This is the third in a three part Advent sermon series, “The Songs of Advent,” that I am preaching at a local church in town.

Well, it has been a wonderful joy and privilege to be with you over these past three weeks as we have unfolded these “Songs of Advent.” In all of these “Songs of Advent,” we have seen the dominant theme of joy and praise flow forth from the lips of Mary, the angels, and from our text this morning, Simeon. And my prayer and hope is that the Spirit would take the raw joy and praise found in these songs and use it to stir and infect our hearts with renewed joy for what God has done for us in Christ. And if He would so please today, that He would put a new song in the mouths and hearts of those who have yet to trust in Christ for the forgiveness of sins. And so, to conclude our Advent series, I invite you to open your Bibles and turn with me to the Gospel of Luke chapter 2:29-32. I will begin reading in verse 25 to verse 35 to catch the flow of Luke’s thought and to set the context for Simeon’s “Song of Hope.”

But before I read our passage, I want to begin by asking you a question: “Who or what are you looking to in hope that you might find lasting comfort and rest?”

We see in our passage that Jesus has been brought to the temple in Jerusalem to be dedicated, according to the Law of Moses, and we pick up in verse 25, which reads…

It was St. Augustine who sat down one day and penned the following insight in his spiritual autobiography, Confessions: “You have made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee.” All around us, we find people whose hearts are restless. We see people searching for rest and comfort from the pain in their lives, and yet they try to numb their pain with a bottle of alcohol. Others live such hurried, frantic, and frenzied lives in our fast-pace culture that rest is an impossibility, and so, they either despair or try to find comfort, ironically, in their busyness. We see others who are restless due to the loss of a job or the state of our economy, and cannot sleep at night wondering how the bills will be paid or how their retirement plan has nearly become non-existent. Others are restless and burdened by the presence of guilt in their lives for shameful things that they have done, and they try to find comfort by convincing themselves that this is simply who they are and what they have become. Others are restless and burdened spiritually always wondering and questioning with great uncertainty if they have done more good than bad to earn a right standing with God. People’s hearts are restless. Is your heart restless this morning?

We see in our passage this morning that there was a man named Simeon whose heart was restless. And we do not know anything else about Simeon from Scripture except the brief portrait that Luke gives us in these couple of verses. In verse 25, Luke describes this man Simeon in a staccato-like fashion. Luke says that Simeon was a man who was righteous and devout. That is to say, that though many people in Israel at this time were not true believers, but only Jews by physical birth, Simeon was a true Jew, because not only was he a Jew by birth, he was a genuine believer in the Lord. He was righteous in God’s eyes, and He was a devout worshipper and follower of God. Luke also describes Simeon as one who was waiting and longing for the rest and comfort and consolation that would come when God would bring about salvation for His people. This word “waiting” in the Greek literally means, “to receive to oneself.” Simeon was longing for the time to come that he would receive to himself true consolation and true comfort and true rest by God accomplishing salvation for His people. He was waiting to receive the forgiveness of sins once and for all. He was waiting for the time to come that God would return and deliver them from their bondage in sin. And we see this idea of waiting and longing for salvation elsewhere in Scripture. In Genesis 49:18, Jacob, the son of Isaac, says, “I wait for your salvation, O Lord.” Isaiah declares in Isaiah 25:9, “It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” It is later said in this chapter in verse 38 that Anna spoke to all who were “waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem,” and it is also said in Luke 23:51 that Joseph of Arimathea was “looking [or waiting] for the kingdom of God.” And Luke’s use of the word “consolation” or “comfort” echoes the language from the book of Isaiah, where Isaiah writes in 40:1-2, “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” And so, Simeon and the others were longing for this comfort to finally come to them when God would save them and set the world right again as was promised and prophesied in the book of Isaiah. And notice what Luke says next about Simeon. Luke concludes his brief description of Simeon by saying, “and the Holy Spirit was upon him.” And this language about the Holy Spirit being upon Simeon, should alert us to the fact that something is about to happen, something is about to develop in this story concerning Simeon. That is because whenever this language is used by Luke in the Gospel of Luke or the book of Acts, something always happens as a result of the Holy Spirit falling upon a person. And so, Luke’s use of this phrase advances the plot from a brief description of Simeon to the reality that something significant is going to happen to Simeon. And we see in verse 26 that the action that results of the Holy Spirit being upon Simeon is that the Holy Spirit reveals to Simeon that Simeon will not see death until he sees the Messiah. It is a promise given by God to Simeon. It is a promise that is fixed and certain. It is a promise that will surely come to pass, because God is always true to His promises. And in verse 27 God brings his promise to completion. And please notice the sovereignty of God on display, as He sovereignly guides and directs Simeon to the temple court just at the right time and place that his path would cross and intersect with the path of Joseph and Mary as they were bringing Jesus to the temple to be dedicated in accordance with the law of Moses. God sovereignly moves and directs Simeon. Is not this an example of what Solomon meant when he wrote in Proverbs 16:9 saying, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord determines his steps.” And the Lord moves and determines the steps of Simeon, and the Lord brings Simeon face to face with the Messiah who has come to bring salvation. And don’t miss the significance of what Luke says next in verse 28: “…he took him up in his arms…” The thing that is so marvelous and significant about this little phrase is the play on words that Luke performs in the original Greek text. Remember how I mentioned earlier that the Greek word for “waiting” in verse 25 literally meant, “to receive to oneself?” Remember how I said earlier that Simeon was waiting and longing to receive to himself the comfort that would result from salvation? Well in verse 28, Luke uses almost the identical Greek word to describe the act of Simeon taking and receiving the child Jesus into his arms. And so, what Luke is communicating to us, the reader, is that in verse 25, Simeon was longing to receive to himself true comfort and rest and hope as a result of salvation. And in verse 28, Simeon receives to himself consolation and comfort by physically receiving to himself in his arms the Christ child. Simeon receives comfort as he receives into his arms the Comforter. Simeon receives consolation as he holds the Consoler close to his chest. God brings comfort and consolation to His people by sending comfort and consolation in the form a person! Can you imagine the anticipation that Simeon must have experienced as He waited for the promise to come to pass that he would one day see the Messiah? Can you imagine the joy that he experienced when he scooped the Christ child into his arms and hugged him close to his heart with the greatest of all tenderness and affection and warmth and joy? Guess what? We, too, can experience that same joy! How so? Matthew Henry once wrote, “When we receive the gospel of Christ with a lively faith, with love and devotion, then we take Christ in our arms.” To embrace and receive Christ as Lord and Savior is to take Him by faith into our arms and hold him close to our heart with all tenderness and affection and warmth and joy! Have you done that yet? Have you received Christ into your arms by trusting in Him alone for the forgiveness of sins? Have you received Him with joy and tenderness? Do you continue to hold Him with all warmth and affection and tenderness and joy, or has your heart and love for Christ grown cold?

Simeon receives comfort as he embraces the Comforter, and his heart naturally moves him to bless and praise and worship God in great joy for what He has done for him and the people after waiting and longing and hoping for salvation to finally come. And here we see in verses 29-32, Simeon’s “Song of Hope.” He begins in verse 29 declaring, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word;” Simeon’s use of the language of Lord and bond-servant or slave has led many commentators to note the similarity of this language that was used in extra-biblical literature of that time to speak of a slave or soldier being relieved from his duties. One commentator notes the similarity to other literature writing, “These verses seem to tell the story of a slave who is instructed by his master to keep watch through the long, dark night on a high place to wait for the rising of a special star and then to announce it. After wearisome hours of waiting he at last sees the star rising in all its brightness. He announces it and is then discharged from keeping watch any longer. In this case, God had called Simeon to watch and wait for the star of salvation, the rising of God’s Son. Now Simeon’s eyes had finally seen the glory. He had seen Jesus, and in Jesus he had seen the salvation of His God.” And the Greek word for “now” is placed first in the sentence to give emphasis and priority. God’s word and promise to Simeon has been fulfilled, and so, Simeon is now prepared to die because He has seen with his eyes and embraced with his arms the Messiah. He is prepared to leave this world in peace, because God has brought salvation for all people as He promised and prophesied throughout the entire Old Testament.

