Luke 1:41 Study Bible: It happened, when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, that the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

◄ Luke 1:41 ►

When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,

Elizabeth, the wife of Zechariah and mother of John the Baptist, was a relative of Mary. The greeting signifies a moment of recognition and connection between two women chosen for significant roles in God's plan. This encounter takes place in the hill country of Judea, a region with deep historical and religious significance for the Jewish people. The greeting itself is a simple act, yet it sets the stage for a profound spiritual event. The cultural context of the time placed great importance on family and kinship, and this meeting underscores the familial bonds that God uses to fulfill His promises.

1Sa 3:10 Then the LORD came and stood there, calling as before,…
Jhn 10:27 My sheep listen to My voice; I know them…
Rom 10:17 Consequently, faith comes by hearing, and hearing…

the baby leaped in her womb,

The baby, John the Baptist, responds to Mary's presence, indicating a recognition of the Messiah even before birth. This leaping is a fulfillment of the angel Gabriel's prophecy to Zechariah that John would be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb (Luke 1:15). This moment foreshadows John's future role as the forerunner of Christ, preparing the way for the Lord. The leaping can also be seen as a type of joyful worship, acknowledging the presence of Jesus, who is in Mary's womb.

Gen 25:22-23 But the children inside her struggled with each other,…
Luk 6:23 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy,…
2Sa 6:16 As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David,…

and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

The filling of the Holy Spirit empowers Elizabeth to speak prophetically, affirming Mary's blessedness and the significance of her child. This event highlights the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers, a theme that is prevalent throughout Luke's Gospel and the Book of Acts. The Holy Spirit's presence in Elizabeth signifies God's active involvement in the unfolding of salvation history. This moment also connects to the broader biblical narrative where the Holy Spirit fills individuals for specific purposes, such as the prophets of the Old Testament.

Act 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit…
Act 4:31 After they had prayed, their meeting place was shaken…
Act 13:52 And the disciples were filled with joy…

Persons / Places / Events

1. Elizabeth
A righteous woman from the priestly line of Aaron, wife of Zechariah, and mother of John the Baptist. She is filled with the Holy Spirit upon hearing Mary's greeting.

2. Mary
The mother of Jesus, who visits Elizabeth while pregnant with Jesus. Her greeting prompts a significant spiritual reaction in Elizabeth.

3. John the Baptist (the baby in the womb)
The forerunner of Christ, who leaps in Elizabeth's womb, indicating recognition of Jesus even before birth.

4. The Holy Spirit
The third person of the Trinity, who fills Elizabeth, enabling her to prophesy and recognize the significance of Mary's pregnancy.

5. The Event of the Visitation
This is the meeting between Mary and Elizabeth, which is marked by spiritual revelation and joy.

Teaching Points

The Role of the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit empowers and reveals truth. Just as Elizabeth was filled with the Spirit to recognize Jesus, believers today are called to be open to the Spirit's leading and revelation.

The Sanctity of Life
John's reaction in the womb underscores the value and personhood of the unborn. This passage affirms the belief in life beginning at conception.

Joy in Fellowship
The meeting of Mary and Elizabeth is a powerful example of Christian fellowship, where mutual encouragement and joy are shared. Believers are encouraged to seek and nurture such relationships.

Recognition of Jesus
Even before birth, John recognizes Jesus, illustrating the divine nature of Christ. Believers are called to recognize and honor Jesus in all aspects of life.

Prophetic Fulfillment
Elizabeth's experience is a fulfillment of prophecy and divine promise, reminding believers of God's faithfulness and the importance of trusting His word.

Bible Study Questions

1. How does Elizabeth's reaction to Mary's greeting demonstrate the work of the Holy Spirit in her life, and how can we seek to be similarly filled with the Spirit today?

2. In what ways does the leaping of John the Baptist in the womb affirm the value of life before birth, and how should this influence our views and actions regarding the sanctity of life?

3. How can the joy and mutual encouragement seen in the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth serve as a model for our relationships within the church community?

4. What does the recognition of Jesus by John the Baptist in the womb teach us about the nature of Christ, and how should this impact our daily worship and devotion?

5. How does the fulfillment of prophecy in Elizabeth's experience encourage us to trust in God's promises, and what specific promises from Scripture can we hold onto in our current circumstances?

Connections to Other Scriptures

Luke 1:15
This verse foretells that John the Baptist will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb, connecting to his reaction in Luke 1:41.

Acts 2:4
Describes the filling of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, similar to Elizabeth's experience, showing the Spirit's role in empowering believers.

Genesis 25:22
The leaping of John in the womb can be compared to the struggle of Jacob and Esau in Rebekah's womb, indicating significant future roles.

1 Samuel 1:15
Hannah's prayer and subsequent filling with the Spirit can be seen as a parallel to Elizabeth's experience, highlighting the role of the Spirit in empowering women of faith.

