“Good News of Great Joy”
Luke 1 part 2
In this first chapter, Luke tells us how God’s wonderful news came to different people and how they responded to it. You will discover four different responses.
The first response was that of Unbelief.
There was the Unbelief of a nation when we read that, “He came unto His own and His own received Him not”.
The unbelief of Zacharias that he and his wife Elisabeth were to have a son this late in their life.
But despite his unbelief, Elisabeth conceives. Six months later there is another announcement of a Son.
The second response in this first chapter is that of Faith!
When Mary hears that she will have a Son even though she was a virgin, she submitted herself as the LORD’s handmaid.
Tonight we read about the third response:
3. Joy (Luke 1:39-56)
Now that Mary knew she was to become a mother, and that her kinswoman Elizabeth would give birth in three months, she wanted to see Elizabeth so they could rejoice together. “Joy” is the major theme of this section as you see three persons rejoicing in the Lord.
The Joy of Elizabeth (vv. 39-45).
“39And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda; 40And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth. 41And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: 42And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. 43And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. 45And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.”
As Mary entered the house, Elizabeth heard her greeting, was filled with the Spirit, and was told by the Lord why Mary was there. The one word that filled her lips was “blessed.” Note that she did not say that Mary was blessed above women but among women, and certainly this is true.
While we don’t want to ascribe to Mary that which only belongs to God, neither do we want to minimize her place in the plan of God.
The thing that Elizabeth emphasized was Mary’s faith: “Blessed is she that believed” (Luke 1:45).
We are saved “by grace . . . through faith” (Eph. 2:8-9). Because Mary believed the Word of God, she experienced the power of God.
The second experience was:
The joy of the unborn son, John (vv. 41, 44).
“41And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:… 44For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.”
This was probably the time when he was filled with the Spirit as the angel had promised (Luke 1:15).
Even before his birth, John rejoiced in Jesus Christ, just as he did during his earthly ministry (John 3:29-30).
As John the Baptist, he would have the great privilege of introducing the Messiah to the Jewish nation.
Then we have:
The Joy of Mary (vv. 46-56).
“46And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, 47And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. 48For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. 49For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. XX 50And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. 51He hath showed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 52He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. 53He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. XX 54He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy; 55As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever. 56And Mary abode with her about three months, and returned to her own house.”
Hers was a joy that compelled her to lift her voice in a hymn of praise.
The fullness of the Spirit should lead to joyful praise in our lives (Eph. 5:18-20), and so should the fullness of the Word (Col. 3:16-17).
Mary’s song contains quotations from and references to the Old Testament Scriptures, especially the Psalms and the song of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2:1-10.
Mary hid God’s Word in her heart and turned it into a song.
Her great desire was to magnify the Lord, not herself.
She used the phrase “He hath” eight times as she recounted what God had done for three recipients of His blessing.
So, what did God do for Mary? (vv. 46-49).
XX
To begin with, God had saved her (Luke 1:47), which indicates that Mary was a sinner like all of us and needed to trust the Lord for her eternal salvation.
Not only had He saved her, but He had also chosen her to be the mother of the Messiah (Luke 1:48).
He had “regarded” her, which means He was mindful of her and looked with favor on her.
No doubt there were others who could have been chosen, but God chose her!
The Lord had indeed showered His grace on her (see 1 Cor. 1:26-28).
Not only was God mindful of her, but He was also mighty for her, working on her behalf (Luke 1:49).
Because she believed God and yielded to His will, He performed a miracle in her life and used her to bring the Saviour into the world.
What God did for us (vv. 50-53).
XX
In the second stanza of her song, Mary included all of God’s people who fear Him from generation to generation.
We have all received His mercy and experienced His help.
Mary named three specific groups to whom God had been merciful: the helpless (Luke 1:51), the humble (Luke 1:52), and the hungry (Luke 1:53).
The common people of that day were almost helpless when it came to justice and civil rights.
They were often hungry, downtrodden, and discouraged (Luke 4:16-19), and there was no way for them to “fight the system.”
A secret society of patriotic Jewish extremists called “the zealots” used violent means to oppose Rome, but their activities made matters only worse.
Mary saw the Lord turning everything upside down: the weak dethrone the mighty, the humble scatter the proud, the nobodies are exalted, the hungry are filled, and the rich end up poor!
The grace of God works contrary to the thoughts and ways of this world system (1 Cor. 1:26-28).
The church is something like that band of men that gathered around David (1 Sam. 22:2).
Then there is what God did for Israel in verses 54-55.
XX
“He shall save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21).
In spite of Israel’s destitute condition, the nation was still God’s servant and He would help the people fulfill His purposes.
God was on Israel’s side!
He would remember His mercy and keep His promises (Ps. 98:1-3; also see Gen. 12:1-3; 17:19; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14).
Were it not for Israel, Jesus Christ could not have been born into the world.
Mary stayed with Elizabeth until John was born, and then she returned to Nazareth.
By then, it was clear that she was pregnant, and no doubt the tongues began to wag.
