If you would, turn in your Bibles
to 1 Samuel 2. I'm going to bring a message
this morning that I've titled, Hannah's Prayer, because that's
what we're going to look at, the first ten words of 1 Samuel
2, which, where we find Hannah's Prayer, some call it Hannah's
Song, some call it Hannah's Psalms. And all of those titles would
be appropriate for what we're going to see here is that this
is a prayer of thanksgiving and rejoicing in the Lord's salvation. And I want to give you just a
bit of background. I would encourage you on your own, if you have
time when you get home, to read chapter 1. But in chapter 1,
we read about Hannah's husband, Elkanah. And we see there that
Elkanah had actually two wives, Hannah being one of them, and
the other, Peninnah. And Peninnah, we see, she was
blessed with children. And yet in verse 5 of chapter
1, 5 and 6 actually, we read that the Lord had shut up Hannah's
womb. That is, he had not blessed Hannah. He had not allowed Hannah to
have children. And this was a source of great
grief for Hannah. That is, Elkanah's other wife
had provoked Hannah about this very subject. It says there in
chapter 1, she did so year after year. And so it caused her to
mourn greatly. At one point, Hannah could not
even eat. She was in such grief. She wanted
a child so badly. So we learn in chapter 1 that
Peninnah was quite the adversary or enemy of Hannah. Well, as
we move through chapter 1, Hannah and Elkanah, they come to Shiloh
to worship. It appears that was like an annual
feast of sorts. And there at Shiloh, Hannah prayed
to God to give her a child. And she promised that she would
dedicate this child to the Lord. And we learn in verses 19 and
20 that it really was God's purpose to so bless her with a child.
So she conceived and bore a son and she named him Samuel. And
the name Samuel means asked of God. And so we begin here in
chapter 2 with Hannah lifting up her voice and rejoicing in
God having delivered her from her heavy sorrow and heavy heart
and giving her this child that she had so desired, Samuel. So
let's just read the prayer beginning in verse 1 of chapter 2. And
Hannah prayed and said, My heart rejoices in the Lord. Mine horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth is enlarged over mine
enemies, because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none
holy as the Lord, for there is none beside thee. Neither is
there any rock like our God, taught no more than so exceeding
proudly. Let not arrogance come out of
your mouth, for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions
are weighed. The bows of the mighty men are
broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength. They
that were full have hired out themselves for bread, and they
that were hungry ceased, so that the barren hath born seven, and
she that hath many children is waxed feeble. The Lord killeth
and maketh alive. He bringeth down to the grave,
and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor, and maketh
rich. He bringeth low, and lifteth
up. He raiseth up the poor out of
the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to
set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne
of glory, for the pillars of the earth are the and he hath
set the world upon them, he will keep the feet of his saints.
And the wicked shall be silent in darkness, for by strength
shall no man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall
be broken to pieces. Out of heaven shall he thunder
upon them. The Lord shall judge the ends
of the earth and he shall give strength unto his king and exalt
the horn of his anointed." I want to go through this prayer or
song verse by verse, but first just let me make a few general
comments about Hannah's prayer. I think we see here, first of
all, a two-fold application of her thankfulness. And it is her
thankfulness unto God as it pertains to a deliverance, a salvation. First, we see it in the temporal
sense in light of the context of the background I shared with
you. That is, that she is thanking God for her temporal salvation. That is, her deliverance from
her mourning and her grief in God's having provided for her
blessing this child that she had so long and prayed for Samuel
whom God would raise up to be a deliverer and a prophet to
his chosen people. That is, this nation Israel under
the terms of the Old Covenant, God's chosen ones. That is, that
nation until the time of the Messiah that he would bring through
that nation would come. But also we see in Hannah's prayer
here an eternal or spiritual application concerning how God
delivers his chosen people unto eternal salvation. That is, spiritual
Israel from every nation in Christ Jesus. And we see that in Hannah
speaking here, we can see that she's actually speaking of both
aspects of her deliverance, I think, in the context. And both all
the blessings of God, ultimately, and certainly any deliverance
that God brings us, both temporal and eternal, we see is there
is a likeness to them in this, that they're solely of his doing. I say all that to because oftentimes
