Rejoicing in the 5-Day Old Messiah

July 30, 2023 – Luke 1:39-56 – Rejoicing in the 5-Day Old Messiah

Our sermon text opens by telling us that after Mary had received the news from Gabriel that she was going to give birth to the Messiah, she immediately went to visit Elizabeth. Look at verse 39, “Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste.”

We can deduce from this that Elizabeth did not know Mary was pregnant until Mary came to visit her. The timeline doesn’t allow for Elizabeth to know. (1) Gabriel visited Mary in Nazareth, (2) he told her she was going to conceive a child by the power of the Holy Spirit, and (3) then Mary went with haste to Elizabeth’s house. There was no means of communication in those days that Mary could’ve used to send a message to Elizabeth ahead of her arrival. Nor would Elizabeth had expected Mary to be pregnant, because she wasn’t married yet. So we have to conclude that Elizabeth had no idea that Mary was pregnant.

This is an important point because it helps us better understand Elizabeth’s interaction with Mary when she shows up at her home. Verses 40 and 41 tell us that when Mary entered the house and Elizabeth heard her voice, the baby leaped in Elizabeth’s womb. This is not an insignificant detail. This wasn’t just the normal “kicking” of a baby. Elizabeth had felt John move before. At six months of pregnancy, Elizabeth knew what the normal activity of her child felt like. This was different. She says in verse 44 that she felt the babe in her womb leap for joy.

Notice the emotion Elizabeth is attributing to her child. Even though baby John was six months old, counting from the time of his conception, he’s experiencing emotions. And he’s expressing his emotions; he’s expressing his joy by leaping within the womb. This reminds me of the lame man in Act 3 who was healed through the ministry of Peter and John. The man was so filled with joy that he began walking and leaping and praising God. This is similar to what Elizabeth described John to be doing; he was leaping for joy, only he was leaping while still in his mother’s womb. Much later in his life, when John was baptizing in the Jordan River, he spoke about the joy he has in Christ Jesus. In John 3:29, he said to his disciples…

…the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled.

John first began to experience the joy of being the friend of the bridegroom while he was still in his mother’s womb. And then, some thirty years later, as Jesus was beginning His public ministry, John says that his joy is now fulfilled. Why? Because he has heard the voice of the bridegroom. In other words, the Messiah has begun to manifest Himself to the world. John’s job as a forerunner to the Messiah is now complete. Now that the Messiah has begun to manifest Himself to the world, John’s work is finished. So he says, “This joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.”

So when Elizabeth tells of John leaping for joy within her womb, we need to understand this as John’s first proclamation of the Messiah. The tiny prophet was prophesying. “How so,” you ask? I made the statement a couple minutes ago that there was no way Elizabeth could have known that Mary was pregnant until Mary showed up at her house. The timeline just doesn’t allow for her to know. Yet, you’ll notice from our sermon text that Mary never told Elizabeth she was pregnant. A careful reading of verses 41 and 42 leads us to the profound conclusion that it was John’s leaping, followed by the Holy Spirit coming upon Elizabeth, that caused her to know that Mary was pregnant. That’s how Elizabeth was able to respond to Mary’s greeting by immediately pronouncing a blessing upon her and the fruit of her womb. Look at verses 41 and 42…

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!

Proclaiming the Messiah is what John had been commissioned by God to do, right? If you remember, Gabriel said in Luke 1:15 that John will “be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.” So John is not only regenerate while in his mother’s womb, but he’s also empowered with the Spirit to begin the work of his calling, which is to proclaim the Messiah to the world. In this case, John is proclaiming the Messiah to Elizabeth.

