Let us turn again to God's Word
in the portion that we read Luke chapter 1 and I read again from
the latter part of that reading that portion that is often referred
to as the Magnificat here in Luke chapter 1 verse 46 following
Luke chapter 1 verse 46 following that 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 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 hath sent empty away. He hath opened His servant Israel
in remembrance of His mercy. as he spoke to our fathers, to
Abraham and to his seed forever. On Thursday evening of course
we looked for a short while at what I said is in many ways the
Old Testament counterpart of this New Testament portion. We
looked then at the song of Hannah that's recorded there in the
second chapter of 1st Samuel. In verses 1 to 10 of that second
chapter we have that remarkable song, that prayer of thanksgiving
made by Hannah upon the birth of Samuel. And we observe down
at the end of that song there is certainly some reference to
the promised Messiah. the last verse of Hannah's song
there, the tenth verse, the adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to
pieces out of heaven shall they thunder upon them the Lord shall
judge the ends of the earth and shall give strength unto his
king and exalt the horn of his anointed and the word anointed
of course in the Hebrew is that word from which we derive Messiah
He shall exalt the horn of his Messiah. The reference then there
is clearly to the Lord Jesus Christ. And here when we come
to the New Testament, we have in a sense the fulfilment, because
here we have the birth of Him who is the Messiah, the Christ
of God. have not the angel spoken to
this woman concerning that child that was to be conceived in her
womb. When she says there at verse
34, As shall this be seen, I know not a man, the angel answered
and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the
power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son
of God." That holy thing, the reference of course there is
to that human nature that was conceived in her womb that was
to be joined to the eternal Son of God, the great mystery of
godliness, God manifest in the flesh, that holy thing which
shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And as Mary goes then to her
kinswoman, to her cousin Elizabeth, so we have those words that were
spoken by Elizabeth, verse 42. She spoke out with a loud voice
and said, Blessed art thou among men, 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? All the remarkable
words spoken by Elizabeth, where she refers to Mary as the mother
of my Lord, the one who has come to her. Him then who is the eternal
Son of God that was to be born to this woman Mary. And we have then in the portion
that we've read as our text, the Magnificat, we have this
remarkable song, this prayer of thanksgiving. Now we can divide
it into three main sections in verses 46 through 49 we see how Mary speaks
in particular of God's favour to herself, a very personal words,
the way in which God was pleased to favour her in particular is
what's spoken of there in verses 46 to 49 and then in verses 50
through 53 she speaks of God's favour to the poor and to the humble
ones, to the poor and to the humble ones. And then finally
in the last two verses 54 and 55 she speaks of God's favour
and God's faithfulness to Israel in the performance of his promise. That's a very basic division
then that we can make with regards to this portion of Holy Scripture. But as we turn to consider something
of the content of these verses this morning I want to divide
what I say into two sections. First of all to say something
with regards to Mary's confession and then second to consider Mary's
faith, her confidence, her confidence in the Word of God that had been
conveyed to her by the angel. But first of all Do we not see
something of her confession here in the opening words verses 46
and 47? Mary said, My soul doth magnify
the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. My soul doth magnify the Lord,
my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. And observe the language
It is typical, of course, of that poetry of the Hebrews. There's the use of these parallel
statements. It is the same truth that's declared
in a slightly different form in these two verses. She speaks of magnifying the
Lord and then she speaks of my spirit rejoicing in God, my Saviour. They are parallel statements
and we see it so very many times, of course, when we turn to the
book of Psalms, that great poetic portion of the Old Testament
scripture. It is marked by these parallels. For example, if we turn to the
words of David there in the opening part of Psalm 103. We see David
again in a similar fashion addressing his own soul, encouraging himself
to rejoice in the Lord, to bless the Lord, 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 thy iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth
thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with loving kindness
and tender mercy. Doubtless this woman was familiar
with the words of the psalmist and as David there would speak
to encourage his own soul so we find Mary here looking to
herself, speaking to her own soul and to her spirit as she
would rejoice in all that God had favoured her with. Now interestingly,
there in the psalm, David speaks of the Lord as his Redeemer,
who hath redeemed thy life from destruction, who crowneth them
with loving kindness and tender mercies. And so here we find
Mary also rejoicing in God her Saviour. Observe the words that
she uses in here in the 47th verse. My spirit hath rejoiced,
he says, in God my Saviour. Mary clearly was aware, conscious,
that she was a sinner. Only sinners would speak of God
as their saviour. What comfort can a saviour bring
to those who never felt their worth? A sinner is a sacred thing,
the Holy Ghost that made him so. Of course we know that all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is not
a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinners not. But how Very few, alas, of the
sinful sons of men have any real awareness of their needs before
a God who is holy and righteous and just. But this woman is one,
you see, who sees the need of a Saviour. And how she would
magnify the name of that God who has visited her Oh, magnify
the Lord with me, she says. It's an interesting expression.