when we look at the Old Testament we look at the picture we see
how Christ and eternal salvation is pictured by temporal deliverance
of the chosen nation Israel and we liken it to the deliverance
of God's elect his chosen people into eternal salvation. And that's
an appropriate thing to do. And we can see that here. We
can see the picture, the analogy from Hannah's temporal deliverance
from her circumstances and situation. And we can draw that. But also,
even more directly, I think you see in the context, particularly
as we move through the prayer, that Hannah herself is not only
describing her temporal salvation. She speaks there of the throne
of glory, as we read. And she's speaking and praising
God as the provider of all things, that is, both temporal and eternal. And we know that's what she's
doing, for at the last words of her prayer, she mentions His
Anointed. And as we'll see, that's referring
to Jesus Christ, the Messiah. And then lastly, before we begin
going through it verse by verse, I want you to consider the focus
of Hannah's prayer. I think that's very instructive
to us as well. You notice it begins in verse
one says, Her heart rejoices in the Lord. It struck me that she wasn't
rejoicing in the gift. in the son that God gave her
here, in Samuel. She wasn't going on and on about
the wonderful child God had given her, but rather her focus was
on the giver rather than on the gift. In His goodness and His
kindness, His great condescension to her in granting her petition
and providing this son, And so it should be, I think, with us.
You see, God's blessings, temporal and eternal, they should trigger
us to look simply beyond our delight in our blessings, that
is, our favorable circumstances. Our hearts should be drawn to
praise him as the giver from whom all blessings flow. As reflected
here in Hannah's prayer, In praise, we recognize that He alone makes
all of our circumstances, both temporal and eternal, to differ.
And so, in contemplation of who He is, our hearts then are drawn
to Him in gratitude, for we see that it is all of the Lord, and
we worship Him. And I hope you get that same
sense that I got in studying this of the sense of worship
and adoration in Hannah's words here, as she considers the God
who had so blessed her. Well, there are three distinguishing
characteristics I'd like for you to consider, and just keep
in the back of your mind that I gleaned from my study here,
that I want you to keep in mind as we go through it verse by
verse. Winston almost preached it when he introduced the service
this morning and said we preach here how God is exhausted and
Christ receives all the preeminence and man's abased and may that
ever be so. The three characteristics I want
you to consider are similar and that is I get the sense that
the one sovereign God here that Hannah's proclaiming this truth
he is the source of God's salvation. That makes sense. If it's God's
salvation, he's the source of it. That's pretty simple. Secondly,
his salvation is by pure grace. And when I say pure grace, that's
to distinguish it from what most of so-called Christianity calls
grace today. When I say pure or unadulterated
grace, I mean with absolutely no work of man's hands. Salvation
not conditioned in any way to any degree on the sinner. And
then thirdly, that Christ, who Hannah speaks of in verse 10,
the anointed one, the Messiah who had been promised, he receives
all the preeminence in God's salvation. So let's just look
at it verse by verse. As I mentioned earlier, she says,
My heart rejoices in the Lord. That is, that was the focus of
her prayer, was on the giver rather than the gift. And she
continues and says, My horn is exalted in the Lord. The horn
in the Bible is often used as a picture of strength. It signifies
power and might and dominion. Many think this is derived from
the fact that we attribute to horned creatures strength and
power, as in an oxen or as in a cattle, like a bull, a strong
bull. And here Hannah speaking of her
strength and power being exalted in the Lord. That is, it being
her strength being raised up in rank or dignity by virtue
of God's deliverance. And she says, her mouth is enlarged
over mine enemies because I rejoice in thy salvation, God's salvation. You know, that last phrase reminds
me, here's Hannah. She's speaking of her mouth being
enlarged over enemies, and many believe, and I think it certainly
has this application, that this is referring to the fact that
now she has an answer to the provoking by Peninnah all these
years. For now, she has a son. But she
credits that and says, because I rejoice in thy salvation. It
reminds me of Jonah. If you remember, in the belly
of the whale, we have there a beautiful picture of eternal salvation
as he considers his temporal circumstances. There he was in
the belly of the whale. He needed mercy. He had no way
out. He needed God to do a work alone. And what did he say in Jonah
chapter 2? He said, Salvation is of the Lord. And I believe