Don’t miss the pro-life implications of what we’re reading. If you’re looking for a passage that teaches the sanctity of unborn human life, this is a powerful one. John had been conceived only six months earlier, yet (1) he was already regenerate; (2) he was already serving the Lord by prophesying in accordance with his calling, and (3) he was doing this with heartfelt human emotion; he was expressing his joy in Jesus Christ. So what does this teach us about the personhood of the child within the womb? If the Lord is pleased to give His Spirit to a child in the womb, then what does this teach us about the sanctity of unborn life? And if unborn children are able to express their emotions in ways that can be understood by other people, then what does this teach us about the sentience of those children; of their consciousness, their self-awareness, their ability to feel and perceive the varied conditions of their environment, and their ability to express those feelings in discernible ways?

But there’s more. Don’t overlook one of Scripture’s most profound declarations of the sanctity of life. The fact that John was able to the person of Jesus when He entered the home teaches us something about the personhood of children at the very earliest stages of pregnancy. From the timeline given to us by Luke, Jesus was only days old when John recognized Him. Remember, Mary left Nazareth right after Gabriel told her she’s going to bear a child. It would’ve taken her about four or five days to travel from her home in Nazareth to Elizabeth’s home in the hill country of Judah, so Jesus was less than a week old when John recognized Him. Yet, John recognized Him.

What does this teach us about the personhood of a newly conceived child? And what does this teach us about the sanctify of that child’s life? I’ll tell you what it teaches us. It teaches us that a child is a person from the moment of his or her conception. It teaches us that every child is a living human being, and possesses an eternal soul, from the moment of conception. From the moment of conception, every child is being fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of the Creator. The fact that God has not completed the “knitting” of this person in his or her mother’s womb does not mean that the child is not a human person from the very beginning.

Do you know what happens during the first week of pregnancy? In the normal course of procreation, a single-cell zygote is formed when an egg cell and sperm cell come together through fertilization. Not only does the zygote have proteins and enzymes that are specific to humans, but it also has 46 chromosomes, which is the number that’s specific to the human species. This is a human being, brothers and sisters. The zygote is the creation of a new person; it’s God creating a new human life, which includes the soul. This is when the soul of the new person is joined with his or her body, which at this stage is just a single cell.

Jesus, of course, was not conceived through the normal course of procreation. As our sermon text informed us last Sunday, Jesus was miraculously conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. But understand that the miracle was in the conception. Which is to say, the miracle was that a zygote was formed inside of Mary when the Holy Spirit performed His work in her. But from that point forward, I think it’s safe to say that the child Mary was carrying followed the normal course of development. Just as Jesus grew in stature as a young boy, so He developed as a baby inside Mary’s womb.

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On the first or second day of the pregnancy, cellular division begins. First the zygote splits into two cells, then four cells, then eight cells. By the fourth of fifth day of pregnancy, the child now has 60 or more cells. By the fifth or sixth day, as cellular division continues, a bubblelike structure forms around the cells. This cavity becomes filled with fluid and it’ll implant itself on the uterine lining in another day or two.

This, brothers and sisters, is what Jesus looked like when John the Baptist recognized Him as the Messiah. It’s didn’t even matter that Jesus wasn’t implanted in Mary’s uterus yet, receiving maternal nourishment from her. It didn’t matter that Jesus didn’t have a discernible heartbeat yet. It didn’t matter that Jesus didn’t have ten fingers and ten toes yet. John recognized that the “blastocyst” Mary was carrying is the living person the world has been waiting 4,000 years for.

We must conclude, therefore, that from the very moment of conception, a living person has come into existence. And we must conclude that this living person has an eternal soul. And we must conclude that this living person with an eternal soul is sacred because he or she bears the image of God. The Declaration of Independence speaks about “inalienable rights.” These are rights which cannot be transferred or taken away. One of the inalienable rights the Declaration of Independence mentions is the right to life.

Because the Scripture teach us that a human person with an eternal soul who bears the image of God is created at the moment of conception, that person possesses the inalienable right to life. And this is not because the Declaration of Independence says so, but because God says so. The Declaration of Independence is simply recognizing what is self-evident in this world. It’s self-evident because God has plainly revealed, both through special revelation and general revelation, that people have the inalienable right to life. A this includes unborn people.

