So I'd like to read a few verses
from Luke chapter one, verse 39 through to 45. We spoke before of the announcement
to Mary by the angel Gabriel of the miraculous birth to her
of a child. And we spoke, it's a few weeks
ago now, of Gabriel saying to her, thou shalt conceive in thy
womb and bring forth a son and shalt call his name Jesus. And today we're going to learn
how at once, and we're told with haste, So it may actually be
on the very same day that the angel appeared to Mary. At once
and with haste, Mary left her own house and travelled into
the hill country to the home of her cousin Elizabeth and her
husband Zacharias. And I just wanted to mention
as we sort of go into it to read this passage that that in itself
was a very commendable thing for Mary to do, I believe, because
it shows in practice what had been noted by Gabriel the angel. It demonstrated her faith in
what the angel had said. and it enabled her also for the
benefit of her faith to confirm the sign that had been given
by the angel to Mary of Elizabeth's own pregnancy. Elizabeth was
now six months with child and Mary would stay with her cousin
Elizabeth for three months until just before John was born. So our reading then is from Luke
chapter 1 and verse 39. This is what the Word of God
says. And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill
country with haste into a city of Judah, and entered into the
house of Zacharias, and saluted Elizabeth. And it came to pass
that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe
leapt in her womb, and Mary was filled with the Holy Ghost. And
she spake out with a loud voice, and said, 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
leapt 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. Amen. May the Lord who told her
these things be pleased to bless this word to us. Upon the arrival
of Mary at the home of Elizabeth and Zacharias, we're told that
Mary saluted, or she greeted, Elizabeth. She called out a greeting
to Elizabeth. And what follows, these verses
that follow they seem to be an immediate and spontaneous outpouring
of praise from the Holy Spirit, from Elizabeth on account of
the Holy Spirit. First, Upon hearing Mary's voice,
we're told that the child in Elizabeth's womb leapt for joy
in an unnatural response to Mary's presence. And I think it would
not be wrong for us to remark that John, the unborn child,
the six-month child in Elizabeth's womb, was already fulfilling
his reason for being on earth and his role in pointing men
and women to the Saviour. John, we're told, was filled
with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb. And it may
well be at this time when Mary saluted Elizabeth, and Elizabeth
was filled with the Holy Spirit, that John was filled with the
Holy Ghost as well. We're not told that explicitly,
but it may well be deducible that that is the case. And here
is John immediately acknowledging the coming of the Saviour, even
while in his own mother's womb. And the second thing we notice
here with respect to Elizabeth's own filling by the Holy Ghost
is that she began to praise and to prophesy with a loud voice
at Mary's arrival in her home. And I think this is a very extraordinary
manifestation of the Holy Spirit to bless this first meeting of
these two most privileged women. and it confirmed to them both
the certainty of what had been separately and individually promised
to them by the angel Gabriel. And what I would like to do today
is mention the three comments made by Elizabeth to Mary in
which she speaks of the blessedness that she perceived in that moment. Her repetition of blessed is
what caught my eye as I was thinking about our meeting today. And I want to speak about the
three comments she made in which she speaks of blessedness in
that moment, in the events and in the circumstances that were
unfolding around about her. But just before I do that, let
me also draw your attention to Elizabeth's lovely comment concerning
Mary's identity as the mother of Christ. And just let us remind
ourselves that this woman, Elizabeth, likely had known great disappointment
and perhaps heartache in her state, her personal state of
barrenness, but her inability to have a child, which we learned
from the previous section and Gabriel's discussion with Zacharias. Mary, had likely known great
disappointment in her state of barrenness, but now, sorry, Elizabeth,
Elizabeth had likely known great disappointment in her state of
barrenness, but now she rejoices and revels in the divine plan
of the incarnation of God and the privileges granted to her
by the Lord. And her comment is this. She
says, how is it such notice is taken of me? How is it that such
honour is given to me? that besides being favoured with
a child of my own, how is it that the mother of my Lord should
come to me? And I think that's a beautiful
little phrase there, just in that moment. How is it that the
mother of my Lord should come to me? Elizabeth, if I'm not
mistaken, Elizabeth at this moment knew nothing of Mary's interview
with Gabriel or the revelations given to Mary, except from what the Holy Spirit
had told her. As far as I can see, these things
that are said are said as soon as Mary acknowledges her presence
there in Elizabeth's house. But as John leapt in Elizabeth's
womb, so the Holy Spirit appears to have filled Elizabeth's own
heart and soul with the gift both of knowledge and prophecy. She knew God herself. She knew that God had come down
and entered the womb of her young relative who had now come to
grace her home with her presence. And I say to my own heart, may
I never take for granted that the Lord has visited me in mercy
and in grace. May I never move beyond a sense
of wonder that God's goodness has been shown to me. And may
I always be able to respond to the Lord's approaches with a
sense of amazement and humility. So as if to say with Elizabeth,
Whence is this to me? Whence is this to me? How come
I am so blessed? How is it that the Lord has shown
so much favour to me? So let me just now mention these
three other statements from the lips of Elizabeth that I feel
say so much concerning the wonderful events now being revealed. Elizabeth's words to Mary are
these. Blessed art thou among women. That's the first thing she says.
