WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.640 Well, we start an Advent series today on Christmas songs, songs from the Bible about Christmas. 00:00:09.640 --> 00:00:13.720 And the first one is the one we just read, Mary's song. 00:00:13.720 --> 00:00:19.839 We read it, we sang it earlier, and the message of Christmas is right in the heart of it. 00:00:19.839 --> 00:00:24.719 And the question today is, what is it that makes Mary sing? 00:00:24.719 --> 00:00:31.160 And you can see it right in verse 49, she says, the mighty one has done great things for me. 00:00:31.160 --> 00:00:37.079 And so she says, I'm singing today because he has done great things for me. 00:00:37.079 --> 00:00:40.719 And so we need to ask the question, what has God done for Mary? 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:43.039 What did he do for her? 00:00:43.039 --> 00:00:45.439 And what is it that makes her sing? 00:00:45.439 --> 00:00:52.620 And so three things, God humbled the exalted, sorry, God exalted the humble woman. 00:00:52.619 --> 00:00:57.439 God exalted the humble woman, he fulfilled the Old Testament in her. 00:00:57.439 --> 00:01:00.479 And thirdly, he put a song in her heart. 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:07.799 So he exalted the humble woman, he fulfilled the Old Testament in her, and he put a song 00:01:07.799 --> 00:01:10.879 into her heart. 00:01:10.879 --> 00:01:12.120 So let's look at that. 00:01:12.120 --> 00:01:13.239 Why does Mary sing? 00:01:13.239 --> 00:01:18.560 The first reason is because he exalted the humble woman. 00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:21.079 Now she says this, she says exactly that. 00:01:21.079 --> 00:01:29.159 You see in verse 48 and 52, she says, God looked on my humble estate, and then in 52, 00:01:29.159 --> 00:01:32.439 and he has exalted my humble estate. 00:01:32.439 --> 00:01:38.480 So she says, God looked at my humble position in life, and he made much of me, God, he did 00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:39.480 it. 00:01:39.480 --> 00:01:41.159 And she says it twice in this song. 00:01:41.159 --> 00:01:45.439 Now what she's talking about here is the story. 00:01:45.439 --> 00:01:50.799 The angel Gabriel had come to two women, not just Mary, but also to Elizabeth, Mary's 00:01:50.799 --> 00:01:51.920 cousin. 00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:58.000 And he had said to Elizabeth, you're going to have a baby miraculously in your old age, 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:03.439 and he's going to be the forerunner of Mary's baby, your cousin's baby. 00:02:03.439 --> 00:02:08.400 And the angel goes to Elizabeth, and he goes to Gabriel, Gabriel goes to Mary, and he says, 00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:13.599 and you're going to have a baby, and he will be the Lord, the Christ. 00:02:13.599 --> 00:02:21.840 Now what's significant is that when that happens, the text says, and Mary was troubled. 00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:26.479 So the very first thing that Mary experiences whenever the angel comes to her and says, you're 00:02:26.479 --> 00:02:31.719 going to be the mother of the Lord, it says that she's troubled. 00:02:31.719 --> 00:02:34.759 She's in turmoil. 00:02:34.759 --> 00:02:41.159 And it says she submitted, and she believed, but she was troubled. 00:02:41.159 --> 00:02:45.319 And so the very next thing she does is she goes to see Elizabeth. 00:02:45.319 --> 00:02:49.759 And when she gets to Elizabeth in the first part of the passage, the context that we just 00:02:49.759 --> 00:02:56.879 read, it's Elizabeth that helps Mary to have a song in her heart. 00:02:56.879 --> 00:03:00.280 Because Elizabeth is the one who explains it. 00:03:00.280 --> 00:03:04.240 Elizabeth is the one who gives Mary the counsel that Mary needs. 00:03:04.240 --> 00:03:09.359 Now the very first thing to say is, the reason Mary can sing a song here, the Magnificat, 00:03:09.360 --> 00:03:14.120 the famous song, My Soul Magnifies the Lord, is because she went and took counsel with 00:03:14.120 --> 00:03:16.360 Elizabeth. 00:03:16.360 --> 00:03:23.280 And Mary needed the friendship of Elizabeth to be able to sing the song. 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:28.000 She was troubled until she sat down with Elizabeth. 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:33.640 And God loves to work through community, and he loves to put new songs in our heart because 00:03:33.640 --> 00:03:38.520 we sit down with Christian friends and get counsel. 00:03:38.520 --> 00:03:43.120 And that's exactly what Mary, the mother of God, that's what she needed. 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:44.120 She was troubled. 00:03:44.120 --> 00:03:49.120 And it's Elizabeth that helps her to understand how she can possibly sing. 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:50.240 And now here it is. 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:54.400 Here's what Elizabeth says to her, verse 42 and 43. 