So this is not something that civil government can confer upon people. Nor is something that the civil government can withhold from people. The role of the civil government is to recognize and uphold the rights that have been endowed upon people by their Creator. Any public official who cannot do this is not fit to govern. They’re not fit to govern a nation, they’re not fit to govern a state, or a county, or a city, or even a bingo club. This is because they’re deceived. Seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand because their hearts have grown dull and they’re in rebellion to God.

Dear friends, our civil government has blood on its hands. We’ve murdered millions and millions of unborn people in the past 50 years. This is not an issue Christians can be silent about. Nor is it an issue we can leave for others to fight. We must not passively stand on the sidelines while unborn children are being murdered. If you look back at all the atrocities that have been committed in history, you’ll often notice that a majority of the people were passively silent while those atrocities were happening. And then we read about the brave minority that took a stand and fought valiantly against the evil that was being committed. Some of you might think to yourself, “If I was alive back then, I would’ve been one of the people fighting against the evil. I would’ve defended those who were being oppressed.” Maybe that’s true. Maybe you would. But the way you’ll answer this question is not by making a declaration with your mouth; the way you’ll answer this question is to assess what you’re doing today to fight against the atrocity of abortion. What are you doing today to defend the unborn? When the history books are written about our time, where will you fit in. Will you be amongst the silent majority that passively stood on the sidelines? Or will you be amongst the brave minority that fought against evil?

Coming back to the manner in which Elizabeth discovered that Mary was pregnant, I call your attention to the chronology in verses 41-43. (1) First, John leaps in her womb. (2) Second, she’s filled with the Holy Spirit. (3) Third, she proclaims a blessing upon Mary and Jesus. And (4) fourth, if there was any doubt about whether Elizabeth understood who the Baby was in Mary’s womb, she refers to Jesus as “her Lord” in verse 43. Here we see something about the nature of prophesy. When John alerted Elizabeth that something special was happening, she was able to understand what John was communicating because it pleased the Lord to send the Spirit to her. Verse 43 says that she was filled with the Holy Spirit, so it’s the Spirit who ultimately gave her understanding.

It’s no different when you and I speak the speak the truth of God to people. Unless the people you’re speaking to are filled with the Holy Spirit, they won’t understand the truth you’re declaring. This is because “the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God,” and He reveals them to us so “that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.” That’s what it says in 1 Corinthians 2:12. And 1 Corinthians 2:14 goes on to say that “the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” So you can talk to the natural man until you’re blue in the face, and he will never understand the truths you’re trying to convey. But speak the same words to a Christian—somebody who’s filled with the Holy Spirit—and they’re rejoice in the truth you’re speaking. They’re receive the truth as something that has been freely given to them by God and they rejoice in it.

Elizabeth understood what John was saying, and she joined him in rejoicing in the Messiah. Notice how much the Holy Spirit revealed to Elizabeth. Not only did she know that Mary was pregnant, but she evidently knew something about the nature of the pregnancy. Notice that she doesn’t say to Mary, “Oh, no! What have you done, Mary? You’re not even married. Who’s the father? Does Joseph know about this? Do your parents know about this?” No, the Holy Spirit communicated much to Elizabeth about Mary’s pregnancy, so she immediately joined with John in rejoicing in the presence of the Messiah. She said in verse 43, “But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”

Notice that Elizabeth shows no sign of jealousy. In genuine love and humility, she declares her amazement that she has the honor of being visited by the mother of her Lord. And then Elizabeth blesses Mary because she believed what had been promised her without hesitation. Look at verse 45, “Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”

Elizabeth was not venerating Mary, of course. This is not what the Roman Catholic Church makes it out to be. Rather, Elizabeth is simply blessing Mary for her faith. Mary was a woman who took God at his word, so Elizabeth said, “Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.” You have to wonder whether Zacharias was in earshot when Elizabeth spoke about the blessing of believing. If so, then the blessing Elizabeth spoke to Mary would have probably sounded like a rebuke to Zacharias. If you recall, he also heard a word from the Lord, but he didn’t immediately believe that God would really fulfill His promise.

