In this message, Pastor Ben speaks about four aspects of Mary’s faith that are necessary for every Christian 1. Mary is a source of blessing 2. Mary has not seen the Messiah, yet believes 3. Mary praises the Lord for his might and mercy 4. Mary expects a kingdom where everything is made right.

Focusing on Mary, Mother of Jesus

Today I want to talk first and foremost about Jesus Christ. But in speaking about our savior who came to earth, was born of the Virgin Mary, I want to talk about that particular woman, Mary, mother of Jesus.

Because there are a lot of people in biblical history who are good examples for us who demonstrate great faith in God who have deep convictions that he will keep his word and whose trust in him is exemplary for the Christian. So I want to speak today about Mary because her faith has a unique place. She genuinely can be called one of the first Christians. May seem odd, but Mary can be called one of the first Christians because she is one of the first people to believe in the son of God specifically because she believes in Jesus Christ.

Now Mary’s faith is not new. The faith has been handed down from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There have been promises that have been waited to be revealed and fulfilled. And Mary is the first person to believe on the son of God and the Messiah by name. You shall call his name Jesus, for he will forgive his people of their sins.

And you know, we don’t want to exalt Mary because she is but a woman. She may be the mother of our Lord as Elizabeth says in this passage, but she is only our sister in the faith. Any greater title that may have been employed over the years, co-redemptrix, mediatrix, queen of heaven, obscures something important about her. She is a woman just like you and I. And her faith is the same faith that you and I ought to have.

Which is why I want to talk today about four aspects of Mary’s faith that are necessary for true Christian faith.

1. Mary Is a Source of Blessing

First of this is that Mary is a source of blessing. Don’t get scared. Don’t get scared. Mary is a source of blessing. It sounds scary. It sounds radical. But what if I were to tell you that every Christian is supposed to be a source of blessing? Hopefully that softens the blow a little bit because we find out as we read this passage a little bit beforehand that Mary has been visited by the angel Gabriel and she is told that she is going to bear a son by the name of Jesus. He will be great and be called the son of the most high. He’s a descendant of David and he’s going to reign forever.

A wonderful promise. And what does Mary do after receiving this wonderful promise? She goes in haste to visit her cousin Elizabeth. And this old woman, faithful wife of priest Zachariah, is in her sixth month of expectancy. She is carrying little John the Baptist. Three more months and he will burst onto the scene as the forerunner of Jesus Christ. And so Mary wastes no time, rushes to Elizabeth’s house, and when she greets Elizabeth, something rather strange happens.

Now, mothers, you know that sometimes your children like to explore. They like to stretch out and wiggle and sometimes grab your kidney and drag it to the other side of your body. But John leaps in the womb. Now, we don’t know exactly what this looks like, but the only other time babies in scripture leap in the womb is when a great prophecy and promise of God is about to be given. When Rebecca, Isaac’s wife, had Jacob and Esau tussling and fighting and leaping about, after that, God gives this great promise that the older will serve the younger. And when Elizabeth’s little John leaps in the womb, Elizabeth proclaims with joy that blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

Mary is going to be a source of blessing not because she has some special spiritual state but because not every woman gets to bear the Messiah. We know who this child is going to be. We know this is going to be Jesus. We know he is the son of God. We know that in an act we call the incarnation. There is your theological word for the day. The incarnation where the word becomes flesh and dwells among us. Jesus Christ is truly God and truly man, the son of the most high and yet a descendant of King David who is going to set up a kingdom that will have no end.

Think of another woman in biblical history. Think of Eve. Through Eve’s disobedience, sin enters the world. Through the disobedience of Adam, sin enters the world, but also Eve is involved in this. And the curse of sin and death enters the world because of that choice to eat the fruit. The serpent deceived me and I ate. And if you’ll remember this curse of sin enters into the world. But there is yet a gospel promise. Genesis 3:15 God speaks to the serpent and I will put enmity. I will put hatred. I will put bitterness and strife between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. Seed offspring. You will crush his head, but you will bruise his heel. The descendant of the woman is going to crush the serpent. It’s going to bring salvation.

And Mary gets that privilege of bringing about the seed of the woman. Jesus is going to be the one who reverses all this business of sin and death and curse. Because through one man, sin and death entered the world. But through the obedience of one man, Jesus Christ, life and salvation and blessing are going to come into the world. All because Mary in her humility and obedience says, “I am the handmaiden of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your word.” And lo and behold, she bears the Messiah.

