Let us turn to the portion that
we read in the New Testament in the Gospel according to St.
Luke and I want us to consider in general this theme of the
Magnificat as we call it, the Song of Mary and I'll read again
the verses from verse 46 in Luke chapter 1 and reading through
to verse 55. And Mary said, My soul doth magnify
the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For
he hath regarded the lowest state of his handmaiden. For behold,
from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he
that is mighty hath done to me great things, and holy is his
name. And His mercy is on them that
fear Him from generation to generation. He hath showed strength with
His arm. He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their
hearts. He hath put down the mighty from
their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled
the hungry with good things, and the rich He hath sent empty
away. He hath holpen His servant Israel.
in remembrance of his mercy as he spake to our fathers, to Abraham
and to his seed forever. It's a long text. I'm not going to try to expound
it in full, but simply to deal with it as it were thematically.
It's one of those great songs that we have here in Holy Scripture. We have two songs of Moses, of
course, When we come to the last book we have the song of Moses
and of the Lamb. We have other songs also and
really the Old Testament portion that answers to what we have
here in Luke 1 would surely be that song of Hannah that we read. in 1st Samuel and the opening
verses of chapter 2. It's the counterpart, as it were. And there, at the end of her
song, Hannah says, the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth and
he shall give strength to his king and shall exalt the horn
of his anointed. She finishes by speaking of God
exalting the horn having to do with power and majesty, the horn
of his anointed or his Messiah. So she finishes on that theme
of the promise of one who would come as the anointed one, the
Messiah, the Christ of God. And of course, this is what we
have here in the portion that we read. That's time at arrived,
the fullness of the time as we read in Galatians 4.4. And the
angel says to Mary when she asks, how shall this be seeing I know
not a man? How can a virgin conceive a child? And the angel answers, the Holy
Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the highest shall
overshadow thee, therefore also that holy thing that shall be
born of thee shall be called the Son of God." Oh, he doesn't
cease to be the eternal Son of God even when he clothes himself
in our frail human nature. And then, when we come to the
words of the Magnificat, as we call it, it's a response to what
Elizabeth, Mary's cousin, has just said in those previous verses, Elizabeth is filled with the
Holy Ghost and she speaks with a loud voice and addresses her
cousin, Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit
of thy womb and whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord
should come to me For lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation
sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. And
blessed is she that believed, for there shall be a performance
of those things which were told her from the Lord." How the angel
Gabriel had come from the Lord, the Lord's messenger, to announce
that this woman, this sinful woman, though she was a virgin,
for she rejoices in God her Saviour." Or the blessed prospect then
of the birth of the promised Messiah. And then we have our
text that runs from verse 46 right through to verse 55 and
we call it the Magnificat and the name of course comes from
what we have in the opening words. Mary said, My soul doth magnify
It's a song in which she wants to magnify God in all that He
is, in His greatness and in His goodness. Now, we can divide
the song into three substantial sections. Verses 46 to 49, she
speaks in particular of God's favor to Mary herself. And then in verses 50 to 53, She speaks of God's favor to
the poor and to the humble ones. And then in verses 54 and 55,
it's God's favor and God's faithfulness to Israel that He has not forgotten
His promise that He will fulfill that word that He gave to Abraham
and to his seed forever. First of all, though, as we come
to look at the verses in this thematic way, I want to say something
with regards to Mary's confession, her confession. And what we have
in the opening words is that confession, my soul does magnify
the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour."
And you will observe there are parallel statements here. It's
the same truth in each of these clauses. She speaks of her soul,
my soul, and then she speaks of her spirit, and my spirit.
and then she speaks of magnifying the Lord, and she speaks of rejoicing
in God her Savior. It's the same subject matter.