that's reflective in Hannah's words here. She said, I rejoice
in thy salvation. I do believe that Hannah is expressing
her sense of vindication here over her rival, Peninnah, because
Peninnah had treated her cruelly. If you read chapter 1, you'll
see that. And yet, being vindicated, it's instructive to note that
she acknowledges, she's not saying, so now I have something to answer
of you, but she's acknowledging that it was the Lord. She's not saying, now I can show
you. It was the Lord who lifted her up and exalted her. And of
course we have the picture there that likewise God's people will
ultimately be vindicated. You know, the Bible describes
God's sheep to whom he has revealed himself. The eternally blessed
is blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness sake. And so
we know that in some degree all whom God brings unto himself,
to see him in the Son, that we all have some degree of persecution. And if for no other reason than
the fact that in each and every generation, this gospel, this
way of salvation is a narrow way, a straight gate. It's not
very popular, and few there be that go in there at. And so what
we find is there will be, though, ultimately a vindication. And
I'm inclined to believe, as I take the whole of Hannah's prayer,
that she's expressing both her temporal deliverance and her
eternal salvation here, and the vindication therein as well when
she speaks of her mouth being enlarged over her enemies. If
that's not the case, if this is to be restricted to just her
temporal circumstances, we certainly see the picture for an eternal
salvation. Likewise, it is God's deliverance. The whole kit and the caboodle.
Salvation is of the Lord. It is, as Hannah prays, thy salvation. And in verse 2, she continues,
and she says, There is none holy as the Lord. We're just saying
holy, holy, holy. There is none beside thee. And
she says that, she says, For there is none beside thee, neither
is there any rock like our God. I know many of you are like me
when you see that phrase, there's none beside thee. Your mind runs
right to Isaiah 45 where God speaking through the prophet
Isaiah said those same words of himself. He said, there is
no God else beside me. And there he gives us some of
the distinguishing characteristics, really his very redemptive glory
whereby we see his holiness. You know, holiness speaks of
the perfection. all of God's attributes of who
he is coming together and Here God in Isaiah 45 when he says
there's none else beside me. He says what a just God and a
Savior And he says there's none beside me to look unto me and
be saved all the ends of the earth He said for I'm God and
there's none else and you see there when we come to behold
how God can be just and still play the center How justice is
satisfied there when he reveals himself uniquely. God reveals
himself in many ways. He reveals himself in creation.
We see something of his glory in all his works. And yet, in
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, we see something we see nowhere
else. And that's how God can be just and still save a sinner.
That is a God who's holy, who requires perfection. How can
that be by one such as us, sinners? who missed the mark, who the
scripture says are none righteous. We need a substitute. And God
sent his son and made him under the law to redeem them that are
under the law, but he did it for sinners. And so justice had
to be satisfied, not only in precept, but a penalty that fit
the crime against a holy God had to be rendered. And it took
none other than the shedding of blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's how God can be just both a just God and still saved sinners,
a Savior. And as Hannah prayed, she said,
neither is there any rock like our God. I think we should be
reminded by that, that the cause of this distinction that we see
in the gospel, the gospel wherein is righteousness is revealed,
and that righteousness speaks to the satisfaction to justice. That's how we see how God can
be both a just God and a Savior. Because of that distinction of
God as both a just God and a Savior, we see how sure and certain,
rock solid, the salvation is to any who come pleading that
righteousness. Now, how can that be? Because
God says, none will. They won't come unto me. You
see, only people who will truly, I don't mean mouth the words
or make a profession or understand just with a head knowledge, but
who have a love for the truth that results in the kind of rejoicing
we see Hannah rejoicing in here. You see, they were among those
for whom Jesus lived and died, for that's the fruit and effect
of it, and that comes no other way but then by the blood of
Jesus Christ and what he purchased for us. So we see in this just
God and a Savior. In this rock who is our God,
you see, we see not only how He could be a just God and save
sinners, but we see how it must be so. For He came out of that
grave. What He accomplished satisfied
God, and it demanded life. Now, there's assurance there.