Are you, like Simeon, prepared and ready to die at any moment, because you have seen and embraced Christ with the eyes and arms of faith? If you have not repented and trusted in Christ alone for the forgiveness of sins, then you are not prepared to die, because you will not be able to stand before God the holy judge and live! And Oh!, what a miserable and dreadful and fearful condition to persist in! What a horrific thought to know, on the one hand, that you are not prepared to die, for you will surely go to hell, and yet, to know, on the other hand, that you could die unexpectedly at any moment! What insanity, what madness!—to stall and forego and to continue to put off repentance and faith all the while the smell of sulfur wafts upward from hell into your nostrils! What arrogance! What presumption!—to think that tomorrow comes to you as a guarantee and promise! What foolishness! What laziness!—to say to yourself, “I’ll turn my life around soon. I’ll get right with God later.” If you do not repent and believe right now, you will most surely never do it later! And then, it will be too late. And your condemnation and sentence will be all the more aggravated because you knew better, and yet, refused to act upon that knowledge. And that is what is so frightening for those who grow up in the church or who are within the church and yet remain unconverted. Every song sung, every prayer uttered forth in Jesus’ name, every Scripture passage read, every sermon preached week in and week out will be used as evidence to indict you on that great and terrifying judgment day. Every Bible in your house that has enough dust on it to write the word “DAMNATION” in it will testify against you on that awful and fearful judgment day. Are you prepared to die? Are you ready to meet your Lord this very hour? Or is God uttering the words of warning to you this morning from Amos 5:18, “Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light!”?

Simeon’s heart is finally at rest and peace because true comfort and true peace has finally come in the person of Jesus Christ. And he continues his song in verse 30 by providing the reason why he is prepared to die and meet his Lord at any moment. He says, “…for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples.” Simeon saw the Lord’s Christ with his very eyes and held him in his own arms. But Simeon recognizes that the promise that God made to him that he would see the Messiah before he died was not just a promise for himself. God has prepared and brought about salvation for all people, all nations, all tongues, all tribes. It is that great and awesome reality that causes everyone to sing praises to Christ in Revelation 5:9 saying, “Worthy are you, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” And this language in Simeon’s “Song of Hope” of salvation appearing before all people echoes back to the prophecies found in Isaiah where the Lord speaks through the prophet Isaiah promising that a servant of the Lord will come and bring about salvation for all people. Isaiah declares in Isaiah 52:9-10, “Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see
the salvation of our God.” And Psalm 98:1-3 says, “Oh sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. The Lord has made known his salvation; he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations. He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.” The Lord has brought salvation for all people. To both Jews and Gentiles. To Africans. To Asians. To Europeans. To Americans. And you’ll remember that when Jesus appeared to His disciples after He had been raised from the dead, He said to His disciples in Luke 24:46-47, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” And He later left His disciples with the final words recorded in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Now think about this significance of this for a moment. Salvation has appeared for all people, and yet, this message of good news originated in a small region half way across the world! Salvation did not originate in Edwardsville, Illinois. We are not the epicenter and starting point of this salvation going forth. We are the “ends of the earth!” And as a very practical and concrete way to reflect on the significance of this, I looked up “Jerusalem” on Google Maps. And I began to zoom out on the map, and I could begin to see the surrounding cities around Jerusalem. And then I saw the Mediterranean Sea. And then I saw Italy and then Africa and Europe, and then the massive body of water of the Atlantic Ocean, and then finally, America. And think of how this message of the good news of salvation has spread throughout all the earth even before modern transportation! Think of the faithfulness of all who have gone before us in great joy to bring the Gospel message. Think of all who labored to the point of death that they may carry forth the good news that salvation has come to us in Christ!

So let me ask you a very practical question: Do you know someone, whether it may be a friend, a family member, a classmate, or a work colleague that has not heard the good news of the Gospel? Let me offer a very practical and simple suggestion, because this time of year offers opportunities for unbelievers to hear the message of the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ. I would encourage you to invite your non-Christian friends, classmates, or family members to your Christmas Eve service this year where Pastor Aaron will be delivering a homily on what it means that Christ saves His people from their sins. And I say this, first because we have been called to be obedient in sharing the good news with others, and secondly, because I know that a great desire you have for this church going forward is that it would be outwardly focused toward this Edwardsville community in both word and deed. And so, if this is truly the case, if you truly and sincerely long for this church to reach this community by being both salt and light, then I encourage and challenge each and everyone of you here at Providence to begin that reality by inviting unbelievers you know to the Christmas Eve service that they may hear the word of God preached concerning the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. And who knows how God will use that invitation whether they may be converted in the near future or whether new opportunities and discussions are opened up that never happened before. My hope is that you would not see this challenge by me as something compulsory that I am forcing upon you, but rather that God would so stir your hearts with a renewed zeal and joy for your salvation that your heart would feel so compelled to share this good news with others and to invite them to this church where this good news is preached. That God would so fill your hearts with joy for what He has done, that you cannot but tell others and invite others in response to the love that God has shown to you in Christ.

So, Simeon proclaims that salvation has come for all peoples. And in what manner has salvation come? Simeon explains this in verse 32 by using two alternating statements. Salvation has come as a light for revelation to the Gentiles and as glory to Israel. Salvation has come as light for those who were previously living and walking in darkness. Salvation has come for those who had no access to God, no access to the promises, no access to the forgiveness of sins. Salvation has come to those who were without any hope in this life and without God in this world. But what great news it is, when Paul writes in Ephesians 2:13 saying, “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ!” And this very theme of salvation coming to the Gentiles is something that so dominates the thought and writing of Paul. Paul himself was a Jew by birth but became an apostle and minister to the Gentile people. And especially in the books of Ephesians and Romans, Paul unfolds the purpose and plan of God to unite both Jew and Gentile into one people for Himself. And he best illustrates this reality in Romans 11 by use imagery of an olive tree. The Gentiles have been taken as wild olive branches from another tree and have been grafted into the one tree of the people of God. And when those wild branches are grafted into a new tree, they fuse with the tree and become nourished and supported by the tree as new branches. And in the same way, we who were of another tree that was dead and lifeless, that was only prepared as kindling for the fire of God’s judgment, have been removed from the old tree of sin and death and destruction and have been grafted into the tree of Christ and are now nourished by Him as part of His people! So, salvation has come as a light to Gentiles who dwell in the darkness of paganism, but for the Jews, salvation comes as the fulfilled promise of future salvation and deliverance and glory. And these promises of God can be traced back to that first great Gospel announcement found in Genesis 3:15 that the seed of the woman would one day crush the head of the seed of the serpent. And all throughout the Old Testament Scriptures, we see promises and prophecies that one day Messiah will come as the prophet announcing salvation, as the priest who would bring the final sacrifice and intercede for His people, and as the king who would protect and rule and reign over His people forever. All of the Old Testament prepares for, anticipates, and points to Christ. That is why Luke records in Luke 24:27 the incident of Jesus speaking with men on the road to Emmaus, writing, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, Jesus interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself,” and Luke later records the words of Jesus to His disciples in Luke 24:44 when he said, “…everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled,” and that is why Paul likewise declares in 2 Corinthians 1:20 saying, “For all the promises of God find their Yes in Christ!”

