul calls Jesus his “great God and Savior” (Titus 2:11-13) and points out that prior to Jesus’ life on Earth Jesus existed in the “form of God” (Philippians 2:5-8). And John (IMO Jesus’ closest friend) states that “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word [referring to Jesus] was God” (John 1:1).

**We were talking last week about some names or roles of God.**

Jesus is also given titles that are unique to YHWH (the formal name of God) in the Old Testament. The Old Testament title “redeemer” (Psalm 130:7) is used of Jesus in the New Testament (Revelation 5:9). Jesus is called Immanuel—“God with us”—in Matthew 1. In Zechariah 12:10, it is YHWH who says, “They will look on me, the one they have pierced.” But John in the New Testament applies this to Jesus’ crucifixion (John 19:37; Revelation 1:7). If it is YHWH who is pierced and looked upon, and Jesus was the one pierced and looked upon, then Jesus is YHWH. Further, Jesus’ name is used alongside God’s in prayer “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:3; Ephesians 1:2). This would be blasphemy if Christ was not deity. The name of Jesus appears with God's in Jesus' commanded to baptize “in the name [singular] of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19; see also 2 Corinthians 13:14).

What miracles did Christ do to prove he was God? - Now, it is one thing to claim to be God or to fool someone into believing it is true, and something else entirely to prove it to be so. Christ offered many miracles as proof of His claim to deity. Just a few of Jesus' miracles include turning water to wine (John 2:7), walking on water (Matthew 14:25), multiplying physical objects (John 6:11), healing the blind (John 9:7), the lame (Mark 2:3), and the sick (Matthew 9:35; Mark 1:40-42), and even raising people from the dead (John 11:43-44; Luke 7:11-15; Mark 5:35). Moreover, Christ Himself rose from the dead. Far from the so-called dying and rising gods of pagan mythology, nothing like the resurrection is seriously claimed as true historical & verifiable in a particular place & time by other religions, and no other claim has as much extra-scriptural confirmation.

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Why is the deity of Christ important?

1^st a person who denies Jesus as deity ought not to worship him; worship belongs to God alone – or Soli deo Gloria, as the Reformers would say.

(ME) 2^nd a person who denies Jesus as deity will have to come up with some explanation why early Christians within Jesus’ lifetime & the lifetime of the disciples treated him as God. The anti-Christian orator Celsus, in On the True Doctrine (by which he meant a common Roman quasi-religion that mixed Stoicism and Platonism) ridiculed second century Christians in the Roman Empire for worshiping a man as God. To be sure some religious scholars have posited explanations for this, but others have pointed out how difficult that would have been (to elevate a mere man to divine status) so quickly and in such a cultural milieu (synagogues and Roman culture).

3^rd a person who denies Jesus as deity needs to invent a new way to explain the resurrection or deny it. As theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg so famously put it, the resurrection was God’s confirmation of the claims of Jesus Christ which amounted to deity (e.g., ability to forgive sins not on someone else’s behalf but by his own authority). If a person denies the resurrection, then Jesus is still dead and/or a ghost. Almost no one denies that the resurrection, including the empty tomb, was the cause of the rise of Christianity among the disciples (a category here not restricted to 11 or 12 but including all the first generation Christians in Palestine). If the empty tomb was a myth or legend it is difficult to explain the rise of the Christian church and the martyrdoms of the disciples. **ancient Jewish answer to this question

4^th a person who denies the deity of Jesus Christ will have to re-define “salvation” away from any recognizably orthodox Christian notion of it toward & to some new idea. Died as an example to us that oppressive forms of Government or selfishness are bad.

Finally, a person who denies the deity of Jesus Christ will have to also deny the Trinity (and most that reject Christ already see this point and do deny the Trinity).

In conclusion, Christ claimed He was YHWH, that He was deity (not just “a god” but the one true God); His followers (Jews who would have been terrified of idolatry) believed Him and referred to Him as God. Christ proved His claims to deity through miracles, including the world-altering resurrection. No other hypothesis can explain these facts. Yes, the deity of Christ is biblical.

This brings us to 1 of the best books a Christian can own (or give away).

C.S. Lewis was an Oxford medieval Literature scholar, popular writer, Christian apologist, and former atheist. He used the argument outlined below in a series of BBC radio talks later published as the book Mere Christianity.

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him (Jesus): I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. ... Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God.^”

The God*Father SS class

Dietrich Bonhoeffer – The right way to approach God is to stretch out our hands & ask of the One…who we know…has the heart of a Father (a Father that listens).