Blessed art thou amongst women. And I take this to be more than
acknowledging Mary's own happy condition. Elizabeth and all
the Jews knew the messianic promises of a son who would be born to
bruise the serpent's head, a son that would be a prophet like
Moses to be raised up among his brethren, a child who would be
given according to the prophet Isaiah. These and many more prophecies
ensured, I can only imagine, a secret hope in every Jewish
girl that she might be the one supremely blessed to carry the
promised child. And we've spoken before about
how throughout history, Satan tried repeatedly to exterminate
the Jews in order to extinguish the promise of the light that
would someday shine in darkness. And now, by the Holy Spirit's
prompting, Elizabeth was given to know that the time of anticipation
was over, the time of prophecy was fulfilled, that the time
of the coming of God into this world had arrived, and that Mary
was the chosen of God to bear his son. So that truly then,
Mary was blessed, not merely by women, And it is true that
individual women did bless her. Mary said they would, Elizabeth
did. There were other occasions when
we're told that a certain woman spoke and said to the Lord, blessed
are the paps that gave thee suck. And the Lord said, well, blessed
are you because you've heard this gospel preached. That Mary
was blessed not merely by women, but she was blessed among women. because hers was the womb that
would bear the Messiah. He who was long promised and
eagerly sought had arrived. And for that reason, Elizabeth
was able to say, blessed art thou among women. The second
blessed that she quotes is, blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And here again, there is an awareness
of Mary's pregnant state before anything is said to Elizabeth
by Mary. Here again, Elizabeth is ready
with a tribute inspired by the Holy Ghost as to the divine identity
of the child that Mary now carried. She was blessed and he too was
blessed. Mary was blessed and the child
that she carried was blessed. Mary's child was certainly that. He was united with a divine person
who is God over all and blessed forever. So it's no surprise
that the Holy Spirit would prompt Elizabeth by prophetic revelation
to acknowledge the blessedness of the child now in Mary's womb. Mary's son had all spiritual
blessings in him. All spiritual blessings were
in this child that Mary was carrying. By him, all nations of the earth
were to be blessed. Again, that was a prophetic utterance
from Isaiah. By his presence in the world,
by his death on the cross, and there would be many, many from
all the nations of the earth who would be brought into union
with him. so that Christ is blessed in
himself and he is the source of all blessing to others. And I think it's lovely to hear
Elizabeth speak such things. But here too, there's an application
for us that this knowledge emanated from her being filled with the
Holy Ghost. And the Holy Ghost told Elizabeth,
and Elizabeth tells Mary, and thereby tells you and me, tells
us, that all the promises of God's grace, his mercy, and his
glory for the church, originate in the blessedness of Christ
the Lord. and how the fruit of this woman's
womb is nevertheless the mighty God by whom salvation comes to
us all. The means and the channel of
every good and perfect gift coming down from heaven to God's elect
is the Lord Jesus Christ. And the union of God with man
in the flesh is that mystery of godliness that will generate
infinite wonder for all eternity to the worshipping church of
the redeemed in heaven. So We're told that Mary was blessed
among women. We're told that blessed was the
fruit of her womb. And the third thing that is said
is, blessed is she that believed. And I think that this is interesting
too. Elizabeth's husband at this very
moment was dumb and unable to speak. Zacharias was still suffering
the effect of his failure to believe the angel in a matter
which was less wonderful. than the coming and birth of
the God-man. Less wonderful in the sense that
there had been other examples in the history of Israel, for
example, Isaac, for example, that given to Manoah and his
wife concerning Samson, where an angel had conveyed these things
to a man and a woman. And Zacharias was being asked
to believe something that had been repeated several times,
or had occurred several times in the history of Israel. Not
so Mary. And so we see the distinction
that is made here, even in Elizabeth's own mind, of the blessedness
that was given to Mary in her faith. Mary's trust was a blessing
in itself from the Lord and Elizabeth, informed again no doubt by the
Holy Spirit, honours the presence of faith in her young relative. And I think that we may take
Elizabeth's blessing yet further For every man and woman and boy
and girl who has faith is blessed of God. Every single one of us
who has faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is blessed of God. Faith is God's gift to his elect
and it's the evidence of his electing love, his saving grace
and his redeeming mercy. God's grace is the source of
every blessing given to mankind. Otherwise, we deserve nothing
but judgment and condemnation. And thereafter, God's gift of
faith is the appropriating means, that's what it's sometimes called.
It's the means That faith that is given to us is the means by
which we are able to see and understand and experience and
lay hold upon all the blessings of God's goodness and love that
we receive and enjoy in our spirits. Our peace and joy in this world,
our comfort, even in anticipating our own death and entering into
eternity, is the product of faith. And we are a blessed people indeed
who possess the faith of Jesus Christ and faith in Jesus Christ
as the free gift of God. The close of Elizabeth's statement
following Mary's arrival in her home was a fine point for John's
mother to end upon. I think I'm right in saying that
these are the last words that we ever hear Elizabeth speaking.
Be that as it may, she says, there shall be a performance
of those things which were told her from the Lord. Those things,
says the Holy Spirit through Elizabeth, those things concerning
Christ and whose son he is, those things concerning Christ and
his salvation, those things concerning Christ and his everlasting kingdom
and the greatness of his throne, those things that were told to
Mary by the angel Gabriel, the Holy Spirit tells Elizabeth that
there shall be a performance of those things which were told
her from the Lord. They will be done. They shall
be, and they shall be seen to be. So we're going to end on
this note as well. Whatever our God has said will
be. it will most certainly come to
pass, and he will do his good pleasure. And whether we look
at what was initiated by the birth of the God-man, or accomplished
at the cross by our substitute, or promised to us in his continuing
presence with his church and his people throughout all the
time of our earthly pilgrimage here, or whether we look at what
is yet still laid up for us in heaven amongst the many mansions,
there shall be a performance of those things which were told
us from the Lord. And what a blessing to comfort
God's elect. Mary was blessed among women
because she carried in her womb the blessed Son of God. She was
blessed furthermore to have faith. And you too, who believe, are
blessed amongst all men and women in this world, for you carry
in your heart the blessed Son of God. and you too are blessed
to have saving faith in the one who has done all things well
and who will yet perform all those things which were told
us from the Lord. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us. Amen. Amen. Thank you.