Luke 01.46-55
What we have seen so far is that Dr. Luke, probably one of
the first church historians records for us the about John’s parents and their
miracle birth announcement. Then we saw the angel Gabriel appearing to Mary
telling her that she is going to be the one whom God chose to birth the long
awaited Messiah.
What we will be studying this
morning is the response of Mary through praise and worship for all that God had
done for her, and that she was going to be the mother of the Messiah. This
passage is often called “The Magnificat”, from the first word in the Latin Vulgate,
“magnify” or “exalt” (Luke 01.46). I want you to notice though as we
study this passage is that she magnifies (or exalts) the Lord, contrary to the
false teaching of the Roman Catholic Church that magnifies her as the Mediatrix
(meditator) and Co-Redemptrix (co-redeemer)!
Here in Luke 01.46-55, what we see is a Biblically
based, offering of praise to the Lord by Mary. This song is almost consisted
entirely of Old Testament allusions and quotations. Mary was probably about
twelve or thirteen years old, and like most people at that time, didn’t own a
personal copy of the Scriptures. Yet she was more familiar with the Word of God
than most of us today, and we have access to the Scriptures unlike any other
time in history! She obviously was taught the Word of God, and what she was
taught sunk down deep into her heart so that when she opened her mouth here in
this section, she broke forth in worshipful praise.
In our study this morning we
will see that Mary glorifies God in response to what He has done for her (01. Personal Praise (Luke 01.46-49)). Mary glorifies God because of
His mercy (02. Praise for the Mercy of God (Luke 01.50)). Mary glorifies God because of what
He has done in the past (03. Praise for What God Has Done in the Past (Luke 01.51-55)).
Mary’s response to God here in Luke 01.46-55 is similar to
Hannah’s prayer in 1Samuel 02.01-10 after she gave Samuel to Eli
the priest to serve in the Tabernacle.
01. Personal Praise (Luke 01.46-49)
The Greek word for “exalts” here in Luke 01.46 is (G3170) megalunw megaluno meg-al-oo’-no and it means to magnify, to
declare something or someone great, to esteem highly, to praise and glorify. Mary
says that her soul glorifies, magnifies, and declares that the Lord is great. This
seems to echo what David said in Psalm 34.02-03 after the LORD rescued him from
the king of Gath while he pretended to be crazy (1Samuel 21.10-15).
Then she says in the next verse
that her “spirit
has rejoiced in God my Savior.” (Luke 01.47).
Mary then says that she had
exceeding joy or “rejoiced” (G21. agalliaw agalliao ag-al-lee-ah’-o)
in God, acknowledging that He is her Savior. Thus also saying that she too is a
sinner and in need of a Savior, again in direct contradiction to the false
teaching espoused by the Roman Catholic Church stating that she was without sin
(the Immaculate Conception of Mary).
True worship and praise cannot be staged; it must be
heartfelt, God-centered not self-centered, mental not just emotional, and it
seeks to honor Him and not manipulate Him. Mary breaks forth in praising and
glorifying God as a response to Him choosing her to be the mother of the
Messiah (Luke
01.30-35). Breaking out in praise is not uncommon in the Bible. We
see that David said his soul would rejoice in the LORD and exult or rejoice in
His salvation in Psalm 35.09.
The prophet Habakkuk realized that
inner peace does not depend on outward prosperity, and that he would rejoice in
the LORD no matter what and that the LORD was his unfailing strength in Habakkuk
03.17-19.
Paul says that since we who were once godless sinners have
now been redeemed and reconciled to Him through the work of Jesus on the cross
dying for our sins and then raising from the dead on the third day, we should
rejoice in Him (Romans
05.11). Paul never told the church at Philippi to be happy, but
instead to rejoice in the Lord (Philippians 04.04), and he lived it out,
writing this letter from prison.
Peter wrote that despite our various trials that we go
through, we are to rejoice, and we are to rejoice because God delivered us from
the curse of sin by the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus (1Peter 01.03-07).
The focus for the believer is to be on the Christ, even if we have never seen
Him (John 20.29;
1Peter 01.08).
Another point to notice here in this statement (Luke 01.47)
is that Mary here claims that she needed a Saviour!
Notice that Mary mentions that God (G2316. yeov
theos) is her Savior. The Greek word for Savior that is used here is (G4990) swthr soter so-tare’ and it means a
deliverer, for example God or Christ.
God being the Savior is found
throughout the Old Testament (2Samuel 22.03; Psalm 17.07; Psalm 106.21;
Isaiah 12.02;
Isaiah 43.03;
Isaiah 43.11;
Isaiah 45.15;
Isaiah 45.21;
Isaiah 49.26; Isaiah 60.16;
Hosea 13.04).