And in verse 3, Hannah continues, and she says, So talk no more,
so exceeding proudly. Let not arrogance come out of
your mouth, for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions
are weighed." You see, to talk right is to talk no more about
that which we did. I recall so often in false religion
there would be occasions where people would share their testimony.
And inevitably, if someone asks you, well, tell me about your
salvation, I was slaved back in 19 so-and-so when I made my
decision for Jesus, when I invited Him into my life, when I, when
I, when I did all this and in humility got down on my knees,
or in humility gave, surrendered all to Jesus. And the thing that's
so prominent with all that was it was always ultimately the
difference in those who would be blessed of God eternally and
those who would be down to eternal separation from God in hell.
The difference was something done by, in, or through the sinner
in rivalry with that which took the condescension of God being
made flesh, taken into union with his deity, humanity, and
coming and living and dying a bloody death on the cross. What arrogancy! What pride! And so, having been
taught of God, you see, God's people in each generation are
brought to repentance of ever having manifested Such arrogance
and pride, and that's exactly what we recognize it as that.
We no longer brag on it. We talk no more of that. Why? Because when God reveals himself
to us, he reveals the standard by which we'll all be judged.
We see that this holy God really does require a perfect righteousness. As Hannah puts it, by him actions
are weighed. Him whom she described as a God
of knowledge, a God who knows all things and weighs all things
in accordance with his strict standard of judgment and justice. In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ
told us, did he not? He gave us the command that we
must comply with if we are presumed to be judged based upon anything
that proceeds from us, the sinner, when he said, so be ye therefore
perfect. even as your Father which is
in heaven is perfect. In Acts 17, which we studied
recently, Paul expressed that at the end of his sermon on Mars
Hill when he issued God's command to all men everywhere to repent. Why? Because he's going to judge
the world in righteousness. Who? By that man whom he hath
ordained and hath given assurance. Now that's why you can break
out in praise with Hannah here. Unto all men and that he raised
him from the dead satisfaction was made and there was life.
Now, knowing God in this way, as holy, holy, inflexibly just,
seeing his standard of perfect righteousness, well, that will
shut up our proud and arrogant mouths. And so it shall be for
all those for whom Christ purchased that very blessing. It causes,
see, all of those for whom Christ lived and died, all of spiritual
Israel To see the impossibility that salvation is conditioned
on any requirement or condition that you, the sinner, might even
contribute toward, or even might imagine that God enabled you
to do. And so we repent from such arrogant, prideful thoughts.
By His actions, by Him, excuse me, actions are weighed. You've
got to possess a righteousness that equals that of the impeccable
God-man. How can that be? You've got to
get it the same way. He took your sins by amputation. God made him to be sin for us
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. You see, he doesn't make you
righteous here. No, he accounts the merit of
what Christ accomplished to you, just as he accounted the demerit
of all your sins, past, present, and future, to Jesus Christ on
the cross Calvary. And in verse 4. She said continued
and she says the bows of the mighty man are broken. But then
she says that they that stumbled are girded with strength. You
see, when it comes to finding deliverance before this holy
God, the bows, that is the weapons, the strength of the mighty man.
