Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home. Sermons
I. HIS DIVINE POWER. "He that is mighty hath done... great things" (verse 49); "He hath showed strength with his arm" (verse 51). God's power is very gloriously manifested in the formation and furniture of this earthly home, in the creation of successive generations of mankind, in the providential government of the world, including the mastery of all physical forces and the control of all human energies; but by far the most wonderful exhibition of Divine power is in the redemption of the world by Jesus Christ. To exert a transforming power on one intelligent, free, disloyal spirit; to conquer a rebellious, to win an estranged, soul; to raise a fallen nature, and uplift it to a height of holy excellence; to make that which had lowered itself to the basest fit for the society of the holiest in heaven; to do this not in one individual case but in the case of "ten thousand times ten thousand;" to introduce a power which can elevate an,t ennoble families, communities, nations; which is changing the character and condition of the entire race; - this is "the power of God," this is the doing of him "that is mighty." II. HIS DIVINE HOLINESS. "Holy is his Name" (verse 49); "He hath scattered the proud," etc. (verses 51, 52). God's holiness is shown in his providential interpositions, in his humbling the haughty, in his scattering the cruel and the profane, in his raising the lowly and the pure and the true. Thus he has been revealing his righteousness in every nation and in every age. But nowhere does his holiness appear as it is seen in (1) the mission of his Son, who came to put away sin; in (2) the life and language of his Son, who illustrated all purity and condemned all iniquity; in (3) the death of his Son, who by the sacrifice of himself uttered God's thought and feeling about sin as nothing else could speak it, and struck it such a death-blow as nothing else could strike it. III. HIS DIVINE MERCY. (Verse 50.) Many are the testimonies borne by Old Testament saints to the pity, the patience, the mercy, of the Lord. But in Jesus Christ - in his spirit, in his example, and more particularly in his redeeming death and work - is the manifestation of the grace of God. "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." In the gospel of Christ the pity, the patience, the magnanimity, of God rise to their fullest height, reach to their noblest breadth. IV. HIS DIVINE FAITHFULNESS. (Verses 53-55.) God, who made us for himself and for truth and righteousness, who has made our hearts to hunger for the highest good, does not leave us to pine and perish; he fills us with the "rich provision" of his truth and grace in Jesus Christ. "As he spake unto our fathers," so he has done, granting not only such a One as they hoped for, but One that has been to the whole race of man a glorious Redeemer, in whom all nations are blessed with a blessing immeasurably transcending the most sanguine hopes of his ancient people. 1. Let our souls be so filled with the greatness and the goodness of God as thus revealed, that we shall break forth into grateful song, magnifying his Name. 2. Let us return at once to him, if we yet remain at a distance from him; for we have no right to hope, and no reason to expect, that he will ever manifest himself to us in more attractive features than as we see him in the Son that was born of the lowly Virgin. - C.
Now Elisabeth's full time came that she should he delivered. That which was miraculous at the beginning became natural towards the close. This is seen in the case of Elisabeth, as recorded in the fifty-seventh verse. True also of spiritual generation. Begins in mystery and proceeds to prove itself by all that is practical in behaviour. The work of the Holy Ghost in the heart of man can never be explained; it will ever be as miraculous as the overshadowing of Mary, or the overruling of nature in the case of Elisabeth; but, as the motherhood of Mary and Elisabeth was never doubted, so Christian life in all its tempers and charities will establish itself in the confidence of men notwithstanding the miracle in which the new life began. The neighbours and cousins of Elisabeth were proceeding upon the usual plan of naming the child. They would have dragged down the miraculous to the ordinary, and surrounded this speciality of Divine favour with all that was ancient and traditional in the family. They knew not that another and better kindred was about to be inaugurated, and in fact that the whole law of kinship was about to undergo revolution and