This is why we can call Mary blessed among women because Jesus is not just going to bless her because Mary has to experience salvation. That’s the point. She’s the first Christian. Mary must experience salvation. But she is blessed among women because no other woman gets to be a source of blessing in the same way. I hate to say it, but all of you ladies, you don’t get to bear the Messiah, just in case you were wondering.

But Mary has this great privilege of bearing Jesus Christ. And through Jesus, the whole world is going to be blessed with the gospel. As we know, we are here in Canada and Saskatchewan, how many miles away from Jerusalem? And yet you and I have the privilege of hearing this great and glorious gospel. This is what blesses the world.

One of the great theologians of the church of our dear friend Augustine, Augustine lived in North Africa. He wrote books and books and books and books. And he has this quote about Mary. He says this, “Mary is more blessed because she embraces faith in Christ than because she conceives the flesh of Christ.” We will not exalt any man or woman more than we should. But when God has blessed them with that high and holy privilege, we will be thankful for it.

So first Mary is a source of blessing because she brings Jesus literally into the world to other people and you and I also have a similar privilege. You know we don’t get to bear the Messiah but we do get the chance of bringing the gospel message because Christ is not just a person but Christ comes with the message. We cannot separate Christ from his gospel. We cannot separate those two things because Christ is not just an example. Christ is the savior. He believes himself to be the Messiah. He has been promised this eternal kingdom. He has been promised that he will save his people from their sins. That is the message he comes to bring. And that is what you and I can share with others.

2. Mary Believes Without Yet Seeing

So Mary is the source of blessing. But how else does Mary set an example for our faith? Well, she does not yet see the Messiah, but yet she believes. Verse 45 says this, “And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” And then Mary said as she launches into song, “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.”

But why is Mary blessed? Because her faith is just like our faith. Do you remember Jesus’s words to Thomas? After he tells Thomas to put his fingers into his nail marks, his hands in his side, Jesus says, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Well, you might say to me, Ben, Mary saw Jesus. She was probably the first person to see Jesus after he was born. She watched him grow up. She watched him grow into a man and start his ministry. And she was there until the very day that he was nailed to the cross. Mary saw Jesus. Ben, why is her faith like ours then? For this reason, because even before Mary bears Jesus, she believes him to be the son of God.

This is backed up by Elizabeth’s words to Mary in verse 43. And why is this granted to me? That the mother of my Lord should come to me. In how these two women Elizabeth and Mary talk about this child. They know him to be divine, the son of the most high. And by the power of the Holy Spirit that enables Elizabeth to prophesy regarding the birth of Christ, the same power is sufficient for the incarnation to occur.

Mary cannot see the spirit come down as a dove or a flame of fire and come into her womb and magically begin that amazing process of growth and eventually of birth. You cannot unless you have the ultrasound which is a great invention of the last couple years. You don’t get to see little baby growing and developing. You don’t get to see that Mary cannot see her son upon the cross the moment he is born. But from the promises and truths of God’s word, which she knows for in order to write a song like this, you have to have known God’s word. Mary believes. She knows that God will fulfill his word. Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.

But this word for blessed in verse 45 is a bit different word than what is used before. It’s used to describe people in the beatitudes, the blessed. And in Luke 6, we read about the kind of people that are blessed when they believe, even though they have not yet seen. Chapter 6 verse 20 of Luke says this. And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples and said, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil on account of the son of man. Rejoice in that day and hear this leap for joy for behold your reward is great in heaven for so their fathers did to the prophets.”

So when you hear that promise of God do you leap for joy? Do you give that leap of assurance that the Lord is going to work out what he has promised? Because to a virgin who has not yet known a man, bearing the King of Kings and Lord of Lords does not seem likely unless Gabriel has come down with the message of God and given that word.

And these beatitudes describe people who in all the world’s account don’t look too blessed. The poor, the hungry, those who weep, the hated and the excluded and the reviled. It takes faith to believe that we are truly blessed when that happens because it certainly doesn’t seem like blessing. Blessing is the Ferrari. Blessing is a comfortable house. Blessing is the marriage without argument. Children who behave it is a blessing. Children listen. It is a blessing.