We know that to magnify a thing, of course, is to enlarge it.
As we get older, we find our eyes aren't what they were, and
sometimes when we're having to read something that's small print,
we need a magnifier, we need a magnifying glass. And when
we make use of that, of course, it enlarges the print. Well, it's interesting, is it
not, when we see this woman here speaking of magnifying the Lord. We cannot do that. Strictly speaking,
we cannot make God any greater than he is. When we think of
the Almighty and the vastness of God. He fills heaven and earth. He is that God who is omnipresent,
he is in all places. Such is the greatness of God,
as you know, the psalmist there in the 139th Psalm very much
celebrates that truth. Go where he will, he cannot escape
the presence of God. God is everywhere. Such is the
vastness of the Almighty. Canst thou by searching find
out God? Can so find out the Almighty
unto perfection? It is high as heaven, what can
so do? Deeper than hell, what can so
know? The measure thereof is longer
than the earth and broader than the seas, we read in those familiar
words of Job chapter 11. What then are we to make of this
expression that falls from the lips of this blessed woman? Mary said, my soul doth magnify
the Lord. Oh, she wants herself to have
large views of God. We cannot literally magnify God,
but God can be magnified in our understanding. And this is what
she desires, to have enlarged views of God. to see and to realise
something more of the glory of God. And where we have large
views of God, we must inevitably on the other hand have very low
views of ourselves. Or the more we see of the greatness
of God and the glory of God, the more insignificant we will
recognise ourselves to be in His sight. And we recognise that
not only in terms of God being the Eternal One and the Creator,
and we but creatures, and that that's creatures made of the
dust of the earth. But will we not also realise
it in terms of God's holiness? He is the Thrice Holy Jehovah. He is that One before whom even
the angels, those burning seraphims, must cover their faces and cover
their feet the ground is holy ground we have the song of those
angels there in Isaiah chapter 6 they cry holy, holy, holy Lord
God of hosts heaven and earth are full of thy glory all friends
if we do but realize you see something of the the glories
that belong unto God how very insignificant we will feel ourselves
to be nothing really more than worms of the earth and Mary speaks
here in her song verse 48 she says he has regarded the low
estate of his handmaiden the low estates of his handmaiden. How she has low views of herself
and large views of God. Now St John the Baptist, and
we read of course of the miraculous conception of John the Baptist. Elizabeth was well stricken in
years and yet in her old age he conceives his child. And this
child is to be the forerunner of the Messiah. He goes before
the Messiah. He prepares the way for the coming
of the Lord. And he is the greatest of all
the prophets associated with the Old Testament. All the prophets
that came before the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the greatest of
them. He comes in the power of Elijah. who is the great prophet
of the Old Testament. And what does John say as he
fulfills his office preparing the way for the coming of the
Messiah? He must increase and I must decrease. Or to have those large views
of the Lord Jesus Christ that all our thoughts and all our
affections might be taken up with him, that we might see something
of those glories that belong unto the Lord Jesus Christ. I
say that these things go hand in hand where there are large
views of God. We must be those friends who
have very low views with regards to ourselves. We feel ourselves
here to be nothing. Wasn't that the experience of
the great apostle? So favoured that he writes there
at the end of the second epistle to the Corinthians Now he was
caught up into the third heaven and saw unspeakable things. And yet he comes to this, though
I be nothing, though I be a siphon, a zero. This must be our experience,