00:03:54.400 --> 00:03:59.640 She says, Mary walks through the door of Elizabeth's home, and Elizabeth said, blessed are you 00:03:59.640 --> 00:04:04.120 among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 00:04:04.120 --> 00:04:05.719 That's the first thing Elizabeth says to Mary. 00:04:05.719 --> 00:04:13.080 And then she says to Mary, for behold, why is it that the mother of my Lord would come 00:04:13.080 --> 00:04:15.079 to see me? 00:04:15.079 --> 00:04:21.040 And so Elizabeth says to her, blessed is your womb, you are the blessed woman, and why is 00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:26.480 it that the mother of my Lord would come to see me? 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:29.279 And then Mary starts to sing. 00:04:29.279 --> 00:04:33.720 And you see, it's because Mary, all of a sudden Mary gets it. 00:04:33.720 --> 00:04:36.920 That's exactly what Elizabeth said to her. 00:04:36.920 --> 00:04:40.640 Elizabeth says, why would the mother of my Lord come to see me? 00:04:40.640 --> 00:04:44.840 And then Mary's thinking, why would I be the mother of the Lord? 00:04:44.840 --> 00:04:45.840 You see? 00:04:45.840 --> 00:04:49.400 And so the very next thing she says is, look at what God has done. 00:04:49.400 --> 00:04:54.560 He has come and exalted a humble woman, a woman of humble position. 00:04:54.560 --> 00:04:59.520 Now she's saying two different things in that when she sings about that. 00:04:59.519 --> 00:05:07.719 She's first saying, why would the Lord, why would the Lord give me the chance, the right, 00:05:07.719 --> 00:05:12.599 the power, the privilege to be the mother of the Messiah? 00:05:12.599 --> 00:05:16.240 Because she knows that she is poor. 00:05:16.240 --> 00:05:18.159 She's talking about her humble class. 00:05:18.159 --> 00:05:21.079 She, Mary was poor. 00:05:21.079 --> 00:05:24.959 She had no power, no privilege, not at all. 00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:26.560 She was literally of a humble estate. 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:27.799 She was the lowest class. 00:05:27.800 --> 00:05:33.960 And we know this because after Jesus is born in Luke two, she goes to give the offering 00:05:33.960 --> 00:05:37.520 that was required after birth, after the birth of a baby. 00:05:37.520 --> 00:05:42.360 And when she does it, there were three levels of offering you could give a poor offering, 00:05:42.360 --> 00:05:45.300 a middle class offering and a wealthy offering. 00:05:45.300 --> 00:05:52.400 And Mary gives two pigeons, which is the offering God requires of the poorest people. 00:05:52.399 --> 00:05:59.159 And she's saying here, in other words, she's saying, why wouldn't it be the case that the 00:05:59.159 --> 00:06:02.879 Messiah, the Lord would be born to Caesar's household? 00:06:02.879 --> 00:06:05.839 Shouldn't this be the emperor's baby? 00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:08.359 The emperor's wife should have this baby. 00:06:08.359 --> 00:06:11.000 But me, I'm of such low class. 00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:13.279 I'm of such humble estate. 00:06:13.279 --> 00:06:18.439 Now further, she knows that she's betrothed and a virgin. 00:06:18.439 --> 00:06:23.120 And that means that this is going to cost her because she's immediately going to be 00:06:23.120 --> 00:06:29.120 put away from the community, ostracized, because she's going to have a baby prior to being 00:06:29.120 --> 00:06:31.199 married. 00:06:31.199 --> 00:06:34.639 She knows the cost and it troubles her, but she submits. 00:06:34.639 --> 00:06:42.159 And then when Elizabeth says, you are the mother of the Lord, my Lord, she sings. 00:06:42.159 --> 00:06:47.480 She says, look what the Lord has done, exalting me in this way from such a humble position 00:06:47.480 --> 00:06:51.120 in life, poor, lower class. 00:06:51.120 --> 00:06:54.920 But that's not the only thing she means. 00:06:54.920 --> 00:06:59.180 And this is where the application really drops for us. 00:06:59.180 --> 00:07:05.360 Because if you're a Christian today, if you're a member here, you're a Protestant. 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:07.600 You're a child of the Reformation. 00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:11.480 You're a Protestant Christian, not a Roman Catholic Christian. 00:07:11.480 --> 00:07:16.160 And we see here mistakes that the Roman Catholic tradition has made, I think, with regards 00:07:16.160 --> 00:07:18.400 to Mary, and we're about to see one. 00:07:18.400 --> 00:07:22.520 But also we sometimes can make mistakes too. 00:07:22.520 --> 00:07:29.200 And we've got to be able to hear exactly what is said here, and that's blessed. 00:07:29.200 --> 00:07:30.920 Blessed is Mary. 00:07:30.920 --> 00:07:34.080 She will be called blessed for all generations. 00:07:34.080 --> 00:07:36.360 And so she's to be honored. 00:07:36.360 --> 00:07:41.160 She's to be seen as a model of faith, as a great inspiration to all Christians in all 00:07:41.160 --> 00:07:42.160 the centuries. 00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:45.360 And that's exactly what the text tells us to say about her. 00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:46.360 And here's why. 00:07:46.360 --> 00:07:51.920 It's not just because God chose her out of poverty to be the mother of the Lord. 00:07:51.920 --> 00:07:52.920 But this is it. 00:07:52.920 --> 00:07:55.080 She says it in verse 47. 00:07:55.080 --> 00:08:00.520 She says, my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior. 00:08:00.520 --> 00:08:02.800 You see that? 00:08:02.800 --> 00:08:10.160 And so what Rome needs to learn is that Mary says, this baby is God my Savior. 