It's that parallelism that is so much a part and parcel of
the poetry that we find certainly in the Old Testament, the Hebrew
form of poetry. We have it many times, of course,
as we've said on other occasions, in the in the Psalms because
Psalms are very much in that poetry form and there in Psalm
34 I will bless the Lord at all times his praise shall continually
be in my mouth my soul shall make a boast in the Lord the
humble shall hear thereof and be glad oh magnify the Lord with
me and let us exalt his name together The psalmist, you see, wants
to magnify God. And this is what Mary wants to
do. My soul doth magnify the Lord. She rejoices in God as
that one who is her saviour. And we see that also in the parallelism
at the beginning of Psalm 103, where David says, Bless the Lord,
O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless
the Lord, O my soul. and forget not all his benefits,
who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases,
who redeemeth thy life from destruction." Or God is that One who is the
Redeemer of His people. And here we see how Mary is rejoicing
in that Redeemer. Rejoicing in the One who is God
her Savior. Clearly this woman knew what
she was. She was a sinner. Who would rejoice
in God as Savior but those who felt the awful nature of their
sins? What comfort can a Savior bring
to those who never felt their will? A sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made him so
and surely Mary is such a sacred sinner as that. She is very conscious
of her sins. And what does she do? She wants
to magnify God. To magnify God in all that He
is. In all the fullness and the richness
of His grace. These words, to magnify of course,
literally means to enlarge. We might use a magnifying glass
when we're trying to read small prints, and we use the magnifier
because it enlarges the print. It makes it easier on the eye.
Well, she would magnify God, and yet we know that God cannot
be magnified. God is so great. His greatness is altogether beyond
our comprehension. And so by searching, find out
God. Canst thou find out the Almighty
unto perfection? It is high as heaven, deeper
than hell. What canst thou know the measure
thereof, longer than the earth, broader than the seas? God so
immense, eternal. There's no magnifying God. No, when this woman speaks of
magnifying God, it's the problem is with herself she wants to
have larger and greater views of all that God is and the wonder
of what God is and so when we come to magnify ourselves we
must have very low magnify God we must have very low views of
ourselves and our own insignificance and that we are those who are
not deserving that God should ever take any account of us. And what does this woman say
in verse 48? He has regarded the lowest state
of his handmaiden. Oh, she is so unworthy that he
should take notice of her. She's clothed really with that
spirit of humility before God and she She wants nothing to
do with the proud and the arrogant ones. Verse 51, He hath showed strength
with His arm. He hath scattered the proud in
the imagination of their heart. He hath put down the mighty from
their seats. This is a humble woman that we
read of. And how the scripture truth concerning
this woman, and she's a blessed woman, All generations are to
call her blessed. But how the scripture view is
so contrary to what the apostate church of Rome would make of
this woman? Or they say, you see, that she
is spoken of here, and it's true, she is spoken of in verse 28,
as one highly favored. The angel is sent from God, he's
the Lord's messenger to Nazareth, to this virgin, who's espoused
to Joseph. They've not yet come together,
they're not yet man and wife, but this is a solemn espousal,
it's probably more even than what we would consider to be
an engagement. They're definitely going to come
together in God's will as man and wife, but they've not yet
married, they are espoused one to the other and the angel comes
and he says in verse 28, Hail thou that art highly favoured
the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women. Now we're told that in the English
version of the Vulgate, the Vulgate is the Latin version of Jerome
which is the basis of the Bible that they would still use in
the Roman Catholic Church to do a version instead of highly
favored it has full of grace full of grace and the teaching
of the Roman Church of course is that this woman is a dispenser
of grace she has such a fullness of grace in herself and she dispenses
that grace to others she herself was altogether without any sin.