But it takes faith to believe that that is blessing which the world counts to be a curse. And it takes faith to believe in an invisible God who can part the Red Sea, can keep a people for 40 years in the wilderness, can raise up a good king like David, can bring his people back from exile, and can make a person who is nailed to a cross and looks like the most cursed person alive, the one who’s truly the sinless savior and son of God. Mary has that kind of faith. She believes God’s word even when all circumstances might indicate it’s unlikely or it will never happen because it’s a completely different way of thinking about the world.

3. Mary Magnifies the Lord for His Might and Mercy

Mary’s faith is also a model for us in this way. Mary is one who praises the Lord for both his might and for his mercy. Reading again. My soul magnifies the Lord. 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.

Recall Acts 4:12. Peter and John come before the Sanhedrin. They are on trial for healing a blind man and proclaiming the gospel. And they say to the Sanhedrin, this group of Pharisees who want to tell them, “No more speaking about Jesus Christ. Enough of this religious business. Enough of this sect and cult that you’ve come up with. Time to get back to the basics, boys.” And so they say this, you judge in the sight of God whether it is right, for we cannot help speaking about what we’ve seen and heard. For lack of a better term, we cannot keep quiet about the gospel. We must proclaim what God has done in his word and in our lives.

Because listen, hear this carefully. Mary does more than just praise God. She magnifies God. And you might ask how this is different than mere praise. And think of it this way. Think of a telescope. Let’s say I want to look at the moon through my telescope. Now, we know the moon is large. We know the moon is a tremendously large thing, a beautiful thing. But when I look at it in the night sky, it certainly doesn’t look that big. But when I grab my telescope and turn it upon the moon, it makes it bigger. I can see more clearly the greatness and the majesty and the glory of the moon. It’s not like putting it under a microscope where I want to look at something very very very small and make it bigger. Looking through the telescope reveals truly how great and awesome the moon or the star or the rings of Saturn might be. And that is what Mary is doing here.

It’s not simply thank you God. It’s I want to demonstrate in my own heart overflowing from this promise you’ve given me the greatness and majesty of God. That is Mary’s heart and all of her most inmost being does this. Her spirit rejoices in God. Her soul magnifies the Lord.

It is not true of Mary what was true of so many in the Old Testament. As Isaiah wrote, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” But out of the overflow of Mary’s soul and spirit and heart, her mouth speaks and cannot help proclaiming what Christ has done. But not only what Christ has done, because Christ is not born yet. And although this song is in past tense, it’s also looking ahead to the future because is God merciful to those who fear him now? Absolutely. Will that ever change? By no means. All of these things are fulfilled in small ways, but their ultimate fulfillment is waiting for the coming of Jesus. Both the first time as a babe and as the second time when he comes in glory to judge the earth and reward the righteous.

And so in order to grab hold of this and understand what it means to magnify God, we need to know what must our hearts be like. The key word here, his mercy is with those who fear him. What does it mean to fear God? Well, it does not mean a paralyzing fear that keeps you from doing anything. I’m afraid to make a mistake and so I won’t do anything. That’s not the fear of the Lord. It’s neither laxity in casualness. Yeah, I worship Jesus. Jesus is my buddy. Jesus is my homeboy. That sort of casualness does not reveal God as powerful and mighty and holy. Fearing God means to approach him as he has revealed himself and as he has commanded us in this way through Jesus Christ. There’s no other way to approach God in which you will not die except through Jesus Christ. And Mary does this. She fears God and she trusts that through faith in his name, all these blessings will be hers and she can be as well a source of blessing. Her humility, her trust and her obedience reveal that she really understands who she is praising.

4. Mary Expects the Coming Kingdom

And this final way that her faith informs ours, this is necessary to a Christian faith. A deep abiding true trust in God must have this an expectation that Christ will return and set everything right. Because we cannot read verses 51 to 55 without looking forward to this. 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. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Proverbs 3:34.

And the humbling of kings and the humbling of the proud does not happen when Jesus is born, only because Herod, this awful king who justifies slaying infants to ensure he has no contenders to the throne of Judah is not humbled fully at the birth of Jesus. Roman emperors came and went that called themselves gods. Napoleons have come up throughout the history of the world and any number of leaders no matter how great or how small whether it’s the reeve of your RM or the president of the United States the leaders of this world who are worldly all need humbling because their power pales in comparison to the glory of Christ and their kingdoms are not lasting. The Roman Empire may have lasted a thousand years, but it didn’t get much farther than that.

