Magnify the Lord with Me (Part 4)
Luke 1:54-55
Imagine yourself as the boss of your workplace. You are the manager of the office, the superintendent of your school district, the head surgeon at the local hospital, or the foreman of the construction site. As the person in charge, imagine you could delegate work responsibilities, determine the company payroll and benefits, and settle employee disputes. Imagine you told your subordinates that as long as they showed up on time and did their work well, you would guarantee a competitive salary and benefits with opportunities for advancing in the workplace.
Imagine that all the people working under you were initially grateful to you and respected your authority. But as time passed, they became resentful of your position. Their resentment came not from your poor leadership or unsafe working conditions, but because they simply did not want to obey. Your subordinates grew weary of someone else being in charge, so they rebelled.
Imagine if they tried to manage the workplace, maintain their salaries, and settle internal disputes on their own without your help or the company's intervention. They openly aired their grievances to each other while on the clock. They even flirted with leaving the company and joining another right in front of you. Needless to say, every attempt to manage themselves or find employment elsewhere only ended in failure.
How would you respond if you were the boss over these employees? Would you patiently wait for them to settle down, realize the error of their ways, and resubmit themselves to your authority? More than likely, you would severely punish such actions. Many of these employees would not have jobs anymore. You might strongly consider abandoning them altogether by resigning your position because your subordinates are not fit to rule.
When God chose a nation to enjoy a special relationship with, he did not choose an ideal people. Like the employees in our imagined workplace, the nation of Israel rebelled against God's authority and righteous laws. Their rebellion was not motivated by God's poor leadership or his unreasonable demands. Their rebellion was motivated by the depravity of the human heart, the natural sinful desire to want more than the good things God gives us.
During the 2000 year-long relationship between God and Israel, he had multiple opportunities to abandon them and start over. From the birth of the nation through Abraham until the time of Christ, the Jewish people had failed to live up to the calling Yahweh had given them. They were supposed to be his special people, a kingdom of priests, a nation that would share his goodness and glory with the world. Instead, they rejected him and turned to the false gods of other nations. That decision cost them their land, their freedom, and their national sovereignty.
But God showed mercy to them in spite of their failure. Even their worship of false gods could not dissuade him from his covenant to them. Mary understood the depth of Yahweh's devotion to his people. She had such faith in the genuineness of his promises that when she discovered Israel's Messiah was conceived in her womb, she praised God for helping his servant Israel. She realized the national implications of her pregnancy. Jesus' birth would not only signal the end of injustice towards God's people. It would also serve as the final proof of God's faithfulness to the nation.
Christ's birth was the final proof of God's faithfulness to his people.
Main Thought
In our sermon series on Mary's song, we have seen how she places God's glory under the microscope so we can examine and appreciate it in all its brilliance and majesty. As we study the final words of her song, we will discover how she unfolds before us the big picture of God's purposes for his chosen people. He not only disclosed these purposes to Israel, but he also was faithful to fulfill them in his time.
God's Special Relationship with Israel
The relationship between God and Israel finds its roots in two critical events of the OT. The first was God's call of Abraham. Here, God solidified his unique selection of a people to be his own. Notice how he sets apart Abraham and his offspring in Genesis 12 (12:1-3). God promises to give them a plot of land to live in, he will increase their population and reputation, and he will make them a source of blessing for the whole world.
The second key event that established this connection was God's deliverance of Israel from Egypt and the institution of the Mosaic Covenant. Most Christians would consider these as two separate events. In the Jewish mind (and in God's), the exodus and the giving of the law comprise one collective event that demonstrate how the Lord made a people his own.
After the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea and made it safely to Mount Sinai, God initiated his covenant with them by reminding them of what he had just done (Ex 19:4-6). He did not rescue this nation to free them and abandon them to their own whims. He freed them from slavery in Egypt so he could make them a special treasure to him, a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.
These designations tell us that he wanted a special, loving relationship with Israel so they could be his ambassadors to the world and reflect his holy character. Just as you and your spouse made a mutual decision to love each other exclusively on your wedding day, so Yahweh made a sacred commitment to his exclusive relationship with the Jewish people.
As part of the Mosaic Covenant, the children of Israel were also bound to worship and serve God exclusively. That is why the nation is often referred to as his servant. David mentioned this idea briefly in a song when the ark of the covenant was brought back to Jerusalem (1 Chron 16:13). The prophet Isaiah also has this theme occur several times in his writing (Isa 41:8-9; 44:1, 21).
As Yahweh's servant, the nation had a special responsibility to do his bidding. Their allegiance and worship belonged to him alone. As Yahweh's servant, the nation was also specially selected to put his goodness and glory on full display for the world. Israel failed to do this. From its inception, the people worshipped idols and lacked faith in God's ability to provide for them in the wilderness. This pattern continued through the time of the judges and the dynasties of the kings. God allowed it to continue until finally, he judged them through the conquest of pagan nations like Assyria and Babylon.