you see, friends. These things, I say, stand together. Where there are those right views
of God and the glories of God, my soul doth magnify the Lord. What will we reckon with regards
to ourselves? We are to be clothed with humility. God resisteth the proud, but
giveth grace unto the humble. Humble yourselves therefore unto
the mighty hand of God, says the Apostle Peter, that he may
exalt you in due time. Or look at what we're told concerning
the ways and the works of God in the course of this great song. In verse 51, 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. How God takes
account, you see, of the humble ones, or that we might know that
true humility. The mind of the Lord Jesus Christ,
as we read in Philippians, let this mind be in you which was
also in Christ Jesus. How the Lord Jesus Christ humbled
himself. He sought it not, rather, to
be equal with God. He is equal with God. He is not
robbing God of his glory. He is the eternal son of the
eternal Father but he makes himself of no reputation. He takes upon
him the form of a servant. He is made in the likeness of
men and found in fashion as a man he is obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. Mary then is here confessing
what she is, a lowliness. There is humility in her language.
She feels herself to be a sinner. A sinner in need of a saviour. Now here of course we see how
the Word of God is a plain contradiction to the wicked traditions of the
Roman Catholic Church. You are aware, I am sure, of
the mereolatry, the idolatry that Rome is guilty of. Exalting,
exalting the the Virgin Mary encouraging the people to look
to her to pray to her and I've heard it said the Roman Catholic
will say well if you want to approach the son why not seek
to approach him via his mother that's how they reason you see
and so we pray to her that she will intercede for us before
her son who is God incarnate all the perverseness of that
system. Now if we go back in the chapter
we see how the angel speaks to her there
in verse 28. Hail thou that art highly favoured,
the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. And this is one of the key verses
that the Roman Catholic seizes on with regard to their doctrine
of Mary. In the Vulgate Latin, that expression,
highly favoured, is rendered full of grace. Hail thou that
art full of grace. The Lord is with her, full of
grace. You see they say she is so full
of grace that she has an abundance of grace and she is a sinless
person and she is able therefore to dispense that fullness of
grace that is in her. She is full of grace. and she's
one who can therefore give that grace if we will, says the Romanists,
but come and ask it of her. And you know how there's a whole
sort of series of doctrines built around their Mariolatry. There's
the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception which was promulgated
in 1854. That's not that long ago really.
It was not until 1854 that they declared that that was a doctrine
that was to be believed by all the faithful. The doctrine of
the Immaculate Conception. It has got nothing at all to
do with the conception of the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing to
do with what we read of here in verse 35. The Immaculate Conception
has to do with the conception of Mary. Mary's birth is what
they're speaking of. and they say that she was preserved
in her birth from every taint of sin she was a sinless person
this is why she has grace to dispense and then again because
she was sinless they say it was impossible that she should ever
die the wages of sin is death If she is sinless she could never
die. The Lord Jesus Christ dies because he dies as a substitute.
The sinless one dies in the place of the sinner. In that sense
he is obedient unto death. But here is Mary. And Mary is
sinless according to the teaching of Rome. Therefore she couldn't
die. So in 1950 1950, another doctrine is promulgated
that all the faithful must believe and it's the doctrine of the
bodily assumption. In other words, Mary didn't die
but she ascended to heaven. She went to heaven without dying.