And so, we have seen in our passage this morning that Simeon was hoping and waiting and longing in great anticipation for true comfort and consolation and rest when the Messiah of God would finally come. Simeon was longing to receive peace and rest, and God fulfilled His promise to Simeon when Simeon scooped up the Messiah and received him into his arms with great joy and praise. And we have seen as well that Simeon praises God not only for fulfilling His specific promise to Simeon but for the much greater and grander fulfillment of all the promises in the Old Testament that point to and find their “Yes” Christ. Simeon praises God for the peace and comfort that has come to him personally, and for the consolation and comfort that God has brought in Christ for all nations and peoples. And as a result, Simeon’s heart was no longer restless.

Today we find many whose hearts are restless. And if your heart is restless this morning, I encourage you to find true consolation and true rest in Christ by remembering the salvation that God has brought for us in Christ and by remembering that God is with you even through the struggles and fiery trials in your life. And in this life, we can have a fixed and certain anchor of hope for that which awaits us in glory because of what God has done for us in Christ. We can remember the words of the Apostle Paul writing on this very theme of hope which results from our justification, when he writes in Romans 5:3-5 saying, “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us,” and he likewise says in Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” And Job in the midst of suffering says in Job 13:15, “Though he slay me, I will hope in him.”

We can have true comfort and true consolation and true hope in Christ alone. And it is this reality of comfort and hope in Christ alone that led Zacharius Ursinus and Caspar Olevianus, the authors of the Heidelberg Catechism, to begin the catechism with this first question and answer writing,

What is your only comfort in life and death?

That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood, and has set me free from all the power of the devil. He also preserves me in such a way that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, all things must work together for my salvation. Therefore, by His Holy Spirit He also assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for Him.

This is the second in a three part Advent sermon series, “The Songs of Advent,” that I am preaching at a local church in town.

If you were not here last week, we began a three-week advent series from the first two chapters of the Gospel of Luke entitled: “The Songs of Advent.” Last week we looked at Mary’s exuberant and joyful “Song of Humility,” and today, we lift our eyes upward as the Scripture moves and translates us from earth to the heavenly realm as we hear the praises and shouts descend from the mouths of the angels in heaven singing the “Song of Heaven.” And so, I invite you to open your Bibles and turn with me to the Gospel of Luke chapter 2:13-14, and I will begin reading with verse 8 to the beginning of verse 15 to set the context of verses 13-14. Mary has just given birth to Jesus in Bethlehem, and we pick up in verse 8 in a nearby field in the region of Bethlehem.

Throughout Scripture, we occasionally see and hear glimpses of what is occurring in the heavenly, angelic realm. And the dominant thing that we hear from the angels in Scripture, from the creation to the new creation, is the intensifying crescendo of continual praise to God. In Job 38:4-7, God questions Job saying, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God [that is, angels] shouted for joy?” In Isaiah 6:3, Isaiah has a vision and sees the Seraphim, those fiery, angelic creatures, continually singing and shouting back and forth to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” The Psalmist writes in Psalm 29:1-2, “Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness,” and in Psalm 103:20-21, “Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word! Bless the Lord, all his hosts, his ministers, who do his will!” and in Psalm 148:2, “Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts!” In Revelation 5:11-12, John records the following vision, “Then I looked, and I heard around the throne the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands [essentially, hundreds of millions of angels], saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” and in Revelation 7:11 John writes, “And all the angels were standing around the throne, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God.”

And here we see in verses 13-14, a sudden intrusion of a new song of praise from the heavenly angelic choir. Luke says in verse 13 that suddenly and unexpectedly, a multitude of the heavenly host, that is, thousands of angels, appear with the one angel who had just appeared to the shepherds in the field and announced good news of great joy to them that the one and only Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord had been born. And the Greek text in verse 13 gives the sense that the heavenly host of angels are continually and repeatedly praising and saying this song of praise in verse 14. And if you are taking notes this morning, there are four observations that we may make from this song of praise, this “Song of Heaven” sung in verse 14: The Purpose of God in Salvation, The Place of God in Salvation, The Peace of God in Salvation, and the Pleasure of God in Salvation.

I. The Purpose of God in Salvation (14a)

The angels begin with the upward thrust of praise to God, proclaiming, “Glory to God in the highest.” They begin their song with the recognition of the reality that the purpose of everything in this world, especially salvation, is directed to the end and final goal of praise and glory to God. Praise and worship and adoration and honor and fame belong to and begin and end with God alone, because there is no one greater than God who dwells in the highest of heavens. And God delights in and treasures no one greater than Himself. He loves and delights in His glory and honor and majesty and fame, because it rightfully belongs to Him and no one else. The Lord says in Isaiah 42:8, “I am Yahweh; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.” The Apostle Paul likewise wrote in Romans 11:36, “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” And we see this same theme in Ephesians 1:3-14. Three times, in that great passage in Ephesians, the work of salvation by each person of the Godhead, Father, Son and Spirit, is ultimately to the praise of the glory of the Triune God. And all throughout the book of Revelation, we see that the central thrust and theme of the book is everyone circling around the throne of God praising and singing to God forever. And so, what the angels are proclaiming is that salvation is from first to last, from beginning to end, of God and by God, that all glory and all praise may be rightfully given to God alone. Jonathan Edwards has once said that the highest and greatest object of God’s love and affection is God Himself, and the way that He shows His delight in and affection for Himself is through His actions of creating all things and governing all things and redeeming all things. And so, as worshippers of God, if we say that God is the chief affection and object of our heart, mind, and life, how do we act upon that affection daily to show that God is our chief end in all things? Are we consistent in claiming that God is our chief affection and showing through our words and life and actions that He is our chief affection and end in all that we do? Are our hearts firm and resolved and focused on bringing God praise and worship in all that we do, just as Paul exhorts us in 1 Corinthians 10:31 writing, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” If eating and drinking, the most basic acts of necessity are to be done to the glory of God alone, how much more everything else in our lives, in our relationship with God, in our families, in our work, in our friendships, in our conduct, in our speech, and everything else we do each day?

So, the angels begin their song of praise to God by giving Him glory, showing us that the purpose of everything, especially of salvation as well as our existence as creatures is to bring God glory and adoration and praise and honor. And secondly, we see from this verse…

II. The Place of God in Salvation (14b)

Notice that the angels’ “Song of Heaven” moves from heaven to earth as they say next, “And on earth…” And it is here that we see that this earth in which we live is the place where the Triune God acts to bring about salvation and redemption. This earth is the stage upon which God will stand to display His glory by bringing about redemption, because He is a God who refuses to abandon and give up on what He has created. He is the earnest God who will not cease and will not rest until all things are restored and made right again. And He does this by sending His Son Jesus Christ into the world in true, human flesh to live the perfect life we cannot live and die the death in our place that we deserve for our sin. And so, the angels praise and rejoice, because the Son of God, Jesus Christ has appeared on the stage of redemptive history in human flesh to bring about salvation and redemption for those who believe, and ultimately on that last and final day, redemption and regeneration (Matthew 19:28, Greek: paliggenesia) for the entire created world, because this created world in which we live has also been corrupted and vandalized and ravaged by the intruding presence and effects of sin. And so the angels rejoice, because the time has come for Christ to enter into history and bring about this redemption. That is why Paul writes in Galatians 4:4-5 saying, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons,” and He likewise writes in Eph. 1:9-10, “God made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth,” and again Paul writes in Col. 1:20, “For in Christ all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven…” And so they sing and shout, because the time has come for Christ to come and begin the reversal of the curse of sin and death upon His people and this world. And when we sing “Joy to the World,” as our hymn of response later in the service, meditate upon those words in the hymn that speak of this great redemptive work saying, “He comes to make His blessings flow, far as the curse is found.” That everything that was touched and broken and shattered and smeared and vandalized and ravaged in Adam’s rebellion will one day be fully restored and renewed on account of the perfect obedience and sacrifice of that great second Adam, our Lord Jesus Christ.