00:08:10.160 --> 00:08:16.880 That you see what makes Mary so great and why we should think she's so great is because 00:08:16.880 --> 00:08:23.160 she it's not only that she is the mother of the Lord, but that she immediately realizes, 00:08:23.160 --> 00:08:28.960 I need salvation from the one who I will nurse. 00:08:28.960 --> 00:08:31.600 She realizes she needs a Savior. 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:33.320 She's not sinless. 00:08:33.320 --> 00:08:36.480 And she knows now, remember what Elizabeth said? 00:08:36.480 --> 00:08:39.879 Elizabeth said to her, you are the mother. 00:08:39.879 --> 00:08:43.559 How is it that the mother of my Lord would come to see me? 00:08:43.559 --> 00:08:44.559 That's in verse 42. 00:08:44.559 --> 00:08:50.200 But then in verse 45, Elizabeth says, the Lord told me that you would be the mother 00:08:50.200 --> 00:08:51.720 of the Lord. 00:08:51.720 --> 00:08:57.159 Now one commentator says it like this, which is it? 00:08:57.159 --> 00:09:00.000 Where's the Lord in this passage? 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:01.559 Where's the Lord? 00:09:01.559 --> 00:09:05.559 Is the Lord the one who has sent the baby? 00:09:05.559 --> 00:09:12.039 Elizabeth says in verse 45, the Lord told me he was going to send the Messiah. 00:09:12.039 --> 00:09:14.239 Is the Lord the one who sent the baby? 00:09:14.239 --> 00:09:16.919 Or is the Lord the baby? 00:09:16.919 --> 00:09:19.119 Is the Lord the one who promised the baby? 00:09:19.119 --> 00:09:22.239 Or is the Lord the one in the womb himself? 00:09:22.239 --> 00:09:25.199 And the answer is yes. 00:09:25.199 --> 00:09:26.239 The answer is yes. 00:09:26.239 --> 00:09:27.959 And this is lofty. 00:09:27.959 --> 00:09:30.199 This is astonishing. 00:09:30.199 --> 00:09:35.319 You see what Elizabeth is pointing to is the fact that the Son of God sent the Son of 00:09:35.320 --> 00:09:41.080 God, that the baby in the womb who is the Lord is simultaneously the Lord of heaven 00:09:41.080 --> 00:09:43.600 and earth at the very same moment. 00:09:43.600 --> 00:09:48.280 The baby in the womb is the one who at the same time is upholding the entire world, every 00:09:48.280 --> 00:09:54.680 single molecule, every single subatomic particle by the word of his power simultaneously. 00:09:54.680 --> 00:09:56.280 The Lord sent the Lord. 00:09:56.280 --> 00:10:00.720 The Lord is the baby and the Lord is the Lord of heaven and earth at the very same time. 00:10:00.720 --> 00:10:08.920 And that's what Mary realizes, that I am the mother of my own Lord. 00:10:08.920 --> 00:10:14.160 And that means that the baby in my womb is my savior. 00:10:14.160 --> 00:10:18.120 And she wakes up, she sees it, she knows what she needs. 00:10:18.120 --> 00:10:23.279 Now, that means that Mary is such a great example and inspiration for all of us because 00:10:23.279 --> 00:10:28.960 every single one of us here today needs to be able, wants to be able to say, look at 00:10:28.960 --> 00:10:35.080 what God has done, he has exalted me in my humbled estate. 00:10:35.080 --> 00:10:40.280 Every single one of us needs that, every single human wants that, to hear, to be able to say, 00:10:40.280 --> 00:10:45.879 God has exalted me from a humble estate, a humble position. 00:10:45.879 --> 00:10:47.560 And here's what that means. 00:10:47.560 --> 00:10:51.280 Mary knew it, it's what we need, it's what she understood, it happened to her. 00:10:51.280 --> 00:10:52.280 And it's what all of us need. 00:10:52.279 --> 00:11:00.240 And it's first being able today to say, to be humble before the Lord today. 00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:02.120 Can you, are you there? 00:11:02.120 --> 00:11:07.279 In other words, the first thing is to know your need today before the living God. 00:11:07.279 --> 00:11:13.360 Mary's great, not because she's sinless, but because she understood immediately the need 00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:14.959 that she had. 00:11:14.959 --> 00:11:18.959 She knew who she really was, she knew that she needed a savior. 00:11:18.960 --> 00:11:23.960 Now here's a way that maybe you can ask yourself if you know. 00:11:23.960 --> 00:11:27.840 You can ask things like, I can ask you things like this, have you lived a life to make a 00:11:27.840 --> 00:11:30.840 name for yourself? 00:11:30.840 --> 00:11:35.240 Is that the thing that you've really wanted out of life to make a name for yourself? 00:11:35.240 --> 00:11:42.240 And if that's it, if that's your hope, your salvation, then the truth is your name's going 00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:44.720 to be forgotten. 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:47.680 Because every name in the end will be. 00:11:47.679 --> 00:11:51.479 And maybe it's that you've lived to procure longevity. 00:11:51.479 --> 00:11:53.799 You want to live as long of a life as possible. 00:11:53.799 --> 00:11:59.039 And so health and well-being and all of that, that's really the hope of your salvation. 