50 "And His mercy is for those who fear Him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; 52 He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; 53 He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty." (Luke 1: 50-53)
Last week we thought about what the Magnificat, Mary's song in response to Elizabeth's greeting, said about Mary. Our next question is: What does the song say about God?
Truthfully, it says so much about God that we'll have to narrow our focus down to three things.
1. He is humanity's Savior.
Mary alluded to this for herself when she said, "My spirit rejoices in God my Savior" (47). But, in the portion we just read, we see a God who looks from generation to generation for those who fear Him (50). He is on the hunt for people who respect and revere Him. For them, His mercy flows.
You see, Jesus came to save. This was the understanding Joseph received from the angel when he learned of Mary's pregnancy. Knowing he wasn't responsible for the child within her, he determined to privately end their engagement, but the angel told him the child was from God. He said:
"She will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." (Matthew 1:21)
Christians believe this salvation work of Christ. We believe sin broke our world and created our spiritual deadness before God. Jesus came along to reverse the curse pronounced upon humanity; He came to save us from sin.
I realize this can sound basic: as in, I already know this. It could also sound familiar -- repeated so often it's no longer special. But we should not lose sight of the potency of sin and our utter slavery to it.
Jesus came as the great emancipator. The ancient Israelites had been enslaved in Egypt, but God delivered them. For the rest of their lives, they were supposed to rejoice in God's deliverance. Sadly, they often forgot how terrible Egypt was, and didn't honor God for His indescribable work in their lives.
Let it not be so with us. Let us sing and rejoice and celebrate the salvation Christ has won.
It is the ultimate gift.
I would argue that other religions and many churches, when they talk about salvation, understand it and proclaim it as advice. Salvation is something you have to wrestle and struggle for, you have to perform. It comes only if you pray, obey, or transform your consciousness.
But the Christian Gospel is different. The founders of the great religions say, in one way or another, "I am here to show you the way to spiritual reality. Do all this." That's advice. Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity, comes and says, "I am spiritual reality itself. You could never come up to me and, therefore, I had to come down to you." That's news.
-- Timothy Keller, Hidden Christmas: The Surprising Truth Behind the Birth of Christ, loc. 295. Kindle Edition
Praise God for His salvation.
2. He is the architect of history.
Notice also how Mary viewed God. She thought of Him as the One who would overturn the prideful establishment, the authoritarian regimes of history. Salvation was bigger than a personal experience, but a historical one, and one God would perform in an ultimate way through Jesus.
She referred to this by saying things like:
- He has shown strength with His arm (51)
- He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts (51)
- He has brought down the mighty from their thrones (52)
- The rich He has sent away empty (53)
To understand Mary, you have to understand her world and the Scripture. First, her world was one of misery. The Roman Empire had grown into a monolithic oppressor of various people groups, including Mary's Jewish people. They toiled under Rome's pitiless thumb.
But Mary's mind, as we've already seen, was steeped in Scripture. She knew of its many stories of God's deliverance for His people. They had overcome Pharaoh in Egypt. They had defeated the sinful nations in Canaan. They had outlasted Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian empire. They had been served by King Cyrus and the Medo-Persians. The Hamans of the world had often been destroyed in their attempt to crush God's people.
Time and time again, God had brought low the oppressor and had orchestrated the events of history for His purposes. As Mary sang, she also hoped. She believed God would do the same in her time.
As the Romans busily suffocated the people, Mary believed the great deliverer had come. God would overthrow the tyrant, but one bigger than Rome. He would destroy Satan's terrible deed and work through the cross of Christ. "He disarmed the rulers and authorities, and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in Him and His cross" (Colossians 2:15).
All those previous victories -- the exodus from Egypt, the outlasting of Babylon, or Esther's triumph over Haman -- foreshadowed the great victory of Christ over the one called the god of this world, though he is no real god at all (2 Corinthians 4:4). He is an imposter, using puppets throughout history for his wicked purposes.
But God will get the last and ultimate laugh. As Mary said, God will show strength with His arm and scatter the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. More accurately, she sang He had done those things, but it was in anticipation of the fact He would do those things.
Psalm 2 pointedly records the events of history:
"Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, 'Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.'" (Psalm 2:1–3)
So the kings of the earth rebel against God. And the nations of the earth rage. The world system wants nothing to do with God and His rule. And how does God respond?
"He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then He will speak to them in His wrath, and terrify them in His fury, saying, 'As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.'" (Psalm 2:4–6)
The King God chooses wins. Jesus will reign forever. He will bring down the mighty from their thrones (52). Rejoice in this day.
3. He reverses the natural order of sin.
Notice the reversals Mary sang about:
- Scattered the proud (51)
- Brought down the mighty (52)
- The rich He has sent away empty (53)
But:
- Exalted those of humble estate (52)
- Filled the hungry with good things (53)
- Mercy for those who fear Him (51)
Mary sounds like a woman who knew what it was to be impoverished and hungry. She knew what it was like to experience oppression. She'd lived without the benefits of certain unalienable rights. She connected with the nameless masses of humanity who have toiled under the dark shadow of a dominant class.
And she believed a day would come when God would upend the whole system. She saw God as the One who could overturn and reverse the natural order of sin. The weak could be strong. The poor could be rich. And the humble could be exalted.
Jesus, of course, is the way to that eventual kingdom. As a man, He came from nowhere, had nothing, and was nothing. He joined Himself to the destitute and beaten down. He experienced life as a persecuted person, a refugee, and a common laborer.
Born in anonymity, He has gained the name above all names. And because He surrendered to the death of the cross, one day every knee will bow and confess Him as Lord (Philippians 2:9-10). His forever kingdom will be one where the systems and order we see in place today -- where the proud and mighty and rich dominate our world -- will be replaced with His benevolent leadership and equitable rule.
And, since this is the kingdom that is coming, His disciples today should pursue such a glorious manner of life right now. We should think of and serve the least. We should love those low and forgotten. We should believe His mercy is for anyone who fears Him.
So, we are reminded from Mary's song that God is humanity's Savior, the architect of history, and that He reverses the natural order of sin. But...what does the song say about us? For that, tune in next week.