So, we have seen that the purpose of God in salvation is to bring honor and glory and praise to Himself, and we have seen that the place in which this redemption takes place occurs here on earth for His people and ultimately on that last day, His creation, and thirdly, we see…

III. The Peace of God in Salvation (14c)

The angels continue their song of praise by saying, “peace among [or as some translations might say, in] men.” The peace here described is not the kind of peace that people today associate with warm, fuzzy feelings. Rather, we see that this peace mentioned in this passage can be described in two ways: a peace of declaration and a peace of transformation.

1. A Peace of Declaration

A declaration of peace is that which results when war has ceased. But, if we are to understand the nature of this peace, we must first understand how this war came about. Adam and Eve rejected the gracious relationship that God made with them in the garden, and they chose instead to reject and rebel against God’s rule over them. And as sons and daughters of Adam, we too have committed cosmic treason against God the king, and in our wickedness and rebellion, we have joined the battle against God, taking up arms to wage war against Him in all wickedness and rebellion. Instead of loving and enjoying God as we were created to do, we choose to hate Him instead. Even the very breath that God graciously gives to sustain us from moment to moment is used to thanklessly curse Him in return. And that is why Paul writes in Romans 8:7, “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God…” But this war is not waged in one direction. God in His pure and perfect holiness and wrath and anger has also taken up His weapon of warfare and has gone out to meet us on the battlefield. And God must wage war against humanity, because of the wicked revolt we have made against Him. We have assaulted His honor and glory, and in His zeal for His name and honor, He will slay and trample all who oppose Him into the ground until they are nothing more than fine dust. David writes in Psalm 11:4-6, “The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man. The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence. Let him rain coals on the wicked; fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.” In this war, there cannot be peace between God and us, because He is everything perfect that we are not, and we are everything wicked that He is not. John Owen once wrote, “By nature, since the entrance of sin, no man has any communion with God. He is light, we are darkness; and what communion has light with darkness? He is life, we are dead—he is love, and we are enmity; and what agreement can there be between us?” He is spotless from sin and we are sullied in sin; He is righteous and we are unrighteous. Desmond Alexander likewise writes, “God is not indifferent to our immoral thoughts and behavior. On the contrary, his holy nature is deeply offended by such things. As a perfect God, he cannot ignore anything evil. The smallest lie is offensive to the One who is truth. The tiniest feeling of animosity towards another person is repulsive to the One who is love.” Yet, we see in this passage that the angels are speaking of peace. How can this be? And the peace here sung by the angels is not the kind of peace treaties we see established today between nations only to be violated and broken shortly thereafter that war may break out once more.

Let me give you an example from Scripture of what the angels mean by war and peace. Hold your finger in this passage, and turn with me to Genesis 9. And as you turn there, you’ll remember that in Genesis 6:5-6, “God saw that the wickedness of man was great and that intentions of his heart was only evil continually.” God was so grieved by man’s wickedness that He decided in His wrath to wipe out every living creature on earth except Noah and his household by sending a flood to ravage and wipe and purge the earth clean from sin. And after the waters subside, God makes a covenant with Noah and all creation. God says in Genesis 9:13-15, “I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.” Now, when we see rainbows in the sky today after it has rained, our first response is to think how pretty the rainbow is and to remember the promise that God made to Noah and all creation back in Genesis 9. But we see here in Genesis 9 that the rainbow was not a sign for us to remember but for God to remember, and the rainbow means something entirely different to God than just a pretty collage of colors to us. He says in verse 13, I have set my keh’shet, my bow, my battle weapon in the cloud. God has hung up his weapon. He has ceased His wrathful assault against humans and the earth. And notice that His battle weapon that brought the arrows of His divine wrath is no longer pointed at the earth. The bow in the cloud is now pointed directly at Him, as if to say, “If I break my covenant promise to you, Noah, may I be cursed with the same judgment that I brought upon the earth!”

And that is why the Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 5:1, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The peace that the angels speak of is not just a warm, fuzzy feeling; it is an objective reality. It is a peace that has been declared and uttered forth from the courtroom of God the judge, pronouncing, “Not guilty!” It is a peace that results in God forever hanging up the bow of His wrath and anger against us. It is a peace that changes our status from being children of wrath to being children of God. R.C. Sproul said it well when he wrote, “When God signs a peace treaty, it is signed for perpetuity. The war is over, forever and ever…Our peace with God is not fragile; it is stable. When we sin, God is displeased, and He will move to correct us and convict us of our sin as a Father. But He does not go to war against us as a military commander. His bow is no longer bent, and the arrows of His wrath are no longer aimed at our hearts” (R.C. Sproul, The Holiness of God, 150-151).

But this ravaging flood that occurred in the days of Noah is only a drop of water compared to the ocean of God’s wrath that is foaming and crashing at the shore of your life, ready to engulf you and drown you in its raging and uncontrollable and unrelenting fury unless you repent of your sins and trust in Christ for the forgiveness of sins. And if you are sitting here today, and you are still at war with God, know that it is only by His mercy that you are still alive this moment and that you did not wake up in hell this morning. But even in this very moment, God is offering you peace, but it comes on His terms. You have to come empty and broken and destitute and contrite. You must come and confess and weep and turn from your sins that have so greatly offended and angered Him. You must waive the white flag of defeat and surrender concerning all your pride and all your self-reliance and all your rebellion against Him. And you must come to the cross of Christ, where God slew Him as a propitiation to fully exhaust and extinguish and empty His wrath against you. And if you can come in this manner, if you can look upon Christ crucified and say, “I did this,” and receive God’s pardon as it is freely offered to us in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, war will cease forever between you and God. May no one leave this place today without being at peace with God!

So, we see that peace comes by a declaration, but we also see that peace comes by a transformation.

2. A Peace of Transformation

The peace here described by the angels also encompasses an even wider understanding of peace that comes after war has ceased. The word for peace in the Old Testament, shalom, means not only cessation of war, but also restoration, wholeness, unity, completeness, and fullness, essentially, the way things are supposed to be. You see Adam and Eve were created in the image of God to reflect God’s presence and will and character throughout all the earth. And think of this image and reflection in terms of a mirror. God was to be seen clearly in this mirror in all that they did in subduing the earth, the essence of what it means to glorify God. And yet, when Adam and Eve rebelled, think of it as Adam taking a baseball bat to this mirror within himself, shattering it into millions and millions of jagged pieces. And the swing of this bat to the mirror within, reverberated throughout all of creation shattering the shalom and harmony not just in himself but in all of creation.  And now, as sons and daughters of Adam, each of us walk around in a shattered and broken and vandalized world carrying these millions of shattered pieces within us which occasionally giving a little glimmer and reflection, but the reflection is incredibly distorted and manipulated. I should not need to convince you of this. Someone has rightly said that original sin is the most commonly denied doctrine, yet the most empirically verifiable. All you need to do is watch the local news for five minutes or sit in a children’s nursery or attend a funeral or reflect on how you treated your spouse and children this morning or how you treated your brother or sister or friends this past week. We live in a broken world as broken people. Shalom has been shattered. And yet, the angels sing of this shalom that Christ has brought to us. That is why Paul writes in Col. 3:9-10: “…you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator,” and in 2 Cor. 3:18, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” And so there is a transformation taking place by the Spirit within us to restore us and bring us back to that unity that we had before the fall, that we might finally and fully be conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29) on that last day when all things are set right once and for all. And on that last day, God will set things right. Death will be crushed to death. And God will declare as we read in Rev. 21:3-5, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. Behold, I am making all things new.” Shalom will be restored finally and forever!