And in order to establish their teaching with regards to Mary
they have invented various doctrines over the years and it's interesting
that so much of that teaching is quite recent. The doctrine,
for example, of the Immaculate Conception and the Immaculate
Conception has nothing to do with Mary conceiving this man-child,
Jesus, in her womb, the Immaculate Conception has to do with Mary's
own conception. That she was conceived herself
without any sin. Well that doctrine of the Immaculate
Conception only promulgated in the Roman Catholic Church in
1854. Now, because she was conceived
sinless, of course, as one free from all sin, she would never
die, so they then had to invent another doctrine. It's the doctrine
of the bodily assumption. The assumption being that Mary
didn't die, but she was taken up to heaven. And that doctrine
of the bodily assumption was only promulgated in 1950. But what is Rome doing? Rome
wants to exalt this woman. They want to exalt this woman
and make her to be something that she would completely disown. She's a humble woman. She's a
woman very conscious of her sinnership. And we have to be careful, you
see, because I think sometimes as Protestants we might be those
who play down who Mary is. The Lord Jesus partook of a human
nature, and that human nature came from His mother. That human
nature came from Mary. She was a sinful woman, but so
did the Holy Ghost come upon her that what was conceived in
her sinful womb, we might say, is that holy thing. That's human
nature. But what a woman this is. Highly
favoured, as it says there in verse 28. And the interesting
thing is that the verb that we have there is in what's called
a passive voice. In other words, Mary is not active,
but Mary is the one who is acted upon. She's passive. What does she say here in the
song? Verse 49, He that is mighty hath done to me great things. It's not what she has done, it's
what God has done to her and with her. He that is mighty hath
done to me great things, and holy is His name. Highly favoured, literally means
to endow with grace. She was the recipient of the
grace of God. I like the comment of Lenski,
a Lutheran commentator. He says this of Mary. She is
a vessel to receive, not a fountain to dispense. She receives the
grace of God. She does not dispense the grace
of God. And so she comes here with her
great confession. Most all, let's magnify the Lord,
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour, for he hath regarded
the lowest state of his handmaiden. For behold, from henceforth all
generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done
to me great things, and holy is his name." What remarkable
words, what a confession this humble woman is making at this
time. besides confession we also see
here something of a confidence and where does a confidence rest? it rests in God and what God
has said and what God is doing Verse 54, He hath holpen His
servant Israel in remembrance of His mercy, as He spake to
our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever. Oh, it's what God has spoken.
It's the purpose of God, that purpose expressed in His gracious
Word, His Word of promise. and you may observe that throughout
the song the past tense is being used all the time she's not speaking
in the future tense but she's speaking in the past tense it's
what's called the prophetic style things to be done Christ birth
Christ's life, Christ's death, all his works of salvation. All of these things are spoken
of as if they had already been done. The prophetic perfect is
what they call it. And we see it so many times in
the Old Testament, in those prophecies. Think of Isaiah 53, that grace. prophetic chapter, it speaks
of the Lord's righteous servant. My righteous servant. The Lord
Jesus, God's suffering servant. But look at the language that
we have there. Verse 4. Surely, speaking of Christ, surely,
it doesn't say He will bear our griefs. No, it says surely He
hath borne our griefs. and carried our sorrows, yet
we did esteem Him, stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But it doesn't say He will be
wounded. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes. It doesn't say we shall be healed,
but with His stripes we are healed. or we like sheep have gone astray,
we have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord, he doesn't
say will lay on him, but the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity
of us all. These are remarkable words because
the deed is spoken of as something that is yet to be done and yet
spoken in a way in which the language declares it is already
done. And do we not have the same here?
in what Mary is saying verse 52 he hath not he will he hath
put down the mighty from their seats and exalted them of low
degree not he will fill the hungry he hath filled the hungry with
good things and the rich he hath sent empty away he hath not he
will help but he hath hope and his servant Israel in remembrance
of his mercy it's all In this, what we call the prophetic
perfect, the sureness and the certainty of the purpose of God,
of course the Lord Jesus Christ is that one who is the Lamb,
slain from the foundation of the world. And there was only
ever one way of salvation and all those in the Old Testament
who are the true Israel of God, the spiritual Israel, all those
who are saved in the Old Testament are saved. in exactly the same
way as we are saved in this day of grace. Or they looked for
one who was to come, but in the purpose of God. That's work of
Christ ever stood, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Look at how the Lord God speaks
there in Isaiah 46.9. I am God, He says, and there
is none else. I am God's, and there is none
like me, declaring the end from the beginning." Oh, mark what
he says. He declares the end from the
beginning and from ancient time, things that are not yet done.