Mary knew the history of her people. Israel had not lived up to its calling as the servant of Yahweh. But she also knew the character of her God. He never abandoned the nation or given up on it as his servant. In fact, he sent a Messiah to provide redemption for his wayward people. That Messiah was already conceived in Mary's womb. Though Jesus' birth had not yet occurred, her song looks forward to the spiritual help he will give to Israel.
Mary probably did not realize all that her son would have to do in order to help her people. But she at least understood that the special relationship between God and his servant Israel was the backdrop for her own story. The baby she would give birth to was the Son of God, given by God as a gift to her and to her people. His birth was God's final act of love in the great story of his faithfulness to Israel.
God's Faithfulness to Israel
Mary traces the story of this relationship back to the beginning. In doing so, she also tells us God's motivation in the story. In every good story, the main characters have clear motivations. These are the goals or purposes that drive them and push the plot forward. Opposing motivations often lead to the main conflict of the story.
In the OT story of Israel and Yahweh, we see their initial motivations. God loved his people and wanted to bless them, so he gave them his righteous laws and promised to protect and provide for them. Israel had an initial interest in keeping his laws and trusting him for provision, but they quickly gave way to other motivations. They sought after the wicked desires of their heart. That led to punishment in the form of national captivity.
In a typical story, the character with bad motivations is unmasked or defeated in the resolution of the story. But in the story of God and Israel, God is not out to "defeat" Israel for its disobedience. Though he does punish them, he is not motivated by vengeance or justice. Instead, he is motivated by his chesed love. Mary magnifies the Lord because he remembered his mercy to Israel; that's why he wants to help them. The birth of Jesus is the ultimate proof he has not forsaken his people.
Mary's song also shows us that God's mercy has roots in the history of her people. He first demonstrated his mercy to Abraham by making a covenant. In this covenant, God made certain unconditional promises to Abraham and to his descendants. Throughout the OT, God never forgot those promises. His commitment to his covenant caused him to call Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt (Ex 2:23-25). His commitment to his covenant caused him to spare the nation when they rebelled against him in idolatry (Ex 32:13-14).
His commitment to his covenant also gave the nation an important guarantee. When God gave the law, he promised national blessings for the people if they obeyed. If they disobeyed by turning their hearts to other gods and to wicked ways, he would judge them severely (Lev 26:14-39). But even if the nation got so bad that they were taken captive by a foreign power, God would not forget them. If they confessed their sin, humbled themselves, and turned back to God, he would remember his covenant (Lev 26:44-45). His commitment to his covenant was not based on the people's faithfulness, but on his own.
Finally, Mary's song points us to the hope of Messiah's coming. God dropped hints of this throughout the OT. Many Christians immediately think of the prophecies of Christ's birth as God's clues. But some of these prophecies were not as obvious to the Jewish people as they are to modern church-going Christians. Like a mystery novel, the OT provides enough clues about Christ's birth without giving away the whole plot.
People debate when God revealed the first prophetic clue. Let's start where Mary ends in her song. She concludes with God remembering his covenant loyalty to Abraham. In the covenant given to the father of Israel, we find an important clue - "in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Gen 12:3).
On the surface, this may not seem like a reference to Jesus. But Paul makes the connection clear in Galatians. He teaches that the gospel message, including Messiah's coming, was first preached to Abraham in this promise (Gal 3:8). Though he knew almost none of the details, Abraham was given a glimpse as to how God would help his people. In Mary's song, Abraham represents the first clue-drop in the mystery of Israel's Messiah.
God continued to drop clues throughout the OT Scriptures. From the Psalms to the prophets, they all point in some way to the coming of Israel's deliverer. Mary reflects this truth in verses 55 when she says, "as he spoke to our fathers." She knew that God had revealed these things before. She had an expectation of Messiah's coming; she just had no idea she would be involved.
The purpose of this closing line to the song is that Christ's birth forecasted how God would help his chosen, covenant people. He faithfully kept that covenant he initially made with Abraham and his seed. It is one of the "great things" he has done. Just as he ended injustice to his people by showing his strength and scattering the proud, so he has shown his faithfulness to them by remembering his covenant mercy.
God will also faithfully keep and fulfill this covenant to Abraham's descendants forever. Many theologians and Bible teachers in church history have downplayed God's promises to the Jewish people. They believe he has rejected Israel as his chosen people, so he will not fulfill those promises literally. But this thinking goes against everything Yahweh promised to Israel.