After all, she had been away from home for three months; and why, people were likely asking, had she left in such a hurry?
It was then that God gave the good news to Joseph and instructed him what to do (Matt. 1:18-25).
The final response in this first chapter is that of:
4. Praise (Luke 1:57-80)
“57Now Elisabeth’s full time came that she should be delivered; and she brought forth a son. 58And her neighbours and her cousins heard how the Lord had showed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her. 59And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father. 60And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John. 61And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. 62And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called. 63And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marvelled all. 64And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue loosed, and he spake, and praised God. 65And fear came on all that dwelt round about them: and all these sayings were noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judaea. 66And all they that heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What manner of child shall this be! And the hand of the Lord was with him.”
God’s blessing was resting abundantly on Zacharias and Elizabeth.
He sent them a baby boy, just as He promised; and they named him “John” just as God had instructed.
The Jews looked on children as a gift from God and a “heritage from the Lord” (Pss. 127:3-5; 128:1-3), and rightly so, for they are.
Traditionally, a baby boy would be named after his father or someone else in the family; so the relatives and neighbors were shocked when Elizabeth insisted on the name John.
Zacharias wrote “His name is John” on a tablet, and that settled it!
Immediately God opened the old priest’s mouth, and he sang a hymn that gives us four beautiful pictures of what the coming of Jesus Christ to earth really means.
The opening of a prison door (v. 67-68).
“67And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, 68Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people,”
The word redeem means “to set free by paying a price.”
It can refer to the releasing of a prisoner or the liberating of a slave.
Jesus Christ came to earth to bring “deliverance to the captives” (Luke 4:18), salvation to people in bondage to sin and death. Certainly we are unable to set ourselves free; only Christ could pay the price necessary for our redemption (Eph. 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18-21).
The second picture of what it means for Jesus to come to the earth:
The Winning of a Battle (vv. 69-75).
“69And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; 70As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: 71That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; 72To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; 73The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, 74That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, 75In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.”
In Scripture, a horn symbolizes power and victory (1 Kings 22:11; Ps. 89:17, 24).
The picture here is that of an army about to be taken captive, but then help arrives and the enemy is defeated.
In the previous picture, the captives were set free; but in this picture, the enemy is defeated so that he cannot capture more prisoners.
It means total victory for the people of God.
The word salvation (Luke 1:69, 71) carries the meaning of “health and soundness.”
No matter what the condition of the captives, their Redeemer brings spiritual soundness.
When you trust Jesus Christ as Saviour, you are delivered from Satan’s power, moved into God’s kingdom, redeemed, and forgiven (Col. 1:12-14).
Where did the Redeemer come from?
He came from the house of David (Luke 1:69), who himself was a great conqueror.
God had promised that the Saviour would be a Jew (Gen. 12:1-3), from the tribe of Judah (Gen. 49:10), from the family of David (2 Sam. 7:12-16), born in David’s city, Bethlehem (Micah 5:2).
Both Mary (Luke 1:27) and Joseph (Matt. 1:20) belonged to David’s line.
The coming of the Redeemer was inherent in the covenants God made with His people (Luke 1:72), and it was promised by the prophets (Luke 1:70).
Note that the results of this victory are sanctity and service (Luke 1:74-75).
He sets us free, not to do our own will, because that would be bondage, but to do His will and enjoy His freedom.
What’s more: The coming of Jesus means:
The canceling of a debt (vv. 76-77).
“76And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; 77To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,”
Remission means “to send away, to dismiss, as a debt.”
All of us are in debt to God because we have broken His law and failed to live up to His standards (Luke 7:40-50).
Furthermore, all of us are spiritually bankrupt, unable to pay our debt.
But Jesus came and paid the debt for us (Ps. 103:12; John 1:29).
Finally this evening we see that Jesus’ coming means:
The dawning of a new day (vv. 78-79).
“78Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, 79To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. 80And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel.”
Dayspring means “sunrise.”
The people were sitting in darkness and death, and distress gripped them when Jesus came; but He brought light, life, and peace.
It was the dawn of a new day because of the tender mercies of God (see Matt. 4:16).
The old priest had not said anything for nine months, but he certainly compensated for his silence when he sang this song of praise to God!
And how joyful he was that his son was chosen by God to prepare the way for the Messiah (Isa. 40:1-3; Mal. 3:1).
John was “prophet of the Highest” (Luke 1:76), introducing to Israel “the Son of the Highest” (Luke 1:32) who was conceived in Mary’s womb by “the power of the Highest” (Luke 1:35).
Instead of enjoying a comfortable life as a priest, John lived in the wilderness, disciplining himself physically and spiritually, waiting for the day when God would send him out to prepare Israel for the arrival of the Messiah.
People like Simeon and Anna (Luke 2:25-38) had been waiting for this day for many years, and soon it would come.
God calls us today to believe His Good News.
Those who believe it experience His joy and want to express their praise to Him.
It is not enough for us to say that Jesus is a Saviour, or even the Saviour.
With Mary, we must say, “My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour”