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In Scripture there are many different names used to describe God. While all the names of God are important in various ways, the name “Abba Father” is one of the most significant names of God in understanding how He relates to His people.

Some names of God:

El – mighty, Eloah(s)/Elohim(pl) – creator, El Shaddai – power over all, Elyon – most high, Adonai – Lord, YHWH (Yahweh) – I am who I am, YHWH-jireh – provider, YHWH-rapha – healer & about 12 dozen others……

Question: What do you think it means for us that God is our “Abba” Father?

So what benefits come from being able to call God our “father”? Effects our worship, confidence, describes a new relationship, shows how He deals with us differently, gives us trust that He hears us, etc…. 

Answer: The word Abba is an Aramaic word that would most closely be translated as “Father or Daddy”, as some people stress. It was a common term that young children would use to address their father. It signifies that close, intimate relationship of a father to his child, as well as the childlike trust (or faith) that a young child puts in their “dad.”

While many people would claim that all people are the “children of God,” the Bible reveals quite a different truth. Its true we are all His creations and under His authority and will all be judged by Him, but being a child of God and having the right to truly call Him “Abba Father” is something that only born-again Christian is able to do (read: John 1:12-13).

Understanding that not all people are children of God and that becoming a child of God only happens when you are adopted by God through faith in Christ Jesus is important for understanding **how and why God deals with people differently** (Galatians 3:26). If we are born again, we have been adopted into the family of God, redeemed from the curse of sin and are now “joint-heirs with Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:17). Part of this new relationship is that God now deals with us differently, which includes His chastisement of us when we sin (so says Hebrews 12:3-11).

 
This idea of Abba Father ties into two other Theological doctrines: Adoption & Election.

In the OT Adoption is pictured in the life of Moses being adopted into the family of pharaoh’s daughter & Esther who’s adopted by her cousin after her parent’s death; who are both used by God to rescue God’s people during dangerous times & in the NT Jesus himself is adopted by Mary’s husband Joseph, who took Jesus as his own child. Likewise the Christian life is one of being Adopted into God’s family.  

Regarding Election - The misguided but popular concept that all people are children of God and can truthfully call Him “Abba Father” is simply not true. Just as children do not choose to be adopted or choose who will adopt them, neither do Christians choose to become children of God. Instead, God chooses them. Scripture says He predestines them “to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will” & having been chosen by God from “before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4-5).

It is life-changing to understand the full force of what it means to be able to call the one true God our “Father” and what it means to be joint-heirs with Christ. Because of our relationship with God, we know He no longer deals with us as enemies; instead, we can approach a holy God as our heavenly Father with “boldness” and “full assurance of faith” (Hebrews 10:19 &22). We have that confidence because of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit who “bears witness with our spirit that we [truly] are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ.”

The benefits of being adopted children of God are many. Becoming a child of God is the highest privilege and honor that can be imagined. Because of it we have a new relationship with God and a new standing before Him. He deals with His children differently than He deals with the rest of the world. Being a child of God, adopted “through faith in Christ Jesus” is the source for our hope, the security of our future and the motivation to “walk worthy of the calling with which you were called.” Being children of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords calls us to a higher standard, a different way of life and a greater hope.

Once we give our hearts to Christ, believing and trusting in Him alone for salvation, God says we become part of His family—not through the natural process of human conception, but through adoption. “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship [adoption]. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father’” (Romans 8:15). Similarly, bringing a person into a family by means of adoption is done by choice and out of love. “His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to Himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave Him great pleasure” (Ephesians 1:5). As God adopts those who receive Christ as Savior into His spiritual family.

As we come to understand the true nature of God as revealed in the Bible we should be amazed that He not only allows us, but even encourages us, to call Him “Abba Father.” It is amazing that a holy and righteous God, who created and sustains all things, who is the only all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present God, would allow sinful humans to call Him “Daddy.” As we come to understand who God really is and how sinful we are, the privilege of being able to call Him “Abba Father” will take on a whole new meaning for us and help us understand the extent God’s amazing grace.

Mary Worship vs. Mary's worshipc

cMary Sermon – Mary Worship vs Mary’s worship

                  Good morning, Calvary.  It’s great to be here with you once again, opening the Word.  I feel a bit like John the Baptist today….I get to help kick off the Advent season & “prepare the way for the coming of the Lord” though our sermon series much like John the Baptist did for the beginning of our Lord’s earthly ministry.  So that’s pretty exciting…Now, if you will, let’s open up to Luke 1 & we’ll read about the precious & miraculous gift given to Mary & Mankind, pray & dig in to our passage together, we’ll be reading all of Luke 1: 26-56.