And all because, you see, of the wicked idolatry that Rome
would introduce in relation to this blessed woman. Highly favoured
is the expression that we find here in verse 28. Hail those
that are highly favoured. They say she's full of grace. But it's interesting to examine
the language more carefully. The verb as we have it here in
this 28th verse is actually in the passive voice. In other words,
Mary is not active Mary is not doing anything that Mary is active
upon. She is active upon. It's interesting,
this is the remark, the comment of the Lutheran commentator,
Lenski, he says, concerning Mary, as we have this expression used
in verse 28, she is a vessel to receive, not a fountain to
dispense. She is a vessel to receive. She
received grace. She was favoured of God. She
is not a person who has grace to dispense to others. She is
acted upon. It is the goodness and the grace
of God that she so experienced. And does she not rejoice in this,
in this song? Look at verse 49. He that is
mighty hath done to me great things. Always what God did to
her. in visiting her with his great
salvation. Oh, she was one, you see, so
faithful in rejoicing in God her Saviour. My soul doth magnify
the Lord. My spirit doth rejoice 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 great things, and holy is his
name." Her confession then. God is her Saviour. She's a sinner
needing to be saved. She's not one who is able to
dispense grace to others. That's the teaching, for instance,
that we find here in the Word of God, in the Holy Scripture.
So contrary to the blasphemies of Rome. But let us in the second
place consider something of her confidence. Her confidence in
God, her faith in God. What does she say at the end
of this song? Verse 54. He hath holpen his servant Israel
in remembrance of his mercy as he spied to our fathers, to Abraham
and to his seed forever. Now, again I want us to observe
the language that is used, and the language that is actually
used throughout the song. You will observe that all that
she says is put in the past tense. It's all in the past tense. In other words, it's in the prophetic
style of Holy Scripture. Things to be done in Scripture.
The great prophecies of Scripture so many times are spoken of in
the past tense as things that have already been done. And this
is the case here, it's in that prophetic style. The things to
be done, Christ's birth, Christ's life, Christ's death, all the
work of salvation, it's all spoken of as already done. That is what we call the prophetic
perfect. Now let's just turn for an example
to that great Old Testament prophecy concerning the Lord's suffering
servant in Isaiah chapter 53. And look at the language that
the prophet is using here as he is inspired by God the Holy
Ghost. He is speaking of the Lord's
suffering servant. The remarkable chapter of Holy
Scripture, verse 4, "...surely he hath borne our griefs, and
carried our sorrows." Now we might have expected the language
to be in the future tense. That he'd speak of something
that was going to take place in future. In other words, it
would say, he will bear our griefs. He will carry our sorrows. But
he doesn't say that. He speaks of these things as
if they were already done. He has done it. He has borne
our grievance and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him,
stricken, smitten of God and afflicted, but he was wounded
for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him and with his stripes we are healed, not we shall be
healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone
to his own way and the Lord has laid on him, not will lay on
him, the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. This is what we call you see
the prophetic style, the prophetic perfect. He is the Lamb of God,
is he not? And he is the Lamb of God slain
from the foundation of the world. Oh, the sureness and the certainty
of God's great purpose that was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. He says in Isaiah 46, I am God
and there is none else I am God and there is none like me declaring
the end from the beginning and from ancient days the things
that shall birth. Why is it so? Because God will
do all his goodwill and pleasure God will do all his goodwill,
all his pleasure. The work was finished, we are
told, from the foundation of the world. Hebrews chapter 4
verse 3, the work was finished. And so when God speaks of that
work which was yet to take place, yet he speaks of it as already
having taken place, because so it was in the eternal mind, so
it was in the great purpose of God. We know that the death of
the Lord Jesus Christ was very much the fulfillment of God's
decree. Isn't that what the Apostle Peter
declares so plainly in his preaching on the day of Pentecost? In being
delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, he said. No, that doesn't in any way excuse
the Jews, they are still culpable. Or they are still guilty, you
