Community, Faith, and God
Notes
Transcript
Scripture Reading
Scripture Reading
Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah,
and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.
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.
Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!
But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.
Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”
And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name.
And His mercy is on those who fear Him From generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones, And exalted the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things, And the rich He has sent away empty.
He has helped His servant Israel, In remembrance of His mercy,
As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and to his seed forever.”
And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her house.
I. The Great Lord
I. The Great Lord
Elizabeth’s exclamation identifies Jesus as at least the coming King, if not God in the flesh. It is evidence that her being filled with the Spirit is a prophetic filling, as she evidences knowledge that she could not have had without it.
We here will also cover what we ran out of time to cover last week. Just who is this “Lord” of which Elizabeth speaks?
He will be great - no qualifier as with John, since once he is revealed as great, no one will doubt it; while John the Baptist died before receiving his just reward.
He will be the Son of God in three ways
He will be the Son of the Davidic Covenant 2 Sam 7:14
I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men.
He will be the direct creation of God, the last Adam Luke 3:38; 1 Cor 15:45
the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
He will have all the attributes of God, thus making him God Matt 14:33; Luke 22:70-71
Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”
Then they all said, “Are You then the Son of God?” So He said to them, “You rightly say that I am.”
And they said, “What further testimony do we need? For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth.”
Jesus would be Holy
He would be unique. There is no one like him.
he would be without sin.
He will reign as the Davidic King forever and ever.
“the throne of his father David” - David was a king who reigned as an earthly political ruler in the very earthly city of Jerusalem. For Jesus to fulfill that promise, he must be at least that much. He can be more, but he cannot be less.
“He will reign over a united Israel forever” - we believe in a 1000 year Millennium, but the Kingdom doesn’t end when the thousand years are finished. Rather, once the thousand years are over Satan is released one final time and will raise up one final revolt against the Lord and against his Saints; this army will be immediately destroyed, heaven and earth will pass away, the Great White Throne Judgment will settle all scales of Justice finally, and the Saints will enter the Eternal State never to see sorrow ever again.
II. The Encouragement of Fellowship
II. The Encouragement of Fellowship
Observe that Gabriel told her that Elizabeth was 6 months along. This wasn’t only for proof, but to give Mary some much needed support. Now we know nothing about Mary’s family, but while I prefer to assume they were great parents, this unique situation would inevitably leave Mary isolated from them. They would not understand that she was greatly blessed and had done nothing wrong. Thus, her normal familial supports were not available. Gabriel told her about Elizabeth for the express purpose of giving Mary somewhere to go more supportive.
God’s promise that John would be filled with the Spirit evidently means that Elizabeth would be too at least until John was born. All Mary did was greet her and Elizabeth loudly exclaims, “Blessed are you among women!” Indeed true, but how did she know? But this means that she shares with Mary the knowledge of who this child really is. This knowledge has come about by revelation from God, so it’s shared knowledge in the Word of God, a knowledge that would seem ridiculous to anyone else. Shared knowledge and acceptance of God’s Word is part of true Christian fellowship.
Elizabeth interprets the baby’s kicks as “leaping for Joy.” Again how would she know? I didn’t quite understand all that meant until we had our first coming along. ouch! Again, she must have prophetic insight. It’s not like John can explain what he’s feeling.
Elizabeth’s outgoing declaration of blessing and assurance of God’s promises is exactly what Mary needs. It’s not like Mary doubts God, she clearly already accepts what the angel said, and continues to do so. But she is likely feeling afraid and alone, and this encouragement is exactly what she needs.
Obviously since there’s no church yet, no one goes to a church. But the same principle of fellowship is part of the reason church exists. It’s not just a place to go hear a sermon; it’s a place to share with others who also believe and to receive and give spiritual encouragement. I’ve heard some say that they can hear a sermon online. That’s true, but it’s not the same as church. We’ve been able to read the Bible and other Christian literature from the very beginning of Christianity, and this other literature is generally at least as good as you could get from the local pastor/priest. So why go to church, when the TV preachers are often better? Because you can’t share the knowledge and faith in the Bible with a TV.
