Good Saturday morning. I trust you are enjoying your weekend. Next weekend will be the last one before Christmas, so I am sure a lot of you are busy going to parties and going shopping. But,most importantly, I truly hope you are spending time alone with Jesus himself as he guides you through this holiday and allows you to view it through his eyes, through his mother's eyes, his step-father's eyes, his cousin's eyes, so that this one will be different, this one you will remember as holy to the Lord. The Jesus who came to you as this baby we celebrate so that you could be a friend of God with nothing between you and Him. He saw you at this very moment in time, sitting here this day, right now, reading about him, as he decided to come to earth. He knew you even then. He knew that in 2009 this would be the year you would come to know him more dearly and deeply if you opened your heart wide to him this season.
Yesterday, Mary had hurried to Elizabeth’s home within a few days after Gabriel’s visit. And that is where we pick up today. She has traveled to Judea and entered Elizabeth’s house.
41 At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
I believe this was the point that the Holy Spirit filled John. From the time that Gabriel left her, everywhere that Mary walked, the living Son of God was residing within her womb, her body, for those 9 months. Think about it: The LIGHT of the WORLD, stepped into darkness, submitted to the darkness of a human womb, and ultimately the darkness of our humanity and our fallenness. Just that one thought fills me with such an overwhelming awe and a joy of what he gave up to come down here to me. A King becoming a shepherd. Can you see him in heaven removing the robe of the king and placing upon himself the garment of a shepherd. A Prince becoming a pauper. A Creator becoming created. A Leader becoming a servant. How could you not love him? He allowed himself to be bound as a growing fetus within a wall of darkness for 9 months. I don’t even know how a human womb would be able to hold back the power contained within it, the presence of the Living God.
When Mary spoke, it says that John leaped inside of Elizabeth. Remember, back in verse 15, when Gabriel was talking to Zechariah, he told him their baby, John, “will be filled with the Holy Spirit, EVEN BEFORE HIS BIRTH.” I wonder if Zechariah was there that moment to witness that prophecy fulfilled right before his eyes!
42 Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. 43 Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? 44 When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy.
Did you hear the confirmation Elizabeth spoke to Mary? She was repeating what Gabriel had told her. “...blessed above all women....the mother of my Lord... She hadn’t heard Gabriel say those words, but she heard God himself say them to her at some point during her seclusion. Surely Mary took notice of those phrases as they reached her ears and took her back to that flash of time when Gabriel stood before her saying those same things. CONFIRMATION!! How could Elizabeth have known?!! I suppose that at that moment, her faith was bolstered up another few notches. When you hear God yourself, and then he confirms it through others, that is an awesome faith-building thing. It lets you see He’s at work, confirms you really did hear him, and he is weaving himself in and out of our life and the lives of others around us.
Did you hear the humility in Elizabeth’s statement, even though she herself was carrying a child of prophecy? “Why am I so honored that the mother of my Lord should visit me?...” That could only be the statement of a woman who had spent time with the Lord, a statement of humility, despite her exalted and chosen status to carry John, as well as being old enough to be Mary’s mother, probably even her grandmother. She had a submissive, reverent heart when her Lord came into her presence. She recognized him because she had spent time alone in seclusion with him.
I want to be that humble before the Lord! I want to recognize his presence the minute he steps in. I want his presence to stop me in my tracks. Then Elizabeth said...
45 You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.”
What a statement. Read it again. YOU are BLESSED because you BELIEVED that the LORD WOULD DO WHAT HE SAID!.” Take that one in, memorize it, make it yours, because that one verse can be the screensaver for your computer, your life verse, the one you highlight in your Bible, the verse you frame on the wall, the one God sings over you. It applies to every one of us who has ever made our heart and our life totally available to the Lord. How can we be blessed apart from belief in our Lord doing what he says he will do?
It was only a few days after her visit, long before she would ever “feel” pregnant, but these words Elizabeth spoke to Mary rang true in her spirit. God was encouraging Mary through another human being and would continue to do so for the next few months she spent there with Elizabeth. The unborn John was in the presence of Jesus himself daily for those three months before either of them was ever born. Two believing, submitting women, one a teen and one an old woman, and two unborn boy babies, one the Son of God, the other, the one would be point the way to him, both divinely sent by God. What a wonderful three months it was going to be. And God purposely appointed Mary’s trip to see Elizabeth. Along our journey, encouragement and confirmation is vital in our walk. That’s why God puts us in community with other believers, that is why he will plan for our path to cross the paths of others to whom he has spoken.
And to these words from Elizabeth.... 46 Mary responded, (I ask you to read or whisper the blue words below out loud as if they are your own prayer, as you read through Mary’s response....read it with the overwhelming awe of the Lord she must have had at that moment as he cared enough to confirm in her and build her faith further...read it with the knowledge and belief that these truths apply to you as his child as much as they did to Mary that day...read it out loud so the devil will hear you profess these truths before God...)
“Oh, how my soul praises the Lord.
47 How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior! (Does your very soul and spirit want to cry out in praise to God?)
48 For he took notice of his lowly servant,
and from now on all generations will call me blessed. (He has taken notice of you, and when he enters your life, you will be known as blessed.)
49 For the Mighty One is holy,
and he has done great things for me. (Think of the great things he does for you, for you, yet for his glory, to bring him honor, and show that we could never attain these things on our own.)
50 He shows mercy from generation to generation
to all who fear him. (He showed mercy to our generation before it ever existed, and will show it to those who come after us. He shows me his mercy every day.)
51 His mighty arm has done tremendous things!
He has scattered the proud and haughty ones. (He has used us for his purposes as we submit and humble ourselves before him. He has no use for pride and haughtiness.)
52 He has brought down princes from their thrones
and exalted the humble. (He exalts the humble, the greatest Prince of all brought down from his throne to be exalted above all again in due time.)
53 He has filled the hungry with good things
and sent the rich away with empty hands. (When we hunger after Him, He fills us up with good things from his hands. If we are too “rich” to need him, we come away empty handed.)
54 He has helped his servant Israel
and remembered to be merciful. (There is no greater mercy than sending a son as your sacrifice because God wanted you as his friend.)
55 For he made this promise to our ancestors,
to Abraham and his children forever.” (We have all spiritually become a “chosen generation”, God’s people, Jews and Gentiles alike, because of the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.)
Why would God of the universe, creator of everything that exists, with a mind no one can begin to fathom, creator of time and space yet outside of the realm of time and space, past present and future, King over everything that is, total omniscience and omnipotence, the beginning of all things and the end of all things, and the beauty of everything in between, lower himself to our place, the Light of the world confining himself in darkness, the Most High God humble himself among the lowest of us, become one of us? There is only one answer that it could possibly be ... LOVE, pure and undefiled, sacrificing love of a rescuer that came to where we are drowning in a sea of darkness because he knew we couldn't get to him..
Let that love sink deep into your heart today, and enough that it spills over onto everyone you see this weekend. You have a light in you that the darkness could not have a hold over, but only for his brief submission to this dark place, so he could come to us and the light would shine brighter and brighter. I believe as these truths take hold in us, we will begin to have a glow about us that others will notice, and it won’t be us, it will be his light. Light of the World, you stepped down into darkness, even the darkness of my own heart.
He wants to Shine in YOU today!
Teresa
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