So Luke is using these two women as exemplary models of faith. All of us, when we read or hear the truth of Jesus Christ, should respond as Mary and Elizabeth did. And we should respond as John did. We should trust Christ Jesus as our Savior and we should rejoice in Him. In fact, we have even more reasons than John and Elizabeth had for rejoicing Jesus. They rejoiced over His conception, but we rejoice in His conception, His life, His crucifixion, His resurrection, and His present reign as King of kings and Lord of lords.

Mary responds to all of this with a song. We might say that this is her hymn of faith, because this is how chooses to praise the Lord. And what some of you may have noticed is that Mary’s hymn of faith is a lot like Hannah’s hymn of faith. If you’re not familiar with Hannah, she’s a woman in the Old Testament who was grieved that she couldn’t have children, so she prayed earnestly that the Lord would give her a son. And the Lord answered her prayer. So in 1 Samuel 2, we read of Hannah singing a hymn of praise the Lord. Mary’s hymn of praise sounds a lot like Hannah’s hymn of praise. Let me highlight some of the parallels.

Hannah sings, “My heart rejoices in the LORD… Because I rejoice in Your salvation.” (1 Sam 2:1)

Mary sings, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.” (Luke 1:46b-47a)

Hannah sings, “No one is holy like the LORD.” (1 Sam 2:2)

Mary sings, “And holy is His name.” (Luke 1:49)

Hannah sings, “The bows of the mighty men are broken, and those who stumbled are girded with strength.” (1 Sam 2:4)

Mary sings, “He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly.” (Luke 1:52)

Hannah sings, “Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, and the hungry have ceased to hunger.” (1 Sam 2:5)

Mary sings, “He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.” (Luke 1:53)

As you can see, these parallels are not word for word, but I don’t think they were intended to be. I don’t think Mary was trying to recite or quote Hannah’s hymn of praise. Rather, I think that Mary is so steeped in Scripture that when her heart sings out in praise, the words that bubble up to the surface are the words of Scripture. And of course, Mary is being led by the Spirit of God, and we can see discernible patterns of praise and worship when people are being led by the Spirit of God.

One of the reasons regularly Bible reading and Scripture mediation are so helpful to our Christian walk is that it gives us the vocabulary for praising and worshipping God. And it doesn’t just give us the vocabulary, but it gives us exemplary models for praising and worshiping God. We learn how to give God greater glory as we acknowledge different aspects of His work and being.

For example, if you study the structure of Mary’s hymn of faith, you’ll see three distinct sections. First, Mary expresses the joy that she feels in her heart. We see this is verses 46 and 47. Second, Mary mentions what God has done specifically for her as an individual. He has regarded her lowly state, and He has done great things for Mary. We see this in verses 48 and 49. And third, Mary dedicates the majority of her hymn to describing the righteous character of God.

I’m going to spend a few minutes expanding on each of these three sections, but I’m going to do it in reverse order. I’m going to start at the end of Mary’s hymn and work toward the beginning. In the last part of the hymn, which is the largest part, Mary is singing about the righteous character of God. She begins this third section in verse 49 by declaring God’s name to be holy. Of course, she’s not simply saying that His “name” is Holy, but that holiness is who God is. He’s completely free from sin. He’s completely separate from His creation. All His attributes are perfect, all His ways are just, and His nature is pure and utterly incorruptible.

Then Mary sings about the mercy of God. She mentions His mercy three times. (1) In verse 50, she sings, “His mercy is on those who fear Him.” (2) In verse 52, she sings, “He exalted the lowly.” (3) And in verse 53, she sings, “He has filled the hungry with good things.” What she’s doing here is showing that God’s mercy is part of His holiness. But it’s not the entirety of His holiness. There’s another side that Mary focuses on which is the counterpart to God’s mercy. And here’s where many of us can learn something about how to praise and worship God, because Mary goes in a direction that makes many Christians today uncomfortable. She praises God for His justice. Once again, she identifies three aspects of His justice, just like she did with His mercy. (1) In verse 51, she sings, “He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.” (2) In verse 52, she sings, “He has put down the mighty from their thrones.” (2) And in verse 53, she sings, “the rich He has sent away empty.”