Mark the words, from ancient times, things that are not yet
done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. And this is where we see the
confidence of Mary as she addresses this song to the Lord God. She rejoices in all that God
is and all that God does. The works finished from the foundation
of the world. Wasn't the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ itself the fulfillment? of God's eternal decree. And though Peter speaks of it
there in his sermon on the day of Pentecost, him being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Why did
Christ die? It was the purpose of God. It
was that that was foreordained from all eternity, being delivered
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, says Peter,
ye have taken. and with wicked hands have crucified
and slain." Oh yes, the mystery is this, God is sovereign, but
those sinners are culpable. They're culpable. They're guilty. They killed the Lords of Glory. But it's all God's purpose, and
this is what Mary places her trust and her confidence in,
God's purpose. God's purpose. And that purpose
revealed in His promise. This is where the song comes
to its climax. Verse 54, He is hope and His
servant Israel in remembrance of His mercy. As He spake to our fathers, to
Abraham and to his seed forever. All I can of this woman, she
is one who has poured out her soul before the Lord. That's what Hannah did, she poured
out her soul. This is what Mary is doing here. My soul doth magnify the Lord,
and my spirit rejoiced in God, my Saviour, for he hath regarded
the lowest state. of his handmaiden. What was Mary's
response to the angel? Is it not most telling? There
in verse 28, the angel came unto her and said,
Hail thou that art highly favoured. The Lord is with thee. Blessed
art thou among women. Mary's response to what he has
to say to her verse 38 Mary said behold the
handmaid of the Lord be it unto me according to thy word be it
unto me according to thy word and then the angel departs oh
but she is blessed and Elizabeth recognizes that blessed fact
who is this one that is with her, now it's her cousin but
what does she say whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord
should come to me verse 45 blessed blessed is she
that believed for there shall be a performance of those things
which were told her from the Lord or she is one who is truly
blessed amongst women. Why? Because she believes God
and she believes the Word of God. She has faith. And her faith
is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen. She has confidence. She makes
her confession, yes, but she has confidence also in the Lord
God Himself. But then turning as it were for
a while from Mary and what we see of God here in this song
we see God as one who deals with different characters and he deals
with them in very different ways throughout Mary concentrates
herself upon God and tells us something with regards to God's
character. She speaks of God's attributes. In verse 49, she refers to him
as he that is mighty, he is the mighty God. She's speaking of
the attribute of his omnipotence, he's the all-powerful one. Nothing is impossible with this
God, because he is God. But as she speaks of Him as that
One who is mighty in verse 49, so she also makes mention of
His holiness. He that is mighty hath done to
me great things, and holy is His name. Why? He is the Holy
One of Israel. In His majesty He only does that
thing that is right and proper. and so this God is also that
God who is the faithful God that one who is true to his own words
and we see that as we've said at the end in verses 54 and 55
he remembers all those things that he spake to our father,
to Abraham and to his seed, God is faithful and God is that one
who is also a merciful and a gracious God we read of the remembrance
of His mercy the remembrance of His mercy, He remembers His
mercy and He has done so graciously with this woman as we see at the beginning He
She rejoices in God, her Saviour, he hath regarded the lowest state
of his handmaiden for behold from henceforth all generations
shall call me blessed. Now she speaks then of God and
the grace of God. And she speaks really of the
ways in which God deals with different characters. Here in verse 50 following, His
mercy is on them that fear Him. From generation to generation
He has showed strength with His arm. He has scattered the proud
in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from
their seats and exalted them of low degree. He has filled
the hungry with good things and the rich He has sent empty away. Oh God, is that one who deals
with different characters he puts down the proud and the
haughty ones and he exalts the loath and the humble ones do we not see it in the language
of the Apostle there in first Corinthians where he speaks of
God's election and those whom the Lord God is pleased in his
mercy to set his love upon. 1 Corinthians 1.27 God hath chosen,
Paul says, the foolish things of the world to confound the
wise and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound
the things which are mighty. and base things of the world,
and things which are despised hath God chosen yea, and things
which are not, to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh
should glory in his presence." Though at that time in Israel
there were those religious leaders, and they expected Messiah to
come, but they imagined that when he came, surely he would
be high-born, Surely he would be born in some magnificent palace
and so how they despise the Lord Jesus Christ. When those officers come back at the end
of John chapter 7, what is the response of the Pharisees to
them? on 747, then answered them, the
Pharisees, are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers or of
the Pharisees believed on him? But these people who knoweth
not the law are cursed. Or they just dismiss what these
officers said, never man spake like this man. or you deceive
the Pharisees say. Who is this Jesus of Nazareth?