So, we have seen in this song the purpose of God in salvation, the place of God in salvation, and the peace of God in salvation. Lastly, we see the…

IV. The Pleasure of God in Salvation (14d)

The angels conclude the song saying, “…with whom He is well pleased.” This peace comes to only those with whom God is pleased. And here we see the absolute, gracious sovereignty of God in salvation. God has set His love and affection upon a particular people before the foundation of the world to redeem them from their sins. God did not choose people based on their foreseen faith and good works. Rather, God looks into the future and sees that everyone is in rebellion against God, everyone has gone their own way, and left to themselves, everyone will die in their sins. And God has every perfect and just right to leave us all to die in our sins and go to hell, and yet, out of His unmerited love and favor, in love (Eph. 1:4-5), God chooses to redeem a people for Himself instead of leaving them to perish with the rest. But you might say, “That’s not fair!” If strict justice is what you want, then hell is what you get. Because the nature of grace is that we do not deserve salvation, because He freely gives it to those whom He loves and chooses! That means that there is no room to boast as a Christian except in the fact that you are a great sinner but God is a greater Savior. There is no room to boast in what you have done, because you contributed nothing to your salvation except your sin. And this truth ties back to the first main point that God gets all the glory and praise in salvation, because we have been emptied of any opportunity and reason to boast in our salvation!

So in this “Song of Heaven” we have seen that the purpose of God in salvation is to bring Him glory; we have seen that the place of God in salvation occurs here on earth for His people and ultimately His creation; we have seen the peace of God in salvation that both declares to us and transforms us; and we have seen the pleasure of God in salvation to choose a people for Himself out of His mercy and grace to redeem.

But there is something in this “Song of Heaven” sung by the angels that I find rather striking. Let me see if I can illustrate it. Imagine that you and I sat down one day for coffee and during our conversation we got on the topic of Hawaii. For the next hour, I enthusiastically describe to you all the islands and places and attractions in Hawaii. In great, vivid detail I tell you all about the volcanoes and the thick smell of sulfur in the air, the black sand beaches, the snorkeling and surfing, the weather, the food, the locals, and all the unique characteristics of each island. Now, your curiosity and interest is piqued, and so the question you naturally ask is, “How many times have you been there?” Now, would you find it striking and maybe a bit odd if I told you that I saw and learned all about Hawaii by watching the Discovery Channel, but I had never experienced it myself by actually traveling there? Would you not think that while I am not wrong to praise the beauty of Hawaii, there is something far more greater and exciting and exhilarating when you actually experience it in person rather than watching it on the television?

Turn with me to 1 Peter 1:10-12. Peter writes, “Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.”

Did you hear that? Angels are continuously and unceasingly bending and straining and longing and desiring with an overpowering impulse to know and to comprehend and to experience what only we can know and experience as those who have been redeemed from our sins. The angels are longing and saying to one another, “I wonder what it’s like to be saved…I wonder what it’s like to receive grace…I wonder what it’s like to be forgiven…” And even in the visions of John in the book of Revelation, the angels are truly and really glorifying God for the redemption He has done, and yet, there will be this holy desire and unmet longing in the angels forever and ever to fully comprehend the words they are singing when they sing in Revelation 5:12, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain!” For as the writer to the Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 2:16, “For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.”

So I close with this: If the angels in heaven never cease worshipping Jesus, while longing to comprehend what only we know and experience because of Christ’s death for us, how much more should we seek to worship and adore and rejoice in the one who purchased us with His very blood? How much more precious should Christ be to us than to the angels? How much more dear our salvation and freedom from the curse of sin? Oh, that we may rejoice in God and our salvation this morning with a renewed enjoyment and exhilaration and intensity for what God has done for us in Christ!

Let’s pray.

MacArthur does an expose on TBN (Trinity Broadcasting Network). Here’s a snippet:

Recently, however, while recovering from knee-replacement surgery, I decided to sample some of the current fare on TBN. From a therapeutic point of view it seemed a good choice: something more excruciating than the pain in my leg might distract me from the physical suffering of post-surgical trauma. And I suppose on that basis the strategy was effective.

But it left me outraged and frustrated—and eager to challenge the misperceptions in the minds of millions of unbelievers who see these false teachers masquerading as ministers of Christ on TBN.

Read the rest here.

Someone mentioned to me after the sermon that they had never made the connection between moralism (do good, be good, and God will love and accept you) and Santa Claus. Here is a short excerpt from my sermon preached yesterday:

…We become more excited to recount and retell the mighty act of Santa Claus giving presents to all the good children in the world instead of the mighty act of God in Christ giving the gift of Himself to the undeserving and the wicked. And ironically, the time of year that should serve as a reminder of God’s amazing grace turns into an opportunity to jam and stuff moralism down our children’s throats by saying, “Have you been a good little boy or girl this year? Have your good deeds outweighed your bad deeds? If so, you are on the good list and you will be accepted and approved and rewarded for your good behavior!

No wonder kids grow up thinking that God is nothing more than Santa Claus who receives us on the basis of our merit alone!

This is the first in a three part Advent sermon series, “The Songs of Advent,” that I am preaching at a local church in town.

As we find ourselves in the midst of this Advent season, it is the words of Psalm 126:3 that best sum up what this time of year is all about: “The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.” Advent is a time of joyous celebration of what God has done for us, by sending His Son Jesus Christ into the world in human flesh to redeem His people from their sins. Advent is a time to recount and retell to one another the mighty act of redemption that God has done for us through Jesus. It is a time to rejoice because the Lord has come. And what we see throughout Scripture is that when God floods and fills His people’s hearts with joy, the most natural impulse and response is the bubbling up and breaking out with singing to our God. All the way from Genesis to Revelation, from God singing the creation into existence out of the fullness of His joy, to all creatures singing praises to God forever in the new creation, joy and singing go hand-in-hand in Scripture. And because the Advent season is a time to rejoice, I felt that it would be appropriate to bring to you a series entitled, “The Songs of Advent.” We find these “songs of advent” recorded in the first two chapters of the Gospel of Luke. There is the song of Mary, the song of Zechariah, the song of the angels, and the song of Simeon, each bursting forth in praise for who God is and what He has done for His people. Over these next three weeks, Lord willing, we will look at three of the four songs recorded in Luke’s Gospel. So, it is a great privilege to be with you over these next three weeks and my prayer is that these songs would stir our hearts afresh with joy and excitement because King Jesus has come!

And so, to begin our series on the “songs of advent,” I invite you to open your Bibles and turn with me to the Gospel of Luke 1:46-55, to the song of Mary, or as it is often called by its Latin title, “The Magnificat,” which means, “magnifies.” The title of this first message in our series on the “Songs of Advent” is, “The Song of Humility.” For, this song reminds us that our Lord is a lover of the lowly but a hater of the haughty.

Please give attention to the reading of God’s most holy word.