sanctification. Think of the particularity of Divine providence in giving this child's name. Did not God say unto Moses, "I know thee by name"? Did not Jesus call Zacchaeus by name? Could not God give every child his name, as well as number the hairs of his head, and take charge of all his going in the world? Zacharias confirmed the decision of Elisabeth, and so determined the name of the child, notwithstanding the wonder and apparent opposition of the neighbours and cousins. When the mouth of Zacharias was opened, the language of praise and exultation seemed to pour from his grateful and thankful lips like a river which for a season had been impeded. This speech gives us insight into the meaning of inspiration, for it is distinctly said that Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied. What then is the meaning of Divine inspiration? Mark the pure and sublime religiousness of the speech. From beginning to end it lives and glows with the name of God. Any professed inspiration that leads men down to superficiality and contracted views of life, and to the praise of secondary causes, is presumptively false. Any inspiration that leads men to profounder reverence, to higher aspiration, to nobler charity, is presumptive]y true. The inspiration of Zacharias recognized most emphatically the preceding inspiration with which God had favoured His Church. Zacharias seems to be standing in the midst of that summer of which Old Testament times were but the spring. And as, on the one hand, his inspiration seemed to contract the past until Abraham lived but yesterday; so, on the other, it contracts the future, and makes John already the full-grown messenger and herald of the Messiah. This is what inspiration does for a man; when it does less it may be suspected or denied. The child grew! The child waxed strong in spirit 1 The child lingered in the deeper parts of the wilderness until the time of his showing forth unto Israel had ripened! "He that believeth shall not make haste." The days we spend in silence and obscurity are not wasted, for what man ought to hasten into the Lord's work as if the Lord had been waiting for him in the weakness of impatience? We shall be better prophets as we become better students. In the silent time we are gathering elements, consolidating character, and undergoing discipline, all of which will be wanted when the trumpet calls us to the battle.(Dr. Parker.) Such is the story of the birth and training of the Harbinger. The story suggests many lessons. I will mention but two.I. It is a fine illustration of the proverb, "COMING EVENTS CAST THEIR SHADOWS BEFORE." It was meet that the King of kings, in making advent, should have His avant-courier. Yes, it was meet that the Sun of Righteousness should have His morning star. II. THE PLACE OF ASCETICISM IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. For it cannot be denied that Christ's religion demands as one of its essential conditions self-denial. Presupposing a fallen, inverted nature, where the outward has usurped the inward — the flesh, the spirit — Christianity undertakes a restoration of the primal order, proposing victory in the very sphere of defeat. Thus, St. Paul himself buffeted his own body, and brought it into bondage. It was true of Moses, of David, of Daniel. Our blessed Lord Himself went into the wilderness, and fasted forty days and forty nights. So, also, many of the noblest characters in Christian history have been ascetics: witness a Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, , , , . Their power lay, in part at least, in their asceticism. It certainly was so in the case of John of the Desert. His hermit-life gave him simplicity of manners, freedom from the entanglements of society and the elaborate artifices of a complicated civilization. It also gave him self-reliance, fortitude, courage. An ascetic life is ever apt to make what in some respects is a grand character. Yet an ascetic life is fraught with perils. It tempts to self-righteousness, morbid gloom, and fanaticism. We only need recall the abominable vices of the mediaeval monks — their indolence, avarice, hypocrisy, and sensuality — to be certified that monasticism has no just place in the Christian economy. Happy the day for those European countries when the monasteries were suppressed! No, man was made for man. He may escape society, but in escaping society, he disowns duty. The leaven of the kingdom must be put into the meal of the world. The asceticism which Jesus Christ, alike by word and by example, demands is self-denial, not for self-denial's own sake, but