How they despise him. He came unto his own and his
own received him not. We see that the Lord himself
is always dealing with people in different ways. How God is
that one who rejects those proud haughty ones. The whole subject
matter of the song is clearly spiritual in nature. Right at
the beginning she speaks of her soul and her spirit, my soul,
my spirit. We're to understand the content
of the song in a spiritual sense and when he comes to what she's
saying here later verse 51 he showed he has showed strength
with his arm he has scattered the proud in the imagination
of their hearts he has put down the mighty from their seats the
rich he has sent empty away we're not so much to understand these
words in any sort of material sense but in in a religious sense
really Who are these? They're the presumptuous ones,
the proud ones. And how they seem to have their
security. They're so self-satisfied. They have a religion. These who are being put down,
He hath put down the mighty from their seat, it says. What is
this seat? Well, think of the opening words
of the Book of Psalms. There at the beginning of Psalm
1 we read of the blessed man that walketh not in the counsel
of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth
in the seat of the scornful. There's a sort of progression
there of the wicked. He is walking and then he becomes
so comfortable, he's standing and then again he's sitting,
he's settled now. He's so secure and there's that
progression. He's walking in the way of sinners, but then ultimately is sitting
in the seat of the scornful. He's in the counsel of the ungodly,
he's in the way of sinners, and before long he's established,
he's a scorner. All these are those who are so
religiously proud, They imagine that they are quite secure where
they are. They're at ease. The world to
them that are at ease in Zion. Or they don't have the challenges
that God's people know and experience. What do they know of those doubts
and those fears? Or they're so well established.
They imagine that they have great faith and they have real zeal.
They are the ones who are serving God. But remember how the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself speaks there in Revelation as He addresses
those seven churches. The last one that He speaks to,
the Church of the Laodiceans, at the end of chapter 3, Revelation
3.17, What does the Lord say to these
Laodiceans? Because thou sayest, I am rich,
and increased with goods, and of need of nothing, and knowest
not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind,
and naked, I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire,
that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment, that thou mayest
be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear,
and anoint thine eyes with thyself, that thou mayest serve. all these
proud ones, how the Lord God scatters them. They are so secure
but the Lord God will deal with them. He has sowed strength with
His army, has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their seats. And we have that
remarkable example of course later here in Luke in chapter
18 And there at verse 10 following where we read of Christ speaking
of two men, two religious men. And they go to the temple, it's
the hour of prayer, and the one is a pharisee, always recognized
as the most religious man. And the other is a publican.
In a sense it might be surprising that he's there because he's
in the employ of Rome. He's working for the occupying
forces of Rome, he's a tax-gatherer. And how the Lord contrasts those
two men, what does the Pharisee do? He speaks to himself, really. His prayer goes no further than
himself. He congratulates himself before
God for all that he is and all that he has done, and then that
poor publican, he cannot come near, his hands are far off,
his head is bowed, he's ashamed, he smites upon his breast and
what is his prayer God be merciful to me a sinner and the Lord says
that's the man who goes down to his house justified and the Pharisee the self-righteous
man is scattered oh the Lord deals with men he humbles his children But he's not, he doesn't put
them away. He brings them down experimentally,
he brings them to see what they are, to feel what they are, to
make their confessions before him. As Hannah says there in
her song, the Lord maketh poor and maketh rich, he bringeth
low and raiseth up. He woundeth and he healeth, he
deals with his people. but He doesn't put them from
Him, He doesn't scatter them away God deals with the proud those
who feel themselves to be so well established and He scatters
them in all their vain thoughts but see how He receives He receives
these lowly and humble ones verse 52 He exalts them of low degree as I said at the beginning
where there are large views of God there must be no views of
self if we would be with Mary as those who would magnify the
Lord my soul does magnify the Lord it is the Lord who must
have all the glory and we want really to have our
own hearts enlarged in that right sense that we might be able to
give Him the glory as Charles Wesley says, O Lord enlarge our
scanty thoughts to know what wonders God hath wrought or we
want to appreciate more and more the wonder of God and the ways
of God and the grace of God we know that we cannot of ourselves
make God any greater the problem isn't with God, the problem is
with us and because we're so often straightened in our own
hearts and it's all because of unbelief and we need the Lord to humble
us and deal with us even as Hannah says there in her song well as
we conclude this evening I just want to mention some of the marks
of that humility that we have here in the text, how the Lord
exalts the ones of low degree. What are the marks of that humility?
