THE BLESSEDNESS OF BELIEVING
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on September 4, 2019 under AM Bible Study |
AM Bible Study Group: September 4, 2019 from Luke 1:39-45
Theme: The words of Elizabeth to Mary testify of the blessedness of those who believe God’s word about Jesus.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
In the earliest portion of the Gospel of Luke, there are five ‘hymns’ that declare the glories of Jesus at the time of His coming into the world.
The second of these five hymns was the one that Mary, the mother of Jesus, spoke in Luke 1:46-55. We often call it ‘the Magnificant’. After that, the third was the hymn that Zacharias—the father of John the Baptist—sang when God restored his voice. We find it in 1:67-79; and it’s where He praised God for God’s devotion to Israel, and spoke of how his own son John would turn people’s hearts to Christ. After that, a fourth hymn is found in 2:14. It is a short hymn; but it must have been wondrous to hear; because it was sung by the angels of heaven at Jesus’ birth. And a final hymn is found in 2:28-32. It’s the hymn of the man Simeon; who praised God as he held the infant Jesus in his arms—rejoicing over being allowed to see, with his own eyes, God’s provision salvation to fallen humankind.
Today, we consider the first of these five glorious hymns of praise about Jesus. It is found in Luke 1:39-45; and it comes from the lips of Mary’s relative Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. We’re told;
Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord” (Luke 1:39-45).
You may have noticed a key theme in this hymn of praise. It’s repeated several times: “Blessed …!” Elizabeth told Mary, “Blessed are you among women …” And more; “blessed is the fruit of your womb!” And finally, “Blessed is she who believed …”
This morning’s passage teaches us about Mary’s unique blessedness because she had believed the promises of God concerning the Child she would bear. But this passage also teaches us the blessedness of all who whole-heartedly and submissively believe God’s sure word and testimony concerning His Son Jesus. It’s a very significant and practical way for the Holy Spirit to have begun the message this Gospel.
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Let’s consider this blessedness from the standpoint of the key players in this story. First, let’s consider Mary. After the angel had spoken to her about the nature of this holy Child—and after he explained to her how she, as a virgin, would conceive and carry this Child in her womb—the angel then told her;
“Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.” Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her (Luke 1:36-38).
Mary demonstrated a submissiveness to God’s word that had been given to her through the angel. But more; as we read on, she demonstrated an active faith. Notice first from our passage …
1. MARY’S JOURNEY (v. 39-40).
We’re told, “Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.”
Now; Mary didn’t make this journey because she was uncertain or skeptical about the things she had been told. She truly believed this remarkable thing that the angel had told her; and she was greatly commended for her faith. In fact, she believed so thoroughly in God’s promise to her that she humbly and willingly submitted herself to God’s declared purpose for her—even though it would most likely bring scandal and raised eyebrows from those who did not believe. Her testimony is a powerful one: “Let it be to me according to your word.” And what a great lesson she teaches us. As Elizabeth would later say to her, Mary did not believe because she was blessed; but rather, Mary was blessed because she believed. (We sometimes reverse this; don’t we?—waiting to believe only until after we are first blessed?) For Mary, belief in the promise of God came first. And her state of blessedness flowed forth from that belief.
It would have been a long journey for the young girl Mary. It was at least a three-day trip on foot from Nazareth to the regions of Judea. And this was through hill country! But why did she go to visit her relative Elizabeth? The angel hadn’t commanded her to do this. It seems that she was compelled to do so as a response of faith. The angel had told her that another miracle had already occurred; and she would have been drawn to go to her beloved relative and see. It truly would have been an act of faith; because there was no human way that she could have known of—or even have guessed at—the fact that her older, formerly-barren relative was now miraculously pregnant unless the angel had told her. But Mary believed; and away she went over the hill country—”with haste”—to the place in Judah where Zacharias and Elizabeth lived.
As soon as Mary walked in through the door and greeted Elizabeth, the things that she had already heard and had already believed from the angel became powerfully verified to her. Mary’s journey was a journey of belief—and it resulted in a divine affirmation of her blessedness. As Jesus said on another occasion, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” (John 11:40).
And notice next that we’re told about …
2. JOHN’S JOY (v. 41a).
Now; Mary would have—very likely—been very excited to come to Elizabeth. Her heart would have been filled with the news she had been given. And it appears that as soon as she came in, she spoke forth a greeting to Elizabeth. It may have been a surprise visit from an excited relative; but perhaps the greeting was a very familiar one. And yet, we’re told of something remarkable: “And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb …”
Later on in this passage, we find that Elizabeth explained to Mary that the baby John leaped in her womb “for joy”. The word that she used to describe his joy is an unusual one. It’s a word that is meant to describe an exceedingly great gladness. It’s the word that is used to describe how our Lord is able to keep us and present us faultless before the presence of His glory “with exceeding joy” (Jude 24). John must have been leaping in the womb quite a bit for Elizabeth to know that this was a reaction of such great joy. And why would he do this? It would be because John’s unique role from God was that of declaring to the world the One who was then in the womb of Mary! John was a priestly child, born of a priestly lineage; and it was the role of the priest to announce the offering for sin. It would be John who would later announce to the world, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Later in his life, when John’s disciples came to him and complained that more people were coming to Jesus than to him, he told them;
“You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:28-30).
