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Introduction
Last week we saw three testimonies as a result of Mary’s faith.
The first was Mary’s herself, though she initially hardly made a peep.
Her testimony was her leaving Nazareth and traveling to Judah to see Elizabeth in her sixth month of pregnancy.
The second was the testimony of John the Baptist still in the womb of Elizabeth—he expressed an eschatological joy as the Messiah was in his presence.
Finally, we saw Elizabeth’s testimony expressing Mary and Jesus’s blessings from God and that Jesus was her Lord.
This morning, we see Mary finally speaking.
She has more to say than anyone else.
The passage this morning is known as the Magnificat, which is Latin for “magnify” taken directly out of the text.
But here is the interesting part of this passage, Mary’s focus is not on herself; it’s on God.
Even when she mentions herself, it is in relation to who God is and what God does.
It’s as if Mary testifies about this God of ours—that he is magnificent and is to be magnified.
This morning, we are looking at four categories as to whom she says he is, what she said he has done and for (or against) whom he does it.
So the first category we will look at is God’s character.
The second is God’s Conduct.
The third category is God’s Clients.
And the Forth is God’s Challengers.
God’s Character
God’s Conduct
God’s Clients
God’s Challengers
God’s Character
The first category that I want us to look at this morning is God’s character.
Everything that God does is based in his character or we could say that it is based in his being.
And Mary presents us with three aspects of God’s character.
God is Mighty
God is Holy
God is Merciful
So let’s spend a few moments looking at these characteristics of God.
God is Mighty
The first characteristic that Mary presents us with is that God is Mighty.
Luke 1:49 (ESV)
for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
One could translate this as powerful or strong, but the idea is still the same.
This is God and he is not weak.
Why is this important?
Because we need to understand that God does not simply have muscles.
One of my favorite lines in The Never-Ending Story movie is when “The Nothing” has taken the rock-biter’s friends, and Atreyu finds him sitting alone in sadness.
The rock-biter says, “They look like big, good, strong hands, don’t they?
That’s what I always thought that’s what they were.
My little friends; the little man with his racing snail, the night hob, even the stupid bat.
I couldn’t hold on to them.
The Nothing pulled them right out of my hands.
I failed.”
And then he repeats himself, “They look like good, strong hands, don’t they?”
God is more than just big, good, strong hands.
Though certainly, no one can snatch us from the Father’s hands.
God himself, his being, his character, his attribute is one of might—of power.
Stephen Charnock wrote, “The power of God is that ability and strength, whereby he can bring to pass whatever he please; whatsoever his infinite wisdom can direct, and whatsoever the infinite purity of his will can resolve.”
In essence, God’s might is what puts God’s will into action.
To paraphrase Charnock: there are things that we want to do but have no power to do.
We have the will to bring about world peace.
We have the will to end all suffering.
We have the will to make a delicious and juicy beef wellington.
But do we have the power?
No.
Our wills outrun our power.
But not with God.
Which then sounds like an indictment against God.
So God has the power to bring peace and end suffering, but is not willing to do so?
And the answer is: yes, he has the power and yes, he is willing to do so.
But he is not willing to do so because we simply think he should do it now.
There is a time, at the final redemption when he will utilize his power according to his will to bring it all about.
Humanity’s misunderstanding is that we believe our greatest need is for peace and safety when in reality our greatest need is for God himself.
It is when we are peaceful and safe that God is so often ignored and blasphemed.
Until all is made right—including our souls and minds—we will continue to treat God with contempt in peace and safety.
God is Holy
Which leads us to the second characteristic: God is holy.
This does not mean that God’s first name is Holy.
It means that his identity is wrapped in his holiness.
Holiness is purity.
But what does that mean?
It probably can be explained in the negative: Charnock again wrote, “The holiness of God negatively, is a perfect and unpolluted freedom from all evil.”
He then compares it to pure gold, meaning there is no dross left or a pure garment having no spot or stain.
We may want to accuse God of evil based on our faulty thinking and impure/unholy imagination of what we want to see happen.
But God is holy.
He is pure in his very nature.
He cannot do evil.
Thus every decision he makes, every act he takes, every word he speaks is holy.
It is perfect and pure.
I truly think that holiness is nearly an impossible characteristic for unholy creatures to fully grasp.
Hence, it is one of many ways, we find God incomprehensible.
And yet, in Christ, that unholiness and incomprehension is not held against us.
It is God’s holiness that ensures our hope in him.
Because he is free from evil, he cannot lie.
Thus every word he speaks is a word of complete truth.
Thus his promises are true always!
God is Merciful
Including his promise of mercy for all who are in Christ.
God is merciful.
God’s mercy is wrapped in his holiness.
It is how we can be assured that he will not double back and get us in some technicality.
His character of mercy is distributed by his power.
He has the power to show his mercy.
But what is mercy exactly?
It is often described as not getting what we deserve.
But what does it mean when we say that God is merciful as it is part of his being—his character?
We mean that it is part of his nature to forgive.
It is within him to pardon.
God is so often thought of as angry.
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