His covenant to Abraham and his seed was not conditional, but unconditional. In other words, the promises of national blessing and a fruitful heritage were guaranteed by God forever; their fulfillment did not depend on how the nation behaved. He made this clear multiple times to the nation. At the end of Moses' life when he instructed a new generation of Israelites, he reminded them why God chose them (Deut 7:7-8). He chose them because he loved them, and he will keep his covenant to them because he loves them.
The prophet Jeremiah tells the nation hundreds of years later how committed Yahweh is to his people. God would only cast-off Israel if the natural laws of the cosmos became disordered (Jer 31:35-36). Not only that, but if all of the space in heaven above and the earth below could be discovered and measured, then Israel would cease to be his chosen people (31:37). In modern verbiage, this is basically Jeremiah saying God will forsake the Jewish people when pigs fly; so, it's never going to happen. His covenant promises to them remain intact, and they will be fulfilled as he said.
God's Faithfulness to His Church
As we have explored the story of Yahweh's relationship with Israel, we are left with one burning question: what does this have to do with me? For many of us, God's faithfulness to Israel is an encouraging example, but it seems to affect us little, if at all. But as Paul tells us in his letters, the things written before were written for our learning (Rom 15:4). I want to draw out two important lessons for us as we reflect on the conclusion of Mary's song.
Magnify God by observing the big picture of his plan.
Mary was not a shallow person. Even as a young teenage girl, she had a spiritual and personal depth to her life. That's partly why God chose her for the special task of bringing his Son into the world. In her song, she demonstrates her understanding that the virgin birth was not just a divine miracle for her. This miracle would impact generations of God's people to come. This miracle would rescue them from ages of oppression, injustice, and dispossession.
This miracle would also demonstrate God's faithfulness to his chosen nation. Mary believed that and had the wisdom to see her story as part of the bigger story between God and Israel. In our lives, it is easy to view our trials and triumphs through our own lens. It would be comparable to using an observatory telescope to view the Manhattan skyline. While that would be a nice view of the city, that kind of telescope is capable of seeing so much more, to the furthest reaches of space.
We must learn to view the challenges God gives us, and as well as his victories and blessings, in light of what he is doing in his kingdom. The temporary suffering I endure for the sake of the gospel or the pain I feel in the midst of a trial is not insignificant in the grand scope of God's plan. He is using those things to refine me and prune me so that I am better equipped to serve him. No matter what you endure, good and bad, God is using those experiences to accomplish his purposes. Then, you can let the complexity of God's plan inspire awe and wonder in your heart.
Just as God was faithful to Israel, so he will be faithful to his church.
When we see God's faithfulness on display in Scripture, that should encourage us. We should take comfort from examples of this sprinkled throughout the OT and NT. In the case of Israel, however, there is a special relationship with this nation we must recognize. The reason he is faithful to a people who have disobeyed and rejected him repeatedly in history is because he made a covenant with the nation's father, Abraham. He's going to stick by that no matter what.
The miracle of the virgin birth was the final proof of God's faithfulness to his covenant. That was the truth on Mary's heart in this last phrase of the song. All her life (all 14 or 15 years of it), she had heard about Yahweh's covenant with her Jewish ancestors - Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But she, like the Jewish community, had no idea when that covenant would come to pass. The angel's announcement of her pregnancy settled the issue for her - God was going to keep his covenant.
As we reflect on the song of a Jewish girl in Nazareth, we should take heart at the faithfulness of God to his believing people. Remember that Luke, a Gentile, recorded the lyrics of Mary, a Jew. As he heard her story and listened to her song of praise, he knew that the covenant mercy she sung about was not directed to him or any other Gentile.
But that did not matter, because the God who faithfully kept his promises to Israel is the same God who would faithfully protect and enable his church for its mission. God has not made the same promises to the church that he has to Israel; they are two separate entities. But he has guaranteed that he will build his church, and not even the councils of hell will prevail against it (Matt 16:18). For each individual believer, he has promised that he will never leave you or forsake you (Heb 13:5).
As we close our series on Mary's song of praise, let's remember what we have learned. Her heart in this song is to magnify God by putting his goodness and glory on full display. She has described what he has done for her, for the victims of oppression by unjust powers, and for the nation he has chosen for himself. She has magnified his chief attributes - his strength, his holiness, his regard for the lowly and oppressed, and his faithful, merciful, loving covenant loyalty. Her song brings to mind all of these attributes.
Reflect on God's faithfulness in the Christmas story. We could conclude with many emphases, but this is the truth Mary wanted to highlight at the end of her song. This is the last thing she wanted to leave in our minds. God has been faithful to Israel. He has been faithful to his church for 2,000 years. He will be faithful to you, your family and your local church this coming year. His faithfulness is not a reward for your good behavior or our ministry's success. His faithfulness is a natural expression of his undeserved love for us. For that, we should magnify him too.