00:11:59.039 --> 00:12:00.199 That's what you really want. 00:12:00.199 --> 00:12:06.879 And let me say that that's a good thing, but the coffin is going to win. 00:12:06.879 --> 00:12:12.719 And maybe it's in all sorts of ways, you've longed to take control of your life and your 00:12:12.720 --> 00:12:17.800 circumstances and you don't want to suffer and you want to be as happy as possible and 00:12:17.800 --> 00:12:20.000 every little happiness as much as possible. 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:23.360 You want pleasure above all else and entertainment above all else. 00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:30.800 And let me say you can't because suffering has come and it's coming. 00:12:30.800 --> 00:12:37.120 And instead what we really need, what would really give you joy today? 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:40.399 You know, whether you're a Christian or not, no matter where you are on the spectrum and 00:12:40.399 --> 00:12:47.519 on the journey of life, every single one of us today needs to say, I need to be saved. 00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:48.519 I need to be saved. 00:12:48.519 --> 00:12:50.120 I know my need. 00:12:50.120 --> 00:12:55.279 We need to all find in our hearts, say the humble estate, the poverty that is deep, that 00:12:55.279 --> 00:12:59.679 is deep down within us, that every attempt we've ever made at trying to be our own master 00:12:59.679 --> 00:13:01.399 will not work. 00:13:01.399 --> 00:13:03.759 And that is open rebellion against the living God. 00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:06.519 It's trying to be creator instead of creature. 00:13:06.519 --> 00:13:11.079 And we all do it and we all have got to come today and say, I need outside help. 00:13:11.079 --> 00:13:14.720 I need something else to save me because I can't save myself. 00:13:14.720 --> 00:13:20.720 And Paul says it in Romans one that in any way, any way we're chasing self mastery, trying 00:13:20.720 --> 00:13:29.079 to command our own lives, that's being, he says, deceived and enslaved by idolatry, by 00:13:29.079 --> 00:13:32.639 the idolatry of our own selves. 00:13:32.639 --> 00:13:35.919 Individualism, it's fundamental idolatry. 00:13:35.919 --> 00:13:38.959 So today I think here's how we learn from Mary. 00:13:38.959 --> 00:13:44.000 All of us can need to say today, need to face up and say, there's something wrong with me 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:45.879 and there's something wrong with the world. 00:13:45.879 --> 00:13:49.839 And there's something wrong with the fact that death stands in front of me. 00:13:49.839 --> 00:13:52.719 And I've got a need and Mary knew she had a need. 00:13:52.719 --> 00:13:55.639 And that's what gave her the power to sing. 00:13:55.639 --> 00:14:01.159 Now like Mary, when you know you have a need, you can also turn around immediately and say, 00:14:01.159 --> 00:14:06.319 you know, if you've humbled yourself before the Lord today, this Sabbath day, you can say, 00:14:06.319 --> 00:14:08.279 God has exalted me. 00:14:08.279 --> 00:14:10.480 That's what she said. 00:14:10.480 --> 00:14:14.759 And you know, she didn't just mean that he had made her the mother of the Lord. 00:14:14.759 --> 00:14:17.679 There's more to it than that. 00:14:17.679 --> 00:14:19.439 He did great things for her. 00:14:19.439 --> 00:14:20.799 He said, I will bless you. 00:14:20.799 --> 00:14:22.559 I have blessed you. 00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:26.439 But it's very important to understand that one of the ways we need to read Mary in the 00:14:26.440 --> 00:14:34.480 Bible is that she is like us and she is directly identified as us. 00:14:34.480 --> 00:14:40.120 In other words, Mary becomes throughout the rest of the New Testament a symbol for the 00:14:40.120 --> 00:14:44.360 church, every single Christian in all the world. 00:14:44.360 --> 00:14:45.360 Let me show this to you. 00:14:45.360 --> 00:14:46.360 Luke 11. 00:14:46.360 --> 00:14:53.560 In Luke 11, Jesus is teaching and someone is in the crowd and they shout out, blessed 00:14:53.559 --> 00:14:58.599 is the womb who bore you and the breast that nursed you. 00:14:58.599 --> 00:15:01.199 And Jesus says, no. 00:15:01.199 --> 00:15:06.119 Now somebody's trying to honor Mary and they shout from the crowd, blessed is the woman 00:15:06.119 --> 00:15:09.639 who gave birth to you and Jesus says, no. 00:15:09.639 --> 00:15:16.319 And he says instead, blessed is the one who hears and obeys the word of God. 00:15:16.319 --> 00:15:17.479 And you see what Jesus is doing? 00:15:17.480 --> 00:15:23.840 He's saying, Mary is great, but what makes Mary great is not merely the fact that she 00:15:23.840 --> 00:15:26.000 gave birth to me. 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:32.039 What makes Mary exalted, great, lifted up is because she heard and obeyed the word of 00:15:32.039 --> 00:15:33.879 God. 00:15:33.879 --> 00:15:35.720 She understood what was happening. 00:15:35.720 --> 00:15:37.360 She knew who I am. 00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:38.960 She heard the word of God. 00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:41.639 Jesus Christ himself and she obeyed. 00:15:41.639 --> 00:15:42.639 That's what made her great. 00:15:42.639 --> 00:15:47.399 In other words, Jesus is saying, anybody can get this. 00:15:47.399 --> 00:15:49.919 Anybody can be exalted and lifted up like Mary. 00:15:49.919 --> 00:15:53.919 If you hear and obey the word of God himself, Jesus. 