They're useless. And I think that speaks to the
fact that every false hope, and listen, every false hope ultimately
does have its makeup in the strength of man. Every false hope shall
ultimately be broken. That is just shattered. And yet
they that stumbled, that word stumbled means they failed, they
faltered. That is, I think here that's
speaking of those whom God is so pleased to reveal Himself
to in this life as to discover they need mercy, that they possess
no might whatsoever that would cause them to find favor with
God or remove His wrath or contribute to attaining or even maintaining
their own salvation. You know, Paul wrote to the Ephesians
in chapter 6, he said, Finally, my brethren, be strong where? In the Lord. And in the power
of whose might? Of his might. I think the tone
here of Hannah's, really her whole song of praise here is
reflected in the words of the psalmist in many places, actually. But in Psalms 28 7, we read,
The Lord is my strength and my shield. My heart trusteth in
him, and I am helped. Therefore my heart greatly rejoices,
and with my song will I praise him." You see, there can't help
but be this gratitude if you find yourself among these, as
Hannah expresses in her prayer. Who is helped? The one who stumbles,
the one who finds no might within themselves. The Lord is my strength. He's all the strength that God's
people possess. Then in verse 5 she continues,
and she says, They that were full have hired out themselves
for bread, and they that were hungry ceased, so that the barren
hath born seven. And she that hath many children
is waxed feeble. The ones who hungered not, who
were filled. That is, it's much like Christ
said, those that are well, they don't need a position. Those
who imagine themselves full, they've hired themselves out
for bread. You see, they must continue in their mercenary ways. That is, they act in order to
receive. And they know nothing of a motive
of gratitude, but only a mercenary or legal motive. That is, to
gain his favor or to avoid his wrath. But they that were hungry
ceased. You see, I love that word ceased.
I think I mentioned it to you when we looked at Joshua and
the day that the sun stood still over Gibeon. Beautiful picture
of the day that the son of God stood still. And that word, those
two words stood still in the Hebrew is the same word here.
It's ceased. It's ceased. It alludes to the
rest that we enter into in Christ. as he ceased from his work. God,
being perfectly satisfied, is testified of by his resurrection
from the dead with all that he accomplished. What does it say?
It says he sat down on the right hand. The work was finished.
It was done. And as the book of Hebrews explains
to us, that's what we all do for whom he did that work. You
see, in each successive generation, we're brought to behold him. Under the sound of this gospel,
And as applied to us by God's Spirit, we cease from our labors. We find ourselves totally, totally
complete, filled in Christ. We discover what we need. As
Christ said again in the Sermon on the Mount, Blessed are they
which hunger and thirst after righteousness. And we find, as
he says there, for they shall be filled. You see, that's all
we need. And she continues there. in that
verse, and she said, so the barren hath born seven. Now, Hannah,
ultimately, according to the record of Scripture, had five
other children. That would just total up to six.
Some say, well, perhaps she thought she would have seven, but I don't,
I'm more of the persuasion, and I could be wrong on this, but
I believe it's certainly a truth, that Hannah is speaking of seven
symbolically as the number of perfection. You see, that is
She's talking about the completeness of what's been produced for her.
Here, the one who is barren, she hath a perfection. She hath
borne seven. And so it is for all the barren,
that is, those who are brought to understand that we can't produce
anything of any merit whatsoever before God of ourselves. We're
helpless to contribute anything to our salvation. And those who
imagine that they are and that they can and persist therein,
those who imagine, as we all once did, that surely there's
something I can do in order to be saved, well, those who persist
therein in imagining that at least something they can produce
plays a part in their blessedness, they ultimately, as described
by this analogy here of the one with many children, they wax
feeble. They will be proved to be helpless or that will be proved
to be fruitless after all. In verse six, she continues and
says, the Lord kill it and make it alive. He bring it down to
the grave and bring it up. I think that can be considered
again, both in light of our physical as well as our spiritual life.
You had nothing to do. I had nothing to do with the
time of the circumstances of our physical birth. The Scriptures
teaches us that it's appointed unto men once to die, and after
this, the judgment. If we believe this book, this
sovereign God to whom Hannah is praying, as he's described
in this prayer, then you know I won't live one second later
in God's purpose, nor will I die one second earlier. And you know,
to some that may be discomforting, but if we behold God And consider
who he is, as Hannah prayed. What a wonderful thing. If you're
among these to whom God has been revealed, to discover that the
all-wise, infinitely wise God, of whom the Scripture says, it
says that all things work together for good to them that love the
Lord, who are called according to His purpose. Now, boy, why
would I want to decide anything different? I'm like everybody
else. I don't always like my circumstances.
