Elizabeth Prophesies
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Luke 1:39-45
Luke 1:39-45
39 Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, 40 and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. 45 Blessed is she who [a]believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”
Today we’re looking at this wonderful conversation between Mary and Elizabeth recorded in Luke 1. We’ll be looking at the first portion of this conversation, in which Elizabeth, under the power of the Holy Spirit delivers a powerful prohecy over Mary and the pre-natal Christ.
Instead of two ordinary village women, we see before us two prophetesses and poetesses, upon whom the Spirit of God abundantly rested - Spurgeon
The scripture records that ‘in those days’ Mary arose and went to Judah in haste to visit her relative Elizabeth. In which days? In the days immediately following her visit from the angel Gabriel.
Gabriel had told her about Elizabeth’s miraculous pregnancy and now she too was pregnant, she would have been desperate to talk with someone about what had happened, but who else could she speak to besides Elizabeth? Who would understand besides her?
So she makes the journey down to Judea almost immediately to visit her. This would not have been easy, it would not have been convenient, it wouldn’t have been safe. It’s roughly a 50-70 mile journey from Nazareth to the hill country of Judea, through some pretty intense terrain, not easy for a young, pregnant girl. But she did it, and I doubt she gave a moments thought to the difficulty of the journey, such was her excitement to see Elizabeth!
This is a picture for us here of the beauty of Christian fellowship, of sharing the mountain tops and valleys, our testimonies and our trials with those who understand; the Church.
The words of an old divine are deep and true: “Happiness communicated doubles itself. Grief grows greater by concealing: joy by expression.”
We must invest in our relationships in the church, they are a means of grace to us, God has put us here for one another’s blessing. These relationships don’t form by magic though, forming relationships in church isn’t always convenient, or easy, sometimes they take work, sometimes they take a bit of time to hit their stride but they are worth it. We have to be like Mary and cross country for one another, put a high value on friendships within the church.
We should always regard communion with other believers as an eminent means of grace. - JC Ryle
Mary arrives and greets Elizabeth, and as Elizabeth hears the greeting we’re told that the clump of cells in her womb moved.... Err no, we’re told that the baby leapt for joy in her womb.
eskirtēse. It is the same word that is used by the Septuagint (Gen. 25:22) for the struggling of Jacob and Esau in Rebecca’s womb, and the mountains skipping, Ps. 114:4
4 The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs.
Clumps of cells don’t leap for joy, ‘pregnancies’ don’t leap for joy, people leap for joy. This is the only argument you’ll ever need against abortion, when God speaks let men be silent, life in the womb is sacred, it is precious it is to be protected. As Christians we are called to love our neighbours, and who is your neighbour? Your fellow human being is your neighbour, whether in the womb or outside of it.
15 for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.
Again, clumps of cells are not filled with the Holy Spirit, people are filled with the Holy Spirit. John was filled with the Holy Spirit even in the womb.
No one is too young to encounter the Holy Spirit!
John leaps for joy at the presence of His Lord, he can’t see him yet or touch him but Christ’s presence causes him joy. The presence of Jesus always results in joy for His people - Though we don’t see him with our natural eyes like John, though we can’t touch him like Thomas did, we do have His presence through the Holy Spirit, and in His presence there is fulness of joy!
Elizabeth was then immediately filled with the Spirit, and another manifestation of the Spirit is prophecy.
She begins to prophesy over Mary and Jesus in a loud voice:
“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. 45 Blessed is she who [a]believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”
Blessed are you - Blessed is the fruit of your womb. The Greek word for blessed here is εὐλογημένη - interestingly it’s the word used in the Greek Old Testament scriptures for the Hebrew word - Barach - To bless.
The basic meaning of the verb bārak conveys the idea of declaring or enacting beneficial circumstances upon the person or object to whom the blessing is directed. It can refer to God blessing something inanimate, like the seventh day in Exod 20:11. More frequently, it refers to God blessing a person or people, as in Num 6:24. - Lexham Theological Wordbook
Now the blessing of God is a powerful thing. We can say to one another, I bless you, but in reality we don’t have the power or means in and of ourselves to make sure that person actually is blessed, but God does. When God blesses you, you really are blessed, and no one can take that blessing from you, no one can turn that blessing into a curse.
7 And Balaam took up his discourse and said,
“From Aram Balak has brought me,
the king of Moab from the eastern mountains:
‘Come, curse Jacob for me,
and come, denounce Israel!’
8 How can I curse whom God has not cursed?
How can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced?
20 Lo, to bless I have received: Yea, He blesseth, and I cannot reverse it.
Ah yes, you say but what about Esau who sold his blessing for some stew, and what about the people of Israel and Judah, they were blessed but they ended up in captivity in Babylon and Assyria!
It’s true that the blessings of God upon the Israelites were dependent upon their obedience to God. Every promise of blessing, prosperity, wellbeing had a relative curse should they rebel against God.
So who can walk unfailingly under the blessing of God? The only person who can live and remain under the full blessing of God is one who can live in perfect obedience to His law. And that certain person, the second person of the trinity having taken on flesh is the ‘fruit of Mary’s womb’, it’s on account of Him that she is blessed. And her blessing is in and through Him.
A Christian is someone who is IN CHRIST. Now If you are in Chist and Christ is in you, you are blessed just as He is blessed, fully and irrevocably. You can know that you’re blessed, you can be confident that you’re walking in God’s blessing if you are in Christ, because it’s His obedience that procured it, not your own.
“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.”
Ephesians 1:3 NLT
Elizabeth is clearly greatly honoured by the visit of Mary, despite her being the more senior woman she sees it as her privilege to receive her into her home:
Those that are filled with the Holy Ghost have low thoughts of their own merits, and high thoughts of God’s favours. - Spurgeon
Blessed is she who believed! The truth is, had Mary simply received Christ in her womb but not received Him as Lord in her heart we couldn’t truly say that she was blessed, but we know that she was a woman of faith, a believer of God’s word.
Believing souls are blessed souls, and will be found so at last; this blessedness cometh through faith, even the blessedness of being related to Christ, and having him formed in the soul. They are blessed who believe the word of God, for that Word will not fail them; there shall, without doubt, be a performance of those things which are told her from the Lord.
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.