00:15:53.919 --> 00:16:01.120 Now this happens again in a more obscure but profound way in Revelation chapter 12. 00:16:01.120 --> 00:16:08.879 In Revelation 12, there's this prophecy, this image, this illustration where there is a 00:16:08.879 --> 00:16:13.079 woman and she's pregnant and she's crowned. 00:16:13.079 --> 00:16:16.960 She wears a crown on her head and she has a pregnant belly and she's about to give 00:16:16.960 --> 00:16:21.040 birth and it says that she's in the midst of her birth pains. 00:16:21.040 --> 00:16:22.040 But then what happens? 00:16:22.040 --> 00:16:26.280 The dragon comes for her, the great serpent. 00:16:26.280 --> 00:16:32.040 But she fights off the dragon and the dragon doesn't take her or consume the child and 00:16:32.040 --> 00:16:36.000 the baby is born and immediately we realize what it's saying. 00:16:36.000 --> 00:16:41.360 It's saying that, well, there was a dragon, a serpent in the beginning who came for a 00:16:41.360 --> 00:16:45.240 woman and that woman was consumed. 00:16:45.240 --> 00:16:48.440 She fell in the Garden of Eden Eve. 00:16:48.440 --> 00:16:54.879 But here stands before us in Luke 2, a new Eve, a better Eve, a woman who submitted the 00:16:54.879 --> 00:17:00.399 point in faith where the dragon would not consume her or her child, that the child himself 00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:01.720 would defeat the dragon. 00:17:01.720 --> 00:17:08.079 But then in Revelation 12, the woman goes into the wilderness, it says, and she lives 00:17:08.079 --> 00:17:14.779 for all ages and the serpent keeps trying to bite her for all the ages, but he never 00:17:14.779 --> 00:17:16.200 succeeds. 00:17:16.200 --> 00:17:20.839 And so the scholars, the commentators, they come and say, what is that talking about? 00:17:20.839 --> 00:17:27.079 It's saying that Mary is a symbol of the whole church, that the woman who goes into the wilderness 00:17:27.079 --> 00:17:33.000 for all the ages keeps getting nipped at by the snake, but he never can truly succeed. 00:17:33.000 --> 00:17:40.079 And that means that Mary, who was crowned in Revelation 12, she stands in for every 00:17:40.079 --> 00:17:45.279 single person, every single person who humbles themselves before the Lord. 00:17:45.279 --> 00:17:50.359 Every person who humbles themselves will be exalted, will wear the crown of righteousness, 00:17:50.359 --> 00:17:57.039 will be crowned alongside Jesus Christ himself, will be called brother, sister, and friend 00:17:57.039 --> 00:18:03.599 of Jesus Christ himself, that all of us stand with her and alongside her if we humble ourselves 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:05.879 before the living God. 00:18:05.880 --> 00:18:14.600 Now that means that the promise of this baby is that you can be exalted, not made much 00:18:14.600 --> 00:18:16.000 of because of who you are. 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:19.400 No, remember, Mary stayed poor. 00:18:19.400 --> 00:18:21.920 It doesn't mean her circumstances were going to get better. 00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:24.000 She stays poor. 00:18:24.000 --> 00:18:31.880 But instead it means she was exalted beyond guilt, beyond death, beyond purposelessness, 00:18:31.880 --> 00:18:37.560 beyond meaninglessness, beyond chasing idols into true joy. 00:18:37.560 --> 00:18:38.560 That's what it means. 00:18:38.560 --> 00:18:42.320 Now secondly, and briefly, why does she sing? 00:18:42.320 --> 00:18:46.440 She sings because God has made much of a humble woman. 00:18:46.440 --> 00:18:53.400 Secondly she sings because he has fulfilled the Old Testament in her. 00:18:53.400 --> 00:19:00.160 Let me tell you three ways very quickly that God fulfills the Old Testament in this woman, 00:19:00.160 --> 00:19:01.360 Mary. 00:19:01.359 --> 00:19:06.679 When Mary goes to see Elizabeth, verse 41, she walks through the door and it says that 00:19:06.679 --> 00:19:11.599 the baby in Elizabeth's womb leapt for joy. 00:19:11.599 --> 00:19:12.599 That was John the Baptist. 00:19:12.599 --> 00:19:17.439 So John the Baptist starts dancing as soon as Mary walks through the door. 00:19:17.439 --> 00:19:22.159 And then Elizabeth says, I felt that the baby in my womb leapt for joy. 00:19:22.159 --> 00:19:23.159 What's going on? 00:19:23.159 --> 00:19:24.159 Why? 00:19:24.159 --> 00:19:31.039 Why is it signified that John bumped Elizabeth's belly whenever Mary walked into the room? 00:19:31.039 --> 00:19:36.680 Well, it's because in the Old Testament, this is a scene very like the Old Testament. 00:19:36.680 --> 00:19:42.639 And in the Old Testament, 2 Samuel 6, the Ark of the Covenant entered for the first 00:19:42.639 --> 00:19:46.960 time in a long time the city of David, Jerusalem. 00:19:46.960 --> 00:19:52.440 And the Ark is that which God's presence is most associated with. 00:19:52.440 --> 00:19:54.839 God is so close to the Ark. 00:19:54.839 --> 00:19:59.159 The Word of God is in the Ark, inside the Ark itself. 00:19:59.160 --> 00:20:02.680 And what happens when the Ark enters the Holy City? 00:20:02.680 --> 00:20:06.880 It said David leapt for joy. 00:20:06.880 --> 00:20:15.440 And now when the Ark of the Covenant enters the room in Elizabeth's household, the baby, 00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:20.759 John the Baptist, the prophet, the great prophet, he leapt for joy. 00:20:20.759 --> 00:20:22.240 You see what it's saying? 