Magnify the Lord with Me (Part 3)
Luke 1:51-53
D-Day signaled the end of Nazi injustice.
“Wait a minute,” you might say because you know WW2 didn’t end on D-Day. It ended a year later, so how did D-Day end the injustices of the Nazis?
WW2 began in 1939, but the United States was not involved. When Axis powers bombed Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the U.S. moved from isolation to involvement. They dropped bombs on Germany in 1942. In 1943, they joined an Allied invasion of Italy. Yet by June 6th, 1944, Nazi forces occupied Western Europe and some the Western Soviet Union, too. They threatened to complete their takeover with a bruising invasion of Britain.
In a bold response to this sweeping Nazi progress, Allied forces launched Operation Overlord, or D-Day, with a massive surprise invasion of Northern France. This invasion featured 156,115 British, Canadian, and U.S. troops, 6,939 ships and landing vessels, and 2,395 aircraft and 867 gliders that dropped airborne troops with parachutes over a 50-mi. span of coastline. It worked.
WW2 didn’t end on D-Day. For months to come, Allied forces engaged Nazi troops in Europe one battle at a time, with casualties along the way. Yet nearly a year later, on May 7th, 1945, the Nazis surrendered, as their commander, Hitler, had committed suicide a week before. Though the war lasted for a year longer, D-Day and its significant U.S. involvement marked a decisive turning point from which there was no turning back.
Though the injustices of the Nazis continued, their fate was sealed. They would never recover from that definitive battle on the beaches of Normandy. From that day forward, despite the lingering battles, Allied forces, prisoners in concentration camps, and citizens of European nations could say, “We are saved! The war is over! The injustice of the Nazis has been defeated!,” even though the fighting would continue for 11 months more.
Christ’s birth signaled the end of injustice against God’s people.
That’s essentially what Mary said about Christ’s birth when she magnified the Lord through song in Luke 1:51-53. To understand the significance of her words, let me point out that Christ’s birth occurred after many years of injustice and waiting. Like the D-Day invasion and arrival of U.S. troops in WW2, Christ’s birth was a decisive turning point that set in motion God’s ultimate plan for liberating his people and making all wrongs right.
God’s plan for justice spans generations and lifetimes marked by key moments of divine intervention along the way. These moments remind us that despite long periods of hardship, silence, and waiting, God is working out his plan one step, one stage at a time.
A Promise to Abraham
About. 2,100 yrs. before Christ was born, God made a covenant with Abraham, the father of the Jewish people. Through his family line God would bring a Savior into the world who would make all things right. “In you all families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen 12:3).
Deliverance from Egypt
About 700 yrs. later (1446 BC), God delivered Abraham’s descendants from oppression in Egypt, where they had occupied approx. 400 years (nearly twice as long as the U.S has been a nation). It seemed God had forgotten his promise and that injustice had prevailed until God intervened with supernatural plagues and parting the Red Sea.
Exalting David as King
After 40 yrs. of wandering in the desert, God finally brought them into the land he promised to Abraham centuries ago. Then he exalted David to rule over Israel approx. 1,000 yrs. before Christ. What followed, though, was several centuries of kings who were mostly a disappointment, making wrong choices and failing to do things God’s way.
Deliverance from Assyria, Babylon, and Persia
From 721 to 586 BC, the pagan Assyrian and Babylonian empires invaded Israel in stages and ruled over them, treating them poorly. 70 yrs. later, the Persian Empire permitted Israel to return to their land and to rebuild their Temple for the worship of God.
From then until the coming of Christ, approx. 400 yrs. remained which we call the ‘intertestamental period.’ These four centuries are the “silent” years of Scripture because they occur between the Old and New Testaments with no new biblical books or prophets.
Harassed by Greece, Ruled by Rome
The nation of Israel experienced much turmoil during this time. The Greek Empire, under Alexander the Great, overruled them and treated them poorly, followed by the Roman Empire who governed them next. The Roman Empire followed a godless, pagan worldview that marginalized any who followed the one true God and looked for the promised Savior who would make all things right.
The Birth of the Messiah
When an angel announced to Mary that she would give birth to the promised Messiah, the significance of that moment paralleled (even eclipsed) when God had raised up Moses to deliver the Hebrew people from oppression in Egypt.
- 400 yrs. of being pushed around by Egypt, then Moses came.
