The Incarnation

Part 2: The Magnificat

Luke 1:46-55

Think about your favorite Christmas song. 

Why do you like that song? What is it about the song that draws you in. 

For me, while it’s hard to narrow it down to just one, at the top of the list is “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” 

I still remember hearing the choir sing that song at my home church many years ago. After singing the first verse, which speaks of the coming of Christ, His ransom of His people, and then says beautifully, “disperse the gloomy clouds of night and death’s dark shadows put to flight.”

The choir then came in with a full, loud, “REJOICE!!!”

I can still hear the choir singing it, and it’s probably because my memory of the choir singing it that “O Come” remains one of my favorites. 

Another favorite in more recent years is the song: He Who Is Mighty.

Again, music and memories play a significant role in our minds and hearts, don’t they?

There’s something about music isn’t there? God came up with the idea in the first place, so obviously it’s a good one. 

But music stirs our souls. It draws us in. 

There’s something inherently emotional and visceral and beautiful about music.

And while Mary may or may not have actually sung Luke 1:46-55, it’s a beautiful work of poetry. You could rightly call it the very first Christian Hymn. 

The Magnificat

Maybe Mary carefully composed the words. Maybe they were a spontaneous outburst and she actually sang them. We don’t know. 

What we do know is that they reveal a young woman who was saturated in Scripture. She was obviously very familiar with the Old Testament. The Holy Spirit used this knowledge and inspired her to write this beautiful song that beautifully magnifies the Lord, His Work, and points to what Christ came to do. 

And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on 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 for those who fear him from generation to generation. 

He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; 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 offspring forever.” 

I just want to point out a few things about this passage for you to consider as you stay at home this morning (for the record, I hate anytime the weather forces us to stay home from church, but I’d rather everyone be safe so we can all be together next week). 

1. JOY!

More than anything else, the coming of Christ should bring joy. Back up a few verses before the Magnificat and you can just feel the joy not just in Elizabeth, but in her unborn son as well. John leaped for joy in his mother’s womb as soon as they were both under the same roof. This really makes his “Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world” comment in the first chapter of John the second  time He announced the coming of the Messiah. 

We should also have the same attitude. We should be overtaken by joy when we think of God becoming a man so that He can redeem us!

2. Passionate Worship

Clearly there was a deep passion in Mary as she worshiped her Lord in response to everything He had done for her. You have to notice that He did this for her and not just to her. Pointing out that this is about salvation, about God, not about how wonderful Mary was. 

Do we worship and sing with this kind of passion? How can we not sing with a deep abiding joy when we know what God has done for us in Christ?

3. Mary was saturated in God’s Word

How could a teenager come up with this? It wasn’t that she was good at Bible drills and flipping to important passages quickly. She knew God’s Word well. Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 2:1-8 was clearly something Mary was familiar with.

Her song quotes or alludes to many books in the Old Testament. Essentially, she put the whole Bible in this outpour of praise to God. 

Because she had hidden God’s Word in her heart, she could sing praises to Him using His Word. 

I think there are two things that we can learn from this:

1. Know Scripture. Study God’s attributes. The more we know Scripture, the more we know about Him, the better we are able to worship Him and praise Him for who He is. Mary sets the bar high. 

2. Parents - raise your children in the Lord. There’s little doubt that Mary’s parents took her to church often. She would have grown up hearing the Bible read and taught in the synagogue. We really can’t overstate the importance of raising children in church. We need to make gathering with our brothers and sisters a priority. 

4. Humility

If we see anything at all, we see great humility in Mary. Her worship isn’t shallow or superficial. She’s clearly not merely going through the motions. 

True humility is required for genuine worship. Not only did Mary know who God was, but she worshiped Him for that. When we grow in our knowledge of Him and His attributes, we grow in our ability to worship. That alone is reason enough to spend time studying the attributes of God. 

The prideful person can’t worship. Mostly because pride is self-worship. Scripture is abundantly clear when it comes to pride.

Proverbs 16:5 calls it “an abomination to the Lord” that “will not go unpunished.” 

In verse 48, her humility could not be more clear: he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. There was nothing special about Mary at all, she was from an obscure little village that wasn’t held in very high esteem. 

The New Testament in Modern English phrases the verse this way: he has deigned to notice me, His humble servant. She was amazed that God would even notice her, much less bless her like this. 

Do we have that mindset? Are we amazed that God would even notice us? Or do we think of all the great and wonderful ways we serve Him?

5. Redemption

for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 

⁵⁰ And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 

This is the central idea of the passage, telling us, just like we saw in Philippians 2:7 that all of this is really about the cross - about the gospel. 

I’m captured by this, aren’t you?

This is such a beautiful poetic description of the Gospel - of what God did to redeem His people.

Finally, in verses 46-50....

And then we come to what is best described:

6. The Reversal

Mary is talking about the ministry of Christ here. 

She points back to the Old Testament: Psalm 89:10 – you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm. 

And when we look closely at these verses we see a complete reversal of Human thinking

What is greatness?

What is insignificance?

Notice that she talks about these things like they’ve already happened because she knew what God would do through this child. Her faith saw it as already done. Because it was.

Do we have that kind of faith?

The Gospel not about what you have done. 

It doesn’t matter how good you think you are

It doesn’t matter how powerful you are

It doesn’t matter how much “stuff/money” you have...

(the proud, the mighty, the rich)

All of that is worthless.

Mary’s pointing us to Christ

To what God would accomplish in Him.

She’s pointing to the cross.

She doesn’t know all the details, but she does know that God will use this child to save His people.

In this child, this reversal of everything has begun. AND it will be perfectly completed.

100%

Ultimately, this passage is about

God’s Faithfulness 

His faithfulness to His promise of salvation.

He has sent a Redeemer.

The promise made to Abraham - and to his offspring - is fulfilled.

And to fulfill the promise He made, 

God lifts the humble

and He Humbles the proud.

That’s how God operates:

the humble are shown mercy

the proud receive justice

the lowly are lifted up

the lofty are brought low

We need to humbly trust in His faithfulness and never any inherent worth that we might think we have. 

That’s the Gospel 

That an awesome God, who is mighty, holy, and merciful would notice an unworthy sinner like me. And not only notice me, but become a man like me, and then take the punishment that I deserve? What? 

That’s an amazing prospect!

My only response should be to repent of my sins, place my trust in Him, and then worship Him with all that I am!

Have you done that? 

Would a “snapshot” of your life be a picture of the humble worship of God?

As we make the final turn toward the day that we celebrate the incarnation of our Lord and are reminded of all that He came to do, may you be drawn to worship Him more deeply in Spirit and in Truth. 

Soli Deo Gloria! 

Rob Signs