Birth of Jesus Foretold

²⁶ In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin (who was legally pledged to be married) to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. ²⁸ And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” ²⁹ But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. ³⁰ And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus (meaning Yahweh Saves). ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

³⁴ And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

³⁵ And 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. ³⁶ And behold, your relative Elizabeth (even) in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called ‘barren’. ³⁷ For nothing will be impossible with God.” ³⁸ And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your Word.” And the angel departed from her.

Mary Visits Elizabeth

³⁹ In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, ⁴⁰ and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹ And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, ⁴² and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! ⁴³ And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ⁴⁴ For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. ⁴⁵ And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

Mary's Song of Praise

⁴⁶ And this caused Mary to say,

“My soul magnifies the Lord,
⁴⁷     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
⁴⁸ for He has looked on the humble estate of His servant.
    For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
⁴⁹ for He who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is His name.
⁵⁰ And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
⁵¹ He has shown strength with his arm;

He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
⁵² he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate;
⁵³ he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.
⁵⁴ He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,
⁵⁵ as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

⁵⁶ And Mary remained with Elizabeth about three months and returned to her home.

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Opening Prayer –

Let’s pray……Lord Almighty & Friend to Sinners.  Your understanding is unsearchable & infinite, Your arm cannot be stayed, Your agency & power extends through limitless space, & all works hang on Your care, & with You time is an ever present now!

Holy is Your wisdom, power, mercy & ways.  How can we stand before You with our numerous sins & aggravated offences?  We have often loved darkness instead of light, observed vanities, forsaken Your mercies, trampled underfoot the thought of Your Son, mocked Your providences, & merely flattered You with our lips, while breaking Your covenant, just as Israel was so oft to do.

Let us see today into Your secret ways, let us recognize Your plan of mercy in our passage, Your way of salvation for sinners in your Son, Your work carried out through the means of humble servants willing to be used by You & may we be likewise willing, graced, called to do some service for Your namesake; let us find contentment & fulfillment in that service. And all of God’s people said, “Amen”.  

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Body –

                  When coming to our passage & the whole Advent season there is one word that can describe it, it’s a theological word called the Incarnation.  Incarnation is a Latin word meaning, “the act of being made flesh.”  Occasionally I talk to people to whom theological terms are too….high-brow let’s say or boring maybe & to them I say, hey you like chili right?  And being a intelligent human being they will say, well of course, I like chili, I have a heart beat ergo I like chili & so I say well then you know as a chili fan there is 2 basic kinds of chili one is the kind with just beans called “pointless chili”….& the other is called “Chili Con Carne” which means….?  (Pause)  Chili with meat, correct.  So basically the term Incarnation is Deus con carne, or God + meat = Jesus, or more eloquently as John puts it in John 1 “The Logos (the divine Word of God) was made flesh & dwelt among us.”

And I began to think of what important themes come up around this idea of the Incarnation.  Or as the Church Father Anselm once pondered, “Cur Deus Homo, or Why the God-Man?”  And we could spend weeks if not months on just this facet of doctrine as it relates to Redemption & fixing the rift created by Mankind’s treason against God in the Garden. Or Substitution & how Jesus becomes the epitome of Israel taking their place & obeys where Israel never did or how Jesus fulfills 1000s of years of an entire animal sacrifice system by becoming the Shepherd of God’s sheep, the High Priest that offers up the sacrifice & the spotless Sacrificial Lamb bears its people’s sins, all of this & more is addressed in the Incarnation.  

But where we start today is after 100s of years of silence between God & His people, between the end of the OT & the coming of the NT, before even the births of Jesus or John the Baptist we have God at work slowly setting up the pieces on the chessboard of history ready to make his move….a sort of checkmate against sin & Satan, a “King’s Gambit” (an opening chess move) you might say of grace & mercy against both of the enemies of the gospel not only lawless craven immorality but also its counter-part moralism & self-righteousness.

And here today we find a young lady probably somewhere in the vicinity of Emma Albert’s age (a girl really) whose trust in her God & worshipful service shine out like beacons and examples even to us some 2000 years later.