[Reading of passage]

For over four hundred years, the heavens had been shut in silence. No further word had been spoken by God to the people through the prophets since the days of Malachi. And so, it was over 400 years of waiting in anticipation for the promised messenger of God to appear on the stage of the drama of redemption. This messenger would come as a forerunner to prepare the people for the coming of the Lord Himself. When the messenger would arrive, they knew that the coming king was not far behind. Suddenly, after more than 400 years of silence, the heavens open, and God sends the angel Gabriel to announce to Zechariah that his wife would give birth to this very messenger. Six months after this announcement, Gabriel appears to Mary, announcing that she would give birth to Israel’s savior and king. In verse 28 of this chapter, Gabriel greets Mary by calling her the “favored one,” the one who has become the recipient of God’s grace, and grace is just another way of saying God’s free and unmerited love and favor. Mary is not the giver of grace as some might think; she is only the recipient of grace. Yet, she will give birth to the Giver of grace, the one who will bring salvation by grace to those who will believe. In contrast to Zechariah, who refused to believe Gabriel’s message of good news, Mary receives and believes the good news from Gabriel, and humbly responds in verse 38 saying, “Behold, I am the slave of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” Then Mary travels in haste to meet her cousin Elizabeth who is six months pregnant. Upon greeting Elizabeth, John leaps for joy in Elizabeth’s womb and Elizabeth shouts for joy and blesses Mary, because Mary has been blessed by carrying the Messiah. John leaps for joy for what God has done. Elizabeth shouts with joy for what God has done, and here in Mary’s Magnificat, The Song of Humility, Mary sings with joy for what God has done. This beautiful and poetic song sung by Mary is rich with Old Testament allusions from every part of the Old Testament: the Pentateuch, the historical books, the wisdom writings, and the major and minor prophets. That is to say, Mary pours the entire Old Testament into her song of praise to the Lord for what He has done for her and for His people. This song is all about God’s mercy and what He has done to accomplish His redemption. Did you notice that when I read the passage? He has looked upon Mary. He has done great things for her. He shows mercy to generations. He has shown strength with His arm. He has scattered the proud. He has brought down the mighty. He has exalted the humble. He has filled the hungry. He has emptied the rich. He has helped Israel. Because it was He who spoke the covenant promises to Abraham and their fathers. It is a song that can be likened to a person looking both ways before crossing the street. Mary looks back to the mighty act of redemption that God performed in the first exodus by redeeming Israel out of slavery in Egypt, but she also looks forward to that great and better exodus when God would come and save and redeem His people from their sins. Yet, what is so striking about all of this is that Mary speaks of God’s gracious and powerful actions in the first exodus and new exodus both in the past tense, as if Christ has already come and redeemed His people! She is so certain that God’s promise of salvation will come to pass that she speaks as if it has already been accomplished!

Let us now turn to the song before us, and we see from this text before us that the song flows in two movements. We see first the mercy shown to Mary, and then, like a camera zooming out to display a wide-angle view, we see the mercy shown to God’s people.

I. The Mercy Shown to Mary (46-49)

As Mary reflects on the mercy and loving kindness that the Lord has shown to her, she begins her song by bursting forth in praises of thanksgiving. Notice how the song begins in verses 46-47: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” It is the grace and loving kindness of God that draws Mary upward in joyous exclamation. Flooded and filled with joy she directs her praises upward towards God as she continuously and repeatedly celebrates, extols, praises, boasts, dances, leaps, and rejoices at how great God is. That is what these words “magnify” and “rejoice” mean. To magnify, in the Greek, means to “enlarge, grow, or swell.” The word in the Greek has the prefix “mega” attached to the front. It is like going to Best Buy and seeing audio speakers that have a sticker that does not simply say “Bass,” the kind that will make a few rattles, but “Mega Bass,” the kind that will shake the entire room and your insides. That is what the word is getting at: Mary is not just rejoicing, she is mega-rejoicing. Her heart is shaking and pounding with praise and song. And the second word “rejoice” in the Greek can literally mean to “jump, dance, or leap.” And so Mary’s heart leaps and dances for joy within her. Notice that Mary says that her soul magnifies and her spirit rejoices. When Mary uses the words “soul” and “spirit,” she is saying that her praises flow and dance forth from the very depths of who she is. She is vigorously and earnestly rejoicing with every muscle fiber in her being. And who is this person that she is praising so jubilantly? She says that it is the “Lord” and “God my Savior.” These names form two major threads intertwined throughout the tapestry of the entire song: the themes of covenant and salvation. Mary’s use of the name “Lord,” hearkens back to the Old Testament where God revealed to Moses His covenant and personal name: Yahweh. When Mary speaks of the name Lord, Yahweh, she is reminded of that gracious covenant relationship that the Lord first entered into with Abraham all the way back in Genesis 12 and that relationship which He continued to reaffirm throughout the entire Old Testament and up to this very moment that through Abraham salvation would come to people from all the nations upon the earth. And when she says, “God my Savior,” it is a reminder of the redemption that Yahweh accomplished by leading Israel out of Egypt, but ultimately, it is the assurance and certainty that God will surely bring about salvation through Jesus Christ, even for her. You see, Mary was a sinner just like each and every one of us. She needed a Savior, someone to redeem her from her sin, someone to pay the penalty for her sin, someone to cleanse her from her sin. We need that same Savior, because we are in that exact same predicament being under the just wrath and displeasure of a holy God. Sin has left a permanent stain upon us. Any self-effort to clean ourselves up will only smudge and smear the stain of sin even greater. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot earn God’s favor and approval no matter how good we try to be. Salvation is a gift. It cannot be earned, because it cannot be deserved! And even after millions and millions of millennia in heaven, you will still not deserve it! That is the essence of grace!

So let’s pause here for a second. Where do you stand in relation to this opening shout of joy? Have you experienced the delight and joy that comes when you realize that despite your sin and disobedience, God has saved you and redeemed you from the curse of sin, death, and hell? Can you say with Mary that God is your Savior, that you have repented of your sin and trusted in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins? Or do you stand in prideful and rebellious opposition against God and His Christ? What is your song of response? Magnification or mockery? Delight or disgust? Are you invigorated with joy or are you just indifferent? Boisterous or bored?

As Mary began with exuberant praise to God for who He is, she now turns and gives the reasons in verse 48-49 as to why she is so overcome with joy.

She begins in verse 48 with the recognition that God has looked upon her humble estate. He has chosen a poor and lowly teenager to bear the Savior of the world! What a surprising act of grace! Does not the Apostle Paul capture this truth of God loving and choosing the lowly and contrite when he writes in 1 Cor. 1:26-29:

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

Mary is humbled and amazed by this surprising act of grace!—that Jesus would not be born to the wife of a king, but to the wife of a carpenter, that Jesus would not be born to a princess but to a peasant, that Jesus would not be born to nobility but to a nobody, that Jesus would not be born to the rich but to the rejected! And because of this wonderful act of grace and mercy, all generations will recognize how blessed Mary was, who though being so lowly, was used by God so greatly to bear and to bring the Savior Jesus Christ into the world!

In verse 49, Mary continues to give reason for her praise as she says, “For he who is mighty (or some translations say, “the mighty one”) has done great things for me.” Mary is most likely alluding to Zeph. 3:17 which reads, “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” What a striking picture. God is in our midst, and in Mary’s case, Jesus, the Son of God, was surely in her midst, He was developing in her womb! And God is the mighty one, the divine and powerful warrior who goes out to battle against His enemies. And yet, this same mighty and powerful warrior, draws near to His people in mercy and grace, and He quiets them with His love so that we can hear him rejoicing and exulting over us with loud shouts of joy and singing because He loves us! He loves us.