Sermons

Happiness Communicated Doubles Itself	Bishop Hall., Parisian Breviary.	Luke 1:39-45
Mary's Visit to Elisabeth	Harriet B. Stowe.	Luke 1:39-45
Religious Intercourse	James Foote, M. A.	Luke 1:39-45
The Home of Zacharias	C. Geikie, D. D.	Luke 1:39-45
The Power of Sympathy	C. S. Robinson, D. D.	Luke 1:39-45
The Speech of Elisabeth Must be Regarded as an Inspired S	Bishop Goodwin.	Luke 1:39-45
The Subordination of Personal Joys	Dr. Parker.	Luke 1:39-45
Went into the Hill Country: Mary's Journey	C. S. Robinson, D. D.	Luke 1:39-45
Inspirations Amid the Hills of Judaea	R.M. Edgar	Luke 1:39-56

People

Aaron, Abia, Abijah, David, Elias, Elijah, Elisabeth, Gabriel, Herod, Jacob, Jesus, John, Joseph, Mary, Theophilus, Zacharias, Zechariah

Places

Galilee, Jerusalem, Judea, Nazareth

Topics

Babe, Baby, Ears, Elisabeth, Elizabeth, Filled, Full, Ghost, Greeting, Holy, Inside, Leap, Leaped, Leapt, Mary, Mary's, Move, Pass, Salutation, Spirit, Sudden, Voice, Within, Womb

Dictionary of Bible Themes

Luke 1:41

     3251   Holy Spirit, filling with
     3257   Holy Spirit, gift of
     5061   sanctity of life
     8422   equipping, spiritual

Luke 1:26-56

5745 women

Luke 1:39-41

5328 greeting

Luke 1:41-42

5652 babies

Luke 1:41-45

     3020   Holy Spirit, joy of
     5199   womb
     5724   offspring

Library

July 19 Morning
He 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
His mercy is on them that fear Him.--LUKE 1:50. Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men! Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. If ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear.--The Lord …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

September 9 Morning
He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.--LUKE 1:53. Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods and have need of nothing: and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore and repent. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.--When …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

March 24 Morning
Abraham believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.--GEN. 15:6. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him: but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

True Greatness
He shall be great in the sight of the Lord.'--LUKE i. 15. So spake the angel who foretold the birth of John the Baptist. 'In the sight of the Lord'--then men are not on a dead level in His eyes. Though He is so high and we are so low, the country beneath Him that He looks down upon is not flattened to Him, as it is to us from an elevation, but there are greater and smaller men in His sight, too. No epithet is more misused and misapplied than that of 'a great man.' It is flung about indiscriminately …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

The Magnificat
'And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, 47. And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. 48. For He hath regarded the low estate of His hand-maiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. 49. For He that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is His name, 50. And His mercy is on them that fear Him from generation to generation. 51. He hath shewed strength with His arm: He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 52. He hath put down …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

Elijah Come Again
'There was, in the days of Herod the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth. 6. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. 7. And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren; and they both were now well stricken in years. 8. And it came to pass, that, while he executed the priest's office before God in the order of his …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

Zacharias's Hymn
'And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, 68. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for He hath visited and redeemed His people, 69. And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David; 70. As He spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began; 71. That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; 72. To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember His holy …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

The Dayspring from on High
'The day-spring from on high hath visited us, 79. To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.'--LUKE i. 78, 79. As the dawn is ushered in by the notes of birds, so the rising of the Sun of Righteousness was heralded by song, Mary and Zacharias brought their praises and welcome to the unborn Christ, the angels hovered with heavenly music over His cradle, and Simeon took the child in his arms and blessed it. The human members of this …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions Of Holy Scripture

Fourteenth Day. The Holy one of God.
Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.'--Luke i. 35. 'We have believed and know that Thou art the Holy One of God.'--John vi. 69. 'The holy one of the Lord'--only once (Ps. cvi. 16) the expression is found in the Old Testament. It is spoken of Aaron, in whom holiness, as far as it could then be revealed, had found its most complete embodiment. The title waited for its fulfilment in Him who alone, in His own person, could perfectly show forth …
Andrew Murray—Holy in Christ

The Angel's Greeting
THE ANGEL'S GREETING St Luke i. 28.--"Hail, thou that art highly favoured among women, the Lord is with thee." Here there are three things to understand: the first, the modesty of the angel; the second, that he thought himself unworthy to accost the Mother of God; the third, that he not only addressed her, but the great multitude of souls who long after God. I affirm that had the Virgin not first borne God spiritually He would never have been born from her in bodily fashion. A certain woman said …
Johannes Eckhart—Meister Eckhart's Sermons

Jesus Born the Son of God.
(Christmas Sermon.) "Glory to God in" the Highest, on earth peace; goodwill towards men. Amen." TEXT: LUKE i. 31, 32. "Behold, . . . thou shalt bring forth a Son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High." THESE were the words of promise spoken by the angel to Mary, that Ho whom she should bear should be called the Son of the Highest; and as this promise is after wards brought into direct connection with the statement that the power of the Highest …
Friedrich Schleiermacher—Selected Sermons of Schleiermacher

The Key-Note of a Choice Sonnet
But now, having introduced to you her magnificat, we will dwell upon these words, "My soul doth magnify the Lord," and I do earnestly hope that many of us can adopt the language without being guilty of falsehood: we can as truly say as Mary did, "My soul doth magnify the Lord." If there are any of you present to-night who cannot say it, get to your chambers, fall upon your knees, and cry to the Lord to help you to do so; for as long as a man cannot magnify God he is not fit for heaven, where the …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 26: 1880