So what I’d like to do today is take a look with you at this Hymn of Mary called the Magnificat. But first, we’ll briefly touch on both the Angelic Annunciation & the Confirmation by the Holy Spirit through Elizabeth for some setting & context & as we delve into the Hymn of Mary.  I want us to see how Mary views God, how God works in the world, how she shapes this prayer of praise & how she views herself in light of God & finally tying into the title of this sermon we’ll look at a contrast between Mary Worship & Mary’s Worship; as we look into this great chapter in Luke 1 that launches the story of the coming of Christ, the Savior of the world.

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1^st off what is the importance of the Angelic Annunciation to Mary?  It’s to tell Mary of what God is doing, His salvific rescue plan & how she’ll be a part.

The Ancient Church Father Athanasius, said this about our passage…

                  “This day is the beginning of our salvation, and the revelation of the eternal mystery! The Son of God becomes the Son of the Virgin as Gabriel announces the coming of Grace [personified].  Together with him let us cry to the God-bearer. ‘Rejoice, O Full of Grace one, the Lord is with you!’”

The annunciation story is a story of singular beauty and wonder, yet its the setting that was a shock to first-century Jews -- that the angel Gabriel would have ignored Judea, the heartland of God's work through the centuries, and go instead to the region of Galilee, a land of contempt because of its religious impurity. Even more, that the angel would bypass the majestic city of Jerusalem for the lowly village of Nazareth. Nazareth was basically a "non-place" -- not even mentioned in the Old Testament.  Nazareth was shoddy, a corrupt half-stop between the port cities of Tyre and Sidon, overrun by Gentiles and Roman soldiers. Nathaniel, Jesus' disciple, even exclaimed, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" (John 1).  Everybody knew Nazareth wasn't much.

And in the world's eyes, Mary surely wasn't much either.  She was too young to have accomplished anything – scholars often guess around 13 years old, a poor peasant girl in a no-place village.  Yet it’s right to call her blessed…. Mary was the only woman out of all the billions ever to live on our planet who was chosen to carry and nurse God's Son.  For that we must call her "blessed." The Savior would come from her womb. The Savior’s face could be seen in her features.

The impact of this Annunciation must have been staggering.  The child would be God's own Son & Gabriel was telling Mary that she would mother the long-awaited Messiah.  And without a doubt Mary understood! Gabriel was reciting messianic prophecy called the "Davidic Covenant" -- the same prophetic words Mary and every devout Jew of the day had heard time and again in the synagogue readings and longed to see fulfilled.  God's answer to Mary’s question of how this can be possible beautifully parallels the experience of all of us who have come to be as John says born again or born from above, by the miraculous, life-giving work of the Holy Spirit come upon them, transforming them and bestowing life within them; Monergistically (without the aid of Man).

Mary, of course, knew instinctively that her story would be questioned, and indeed even Joseph himself doubted.  She knew of the death penalty prescribed for adultery in ancient Israel.  But despite these daunting realities, Mary's ringing response was, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your Word." Mary's submission to her God was total and absolute.  She was just a young woman—a girl, really—but she reacted with the grace, wisdom, and spiritual maturity of a seasoned saint. Mary is a great reminder to us about willing obedience in light of God’s Word.

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Secondly why send Mary to Elizabeth?  Confirmation of Angelic prophesy…..

Luke begins his gospel record with the story of two conception miracles, two women who by all human standards shouldn’t have children.  The virgin Mary of course & Elizabeth, older & barren, past childbearing years, and yet with her husband Zacharias conceived and carried in her womb the great prophet, John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah.  Two people, who became pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit, the power of God creating life in her womb.

They have both been chosen by God to be the human instruments for the birth of two very important men: John the Baptist and Jesus.  And at this point God has injected Himself miraculously into the otherwise non-miraculous course of history.  As I told you before, God hadn’t spoke in over 400 years. There hadn't been a series of miracles in at least 500 years.  Miracles simply didn't happen anymore.  God didn't speak.  Angels didn't show up…until now.  And it all begins with these two amazing conceptions.

If you stop and think about it you can begin to understand why Mary wanted to go and meet with Elizabeth as soon as she could.  I mean she had just been told something that was absolutely humanly impossible, that she was going to be the mother of the Messiah.  She was going to be the mother of the Son of God.  And all of this would happen without a man's involvement.  It would all be done by God; this was... unimaginable. 

Mary, filled with joy, hurried to the hill country to visit her relative, Elizabeth.  There’s no suggestion that Mary was fleeing the shame of her pregnancy.  It seems she simply wanted a kindred spirit to share her pregnancy with.  The angel had explicitly informed Mary about Elizabeth’s pregnancy.  So it was natural for her to seek out a close relative who was both a strong believer and also expecting her own son by a miraculous conception, announced by an angel (Luke 1:13–17).  It was a perfect situation for the two women to spend time rejoicing together in the Lord’s goodness to both of them.