So Mary’s hymn of faith is not merely a celebration of the Lord’s mercy to her, it’s also a celebration of His justice. When she praises the holy nature of God, she acknowledges the parts that are comfortable to acknowledge, as well as the parts that might not be so comfortable for us. She praises Him for the compassion He shows to certain people, and she praises Him for the anger and wrath He shows to certain people. And this serves an example for how we can praise and worship God, as well.

Continuing to move backwards through Mary’s hymn of praise, the second section is where she mentions what God has done specifically for her. In verses 48-49a, Mary sings about how the Lord condescended to her lowliness and did “great things.” What are the great things He did for her? Perhaps the most obvious is that He gave her the unique privilege of being the mother of the Messiah! And because this is such a singular and unimaginable blessing, Mary sings that all generations will acknowledge her blessings.

Here I need to say something about how the Roman Catholic Church treats this passage. I mentioned something similar last Sunday, but I feel the need to mention it again. Catholicism venerates Mary. They make her out to be more than what the Scriptures say about her. They say she was sinless. They say she remained a virgin her entire life. They say that at her death, her body was resurrected and she ascended into heaven, much like Jesus did. They make statues of Mary and bow down to those statues. They pray to Mary. And many Catholics refer to Mary as the Co-Redemptrix, believing that she cooperated with Jesus in redeeming people from their sins. Moreover, they teach that Mary is presently making intercession for people alongside her Son in heaven.

In our reaction against the distortions and abuses Catholicism teaches about Mary, we might be prone to let the pendulum swing too far in the opposite direction. Which is to say, we might be prone to minimize what the Bible says about Mary. In our desire not to yield any ground to Catholicism, we might be prone to say that Mary was no more blessed than any other woman in the Bible. But that’s not true. The Scriptures teach us that Mary was highly favored among women. The Lord had done great things for Mary. And verse 48 is absolutely true, all generations will call her blessed. Calling Mary blessed doesn’t yield any ground to Catholicism. Calling her blessed simply acknowledges that God has given Mary certain blessings that He hasn’t given to others. All of it comes down to grace; having received the Lord’s unmerited favor. So when we call Mary blessed, the focus is not primarily on the one who receives the blessing, but on the One who gives the blessing. So when we think of how blessed Mary was, this should direct our focus to God.

Moving now to the first part of Mary’s hymn of faith, her spiritual devotion to the Lord is clearly evident in verses 46 and 47. She sings, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.” Why does her soul magnify the Lord? Given what we’ve already seen in the second and third parts of Mary’s hymn, it’s because her soul has experienced the greatness and holiness and mercy of God. And the experience is primarily one of joy. This is why she says in verse 47, “my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!”

This is the God that Mary magnified: the God who saves. Martin Luther said that her song was about “the great works and deeds of God, (1) for the strengthening of our faith, (2) for the comforting of all those of low degree, and (3) for the terrifying of all the mighty ones of earth.” Luther said that we’re to let this hymn serve this threefold purpose; for Mary sang it not for herself alone, but for us all, that we can sing it after her. Luther was right. The words of Mary’s song strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ. They comfort us with the promise that God will lift us up when we are low. And they serve as a warning to the proud.

As Mary’s hymn does this sanctifying work in us, it teaches us to sing a hymn of our own. God has done great things for you, brothers and sisters. Are you aware of His many blessings? Do you praise Him for these blessings? And does your soul magnify His glory because of His mighty deeds of salvation? We have countless reasons to rejoice in our Lord, brothers and sisters. So let your soul magnify the Lord and your spirit rejoice in God your Savior.