see, of that horrendous crime, they slain the Lord of Glory. He hath taken, he says, he hath
taken with wicked hands, have crucified and slain, but nonetheless
it's all in the decree of God. He was delivered by God's determinate
counsel, by God's foreknowledge. It was what God himself had foreordained. And I say, friends, the language
that we have here throughout Mary's great song, The Magnificat,
speaks of the things that God has done. although they are yet
to be done. He hath helped them, his servant
Israel. He's helped them, it's already
done. He has remembered his mercy as he's paid to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his seed forever. This is so sure and so certain. You see where Mary's confidence
is. Oh, where is the confidence,
the faith of this woman? It's in God's purpose. And where
is God's purpose revealed to us? Is it not revealed to us
in the promise? The promise that we find here
in the Holy Scriptures. This is what she's speaking of
then when we come to these concluding verses of her song. He has hope and his servant Israel
in remembrance of his mercy as he spake to our fathers, to Abraham,
and to his seed forever time and again doesn't God do this
he remembers he remembers his covenant when the children of
Israel are languishing there in Egypt when their burdens are
so great and so grievous and we read of them there at the
end of that second chapter of Exodus in their prayers sighing
and groaned it came to pass in process of time that the king
of Egypt died and the children of Israel sighed by reason of
the bondage and they cried and their cry came up unto God by
reason of the bondage and God heard their groaning and here
it is God remembered God remembered his covenant with Abraham with
Isaac and with Jacob, and God looked upon the children of Israel,
and God had respect unto them. Ought to be emboldened to remind
God. That's what we should do in our
prayers, is it not? We should remind God. Remind
God of His exceeding great and precious promises. Remind God
that all those promises in the Lord Jesus Christ are yea, and
in Him are men. We are to turn to the Lord, says
the prophet, turn to the Lord, take with you words. What words,
friends? Let us take the words of God.
The word of Holy Scripture. As the old Puritan says, we need
to thicken our prayers with God's words. To plead what God himself
has said. Because God's word is a sure
and a certain word. He can speak of things to be
done as if they were already done. You see, here is Mary's
faith. It's in the word of God. It's in the purpose of God. That
God has revealed to her in that great promise of salvation. Like Hannah before her. This woman poured out her soul
before the Lord. My soul, she says, does magnify
the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour. Are we those who can say, friends,
that when we come together like this, our soul is in it? Our
soul is in these things. Or there is such an earnest longing
and yearning in the very depths of our being. Such desires after
this God that we might know Him. And that's how we come. We come
to plead with Him, to pray to Him that He would come and appear
to us. Look at Mary's response to what
the angel says to her. It's most telling, is it not?
Verse 38, Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy
word. There it is. Behold the handmaid
of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word. And isn't it this
that marks her as one who is a blessed woman? She's blessed, why? Because she's
trusting in the Word of God. That's where blessing is, friends.
We're blessed when we trust in the Word of God. Look at what
Elizabeth says to her there in verse 45. Blessed is she that
believed, for there shall be a performance of those things
which were told her from the Lord. She is blessed because she believes
what God has said. She believes that God will perform
His work. That God will be faithful to
His promise. And so she is a blessed woman. She is the blessed Virgin Mary. Let us not be ashamed to call
her that. Look at verse 48. Behold from henceforth all generations
shall call me blessed. We are not to despise this woman
because of the wicked idolatry, the mereolatry of Rome. We are
to recognise who she is and the favour that was bestowed upon
her. She was a poor, lowly woman. She was a sinful woman. She was
one who was brought to rejoice in that great salvation. which
is only found in the Lord Jesus Christ and so it was there in
Christ that she placed all her trust and all her confidence. Friends if we would know what
it is to be blessed or do we not need therefore to walk in
the footsteps of this so gracious woman. Mary said my soul that
magnify The Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour,
for he hath regarded the lower state of his handmaid, and for
behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. The Lord grant his blessing then
upon his works.