But as we've heard before, and I know it's the truth, that if
I knew what God did, I'd be rejoicing in everything, would I not? You
see, it would all be for my good. Why? Because I know I'm among
those. For He's revealed unto me, Jesus Christ, and how my
salvation is solely based upon what he accomplished at the cross
of Calvary. And so in a spiritual sense here,
that's what happens to God's sheep. The Lord slays them. He
killeth. He slays us by the law. We see
the impossibility of meeting the standard required before
a holy God, and he makes us alive by his Spirit through the very
gospel you're hearing today, the gospel wherein his righteousness
is revealed. And the Spirit's revelation of
God in Christ, that is, based solely upon that righteousness,
is a testimony to us. It's a seal, it's an earnest,
so to speak, to tell us, He's going to bring you up out of
the grave. He lifteth up out of the grave. Christ said, all
that you give me, they're going to come to me. And if you come
to him, if that's where your trust truly is, there's great
news because he said, and I'm going to raise all of them up
at the last day. And that's if you believe God, if you believe
his word, there's no greater assurance that we can have. And
in verse seven, she continues, she said, the Lord make it poor
and make it rich. He bring it low and lift it up. I believe that's another way,
in one sense, of what we see and read in the Scripture, that
God causes it to rain. As far as temporal circumstances
on this earth, he causes it to rain on the just and the unjust. But spiritually speaking, we
have to be made poor in spirit. That is, we have to be made sensible
of our abject poverty, our spiritual bankruptcy. with nothing to offer
before this God that would merit anything. And having been made
so poor in spirit, we discover the untold riches that are in
Christ Jesus. What a turnaround! He makes us
low and He lifts us up. And in verse 8, she continues
in describing this, saying, He raises up the poor out of the
dust. and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, the waste
heap, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the
throne of glory for the pillars of the earth of the Lord's, and
he hath set the world upon them." Those here described who inherit
the throne of glory, they are the ones who have been made poor
in spirit. They are described here as beggars
from the dunghill. God makes His people mercy beggars,
and in that, they discover that they're actually princes. You
see, adopted by the King of kings with an inheritance, nothing
they could earn. He makes them inherit the throne
of glory. And I think you can see here,
when she mentions the throne of glory, there can be no doubt
Hannah's also talking about eternal salvation. And there should be
no doubt that this God, whom she praises here, that He's able. She says, "...for the pillars
of the earth are the Lord's, and He hath set the world upon
them." In the Scripture, the pillars of the earth sometimes
refers to the leaders of governments, the kings, the princes, the presidents,
the prime ministers, even the tyrants of the world. They're
all in God's hand, we're taught by Scripture, and that may be
the case, but here I get the sense more He's speaking of this
very earth, its existence. I can make you princes in Christ
because I'm God, and I can do so consistent with who I am,
this holy God. as a just God and Savior, but
only in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. And he's saying
this fragile earth, holding it in its revolution, sustaining
life itself, it's all in His hand. The pillars of the earth
are His. I think she may be alluding here to that which Paul was preaching
in the first part of that sermon on Mars Hill when he told them,
he says, look, just consider the Creator. You know, how dare
you think it might be some work of your hand, the creature? In
Him we move and live and breathe and have our being. The point
being, we worship a big God. He is God Almighty. In verse
9, that God, who is all-powerful, He's going to keep us. He will
keep the feet of His saints, and the wicked shall be solid
in darkness, for by strength shall no man prevail. You know,
our feet, He keeps the feet of the saints. Our feet propel us
down a pathway. And we start out, we know, on
a way that seems right to us, but it's a way that ends in death,
according to the Scripture. A broad road that leads to destruction,
as Christ described it. And God comes along, and under
the Gospel, for each and every one for whom Christ lived and
died, as a fruit and effect of it, he providentially puts us
under the sound of this glorious message. And he causes us to
believe it by the power of his Spirit. And he puts us in his
way. If that's all of the Lord, why
would we doubt he won't keep us in that way? You know, if
