KNOWING GOD – THE GOD OF MIRACLES – Lesson Four
Text: Luke 1:46-55 – “Mary’s Song” (The Magnificat) – (Cont’d.)
46And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord 47and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, 49for the Mighty One has done great things for me–holy is his name. 50His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. 51He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. 52He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. 53He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. 54He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers.”
“Mary’s Song” was in response to the announcement of the “miracle of the Incarnation,” as had been prophesied: Isaiah 7:14 – Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
V.52 – He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble – Parallel passages: 1 Samuel 2:6 – “The LORD brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up.
Job 5:11 – The lowly he sets on high, and those who mourn are lifted to safety. [This is a part of Eliphaz the Temanite’s speech (Job 4:1-5:27). Note Job 42:7-9 – 7After the LORD had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. 8So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” 9So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the LORD told them; and the LORD accepted Job’s prayer.]
Psalm 113:5-8 – 5Who is like the LORD our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, 6who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?
7He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; 8he seats them with princes, with the princes of their people.
Examples of the bringing down of rulers, officials and cities:
PHARAOH: Exodus 15:4 – Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he has hurled into the sea. The best of Pharaoh’s officers are drowned in the Red Sea.
Contrast Exodus 5:1-2 – 1Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: `Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the desert.'”
2Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD and I will not let Israel go.”
SENNACHERIB: 2 Chronicles 32:21 – And the LORD sent an angel, who annihilated all the fighting men and the leaders and officers in the camp of the Assyrian king. So he withdrew to his own land in disgrace. And when he went into the temple of his god, some of his sons cut him down with the sword.
Contrast 2 Chronicles 32:9-20.
HAMAN: Esther 7:9-10 – 9Then Harbona, one of the eunuchs attending the king, said, “A gallows seventy-five feet high stands by Haman’s house. He had it made for Mordecai, who spoke up to help the king.”
The king said, “Hang him on it!” 10So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king’s fury subsided.
Contrast Esther 3:1-6 – 1After these events, King Xerxes honored Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, elevating him and giving him a seat of honor higher than that of all the other nobles. 2All the royal officials at the king’s gate knelt down and paid honor to Haman, for the king had commanded this concerning him. But Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor.
3Then the royal officials at the king’s gate asked Mordecai, “Why do you disobey the king’s command?” 4Day after day they spoke to him but he refused to comply. Therefore they told Haman about it to see whether Mordecai’s behavior would be tolerated, for he had told them he was a Jew.
5When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor, he was enraged. 6Yet having learned who Mordecai’s people were, he scorned the idea of killing only Mordecai. Instead Haman looked for a way to destroy all Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes.
In reconciling Mordecai’s action in light of Romans 13:1-5, note that Haman was an Agagite (Amalekite) and that nation was under God’s curse as shown by Exodus 17:8-16 and Deuteronomy 25:17-19.
NEBUCHADNEZZAR: Daniel 4:33 – Immediately what had been said about Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from people and ate grass like cattle. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird.
What had been said about Nebuchadnezzar – Daniel 4:31-32 – 31The words were still on his lips when a voice came from heaven, “This is what is decreed for you, King Nebuchadnezzar: Your royal authority has been taken from you. 32You will be driven away from people and will live with the wild animals; you will eat grass like cattle. Seven times will pass by for you until you acknowledge that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes.”
Contrast Daniel 4:29-30 – 29Twelve months later, as the king was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, 30he said, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?”
BELSHAZZAR: Daniel 5:28-31 – 28Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”
29Then at Belshazzar’s command, Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and he was proclaimed the third highest ruler in the kingdom.
30That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain, 31and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom, at the age of sixty-two.
Compare Daniel 5:1-4 – 1King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles and drank wine with them. 2While Belshazzar was drinking his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets that Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them. 3So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. 4As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.
Note Daniel 5:5-6 – 5Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. 6His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way.
NINEVEH: Zephaniah 2:15 – This is the carefree city that lived in safety. She said to herself, “I am, and there is none besides me.” What a ruin she has become, a lair for wild beasts! All who pass by her scoff and shake their fists.
Note: Jonah 1:1-2 – 1The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2“Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”
Jonah 3:1-5 – 1Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: 2“Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”
3Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city–a visit required three days. 4On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.” 5The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
Jonah 3:10 – When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened. [Note that this was BC 862.]
Nahum 3:1 – Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims! [This was BC 713, 149 years after the events recorded in the book of Jonah. The Ninevites had returned to their wicked ways, resulting in Zephaniah 2:15 (BC 630, 232 years after the time of Jonah).
General Application: (As previous lesson) 1 Peter 5:6 – Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.