Well, with the humble there is something of the fear of God
in them. The humble ones have God's fear,
that fear you'll fear. Verse 50. His mercy, it says,
is on them that fear Him, from generation to generation, or
with those who are truly God-fearers. That fear of the Lord. The psalmist
says it's the beginning of wisdom, to be made wise, and wise unto
that salvation that is only in the Lord Jesus Christ. wise to
see what we are in our very natures and our ruinous condition and
our impotent condition that we can do nothing. That salvation is of the Lord. And with Mary to rejoice in God
and to call Him my Savior just as she uses that language of
appropriation to be wise. to know. Again, the wise man
says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. And
what is that true knowledge? Oh, the Lord Jesus himself tells
us, to know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou
hast sent, to know thee, to know God, and to know God as he has
revealed himself in the Lord Jesus Christ. And if we know
him, we'll know something of what it is to be humbled before
Him, like John. Oh, John there, the last of the
apostles, an aged man, alone, exiled on the Isle of Patmos. It's the Lord's Day. Oh, but
blessed John, the beloved apostle, he's in the Spirit on the Lord's
Day. Remember how he hears And he
turns, and he sees, and what does he see? He sees the glorified
Christ. I turn to see the voice that
spake with me and being turned. He sees the seven golden candlesticks,
but there's Christ in the midst, in the midst of the churches.
Isn't this what we desire as we come together, as we gather
Lord's Day by Lord's Day as a church? the Christ might be in the midst
but John's experience when I saw him he says I fell at his feet
as dead and he laid his right hand upon me saying unto me fear
not I am the first and the last I am he that liveth and was dead
and behold I am alive forevermore amen and have the keys of hell
and of death right the things which thou hast seen, and the
things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter, the
mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand,
and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels,
or the messengers of the seven churches, and the seven candlesticks
which thou sawest are the seven churches. Oh, John knew something
of that true fear of the Lord, humbled before him. prostrate
at his feet dead, and the Lord's putting his right hand upon him,
and speaking those gracious words to him. The humble ones know
the fear of God. And the humble ones are also
such as hunger for God. They hunger for Him. What do
we read here at verse 53? He hath filled the hungry with
good things there is a fear we know that
has torment the fear of the demons oh they fear and they tremble
what do they say to the Lord they want the Lord away from
them they don't want his presence
they flee from his presence but the fear you'll fear of the people
of God draws them to the Lord. They're
hungering and they're thirsting, they're seeking and they're finding.
Or they have an appetite, they have a desire. The humble fear God, the humble
also hunger for their God. and they are blessed. Blessed
are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, says
the Lord, they shall be filled. And then ultimately these humble
ones are such as are to be exalted. God exalted them of low degree. Remember it's all always in the
past tense, as it were, as if it's done, and yet, in a sense,
it's to be done. Oh, how the Lord Jesus Christ
is that One who humbled Himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross, wherefore God also has highly
exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess
that He is Lord, and those who are in him you
see or when he comes he'll be glorified in all his saints that those of low degree as we
read here in verse 52 he exalteth him of low
degree that's what Mary was that's what Mary was But God regarded the lowest state
of his handmaiden and she says, Behold, from henceforth all generations
shall call me blessed. And all those who are in the
Lord Jesus Christ are the blessed ones. Oh God, help us then that
we might learn of this highly favoured woman who became the
mother of the Lord Jesus as that holy seed was implanted by the
Holy Ghost that holy thing that was born of her joined to the
eternal Son of God and she rejoices in all that God is and all that
God has done well the Lord be pleased to bless these few considerations
concerning what Mary has to say here in her song, in the Magnificat. Mary said, My soul doth magnify
the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. Amen.