Paul referred to God as Savior in the Pastoral
Epistles six times (1Timothy 01.01; 1Timothy 02.03; 1Timothy 04.10; Titus 01.03; Titus 02.10; Titus 02.13; Titus 03.04). Jude
said that God was the Savior in Jude 01.25. Peter
said that Jesus was both God and Savior in 2Peter 01.01. God the Father,
God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit are One, the Trinity or TriUnity (Matthew 28.19-20;
John 10.30;
John 14.26;
John 15.26;
John 16.07;
John 17.22;
2Corinthians
13.14; Ephesians 02.13-18; 1John 05.04-07; Revelation
01.04-06).
Luke 01.48 (Luke 01.38)
We see the true humility of Mary here, as she expresses her wonder and
amazement that God would choose to bless her by making her the mother bearing
the Messiah. She was from a small, insignificant town that was looked down upon
by many Israelites (John 01.46). Mary is only mentioned once
outside of the Gospels (Acts 01.14)
as just one of many in the upper room praying.
Mary in her amazement echo’s what Hannah said in 1Samuel 01.11
and 1Samuel
01.18 (see also Psalm 136.23). Hannah the mother of Samuel
referred to herself as a “maidservant” in both verses. The Greek
Septuagint used the same Greek word for “maidservant” in 1Samuel 01.11 and 1Samuel 01.18 (G1399
doulh) that is used
here for “bondslave”
in Luke 01.48.
Both of these women also were willing to submit like a slave (“maidservant”)
to the purposes of God.
In her prayer after bringing Samuel to the Tabernacle to
fulfill her vow (1Samuel 01.01-28), Hannah acknowledged that it is the LORD
who humbles and exalts people (1Samuel 02.01-10). Throughout
the Scriptures we see where this is acknowledged, that God cares for those who
are low in the eyes of society. The Psalmist says that God hears the prayers of the destitute (Psalm 102.01-28). God raises the poor from the dust (Psalm 113.01-09). The
LORD doesn’t forget about those who are low in the eyes of society, there is no
limit to His loving kindness (Psalm 136.23)! David
praised the LORD for His loyal love and goodness (Psalm 138.06).
Paul told the church at Corinth
that God turns the standards of the world upside down, and that He calls those
who are the ordinary overlooked foolish of this world so that no one can boast
(1Corinthians
01.26-29). In 1Corinthians 01.27 the Greek
word that is translated as “foolish” is (G3474)
mwrov moros mo-ros’. It speaks of someone who is imprudent, without
forethought or wisdom, producing no moral fruit. It is where we get the word
for “moron”.
James tells us that we are not to
show favoritism because God does not choose how the world chooses (James 02.01-13).
Luke 01.48 “48 “…For
behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed.”
Her Mary seems to echo the words of Leah in Genesis 30.13
after Leah’s maid Zilpah bore Jacob a second son
named Asher. This is not at all a verse to condone the false teaching
and practice of calling Mary “The Blessed Virgin” etc.
She is the blessed of women because God chose her to bear
the Messiah. She is not blessed because of something that she did.
Luke 01.49 “49 “For the
Mighty One has done great things for me…”
Mary here seems to be echoing the Psalmist in Psalm 126.03.
She calls God the “Mighty One”, which is from the Greek (G1415) dunatov dunatos doo-nat-os’, which means (from Thayer) the
preeminently mighty one, almighty God. The Hebrew
name for “Mighty
One” is El Shaddai ydv la (H410 H7706 God Almighty)
because He provides protection and He is the all-sufficient One!
The first time that
we see this name in the Bible is in Genesis 17.01, when THE LORD appeared to a
ninety-nine year old Abram (high father) and told him, “I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless.”
The LORD then went on to establish the Covenant of Circumcision with Abram and
his descendants, and changed his name to Abraham (father of a multitude).
When Mary says “…And holy is His name.” (Luke 01.49) she could be referring
to Psalm
99.03, Psalm 111.09 or even Isaiah 57.15. In the Jewish
mind, a person’s name represented their character. That is why in some cases
throughout the Bible you can learn a lot about a person’s character by the
meaning of their name (Proverbs 22.01).
For example, the name Jacob means “heel-catcher” or
“deceiver”. When you read about Jacob, you often see him deceiving and scheming
his way through life (Genesis 25.24-26; Genesis 25.29-34; Genesis 27.01-29; Genesis 30.32-43; Genesis 31.01-55; Genesis 37.03-04).
To state that the name of God is holy is to say that God is free from sin,
unrighteousness and impurity.
The
proper, holy name of God is YHWH (hwhy-known as the Tetragrammaton, Exodus 03.14), or LORD in most Bibles. No one knows for sure
how to pronounce it, since they stopped saying it, with the lone exception
being the High Priest when He entered the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur, the Day
of Atonement. Once the Temple was destroyed in 70ad,
the correct pronunciation was lost.
So holy did the scribes of the Israelites regard the Name of
God, that when they came across this name as they copied the Old Testament,
they would stop, take off their clothes, take a complete bath, put on clean
clothes, and then, taking a pen that had never been used before, would then
write the name.
Today, the Orthodox Jews substitute the
Tetragrammaton (YHWH) with the Hebrew name “Adonai” which means “My Lord and
Master”. Many Orthodox Jews today will never use “Adonai” except when they are
praying. Any other time they will use “HaShem” which means “The Name”, out of
fear of the potential misuse of the Divine Name of God and breaking the third
Commandment (Exodus 20.07).