he didn't keep us, we're still sinners. We're all either sinners
who are lost, or we're sinners saved by the grace of God. And
we will be until the day we leave this body of death. If we had our way, if we were
not kept by God, if His Holy Spirit did not continually point
us to Jesus Christ and all our hope and that righteousness We
would inevitably add something to that righteousness, take something
away from it, put something in the place of it. Let there be
no doubt. But the righteousness that he
imputed to all for whom Christ lived and died, that is, he charged
it to their account, that's the same righteousness that's revealed
in the gospel. That's the one, if you trust
in him, you can have confidence you're among those. And this
revelation of God in Christ that is based upon solely on that
satisfaction he rendered at the cross, that unfailing grace,
is an unfailing grace that he purchased at the cross. And that
righteousness then is the one by which we stand before God,
holy, me a sinner, holy, acceptable before a holy God, acceptable
in the Beloved. And that righteousness is called
an everlasting righteousness. My goodness, he is going to keep
the feet of his saints. And the wicked shall be silent
in their darkness. I believe there that he is beginning
to speak of the judgment here. And how ultimately every mouth
shall be stopped as every knee shall bow and confess that he
is Lord. God will be vindicated. And why
will they be silent? I think it is because of the
truth that is prevalent here in these 9, and I think it pervades
really her whole song of praise here. And that's this truth,
by strength shall no man prevail. That is, by man's strength there
shall be no victory. If your salvation is conditioned
on you in any way, to any degree, whatsoever, based upon some requirement
you meet, if that's what makes the difference in whether you
imagine you'll spend an eternity blessed blessed with heaven's
riches are in misery, banished from the presence of God. If
it's based on something found in you, done by you, even if
you think God enabled it, hear the words, by man's strength
shall no man prevail. Verse 10, she says, there's going
to be a judgment. The adversaries of the Lord shall
be broken to pieces. Out of heaven shall he thunder
upon them. The Lord shall judge the ends of the earth, and he
shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his
anointed." There's going to be a judgment to face. And who's
going to win that victory? It's going to be his anointed.
That word anointed there is a word mashiach, and it means Messiah. There's no doubt she's speaking
here of the promised Messiah. Note she began her prayer saying
her horn was exalted in the Lord, and here she ends up speaking
prophetically of how God shall exalt the horn of his anointed
in direct reference here to the earned exaltation of the promised
Messiah when he finished the work, as he wrought out a perfect
satisfaction to God's justice for a people. So we see here
Hannah is speaking of her strength and power as being exalted in
the Lord. That is, raised up in rank or
dignity by the virtue of this eternal deliverance that God
is going to bring through His anointed. And she closes by making
note of the fact that all her exaltation or dignity is in Him. That is, to whom all dignity,
all preeminence shall belong to Christ alone, for he's going
to give him all power and dominion, the Lord Jesus Christ." Well,
I hope you've observed today those three things I mentioned,
that one sovereign God is the source of salvation, of God's
salvation, that it is by pure grace, and that Christ is to
have all the preeminence. That last point, I think of Hannah's
prayer as driven home by Paul's words to the Colossians in chapter
1, when he said, And he is the head of the body, the church,
who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things
he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that
in him should all fullness dwell, and have him made peace through
the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto
himself. By him I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven. And listen, you that
were sometime alienated and enemies, in your mind by wicked works,
these that Hannah described as being lifted up out of the dust,
beggars from the dunghill, yet now hath he reconciled in the
body of his flesh through death to present you, you beggars from
the dunghill, holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight."
Now, how about that? All of his merit, his righteousness put on me, a sinner. Now, that's good news. And like
Hannah, it should cause us to see that our horn is exalted
in the Lord. And so we rejoice in his, thy
salvation. Based solely upon that finished
work at the cross, where Christ receives all the preeminence.