"The Tender Mercy of Our God"
"His heart is made of tenderness, His bowels melt with love." The main point of this morning's sermon will be to bring out into prominence those few words, "the tender mercy of our God." To me they gleam with kindly light: I see in them a soft radiance, as of those matchless pearls whereof the gates of heaven are made. There is an exceeding melody to my ear as well as to my heart in that word "tender." "Mercy" is music, and "tender mercy" is the most exquisite form of it, especially to a broken heart. …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 32: 1886

A Harp of Ten Strings
IT IS VERY CLEAR that Mary was not beginning a new thing; for she speaks in the present tense, and in a tense which seems to have been for a long time present: "My soul doth magnify the Lord." Ever since she had received the wonderful tidings of the choice which God had made of her for her high position, she had begun to magnify the Lord; and when once a soul has a deep sense of God's mercy, and begins magnifying him, there is no end to it. This grows by what it feeds upon: the more you magnify God, …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 37: 1891

The Judgment Upon Zacharias
UNBELIEF is everywhere a great sin, and a grievous mistake. Unbelief has proved the ruin of those countless multitudes who, having heard the gospel, rejected it, died in their sins, have been consigned to the place of torment, and await the fiercer judgment of the last day. I might ask the question concerning this innumerable host, "Who slew all these?" The answer would be, "Unbelief." And when unbelief comes into the Christian's heart, as it does at times--for the truest believer has his times of …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 62: 1916

Of Fervent Love and Vehement Desire of Receiving Christ
The Voice of the Disciple With the deepest devotion and fervent love, with all affection and fervour of heart, I long to receive Thee, O Lord, even as many Saints and devout persons have desired Thee in communicating, who were altogether well pleasing to Thee by their sanctity of life, and dwelt in all ardent devotion. O my God, Eternal Love, my whole Good, Happiness without measure, I long to receive Thee with the most vehement desire and becoming reverence which any Saint ever had or could have. …
Thomas A Kempis—Imitation of Christ

Prayer and Consecration
"Eudamidas, a citizen of Corinth, died in poverty; but having two wealthy friends, Arctæus and Carixenus, left the following testament: In virtue of my last will, I bequeath to Arctæus my mother and to Carixenus my daughter to be taken home to their houses and supported for the remainder of their lives. This testament occasioned much mirth and laughter. The two legatees were pleased and affectionately executed the will. If heathens trusted each other, why should not I cherish a far greater …
Edward M. Bounds—The Essentials of Prayer

Luke's Preface and Dedication.
^C Luke I. 1-4. [1] ^c 1 Forasmuch as many [of whom we know nothing and have even no tradition] have taken in hand to draw up a narrative concerning those matters which have been fulfilled [completed, or accomplished according to the divine will] among us, 2 even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses [the apostles were necessarily such and there were some few others--Acts i. 21-23] and ministers of the word [the apostles were ministers, and not ecclesiastical …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Annunciation of the Birth of Jesus.
(at Nazareth, b.c. 5.) ^C Luke I. 26-38. ^c 26 Now in the sixth month [this is the passage from which we learn that John was six months older than Jesus] the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth [Luke alone tells us where Mary lived before the birth of Jesus. That Nazareth was an unimportant town is shown by the fact that it is mentioned nowhere in the Old Testament, nor in the Talmud, nor in Josephus, who mentions two hundred four towns and cities of Galilee. The …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Mary, Future Mother of Jesus, visits Elisabeth, Future Mother of John the Baptist.
(in the Hill Country of Judæa, b.c. 5.) ^C Luke I. 39-56. ^c 39 And Mary arose in these days [within a week or two after the angel appeared to her] and went into the hill country [the district of Judah lying south of Jerusalem, of which the city of Hebron was the center] with haste [she fled to those whom God had inspired, so that they could understand her condition and know her innocence--to those who were as Joseph needed to be inspired, that he might understand--Matt. i. 18-25], into a city …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Annunciation to Zacharias of the Birth of John the Baptist.
(at Jerusalem. Probably b.c. 6.) ^C Luke I. 5-25. ^c 5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judæa [a Jewish proselyte, an Idumæan or Edomite by birth, founder of the Herodian family, king of Judæa from b.c. 40 to a.d. 4, made such by the Roman Senate on the recommendation of Mark Antony and Octavius Cæsar], a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course [David divided the priests into twenty-four bodies or courses, each course serving in rotation one week in the temple …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Birth and Early Life of John the Baptist.
(Hill Country of Judæa, b.c. 5.) ^C Luke I. 57-80. ^c 57 Now Elisabeth's time was fulfilled that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son. 58 And her neighbors and her kinsfolk heard that the Lord had magnified his mercy towards her [mercy in granting a child; great mercy in granting so illustrious a child] ; and they rejoiced with her. 59 And it came to pass on the eighth day [See Gen. xvii. 12; Lev. xii. 3; Phil. iii. 5. Male children were named at their circumcision, probably …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

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