And what is so shocking is what Mary says next in verse 49: “and holy is His name.” God is holy. He is pure. He is perfect. He is separate from sin and sinners. He cannot sweep our sins under the rug and say, “I’ll ignore what you do, and I’ll accept you because I am loving.” No! His holy love demands perfect justice, because He hates sin! And God in His perfect holiness and justice has every just and perfect right and reason to put us all to death for our sins and wicked rebellion against Him. Yet, observe how He demonstrates His holiness. While He could have wiped the earth clean of us, instead He sends His Son Jesus Christ into the world. Jesus descends and comes to us. He becomes one of us. He comes to the weary and the broken and the outcast and the sinners and the sick and the humble. He lives the perfect life that we cannot live, and He dies the death that we deserve by paying the penalty for the sins of His people. And so when Mary says, “holy is His name,” she is most likely alluding to Psalm 111:9 which says, “He sent redemption to his people; he has commanded his covenant forever. Holy and awesome is his name!”

And so Mary marvels and shouts with joy that God has looked upon her in her lowly estate and will use her to bear and bring the Savior into the world, and that her very son would one day die save her from her sins. Yet, Mary does not stop here in her rejoicing, because the picture becomes far greater and grander. Like a movie camera slowly pulling back to enable the viewers to see a more wide angle shot, Mary turns to the reality that this gracious and merciful reality goes far beyond her. And we see this reality in verse 50-55 where we observe the mercy shown to God’s people.

II. The Mercy Shown to God’s People (50-55)

Mary moves from the mercy shown to her to the mercy that God shows, as we read in verse 50, “to generations and generations of those who fear him,” and in verses 54-55, “He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” This language of “to generations and generations” points back to the Old Testament Scriptures where God speaks of showing His love to a thousand generations of those who fear and love Him, which we find in Deut. 5:10. Deut. 7:9, likewise says, “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,” and Psalm 103:17 says, “But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children,” and Psalm 105:8-10 says, “He has remembered His covenant forever, The word which He commanded to a thousand generations, the covenant made with Abraham, and his oath to Isaac. Then he confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant.”

Now, this language of a thousand generations is symbolic to depict that God’s covenant promise to bring salvation to those who love Him is eternal! But let me ask you, do you realize how great His mercy truly is? Let me illustrate it by using a little math. Let’s just take this number of a thousand generations and interpret it quite literally for a second, and let’s give a very modest estimation that each generation lasts only 40 years, so that would give us a total of 40,000 years of this Abrahamic promise. Since Abraham lived 4000 years ago, that means that from today on, the next 36,000 years, 36 millennia, are “covered” by God’s covenant promise to Abraham! What a staggering display of His mercy! We cannot even comprehend how far His mercy extends!

We see in this second part of the song, that verse 50 and verses 54-55 provide the bookends for the verses in between, verses 51-53. And these verses, in the form of three contrasting pairs, describe the great reversal that God performs in salvation, because He turns all the world’s standards and expectations on their head. God turns everything upside down. Martyn Lloyd-Jones writes, “Can you not see that everything that man boasts in, his intellect, his understanding, his power, his social status, his influence, his righteousness, his morality, his code—every one of them is utterly demolished by this Son of God?”

In verse 51 we see that, “He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;” God showing strength with his arm is Old Testament language referring to the mighty act of redemption in delivering Israel out of Egypt. He heard their cries of slavery and with powerful might he redeemed them and destroyed their oppressors. And in the same way in this new exodus which the Triune God performs, He heard the cries and agonies of His people enslaved in their sins, and he came and redeemed us from our depravity and enslavement to sin. He destroyed the power of sin that held us tight in its grips. God comes not for those who think they are wealthy with good works. He does not come for those who think they have cleaned and tidied themselves up nicely. He does not come for those who think they deserve His love. He does not come for those with closed fists who have no need of Him in their thoughts or hearts or lives. He comes for the broken, the penitent, and the contrite. He comes for those who recognize that they are morally and spiritually bankrupt before God. He comes for those who recognize that they are dead in their sin. Without hope. Without God! He comes for those who beat their chest and cry out, “God be merciful to me, a sinner! I have no other hope beside you!” And that is what we heard earlier in the service in the Scripture reading from Isa 57:15, where God says, “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.”

And this theme continues in verse 52 using the same kind of reversal language which reads: “he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate.” God exalts and lifts the humble yet he humbles the proud and the mighty. Prov. 3:34 says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble,” and Luke 14:11, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” God loves the lowly yet hates the haughty. He wants you to come humble, broken, destitute, needy. To mourn over your sins and how you have offended Him. To repent and to come to Him for cleansing that He might cancel out the penalty of your sins once and for all. And if you come in that way, He will by no means cast you aside. But it is impossible to come in pride as if you think you have done your part, as if you are good enough, or you deserve it. That kind of prideful disposition only aggravates His anger against you even more. Oh, the audacity to look God in the face while pointing at His Son and saying to Him, “What Christ did on the cross was not enough!” And instead you try to offer Him a handful of half-hearted, worthless “good” works that leave a stench in His nostrils and a bitter taste in His mouth! Instead, come and sit beneath the cross and let all your arrogance and pride and self-sufficiency be destroyed and demolished, and instead, delight in His love and forgiveness through Christ. John Stott said it well when he wrote, “Before we can see the cross as something done for us (leading us to faith and worship), we have to see it as something done by us (leading us to repentance). Only the man who is prepared to own his share in the guilt of the cross, may claim his share in its grace.”

So God shows strength to the penitent yet shatters the proud. He lifts the humble and humbles the lofty. And in verse 53, we see that “he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.” What does Mary mean by filling the hungry and sending the rich away empty? Mary is most likely alluding to Psalm 109:3 which reads, “For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.” One commentator put it well when he wrote, “God only satisfies people who are hungry for him. When we stuff ourselves with the pleasures of this life, we do not feel our need for God, and then he has nothing more to give us. If we are too proud to admit that we need God the way a beggar needs bread, he will send us away empty. But if we have a heart that hungers after God—if we long for the forgiveness of our sins; if we thirst for the knowledge of God; if we crave eternal life in Christ—then God will satisfy us with his grace.”

I think this verse in particular is very relevant for the season that we find ourselves in right now. Because it is especially true that as we draw closer to Christmas we are so prone to become distracted as we trade true delight and joy and satisfaction in God in exchange for the cheap, plastic, tinsel religion that comes wrapped with a pretty red bow this time of year. We become more excited to recount and retell the mighty act of Santa Claus giving presents to all the good children in the world instead of the mighty act of God in Christ giving the gift of Himself to the undeserving and the wicked. And ironically, the time of year that should serve as a reminder of God’s amazing grace turns into an opportunity to jam and stuff moralism down children’s throats by saying, “Have you been a good little boy or girl this year? Have your good deeds outweighed your bad deeds? If so, you are on the good list and you will be accepted and approved and rewarded for your good behavior! It is especially around Christmas time, ironically, when we should be relishing and enjoying Christ and His love for us, that we glut ourselves full of the goods and riches of the world. We stuff our hearts and minds full of things that squeeze and crowd out any room for God, leaving our love and affections cold for Christ. We exchange true and lasting delight in God and for what He has done for us in Christ, for little trinkets and pleasures that quickly flare up and fizzle out like a flame in a frying pan. But please do not hear what I am not saying. I am not saying that celebrating with family traditions and giving gifts to one another is wrong. It’s not. But I am concerned that we become so frantic and distracted as we scurry around trampling others in shopping malls in order to get the latest and greatest toy, or wanting to make all the food and house decorations and lights just perfect, that we fail to stop and to rest and to relish and delight in the reality of God’s love and delight in us!