00:20:22.240 --> 00:20:29.440 This is a parallel story and it's saying that Mary is the Ark of the Covenant. 00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:35.680 Not because she's the Messiah, no, but because inside of her is the very Word of God, just 00:20:35.680 --> 00:20:37.519 like the Ark in the Old Testament. 00:20:37.519 --> 00:20:38.839 She is the Ark. 00:20:38.839 --> 00:20:39.900 She is the temple. 00:20:39.900 --> 00:20:43.960 She has now become the fulfillment of the whole point of the Old Testament. 00:20:43.960 --> 00:20:50.299 The Ark of the Covenant, the temple, has all found climax in her because of who's inside 00:20:50.299 --> 00:20:51.799 of her. 00:20:51.799 --> 00:20:56.879 You see, it's saying that she is the new temple and that in her is the true Holy of Holies, 00:20:56.879 --> 00:21:01.519 that in her, the deepest part of her is the Holy of Holies itself, the very presence of 00:21:01.519 --> 00:21:02.759 God. 00:21:02.759 --> 00:21:06.579 So the first way she fulfills the Old Testament is she becomes the Ark. 00:21:06.579 --> 00:21:10.639 And that means that the baby that is in her is God. 00:21:10.639 --> 00:21:12.599 He is the Holy of Holies. 00:21:12.599 --> 00:21:18.639 Now the second way she fulfills the Old Testament, we see here, when you come to her song, we 00:21:18.640 --> 00:21:25.440 read from 1 Samuel 2 because you might have noticed that much of Mary's song is actually 00:21:25.440 --> 00:21:30.720 allusion and quotation from Hannah's song in the Old Testament. 00:21:30.720 --> 00:21:36.240 And just listen, you can see Hannah says, my heart rejoices in the Lord. 00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:38.840 I rejoice in your salvation. 00:21:38.840 --> 00:21:40.040 God has done great things. 00:21:40.040 --> 00:21:41.680 The mighty are broken. 00:21:41.680 --> 00:21:44.200 He gives strength to the feeble and to the hungry. 00:21:44.200 --> 00:21:45.960 The hungry have now become full. 00:21:45.960 --> 00:21:51.640 Those are almost identical to the lines in Mary's song here. 00:21:51.640 --> 00:21:58.840 Hannah gave birth miraculously after being barren to a child who would be the great prophet 00:21:58.840 --> 00:22:03.279 of Israel who would bring along the King David. 00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:10.840 And now Mary, like Hannah, but much greater, will miraculously give birth to the true prophet 00:22:10.840 --> 00:22:13.120 and the true David. 00:22:13.119 --> 00:22:22.279 Now look, the reason she's quoting from Hannah's song here is because Hannah is a small fulfillment 00:22:22.279 --> 00:22:25.679 of which Mary is the ultimate fulfillment. 00:22:25.679 --> 00:22:29.719 And Mary is the ultimate fulfillment of Genesis 3.15. 00:22:29.719 --> 00:22:34.879 The gospel that was preached in the beginning of all of history, Genesis 3.15, when Adam 00:22:34.879 --> 00:22:41.519 and Eve had sinned, God turned to the woman Eve and said, one day, you're seed, you're 00:22:41.519 --> 00:22:48.039 masculine, singular, your son, your child will crush the head of the serpent. 00:22:48.039 --> 00:22:54.519 One day, one day, you're offspring Eve, your baby will crush the head of the serpent who 00:22:54.519 --> 00:23:00.119 has destroyed the world, who's brought death and sin into the cosmos. 00:23:00.119 --> 00:23:07.960 Now look, today, right here in Mary's song, she realizes she is the new Eve. 00:23:07.960 --> 00:23:13.120 In her, the serpent's head will be crushed, in her siege, this is the fulfillment of Genesis 00:23:13.120 --> 00:23:18.600 3.15, this is the fulfillment of the first gospel promise. 00:23:18.600 --> 00:23:25.519 And if, as Paul tells us, Jesus Christ is the new Adam, who will do everything Adam 00:23:25.519 --> 00:23:30.840 was meant to do but never could do, Mary is the Eve, the mother of life, who will bring 00:23:30.840 --> 00:23:35.600 forth the Adam that will crush the head of the serpent. 00:23:35.599 --> 00:23:41.000 And that means that the baby in her womb is not only God, but he is the reversal of the 00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:43.959 curse of Eden. 00:23:43.959 --> 00:23:49.959 Now lastly, thirdly, Mary, the third way Mary fulfills the Old Testament. 00:23:49.959 --> 00:23:57.519 It says here in verse 51, 52, and 53, she sings, notice what she sings, she's going to give 00:23:57.519 --> 00:24:02.759 here her interpretation of the Old Testament, that's what we're reading. 00:24:02.759 --> 00:24:03.759 And this is it. 00:24:03.759 --> 00:24:10.400 Notice, God's shone strength with his arm, he scatters the proud, he brings down the 00:24:10.400 --> 00:24:16.319 mighty, he exalts the humble, he fills the hungry with good things, he sends the way 00:24:16.319 --> 00:24:19.200 the rich empty. 00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:22.160 She's reading, she's thinking about all the things God has done throughout history, and 00:24:22.160 --> 00:24:28.319 she's saying that there's this pattern throughout all of history, that God takes what is poor 00:24:28.319 --> 00:24:29.519 and he makes it rich. 00:24:29.519 --> 00:24:35.119 God takes what is on the throne and he cast it down, he lifts up the lowly. 