And Mary’s hope shows us that God is going to help his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy. He is going to give his people not a fleeting kingdom, not a kingdom of this world, but a lasting kingdom where righteousness and justice and truth shall reign, where God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. For there will be no sickness, no crying, no pain, an uninterrupted, unhindered unity and relationship with our king, our judge, and our savior.

This is the hope of Mary. And Mary’s hope is not a political one. It is one in a coming king. And so we must ensure that we do not put our confidence in fleeting things, whatever they might be. Because Mary’s hope is a hope that not only abides with her physically for about 30 years, but a hope that continues on because Christ is seated at the right hand of God, reigning in glory, working all things to the counsel of his will, so that the world will be made right when he comes.

Review of the Four Aspects

So let’s review here. So Mary’s faith has these four aspects which are important and necessary to true Christian faith. Mary’s a source of blessing because she brings the Messiah and testifies to the Messiah. She has not seen the Messiah and yet believes even before Jesus is born. She believes in the son of God. She praises the Lord for his might and mercy, his ability to keep his promises and magnifies God, makes him great instead of small. She also expects a coming kingdom where everything will be made right. Not by might, not by power, but by my spirit, declares the Lord of hosts.

Application to Our Lives

So, let’s get applying. So if Mary is a source of blessing and she is the first Christian, we too must be a source of blessing not by bearing the Messiah but by sharing the gospel because this is the blessing. Christ himself blesses. Praise be to the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ. It all comes through Jesus. Salvation is found in no one else. For there’s no name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. And salvation and all its blessings and gifts come through no other means but Jesus. Make sure the people you know know that.

Secondly, do you have faith in a savior you cannot see? or lately have your eyes been turning to something you can see and putting too much hope there. I know that often our hope can be in a form of relief. You know, forms of relief are not wrong. I won’t tell you to stop taking your pain medication for your arthritis or not getting anesthetic when you get a tooth pulled. But how often in this world do we just want everything to be over and Jesus to come back so I don’t have any more problems? We want relief, but we don’t want him. So see with the eye of faith the Messiah and believe that he is sufficient for this life now and in the world to come.

Thirdly, if Mary praises the Lord for his might and mercy, we need to magnify God. And one of the best ways to do this is having an attitude of thanksgiving instead of an attitude of complaining. None of us are immune from complaint. And complaining reflects genuinely how small we view God to be. The Israelites grumbled a thousand and one times in the wilderness because they didn’t think God could bring them water. Because they didn’t think God could bring them food. Because they didn’t think God could fight giants. I don’t care how big giants are. If God can raise the dead, no man can stand in his way. Faith in the promises of God. We don’t make God big. But when you talk about him, as you obey him, as you trust him, remember to magnify him and reveal to others through your life and your actions that he is a great God. So whatever circumstance you might face, no matter how big or small, people will say that his God is sufficient, he finds hope and nowhere else. He believes his promises to be true. And even though we don’t know what we could get through, we can get through with Jesus. Whether it’s, you know, something as simple as the 85-year-old snowblowing a driveway by themselves, or whether it’s something as difficult as the loss of a child you love, all of it can be gotten through by remembering the greatness and majesty of God, who, as my old friend Frank Rele often used to pray, is big enough to inhabit the universe, but small enough to dwell in our hearts through faith. Now, that’s not exactly right theologically, but you get the point.

And lastly, Mary expects a coming kingdom where everything is made right. Stop looking for solutions that don’t last. Dear friends, one of the greatest indictments of our 21st century evangelical church is that we try to solve eternal problems with temporal solutions. And you say, “What do you mean, Ben?” I say the amount of trust certain groups of people in various churches have had in politics in the next big thing. Who knows if AI will tempt us because that’s a quick fix. I can see the results. But your faithfulness to Jesus in light of a coming kingdom is what will matter and is what will last and will genuinely bring the solution. We often say around here the solution is people knowing Christ better, more people knowing Christ, namely revival. Know that Christ has a solution to these problems. It is not easy and we may not see every problem of this world like addiction and homelessness and poverty solved now. But what we can see is that Christ when he returns will make everything right. And so with all your heart, with all my heart, let us labor to bring people to a place where every problem is solved and true hope abides.