So, we have seen throughout this song the radical grace and power of God, who comes to bring salvation to those whom He has chosen in love and grace. He brings salvation to those who tremble before Him in awe and reverence and brokenness and humility over their sin. With that, I close with this.

First, by way of invitation, that if this is not the song of your heart, if you have never experienced the joy and delight that comes when you repent of your sin and trust in Christ for forgiveness of sin, Oh let today be that day when you can throw open the doors of your heart that the love of God in Christ may flood you and fill you with His forgiveness and love. Let today be the day that you shout and dance and delight and celebrate that Christ has come to save you from the wrath of God, that He has cleansed you and forgiven you and given you a new heart and a new life in Him! Repent of your self-righteousness and arrogance, and come broken and crushed, and let Him bind up your brokenness and wounds with the kiss of His tender grace and mercy.

Second, for those of us who have been saved from our sins and the wrath of God, we recognize that our hearts can grow dull in our passion and joy and love for Christ and the redemption that He has granted to us. And so, by way of encouragement, let this song stir your hearts afresh with a renewed passion for Jesus Christ. Think of what your life was like before Christ. Think of what your life would be like today without Christ. Think of how you were dead in your sin, and yet, God came and opened your eyes and gave you a new heart with new passions and affections and desires to love Him and serve Him. Rejoice! Rejoice in what He has done for you and for His people. Let this Song of Humility, humble you and cause your heart to dance and leap and shout and exclaim that the King has come!

And lastly, I recognize that this time of the year can be a difficult time to rejoice for those who are weeping and suffering, whether that suffering and pain is the result of the loss of a job, the death of a loved one, sickness, or perhaps the loneliness for those who are single or bereaved. And so, I offer the following to you by way of comfort and consolation. And I do that by pointing you to this God in this song and ask you, “Who is this God that we worship?” He is not the god of deism, who creates the world and then sits back indifferent and couldn’t care less what happens in and to this world. He is not the cold god of Islam, who is so separate from us that we cannot know Him or have a personal relationship with Him. He is not a god who sits back and relaxes in heaven and forgives people by just ignoring their sins. No, He is the only true God who sends His Son, and His Son descends from His throne and He comes and gets His hands dirty and He sweats and He weeps and He bleeds and He shrieks and so intimately identifies with your pain and brokenness and suffering and sin, and places it all upon Himself and experiences all of the evil and the wickedness that you have done and those things that have been done to you. This is the God of Advent, the weeping and suffering God who has come to His people and identified with them and redeemed them!

Rejoice! Rejoice! The God of Advent has come!

Dr. John Carrick is Professor of Homiletics at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and the author of two preaching books, The Imperative of Preaching and The Preaching of Jonathan Edwards.

This is from Greenville’s website:

Dr. John Carrick will give his inaugural lecture as Professor of Homiletics on Friday, December 4th, at 7:00 at the Seminary. In the lecture Dr. Carrick will consider various methods of preaching and explain why the extemporaneous method constitutes, in his judgment, the only true method of preaching.

A very challenging and convicting lecture! If you are satisfied with preaching from a full manuscript (as I have been) or from memory, this will challenge you to rethink the way you preach, as I am beginning to!

Listen here and be challenged by his concluding remark: “Paper is a very poor medium in which to carry fire.”

An excellent blog post here by C.J. Mahaney about Tiger Woods.

An excerpt:

Hunted by the Media

As expected, the allegations of adultery involving a public figure are attracting a media pile-on. This is a big story with a big audience and it’s a story that will not disappear soon. Tiger Woods is being hunted by the media.

But let us make sure we do not join the hunt. A Christian’s response to this story should be distinctly different. We should not be entertained by the news. We should not have a morbid interest in all the details. We should be saddened and sobered. We should pray for this man and even more for his wife.

And we can be sure that in the coming days we will be in conversations with friends and family where this topic will emerge. And when it does, we can avoid simply listening to the latest details and speculations, and avoid speaking self-righteously, but instead we can humbly draw attention to the grace of God in the gospel.

Hunted by Sin

But Tiger is being hunted by something more menacing than journalists. Tiger’s real enemy is his sin, and that’s an enemy much more difficult to discern and one that can’t be managed in our own strength. It’s an enemy that never sleeps.

Let me explain.

Read the whole thing.

HT: Justin Taylor

I was asked yesterday to fill a pulpit for the next three weeks for a church in the area. Please pray for me as I prepare three advent messages in the midst of seminary finals!

I have decided to preach, Lord willing, a three-part Advent series entitled, “The Songs of Advent.”

1. The Songs of Advent: The Song of Humility (Luke 1:46-55)
2. The Songs of Advent: The Song of Heaven (Luke 2:14)
3. The Songs of Advent: The Song of Hope (Luke 2:29-32)

Here is my introduction to the series that I will begin this Sunday:

As we find ourselves in this Advent season, it is Psalm 126:3 that best sums up what this time of year is all about: “The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.” Advent is a time of joyous celebration of what God has done for us, by sending His Son Jesus Christ into the world in human flesh to redeem His people from their sins. Advent is a time to recount and retell to one another the mighty act of redemption that God has done for us through Jesus. It is a time to rejoice because the Lord has come. And what we see throughout Scripture is that when God floods and fills His people’s hearts with joy, the most natural impulse and response is the bubbling up and breaking out with singing to our God. All the way from Genesis to Revelation, from God singing the creation into existence out of the fullness of His joy, to all creatures singing praises to God forever in the new creation, joy and singing go hand-in-hand in Scripture. And because the Advent season is a time to rejoice, I felt that it would be appropriate to bring to you a series entitled, “The Songs of Advent.” We find these “songs of advent” recorded in the first two chapters of the Gospel of Luke. There is the song of Mary, the song of Zechariah, the song of the angels, and the song of Simeon, each bursting forth in praise for who God is and what He has done for His people. Over these next three weeks, Lord willing, we will look at three of the four songs recorded in Luke’s Gospel…

Your prayers are much appreciated!!!

When I read Lloyd-Jones’ Preaching & Preachers a few years back, his thoughts concerning Christian biographies has since stuck with me. On Sunday afternoons Lloyd-Jones would sit in his study reading a biography about a hero and giant of the faith that had gone before him, having been used by God in remarkable ways. And why this practice on Sunday afternoon? Lloyd-Jones remembered that for a minister of the Gospel there is always the potentiality for pride to manifest itself in a minister’s life, especially after preaching on Sunday morning. So, he reasoned that reading Christian biographies not only made him more aware of his forefathers in the faith, but ultimately, it served as a way to humble him, showing him his insignificance in comparison to a giant like Edwards or Spurgeon.

I doubt that he knew that his thoughts recorded in Preaching & Preachers would one day become true about him! I finally picked up off my bookshelf and read the first of two volumes of Ian Murray’s biography on Lloyd-Jones this past week, and it was excellent (and humbling!). One thing that stuck out to me throughout this first volume is Lloyd-Jones’ passion for God’s Word and the mighty work God did in Wales, England, Canada, and America in the early years (~12 years) of his ministry.

I was reminded of Amos 8 where God speaks of sending a famine in the land, not of water or food, but a famine for hearing the word of God. It seems that it has always pleased God in those periods of severe famines to raise up heralds of the Gospel to send forth His word.

O, that God would raise up more Lloyd-Joneses quickly!

Watch this video. It could be of eternal value for your life over the next 4 minutes.