No wonder John leaped for joy! We may ask how it could be that John—a yet-unborn child in the womb—would know to rejoice at the presence of a yet-unborn Jesus in the womb of Mary. It would help to remember that Zacharias was told that his son would “be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb” (v. 15). Surely it was under the Spirit’s influence that John leaped for joy! John joyfully testified of Jesus from then on. And what a testimony of assurance that John’s response –while still in the womb of Elizabeth—would have been to Mary’s belief.
Now; precisely how or when the great miracle of our Lord’s conception happened is something that it’s not for us to know. It’s a marvelous thing that is wrapped up in a holy mystery. But it must be that between the time that the angel spoke to Mary, and the time that she set foot into Elizabeth’s home, God the Holy Spirit came upon Mary, and overshadowed her, and caused the Son of God to be conceived as a human being in her, and to begin to grow and develop in her womb from the substance of her own body. The Word of God had already become flesh before Mary had walked in the door!
And it’s then that we find then that John was not the only one filled with the Holy Spirit. Let’s now notice …
3. ELIZABETH’S EXCLAMATION (vv. 41b-45).
We’re told that, when the child within her leaped for joy, that “Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit” (v. 41b). And then we’re told that, in the power of the Holy Spirit, “she spoke out with a loud voice”—or as it says in the English Standard Version, “exclaimed with a loud cry”. It must have been a response to Mary’s greeting that startled her.
And what Elizabeth then said, in the power of the Holy Spirit, must have been a marvelous affirmation to Mary’s faith. She loudly declared;
“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord” (vv. 42-45).
The word “blessed” that’s used twice in verse 42—in the phrase, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!”—is a different one from the one used in verse 45. The word for “blessed” in verse 42 (eulogātos; from which we get the English word “eulogy”) speaks, not so much of the feeling of being ‘blessed’, as rather of the bare fact of it. Mary was being told that she was a woman who was highly honored and highly favored. She had the greatest honor that any woman on earth could have. She bore the Christ. And what a wonderful affirmation that must have been to Mary! The angel had said essentially the same thing to her: “Rejoice, highly favored one …!” How else could Elizabeth know to greet her in the same way that the angel had greeted her except through the Holy Spirit? And how else but through the Holy Spirit could Elizabeth know that the young virgin Mary was pregnant; and that the fruit of her womb was also blessed?
What’s more, how else but through the Holy Spirit could Elizabeth know that the small life in Mary’s womb—having been conceived by the Holy Spirit sometime shortly before then—was none other than the Son of God that the angel said He was? That’s why she would call Mary “the mother of my Lord”. How else would Elizabeth—a woman much older than Mary—know to speak to her as if Mary were in a position more honorable than herself? How else would Elizabeth know to have said, “But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” How else but through the Spirit could Elizabeth know that the child within her own womb was joyful in the presence of the Child within Mary? How else could she know to say, “For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.”
And then, note how Elizabeth spoke of the sense of Mary’s own feeling of blessedness. She affirmed that Mary was “blessed” (makaria; which can be translated ‘happy’) as “she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord” (v. 45). None of this appears to have been a result of anything that Mary had told Elizabeth. It all came forth from Elizabeth as she was under the influence of the Holy Spirit. What a confirmation it would have been to Mary of the things that the angel had told her! But more; what an affirmation of Mary’s blessedness for having believed what she had been told—and for having submitted herself to it!
It wasn’t that Mary was “blessed” and therefore “believed”. Rather, she sets forth a great example for us in how she humbly “believed”; and because she believed was then therefore “blessed”.
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There is another testimony of blessedness that we find much later in the life of our Lord.
After Jesus went to the cross, died for us, and was raised from the dead, He appeared bodily to many of His disciples. One of them, Thomas, wasn’t present with the others to see Him; and therefore, he wasn’t ready to believe that Jesus was actually alive. He told his fellow disciples, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe” (John 20:25).
We’re told that eight days later, the Lord Jesus appeared again to His disciples. And this time, Thomas was present; and Jesus showed Himself to Thomas and said, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing” (v. 27). We’re not told that Thomas actually put forth his hand and did as the Lord offered; but we are told that he most definitely believed! He answered and said to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!” And that’s when Jesus said to him—and perhaps to all of us at the same time—”Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed (makaria; that is, blessed in the sense of personal experience; or as we can translate it, “how happy”) are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (v. 29).
How truly blessed are those who believe! May that be our story; because true blessedness in the things of God comes to those who first believe—with complete submission—in all of God’s promises about Jesus.
EA