- 400 yrs. by being pushed around by Persia, Greece, and Rome, then Jesus came.
Like the arrival of U.S. troops at Normandie (only so much more significant), the arrival of Christ as our Savior marked a decisive turning point in God’s program for justice. Though injustices would still occur, his arrival guaranteed that the time for injustice against God’s people was running out. The Savior had arrived.
Christ’s birth provides the certainty of future justice.
When Mary said, “he has shown strength,” “he has scattered the proud,” “he has put down the mighty,” “he has exalted the lowly,” “he has filled the hungry,” and “he has sent away the rich,” it sounds like she is speaking about the past, but she’s referring to birth of the Messiah. How could the fact that God had conceived the Messiah within her womb (the baby hadn’t even been born yet) be the decisive act that brough about the justice that she described?
Mary used language that speaks about a past event (Christ’s conception) as the guarantee of certain future results. Just as the residents of France could say of D-Day that Germany had lost the war (even though the war would continue another 11 mos.), so Mary viewed God’s final justice as sure based upon Christ’s conception in her womb.
With the birth of Christ, God’s promise of a Savior became reality. Until now, people of faith believed God’s promise, but now they would know that the promise had become reality. Since Christ had now come, what he had come to do would definitely happen. What was it that Mary believed would definitely happen because Christ had come?
God will reverse the injustices of arrogant powers.
She said, “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” (Luke 1:51-52).
To “show strength with his arm” is an anthropomorphism (a fancy word that means to describe something that’s not physical in physical terms). So Mary described God in human terms though he doesn’t actually have any “arms” because he is spirit not human.
This description appears throughout Scripture, especially as a description of how God delivered his people Israel from oppression by the arrogant world superpower, Egypt.
Before he delivered them from Egypt:
I am the LORD; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.
Exodus 6:6
After he delivered them and brought them through the Red Sea unharmed:
Fear and dread will fall on them; by the greatness of your arm they will be as still as a stone, till your people pass over, O LORD, till the people pass over whom you have purchased.
Exodus 15:16
Did God ever try to go and take for himself a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
Deuteronomy 4:34
The prophet Isaiah used this same concept to describe the coming of God’s promised Messiah, after which he goes on to describe the coming and crucifixion of Christ.
Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
Isaiah 53:1
So by using this description, Isaiah portrays the coming of Christ as a significant intervention by God to deliver his people on par with the plagues of Egypt and the parting of the Red Sea.
Mary seems to pick up on this detail realizing that just as God reached his mighty arm into human history to deliver his people from Egypt 1,500 yrs. before, he had done something just as significant and more by bringing the Messiah into the world by means of her womb.
Just as God had overthrown the world superpower, Egypt, so he would do the same on a worldwide scale for all who believe on him through Christ.
“Scattered the proud” brings to mind how God scattered the nations at Babel (Gen 11:1-9). In pride, they tried to build a tower that ascended to the heavens, showcasing their ingenuity and challenging God’s preeminence. Just as God scattered them then, he will send them scrambling even more when he judges the earth in righteousness in the end.
Here Mary contrasts the proud with those who fear God, so a proud person is someone who disregards God and the salvation he offers (Luke 1:50). It is someone who prefers “going my way” over God’s way. This is certainly the inner heart attitude of many world superpowers and their leaders today, is it not? The marginalize and oppress God’s people and lead in a self-centered way with a godless way.
According to Mary’s song (Luke 1:52), these arrogant powers are so in part because of an affluence and self-sufficiency that comes from holding positions of power and from enjoying a surplus of food and resources at the expense of others.
At its root, injustice is an inner problem of the heart.
We should avoid reading Mary’s song in a rigid political and social sense, as though all the poor are righteous and all the wealthy are wicked. Instead, we should read this as a contrast between those who are poor because they trusted God and those who acquire wealth through unrighteous means and by disregarding or oppressing God’s people. A wealthy person is not automatically ungodly, nor is a poor person automatically godly.
Notice how Mary traces the problem of injustice to the values of our inner thoughts (“in the imagination of their hearts”). So, the issue is not whether a person is wealthy or poor, hungry or full, but whether he is arrogant and self-sufficient or trusting in God. What is the condition of a person’s heart towards God? What do they think about God and his ways in their personal worldview and beliefs. That’s the question.