00:24:35.119 --> 00:24:41.639 And so Mary's interpretation of the entire Old Testament is that God keeps doing the 00:24:41.639 --> 00:24:45.440 same thing over and over and over again. 00:24:45.440 --> 00:24:51.400 He chooses what is foolish in the eyes of the world and he makes it great. 00:24:51.400 --> 00:24:56.039 He chooses what is weak and humbly and lowly, humble and lowly in the eyes of the world 00:24:56.039 --> 00:24:57.240 and he makes it truly great. 00:24:57.240 --> 00:24:58.240 He lifts it up. 00:24:58.240 --> 00:25:02.440 He does that over and over and over again throughout the Old Testament and now here 00:25:02.440 --> 00:25:07.880 in her, she realizes, God is doing in me what he's always been doing from the beginning 00:25:07.880 --> 00:25:10.519 of history. 00:25:10.519 --> 00:25:15.759 And she's not just talking about herself. 00:25:15.759 --> 00:25:22.039 You see, she knows that in God taking what is right side up in the eyes of the world, 00:25:22.039 --> 00:25:32.200 authority, aggression, might, strength, wealth, he's flipping it on its head and he's doing 00:25:32.200 --> 00:25:33.200 it in her. 00:25:33.200 --> 00:25:35.799 She's lowly, she's humble, he's always done it, but it's not just her. 00:25:35.799 --> 00:25:42.079 You see, she knows that this fulfillment of this pattern of God that he's done throughout 00:25:42.079 --> 00:25:46.720 all of history is not really fulfilled in her finally. 00:25:46.720 --> 00:25:48.079 No. 00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:57.919 Instead, she knows that the one that she carries is the exalted one himself who has chosen 00:25:57.919 --> 00:25:59.559 to become ultimately humble. 00:25:59.559 --> 00:26:03.439 You see, the fulfillment of the pattern of all the Old Testament that God takes what 00:26:03.439 --> 00:26:05.759 is lowly and makes it great. 00:26:05.759 --> 00:26:08.839 God takes what is great and makes it lowly. 00:26:08.839 --> 00:26:13.240 The true fulfillment of that is not Mary, although she's part. 00:26:13.240 --> 00:26:16.119 It's in the baby. 00:26:16.119 --> 00:26:21.039 It's in the simple phrase, God was born. 00:26:21.039 --> 00:26:27.000 The exalted and the lofty, the name above all names has become lowly and humiliated 00:26:27.000 --> 00:26:29.119 even in her. 00:26:29.119 --> 00:26:33.319 He's not only humble, he chooses to be humiliated. 00:26:33.319 --> 00:26:34.759 He chooses to be poor. 00:26:34.759 --> 00:26:36.439 He chooses to be lowly. 00:26:36.439 --> 00:26:39.239 He chooses to live a life of suffering for us. 00:26:39.240 --> 00:26:47.079 He chooses to go all the way to the point of ultimate humiliation by being named your 00:26:47.079 --> 00:26:53.799 sin, Mary's sin at the cross and being murdered for it. 00:26:53.799 --> 00:26:55.839 That's the true fulfillment of the pattern. 00:26:55.839 --> 00:26:59.039 The exalted one has become the lowest for us. 00:26:59.039 --> 00:27:05.160 Now listen, as we turn to a close, Mary stands there at the cross. 00:27:05.160 --> 00:27:10.240 She was there and she watches her son die. 00:27:10.240 --> 00:27:18.519 What conflicted emotions and complexity Mary is Jesus' mother. 00:27:18.519 --> 00:27:22.720 How did Jesus learn his mathematics? 00:27:22.720 --> 00:27:25.400 Mary taught him. 00:27:25.400 --> 00:27:26.400 Who fed him? 00:27:26.400 --> 00:27:27.640 Who clothed him? 00:27:27.640 --> 00:27:29.000 Who gave him a roof? 00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:30.680 Mary did. 00:27:30.680 --> 00:27:34.960 She watches her son dying. 00:27:34.960 --> 00:27:37.200 She knows I don't want my son to die. 00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:44.559 What mother wants her child to die in front of her and yet she knows at the same time 00:27:44.559 --> 00:27:46.840 this is my savior. 00:27:46.840 --> 00:27:48.240 As he dies, I live. 00:27:48.240 --> 00:27:52.079 As he goes down, I'm lifted up. 00:27:52.079 --> 00:27:58.240 And what emotional complexity in that moment for her as she watches her son be murdered 00:27:58.240 --> 00:28:04.240 and yet in his death, she gets new life at the very same time. 00:28:04.240 --> 00:28:09.120 The son will die for his mother so that she can know salvation. 00:28:09.120 --> 00:28:12.960 He will go to the bottom so that she can be raised to the top. 00:28:12.960 --> 00:28:17.799 And that's true of every single one of us today. 00:28:17.799 --> 00:28:24.519 Every single one of us today who humbles themselves before the Lord and knows their need and lifts 00:28:24.519 --> 00:28:29.319 up their eyes and looks at the cross. 00:28:29.319 --> 00:28:32.240 He went to the bottom so that you can be lifted up and he did it for Mary. 00:28:32.240 --> 00:28:33.240 He does it for you. 00:28:33.240 --> 00:28:35.319 He does it for her like her. 00:28:35.319 --> 00:28:37.039 And she is a great example. 00:28:37.039 --> 00:28:39.640 What's so great about Mary is she's submitted. 00:28:39.640 --> 00:28:49.480 And that means that the gospel, the good news is built right in to Mary's song because 00:28:49.480 --> 00:28:55.680 she says in verse 51 and 52, he scatters the proud. 00:28:55.680 --> 00:29:00.000 And that means there's a command on to us today, don't be proud before the Lord. 00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:02.559 Instead, know that you're scattered. 00:29:02.559 --> 00:29:05.919 You know, don't be scattered in your pride. 