for the sake of others. (G. D. Boardman.) Study and Homiletic Monthly. I. THE NAMING OF JOHN. "His name Is John," not may be, or ought to be, but is. And why was it so clearly, fully, and inevitably settled? Simply because God had decided the matter, and good old Zacharias never dreamt for a moment of questioning that decision. The Word of God settles matters, and allows of no appeal.II. THE GODFATHER OF JOHN. "John" signifies the grace, or gift of God. And who but the eternal God Himself could give him such a name as this? III. THE CHARACTER OF JOHN. He was the "gift of God" in a peculiar sense. He was a man "sent from God," too, for a special purpose. But his character was undoubtedly " the gift of God," and an instance of His grace and mercy. How entirely he seems to have lost himself in his office! Are you showing, by a holy and consistent and unblameable walk, that your name of "Christian" has been given from above? (Study and Homiletic Monthly.) Heaven and earth sing, angels and men. The high occasion justifies it. Song even from the dumb! Yes. He had doubted the word of the angel, and so was stricken dumb. Unbelief cannot sing. But Zacharias is rebuked; no longer of doubtful mind. Now he sings, rises into rapture. His song rather of Christ than of John. No wonder. Who ever stops thought with the herald, the ambassador? There is a psalm of life as well as song of the hour; and all hour-songs are to deepen that life-psalm.(G. B. Johnson.) Biblical Treasury. It was likewise not customary among the Arabs to give the children names which had never been borne by any person in the family. When, therefore, on the seventh day after Mahomet was born, his grandfather invited the members of the tribe of the Koreischites to a feast, the guests asked, after the conclusion of it, what name he would give his grandson, on whose account he had treated them so magnificently; when he said, Mahomet. They replied, "Then you mean to give him a name alien to his family." The same custom prevails among some North American tribes. Lafitua says, "Among the Hurons and Iroquois they always retain in every family a certain number of names of the ancestors of the family, both of men and women. These names are quite peculiar to them, and it is presumed to be generally known that they belong to such or such a family. Now in every family it is the custom, as it were, to revive, to call back to life, those members of it who have made themselves famous. They therefore look out at the same time the names of those whom they revere, and give them to such of their descendants as are to represent them. The latter acquire more or less consideration in proportion as those who formerly bore these names were distinguished for their qualities, virtues, or deeds. The Jews had, in the same manner, certain names in every family which they took care to preserve; and these were taken only from the father's family, as appears from what passed, according to the Scripture, at naming John the Baptist. But among the Hurons and Iroquois the names of the boys are at present taken, as formerly among the Lycians, from the family of the mother only."(Biblical Treasury.) Three-fourths of a year before portentous events had intimated the return of prophecy and miracles to Israel — Zacharias in the temple. One-fourth of a year since, another manifestation from heaven — Mary and Gabriel. Expectation high! Gleam of sunshine in darkness, Music in storm. Hills of Zion shining with early rays of twilight. And now "the morning star" shining bright in the cold, chilly dawn, heralds the speedy rising of the Sun of Righteousness with health and healing in His wings! For it was now to be seen that what God promised should be performed.I. THE BIRTH OF JOHN. 1. Remember circumstances of his being promised, and the astonishing testimony to the divinity of future Jesus, when the two mothers met. 2. Now the promises begin to be accomplished. John born. Neighbours and kinsfolk rejoice with her. A subject of attention, for it was (1) (2) II. NAMING OF CIRCUMCISION. 1. Circumcision, eighth day. A duty. Analogy in baptism (Colossians 2:11, 12). Baptism also should be in infancy. 