Elizabeth’s immediate response to the sound of Mary’s voice gave Mary independent confirmation of all that the angel had told her; a way of testing the spirits you could say.   

Elizabeth’s message was prophetic and Mary instantly understood that.  Mary had learned from the angel about Elizabeth’s pregnancy.  However nothing indicates that Mary had sent word of her own pregnancy ahead to Elizabeth.  Indeed, Mary’s sudden arrival had all the hallmarks of a surprise & Elizabeth’s knowledge of Mary’s pregnancy therefore seems to have come to her by Divine revelation—in the prophecy she uttered when the Holy Spirit suddenly filled her.  Mary is a great reminder to us about faith in the power, providence & provision of God.

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Mary’s Psalm of Praise

At this Mary replied with prophetic words of her own. Her saying is known as the Magnificat (Latin for the first word of Mary’s outpouring of praise).  It is really a hymn about the Incarnation.  Without question, it is a song of unspeakable joy and a magnificent psalm of worship. It is the equal of any Old Testament psalm.  It is filled with messianic hope, scriptural references & the language of the Abrahamic covenant.  It’s clear that Mary’s young heart and mind were already thoroughly saturated with the Word of God.  She included not only echoes of two of Hannah’s prayers (from 1 Samuel), but also several other allusions to the Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets.  Mary is a great reminder to us to be as thoroughly saturated with scripture as her prayer was.

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Today we’ll look briefly at what she says in her prayer.  First, there is Mary's expression of what she feels in her heart (verses 46 and 47), namely, joy.  Second, she mentions what God has done specifically for her as an individual (verses 48 and 49):  that He undeservedly did great things for her, and thus gave her an enduring reputation for being blessed.  Third, she spends most of the time describing the way God is in general (vs. 50-55).  Its this general characterization of God that accounts for why he has treated her the way he has in her humbleness and thus leads her to rejoice and magnify the Lord.

We'll look at these three sections in reverse order.

A Holy God Helps the Lowly

In the second half of verse 49 Mary makes the general statement that God is holy.  Meaning he is separate from and exalted above the world.  All his attributes are perfect, and they unify in a perfect harmony called holiness.

But what Mary stresses is the way His holiness expresses itself.  Luke & Mary are want to say, don’t make the common mistake that because God is great, he is partial to great men, or because God is exalted, he favors what is exalted; just the opposite.  God often exalts the humble and humbles the proud.

Look to the Words Calvary!  What fills Mary's heart with joy is that God loves to undertake for the underdog who calls on his mercy.  She mentions this three times: verse 50, "He has mercy on those who fear him"; verse 52, "He has exalted those of low degree"; verse 53, "He has filled the hungry with good things." That's one side of God's holiness.  The other side is that God humbles the proud.  Mary mentions this three times also: verse 51, "He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts"; verse 52, "He has put down the mighty from their thrones"; verse 53, "The rich he has sent away empty."

God is not partial to the rich, the powerful, or the proud. How could God be partial to the things, which in our world are sooo often substitutes for God rather than pointers to Him?  So Mary's Magnificat is not just recorded out mere historicity.  There is a word of warning and message of salvation here.  Luke is saying Theophilus/friends, look at what God is really like. He is not the least impressed by any of your pride, power, or opulence.  He has mercy on those who fear him, who humble themselves and turn to Him.  This is the way God is; therefore you must humble yourself like Mary.  There should be great fear in strutting like a peacock before a Holy God, but fearlessness in humble repentance & faith.

A Holy God Blesses Mary

Now we move back to the second section, verses 48–49a.  Here Mary simply sees in her own experiences an example of the way God is.  God does a great thing for her: he makes her the mother of God!  It is such a singular and unimaginable blessing that all generations from that time on have acknowledged Mary's blessedness.

Many today do grave insult to Mary & her God when in error we venerate her instead of her Lord.  Those who channel their religious energies into the veneration of Mary would do well to learn from the example of Mary herself.  God is the only one she magnified.  Notice how she praised the glory and majesty of God while repeatedly acknowledging her own lowliness.  She took no credit for anything good in herself.  But she praised the Lord for His attributes, naming some of the chief ones specifically, including His power, His mercy, and His holiness.  She freely confessed God as the one who had done a great thing for her, and not vice versa.  This song of Mary is all about God’s greatness, His glory, the strength of His arm, and His faithfulness across the generations to bring about the Messiah, the Savior.