Shared fellowship, therefore is more than, but not less than socializing and friendship. It is friendship with all that entails, and it is accomplished by connecting with other Christians in all ways. But you can’t have fellowship with a non-Christian, but you can be friends with them and they with you. To have real fellowship, you must both accept the Gospel at minimum. The degree of fellowship depends on how much of the truth you share. I can have real fellowship with Bible-believing Presbyterians, Luthereans, Methodists (those who actually believe), Pentecostals, etc., because they believe the gospel too. But I also have serious doctrinal disagreements with all these denominations. The amount of shared truth is the limit of genuine fellowship. No Christian fellowship is possible with those who deny the essential Gospel. Thus Catholics and non-Bible believing Protestants of all kinds cannot share in real Christian fellowship, since they deny some element of the Gospel. Again, that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends, but we can only have Christian fellowship with other genuine Christians.
Christian fellowship requires connecting, so there’s a point to talking with one another and making friends. But the really beneficial part is praying together and talking about the Scriptures. That’s what we do on Wednesday and Sunday nights, and in Sunday School. It’s important to participate in fellowship where you are able, not only so that you are encouraged and Strengthened yourself, but so you can encourage and strengthen others. So even if you don’t get much out of the service yourself, if you give encouragement to someone else, if you share in the knowledge of the Bible with others.
III. Faith Reframes Experience
III. Faith Reframes Experience
I’ve said that Mary’s blessing is a tough blessing, and it is. But I don’t think that was the experience of Mary. How do I know? Mary’s Song. First of all, Elizabeth confirms what we already know - that the reason Mary can be so accepting of this difficult blessing is because she really believes the angel. She can overlook the present pain, because she’s completely convinced that in the end she will be more than compensated for whatever suffering she may experience in the short term. She believes that God will do what he said, and that her Son really will be Israel’s Annointed King, the Holy Son of God. Since she is correct in this belief, she really is truly blessed, even if the present experience is quite awful.
Second, the song itself is full of rejoicing and confidence that she really is truly blessed. But try to see that from her perspective. To think this, she must believe in God’s word for the future, since she doesn’t experience this as a blessing in the present. Note that she says v.48 “all generations will call me blessed” and “God has regarded the lowly state of his maidservant.” That is, she was just a peasant girl, but God decided to do something and elevate her with this great blessing of being the mother of the Messiah. She says that “he who is mighty has done Great Things for me.”
Third, she is far more interested is telling how great God is than she is telling about herself and her feelings. the first line is the theme - my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my savior.” (BTW, she needs a savior, too.)
She does connect her own blessing with God’s greatness, but she wants us to know that this is because of who God is
He is Holy - unique
He is merciful to those who fear him always.
He uses his great power to defend the defenseless and helpless
He is fulfilling his promises to Abraham and Israel. Notice that she connects God’s actions to the Abrahamic Covenant.
Mary likely stayed until the birth of John the Baptist, then went home.
Mary’s experience was radically changed because she believed. It didn’t seem like a radical change to her, since she believed from the moment the angel told her. But the nature of believing God’s Word is to change the way we interpret our experiences. Whether the Resurrection really happened or not changes how we see what we are doing as Christians 1 Cor 15:16-20. If there’s no resurrection then the same action - that of being religious and going to church - is pointless and foolish. If there’s no resurrection then to suffer for the faith is stupid and tragic. But if there is a resurrection, then Christ is the firstfruits and we await a better world in which all wrongs will be righted. 1 Cor 15:22-24. Then all our sufferings are not pointless, but noble and of infinite value. Then we can take pleasure in suffering for Christ, because we know that God will reward us for our faithfulness.
For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen.
And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!
Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.
But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.
Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.