We have recorded for us in the Book of
Leviticus about a man who blasphemed the Name of God (Leviticus 24.11)
and was stoned (Leviticus
24.14-16) for his transgression.
Today when writing in English, they often write out the Name
of God as “G-d”.
In 1520ad, Peter Galatin, the confessor of Pope Leo X, invented the
name “Jehovah” by interjecting the vowels of Adonai (a-o-a) between the
consonants YHWH. This produced the word “YaHoWaH”, which was then later
pronounced as “Jehovah.” This name, contrived through human reasoning, has no
biblical basis, however many religious groups (Jehovah’s Witness, Mormons)
continue to use the form Jehovah because it is familiar.
The name “Yah” is composed of the first two letters of YHWH,
and is used four times in the New King James Bible (Psalm 68.04; Isaiah 12.02;
Isaiah 26.04;
Isaiah 38.11).
The name “Yah” appears often in Hebrew names such as Elijah, Zechariah or in
the word Hallelujah. The Rastafarian “Jah”
is derived from this as well.
The One whose name is holy, the One who lowered Himself to
become man (Philippians
02.05-11) is going to be the object of our worship throughout
eternity (Revelation
05.09; Revelation 15.04). He alone is holy (Leviticus
11.44-45; Isaiah 06.03; 1Peter 01.16; Revelation
04.08)!
02. Praise for the Mercy of God (Luke 01.50)
Mary here seems to be quoting David from Psalm 103.17-18.
Throughout time God has given His mercy to His people (Genesis 17.07; Exodus 20.06; Exodus 33.19;
Exodus
34.06-07; Psalm 31.19; Psalm 85.09; Psalm 103.11; Psalm 115.13; Psalm 118.04; Psalm 145.19; Psalm 147.11; Isaiah 63.09;
Jeremiah
31.20; Jeremiah 33.26; Ezekiel 39.25; Hosea 14.03;
Habakkuk
03.02; Malachi 03.16-18; Matthew 05.07; Matthew 09.27; Matthew 20.30-34; Mark 05.19;
Mark
10.47-52; Luke 17.12-19; Luke 18.35-43; Romans 09.15-23;
Romans
11.30-32; Romans 12.08; Romans 15.09; Ephesians
02.04-10; Philippians 02.27; 1Timothy 01.02; 1Timothy
01.13-16; 2Timothy 01.02; Titus 03.05; Hebrews 04.16;
James 05.11;
1Peter 01.03;
1Peter 02.10;
2John 01.03;
Jude 01.21).
But no where in all of history do we see God’s mercy more
prominently displayed then when He sent His Son to be a man, taking on human
flesh, living and then dying for our sins, was buried (Genesis 03.15; Psalm 22.01-31;
Psalm
69.01-36; Isaiah 50.06; Isaiah 53.01-12; Daniel 09.24-26;
Zechariah
13.07; Matthew 27.11-66; Mark 15.01-47; Luke 23.01-56;
Luke 24.25-27;
John 03.16;
John
18.01-19.42; Acts 03.18; Acts 17.03; Acts 26.22-23; 1Corinthians
15.03; Philippians 02.05-08; 1Peter 01.11; 1Peter 02.24),
raising from the dead on the third day (Matthew 28.01-10; Mark 16.01-13; Luke 24.01-12;
Luke 24.46;
John 03.16;
John
20.01-29; Acts 17.03; Acts 26.22-23; 1Corinthians
15.04; 1Peter 01.03; 1Peter 01.11; 1Peter 02.24),
conquering sin and the grave so that we can inherit eternal life!
03. Praise for What God Has Done in the Past (Luke 01.51-55)
Mary recounts some of the “mighty deeds” (Luke 01.51)
that God has done for the children of Israel (Psalm 89.11-18). Mary mentions
that God “…has
scattered those who were proud in the
thoughts of their heart. “52 “He has brought down rulers from their thrones, And has exalted those who
were humble.”” (Luke 01.51-52).
She could’ve been referring to the pride of Pharaoh (Exodus 05.02;
Exodus 10.07).
Mary could’ve been thinking of Nebuchadnezzar and his pride (Daniel 05.20).
Or she could’ve been thinking about any of the numerous kings that ruled over
Israel, both foreign and domestic that were filled with pride and were brought
low. Solomon wrote that
“Pride goes
before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling.” (Proverbs 16.18)
Peter wrote to remind us that we
are to clothe ourselves with humility (1Peter 05.05).
Luke 01.53 Mary
acknowledges that in His mercy and grace, He takes care of His own when they
are in need. Here she could be referring to the prayer of Hannah again (1Samuel 02.05),
as well as to Psalm
34.10 and Psalm 107.08-09.
Luke 01.54 Mary
obviously knew the history of her people, knowing that God in His mercy has
helped the nation of Israel countless times (Psalm 98.03)!
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