And while Marian worship is of the devil himself as it twists glory due God & focuses it on a creature, Mary’s worship by contrast was clearly from the Holy Spirit.  She was plainly consumed by the wonder of His grace to her.  She seemed amazed that an absolutely holy God would do such great things for undeserving her.  This was not the prayer of one who claimed to be conceived immaculately, without the corruption of original sin.  It was, on the contrary, its the glad rejoicing of one who knew God intimately as her own personal Savior.  She could celebrate the fact that God’s mercy is on those who fear Him, because she herself feared God and had received this Saving mercy.  And she knew firsthand how God exalts the lowly and fills the hungry with good things, because she herself was a humble sinner who had hungered and thirsted after righteousness, and was thus filled by God.

A holy heart exalts a Holy God

Finally back to the first section – And here let’s not let the excesses of the Catholic tradition keep us from sharing the in the admiration for Mary that Luke sooo obviously had.  Her spiritual beauty reaches its emotional peak in the very first part of her song where she responds from the heart to all God has done for her, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior."

How does a soul magnify God?  A mouth magnifies God by saying, "God is magnificent," by speaking his praises.  But no one hears a soul.  No one but you and God alone. I think her soul feels yearns after the greatness and holiness and mercy of God her heart cries out in worship.  And the feeling is primarily one of joy.  "My spirit rejoices in God!"  This is good news to learn that we magnify God by rejoicing in him.  It's good news because we are commanded to glorify or magnify God (1 Corinthians 10:33; Romans 1:20f.), and this command could be a terrible burden if we weren't told that the only way to fulfill it is to relax and be happy & satiated in the mercy of God.  That is what magnifies God the most; to completely rely on & to trust in him & him alone.

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Closing application – What is Mary’s Legacy?

Mary herself never claimed or pretended to be anything more than a humble handmaiden of the Lord.  She was extraordinary because God used her in an extraordinary way.  She clearly thought of herself as perfectly ordinary.  She is portrayed in Scripture only as an instrument whom God used in the fulfillment of His plan.  She herself never made any pretense of being an administrator of a divine agenda, and she never gave anyone any encouragement to regard her as a mediatrix in the dispensing divine graces.  The perspective reflected in Mary’s Magnificat is the same simple spirit of humility that colored all her life and character.

It is truly regrettable that religious superstition has in effect turned Mary into the thing she’d hate, an idol.  She is certainly a worthy woman to emulate, but Mary herself would undoubtedly be appalled to think anyone would pray to her, venerate images of her, or burn candles in effigy to her.  Her life and her testimony point us consistently to her Son & to her Lord.  He was the object of her worship.  He was the one she recognized. He was the one she trusted for everything.  Mary’s own example, seen in the pure light of Scripture, teaches us to do the same. She teaches us to rely on the mercies of God, to be a humble, a willing servant.  To be a deacon or deaconess, if you will, of His agenda & not our own, to be worshipful & faithful.

Finally before we close we’ve made a lot of parallels between the passages of Luke & John & I’d like to wrap up by closing on the purpose of both from John 20:31 – What’s is written (including this Incarnation miracle) is so that you may believe Jesus is more than just a good man, a great leader, a spiritual guru.  He is the Christ, the Son of God & that by believing in Him you to can be born a new & have new life in His name. 

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Closing prayer –

Let’s pray……God, You have given us a fixed disposition to go forth and spend our lives for you;
If it be Your will, let us proceed in this task; if not, then revoke our own intentions.  All we should want in life is such circumstances as may best enable us to serve You in the world;
To this end leave all our concerns in Your hand, but let us not be discouraged, for this hinders our spiritual fervency; enable us to undertake some task for You, for this refreshes and animates a Christians’ souls, so that we could endure all hardships and labors, and willingly suffer if need be for Your name.

Lord, you have shown us a picture of Love in your revealed Word today, a model of willing obedience, faithfulness & worship.  Let us be as Mary was willing….to face any obstacle, to be found praising God, to be given grace and divine favor; to be used by You, for Your plan & in your work of Salvation.  Let us look forward to finally look upon the face of our Lord, as an expectant mother longs to one-day look on the face of her newborn child.  Let us find motivation in Mary, an example in Elizabeth, zeal in Zachariah & trust solely in Jesus for our own justification.  AMEN.  

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