To illustrate the importance of this inner attitude towards God, here’s a story Christ would later tell about two men, a Pharisee and tax collector. Both of these men were powerful, neither of them were poor, and both had received their wealth unjustly (Lk 18:9-14).
- The Pharisee had obtained his power and wealth by elevating himself over his fellow Jews through political and religious means.
- The tax collector had achieved his power and wealth by partnering with Rome and cheating his fellow Jews out of money through exorbitant, marked-up taxes.
The key difference between them was on a particular day, both came to the Temple to pray. In their prayers, the Pharisee promoted himself to God as a great person while the other repented of his sins. This repentant approach to God made all the difference, while the Pharisee remained arrogant towards God and unjust towards man.
Sadly, those who hold positions of power and influence in the world are usually arrogant and self-sufficient and do not fear God. That was Mary’s experience and it’s ours today as well. Yet, because Mary knew that Christ had been conceived in her womb, she believed that the fate of the unjust rulers had been sealed.
“He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly” (Luke 1:52). How could this be true if wicked kings called Herod still governed Jerusalem and pagan Roman Caesars would rule the world for years to come? If so many wicked rulers would govern the nations of the world until today? Once again, Mary knew that Christ would eventually remove these ungodly rulers from their thrones and positions of power and that he would place his own oppressed people in places of authority instead.
We know that this will happen in the future millennial kingdom and the new world that God will make. Because Christ has already come into the world before, we know that he will come again to finish what he started, even if injustice still seems to prevail.
Christ will also satisfy the hunger of his people.
“He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty” (Luke 1:43). At the most basic level, this means that though God’s people may suffer hunger in this life because of the oppression they endure from powerful, godless people, he will feed them with all the food they’ll ever need or want in his future kingdom.
As you read this statement, though, you can see that Mary spoke in general rather than specific terms. She never uses the words feed or food and the word hungry means “a strong desire or appetite” and isn’t limited to food.
Christ would eventually use similar terms in his Sermon on the Mount (Luke 6:20-26):
Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be filled.
Luke 6:21
This truth echo wasn’t new, either, because it echoes the expectation of the OT psalms:
He satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness.
Psalm 107:9
So, while “filling the hungry with good things” refers to how God will feed the hungry righteous sumptuously in his future kingdom even though we may hunger temporarily now, it teaches more than this.
This is a universal, timeless truth about the character and nature of God. When you trust in him he will satisfy all the inner desires and longings of your soul – not just your stomach – in a way that power, wealth, food, and material possessions will never do. Nothing that this world offers can satisfy our desires in a complete and permanent way. The power, prestige, and pleasures of this world can only provide fleeting satisfaction, but Christ satisfies and fills our desires completely and forever.
Let’s celebrate the certainty of God’s justice at Christmas.
Do you struggle to respond to the arrogance of self-sufficient, powerful people today? Does the injustice of our world frustrate you? Are you demoralized by being marginalized because of your faith and obedience to Christ?
Today, we’re approx. 2,000 yrs. removed from the birth of Christ, God’s Savior. Though many good things have happened in the world since then, it certainly feels that injustice is prevailing and those who fear God and follow Christ as Lord and Savior are increasingly marginalized and oppressed.
The solution to this problem is not to stage a revolution or insist on justice by human force. The solution is to humble yourself before God and become his servant.
Just as the invasion of Normandy put the Nazis on their heals and guaranteed their eventual defeat, so the birth of Christ ensures that all injustice and oppression against God’s people will be made right. It is so certain that as though God has already done it.
Since the Messiah has come, we know that God has set in motion through him the plan by which he will humble the arrogant completely in the end and exalt those who have humbly trusted in Christ as God and Savior. Though we may suffer for believing and serving him now, the birth of Christ signaled the end of injustice and guaranteed that God will make all wrongs right through Christ.
This Christmas let’s look past the rampant, widespread injustice in our world – especially against God’s people – and rejoice in the coming of Christ. His birth is like D-Day. It was the decisive turning that set in motion God’s plan for final victory and the liberation of his people. Whatever injustice we face, it’s only the last gasps of the godless world in the face of the inevitable – the final, total victory of God that makes all things right.
Until then, let’s magnify the Lord for Christ has come. To do that, let’s embrace the certainty of God’s justice at Christmas.