00:29:05.919 --> 00:29:08.440 Know you're scattered already. 00:29:08.440 --> 00:29:10.000 Be scattered before the Lord. 00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:14.119 No, be able to say today, I don't have it all together. 00:29:14.119 --> 00:29:15.879 I can't do this myself. 00:29:15.879 --> 00:29:22.039 I don't have the depths and the powers and the abilities to save myself, to even do life 00:29:22.039 --> 00:29:23.200 without the Lord. 00:29:23.200 --> 00:29:26.519 He gives me every gift. 00:29:26.519 --> 00:29:28.759 He is my salvation. 00:29:28.759 --> 00:29:33.879 Verse 52, He brings down the mighty, He makes much of the humble. 00:29:33.879 --> 00:29:37.000 All of us today, we need to say, I've already been brought down. 00:29:37.000 --> 00:29:38.559 I know my depths. 00:29:38.559 --> 00:29:40.720 I know I'm poor. 00:29:40.720 --> 00:29:45.480 That's exactly what Mary knew at the moment that she watched her son die at the cross. 00:29:45.480 --> 00:29:48.240 And it's what makes her a great example. 00:29:48.240 --> 00:29:50.079 Submission. 00:29:50.079 --> 00:29:52.599 She submitted and she believed. 00:29:52.599 --> 00:29:54.200 And that's for every one of us. 00:29:54.200 --> 00:29:55.200 It's true hope. 00:29:55.200 --> 00:29:57.240 It's true exaltation. 00:29:57.240 --> 00:29:58.240 And it's real joy. 00:29:58.240 --> 00:30:03.200 And lastly, my third point is one minute. 00:30:03.200 --> 00:30:06.240 And it was purposely planned that way. 00:30:06.240 --> 00:30:07.640 That's not just me cutting things away. 00:30:07.640 --> 00:30:09.039 It's one minute point. 00:30:09.039 --> 00:30:11.960 And it's simply this. 00:30:11.960 --> 00:30:16.799 God, the reason Mary can sing is because God exalted the humble. 00:30:16.799 --> 00:30:23.400 He fulfilled the Old Testament in her and he put a song into her mouth. 00:30:23.400 --> 00:30:27.400 And that's just to say that we should not close today without saying, without pointing 00:30:27.400 --> 00:30:30.720 out the fact that she sings. 00:30:30.720 --> 00:30:34.600 When she realizes what's happened, she sings. 00:30:34.600 --> 00:30:40.400 And this is what happens when the penny drops in your life and when you humbly yourself 00:30:40.400 --> 00:30:45.320 before the Lord, you get a song in your heart and a song on your lips. 00:30:45.320 --> 00:30:49.160 And this is one of the great songs actually of all of human history, the Magnificat. 00:30:49.160 --> 00:30:53.800 It's been sung by many people throughout the world for all the ages. 00:30:53.799 --> 00:30:59.720 And it's named after the first verse, my soul magnifies the Lord, Magnificat from the Latin 00:30:59.720 --> 00:31:01.839 magnifies. 00:31:01.839 --> 00:31:04.319 And let me just say this as we close. 00:31:04.319 --> 00:31:05.319 Look at what she says. 00:31:05.319 --> 00:31:10.960 She says, her song, the song that God has given her is this, my soul magnifies the Lord. 00:31:10.960 --> 00:31:15.740 I rejoice today in the salvation He's given me. 00:31:15.740 --> 00:31:21.919 She doesn't say, she doesn't say, look, I'm so happy today because I've turned my life 00:31:21.919 --> 00:31:22.919 around. 00:31:22.920 --> 00:31:25.840 You know, I was going in a bad direction. 00:31:25.840 --> 00:31:29.000 I was struggling at a lot of bad habits. 00:31:29.000 --> 00:31:31.360 I wasn't working hard enough. 00:31:31.360 --> 00:31:35.920 I wouldn't get enough sleep, whatever it may be, but I turned my life around. 00:31:35.920 --> 00:31:38.200 And so today I've got a song in my heart. 00:31:38.200 --> 00:31:42.920 I've made my circumstances better so today I can sing. 00:31:42.920 --> 00:31:44.920 No, that's not real joy. 00:31:44.920 --> 00:31:48.440 Real joy is when you can say, my soul leaps. 00:31:48.440 --> 00:31:51.640 I've got a song in my heart because God has done something. 00:31:51.640 --> 00:31:54.000 God has done something great for me. 00:31:54.000 --> 00:31:55.720 It's gospel, good news. 00:31:55.720 --> 00:31:56.960 It's a history. 00:31:56.960 --> 00:32:02.759 It's what Jesus, the baby, did for you in becoming a man, the boy who was always meant 00:32:02.759 --> 00:32:04.320 to die. 00:32:04.320 --> 00:32:08.640 And every great author knows that that's the only real story there is, the boy that was 00:32:08.640 --> 00:32:10.800 meant to die. 00:32:10.800 --> 00:32:17.880 And so in the gospel of the Messiah who was born, know this today, God sings over you. 00:32:17.880 --> 00:32:22.400 And if you realize this, you too will sing. 00:32:22.400 --> 00:32:23.400 So let's pray together. 00:32:23.400 --> 00:32:31.640 Father, put a song in our hearts today as we experience the beauty of the boy who was 00:32:31.640 --> 00:32:33.880 born to die for us. 00:32:33.880 --> 00:32:35.040 And death did not hold him. 00:32:35.040 --> 00:32:38.280 And so we're thankful today that he's not dead. 00:32:38.280 --> 00:32:43.880 And we're exalted today in Christ because he was exalted. 00:32:43.880 --> 00:32:51.000 And so we look at Mary today and we ask that you would give us her example and her insight 00:32:51.000 --> 00:32:53.160 and that you would put a song on our lips. 00:32:53.160 --> 00:32:55.280 So that is what we will do now, Lord, before you. 00:32:55.280 --> 00:32:57.380 We'll sing before you. 00:32:57.380 --> 00:32:58.960 So we pray this in Christ's name. 00:32:58.960 --> 00:33:15.039 Amen.