2. Naming took place then. So Christian name is given at baptism, not by registration. III. THE MIRACLE (ver. 64). Reward to faith. IV. ZACHARIAS' SONG OF PRAISE. Christ came, not to make men sullen, low, morose, desponding; but to pour out blessings in rich abundance, and to turn the captivity of His people " as the rivers in the south." Has this song been realized in you? Is God visiting you? Has darkness vanished, and the true light shone in you? Make sure! Don't grasp the shadows of time, and lose the substance of eternity. (G. Venables, S. C. L.) — A beautiful incident occurred only a short time since in the school to teach mutes articulation and lip-reading, at Mystic River, Connecticut. Miss P., an interesting graduate of one of the oldest institutions for the education of deaf mutes, having a desire to learn to speak and read the lips of her speaking friends, was recommended by her old principal to try Mr. Whipple's school, and she entered it last term. She made rapid progress, and was much aided by the natural alphabet, the invention of her teacher. This alphabet curiously suggests sound, or the right position of the organs to utter sound, as well as form; and whenever a mute pupil can read and write it, he or she can generally give any of the forty sounds of our difficult language with great precision and discrimination, and often with remarkable correctness. This young lady, filled with enthusiasm at every step, mastered the alphabet with little difficulty, and one day came to her teacher with something written on her slate, which she asked him to correct, her mind being agitated with emotion. It proved to be the Lord's Prayer, put into the language of articulation. Perceiving her agitation, the teacher could scarce restrain his own tears as he corrected a few unimportant errors of pronunciation, and delicately returned it. The next morning the young lady came exultingly to her teacher, exclaiming: "I prayed last night for the first time in my life with my voice;" and neither of them could restrain their emotions. He ventured to ask her if she had ever prayed before. "Oh, yes; I have thought my prayers, but I never spoke before." "My lips shall praise Thee, O God." "Attend to the voice of my supplications, O Lord.""Praise is the rent-charge we owe to God" for His blessings. David said, "As long as I live I will praise the Lord," In ancient places of Christian worship it was arranged that one set of worshippers should keep on praising God, till another set came, so that praise might always be going up to heaven, night and day. Commodore Good-enough, when dying, said, "I have not breath left to praise God for all His mercies." Mr. Wesley's last words were, "I'll praise! I'll praise!" Swiss herdsmen at sunset call forth, "Praise ye the Lord!" This shout is repeated from one to another till every valley, peak, and hill reverberates with the ascriptions of gratitude to the Giver of all good. In the last four Psalms, how many exhortations we have to praise God! In the last verse of the last Psalm we read, "Let every. thing that hath breath praise the Lord."(H. R. Burton.) People Aaron, Abia, Abijah, David, Elias, Elijah, Elisabeth, Gabriel, Herod, Jacob, Jesus, John, Joseph, Mary, Theophilus, Zacharias, ZechariahPlaces Galilee, Jerusalem, Judea, NazarethTopics Abode, Elizabeth, Home, Mary, Months, Returned, StayedOutline 1. The preface of Luke to his whole gospel.5. The conception of John the Baptist; 26. and of Jesus. 39. The prophecy of Elisabeth and of Mary, concerning Jesus. 57. The nativity and circumcision of John. 67. The prophecy of Zachariah, both of Jesus, 76. and of John. Dictionary of Bible Themes Luke 1:26-56Library July 19 MorningHe that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.--LUKE 1:49. Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?--Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works.--Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy.--Hallowed be thy name. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people. Who is this … Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path August 3 Morning September 9 Morning March 24 Morning True Greatness The Magnificat Elijah Come Again Zacharias's Hymn The Dayspring from on High Fourteenth Day. The Holy one of God. The Angel's Greeting Jesus Born the Son of God. The Key-Note of a Choice Sonnet "The Tender Mercy of Our God" A Harp of Ten Strings The Judgment Upon Zacharias Of Fervent Love and Vehement Desire of Receiving Christ Prayer and Consecration Luke's Preface and Dedication. Annunciation of the Birth of Jesus. Mary, Future Mother of Jesus, visits Elisabeth, Future Mother of John the Baptist. Annunciation to Zacharias of the Birth of John the Baptist. The Birth and Early Life of John the Baptist. Links Luke 1:56 NIVLuke 1:56 NLT Luke 1:56 ESV Luke 1:56 NASB Luke 1:56 KJV Luke 1:56 Bible Apps Luke 1:56 Parallel Luke 1:56 Biblia Paralela Luke 1:56 Chinese Bible Luke 1:56 French Bible Luke 1:56 German Bible Luke 1:56 Commentaries Bible Hub |