He Has!

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Luke 1:45 – 55

“He Has!”

Introduction: Protestant churches tend to shy away from Mary at the Christmas season. We what to ignore the unique individual and the unique role she has in history. This is her song that has become known as the “Magnificat.” In this song, she directs our attention to God. She makes 10 “He has” statements, six of them are direct and four are implied. They are an expression of adoration and joy to the work of God in history, the present, and future. Let’s catagorize these “He has” statements.

I. He has seen the need.

A. Mary recognizes that God is at work.

1. The events described up to this point can only happen through divine intervention into human events.

2. The angel Gabriel had announced the Mary, “You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. [32] He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, [33] and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” [Luke 1:31 – 33]

3. That doesn’t happen every day.

B. Mary remembers that God is at work.

1. What does she see?

a. She sees the historical precedent... God has worked this way before.

b. She sees the current pattern... God is following the pattern of who He is and what He has promised.

c. She sees the future prediction... God is going to continue to work the way He has in the past.

2. Mary see the future as past.

a. Imagine being able to travel into the future and watch the Detroit Lions win the Super Bowl next year. You could confidently be a Lions fan, even though people would think you are crazy. (That’s what John did in the book of Revelation.)

b. What God has promised is a “done deal.” So every time Mary says “He has...” she means God has worked this way before, is working now, and will work this way in the future.

***** Mary is rejoicing because the true need of people everywhere is being met. We talk about “felt needs.” These are the needs that get our attention and sometimes are painful. They are the ones that motivate us through life. However, the “felt need” is seldom the “real need.” We can feel the need to be loved, have more money, be better liked, have more control (like over eating or shopping habits). Those things will make us “feel” better but will not solve the critical issue. You see...

II. He has stepped into the need.

A. God decided to pull three “rip cords” (The cord that opens the parachute so the person does not go “splat” when they hit the ground.) At Christmas.

1. He has lifted the humble [48, 52] (and lowered the proud [51 – 52]).

a. Spiritually we are naturally bankrupt. (Romans 3:10)

b. The only way to lift the humble was to identify with us. This means he became a human, got sweaty, dirty, tired, hungry, thirsty, etc... all this was to destroy the one who holds us in captivity through sin and death [Hebrews 2:14].

2. He filled the needy [53] (and emptied the rich [53]).

a. Spiritually, if you think you can make it on you own... You are not only taking a huge risk, you are absolutely wrong. (Romans 3:23)

b. The only way fill the needy was to give us what we could not have by ourselves. That’s why Jesus shed His blood on the cross.

3. He gives mercy to the desperate [50, 54].

a. Spiritually we are in a “free fall.” (The part where the parachute is not open.)

b. Sin is fun [Hebrews 11:25]... for a season. The problem is that sin always has consequences [Galatians 6:7]... and they are unpleasant [Romans 6:23].

(ill.) National Geographic reported that a 13-foot Burmese python swallowed a 6-foot alligator in Florida . The consequences were lethal, as the gator split the snake open from the inside out, literally. That’s like what sin does to us. We think we have something great, until it destroys us from the inside out.

B. God offers to receive us as His own.

1. He became one of us for a reason.

a. God is not some distant, hands off, don’t care, kill joy.

b. God knows what it is like to suffer when we are tempted [Hebrews 2:18]

2. He makes us an offer that only the willfully stubborn and terminally stupid could resist.

a. “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” [John 1:12]