The Hungry Filled, the Rich Emptied
(No. 3019)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1906.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON THURSDAY EVENING,
FEBRUARY 26, 1869.
"He has filled the hungry with good things; and the rich He hats sent
away empty." Luke 1:53.
Divine Providence is like a wheel and as the wheel revolves, that spoke
which was highest becomes the lowest, and that which was lowest is
elevated to the highest place. It seems to be one of the works in which
God delights to cast down the lofty and to lift up the lowly. He hurls
down princes from their thrones and lifts up beggars from the dunghill!
"Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be
made low." Like the woodman with his axe, the Providence of God is
cutting down the high and goodly cedars while making trees that were
dry and withered, fruitful. That which is full, God empties. And that
which is empty, God fills. That which is something, He makes to be
nothing, and that which is nothing, He makes to be something. That
which is reckoned the wisdom of this world, God makes to be utter
folly, but base things of the world, and things which are despised, has
God chosen that He may elevate them and crown them with His Glory.
I am going to take our text as one instance of the general Providence
of God and to use it, first, in reference to sinners. Then in reference
to saints and, lastly, in reference to saints in their capacity as
workers for Christ.
I. First, then, WITH REFERENCE TO SINNERS it is true that, "He has
filled the hungry with good things; and the rich He has sent away
empty."
" The hungry" are the poorest of the poor. When a man is homeless, he
is poor, but he may still have something in his purse with which to
supply his present necessities. When a man is penniless, he is
certainly poor, yet he may have just satisfied the cravings of his
hunger and before the time shall come for another meal, he may be able
to procure it. But when the hour has passed in which the man should
have refreshed himself and he is liberally hungry, yet has no means of
getting food, then he is one of the poorest of the poor! There are
thousands in London who are very poor, but still, they are not actually
hungry. They are brought down to poverty, but yet, by some means or
other, they are able to get their daily needs supplied. The hungry man
is worse off and he represents the lowest degree of spiritual'poverty.
When a man has lost all his former treasures of self-righteousness,
when he has no merits, no strength, no might whatever–when he is
entirely empty and his soul craves for what it cannot find in itself,
nor earn of itself, nor by any possibility procure by its own merit or
power–then is the man in the lowest state of spiritual destitution.
And when he is brought to that state, then may he expect, in his
experience, the fulfillment of the first part of our text, "He has
filled the hungry with good things."
More than that, the man who is hungry is not only abjectly poor, but he
feels his poverty in a way that does not permit him to forget it. The
man who has but few clothes upon his back may, by reason of the genial
weather, scarcely realize that he is wearing the garb of poverty. A man
who sleeps in a miserable hut may seldom have been better housed and,
therefore, may scarcely recognize that he is dwelling among the very
poor. But he that is hungry has internal evidence that will not allow
him to deny, nor even for a moment to forget, his destitution! So is it
with certain sinners. They have within them an insatiable hunger which
causes a desperate unrest. There is no peace for them–neither by day
nor by night can they be at ease. Their sins haunt them and the fear of
punishment dogs their heels. They long to find mercy, but know not how
to seek it rightly. They would be thankful, indeed, to be saved from
the wrath to come, but they wonder whether salvation is possible for
them. They know they are guilty in the sight of God yet, possibly, they
feel grieved to think that they do not feel as much grieved as they
should–and are vexed to think that they are not more
vexed on account of their sins! All this shows very clearly how utterly
destitute they must be, and how truly they may write themselves down
among the spiritually "hungry."
I hope I am now addressing some who are in this condition. Dear
Friends, you are well aware that there is no good thing in you, yet you
wish there were. Sometimes you fear that you have not even the desire
to be right. To be able to confess your sins with a proper tenderness
of conscience seems to be a task beyond your powers. You say that you
wish you could repent and could believe–but I think you arerepenting
and believing all the while! But even if you are not, this only proves
how abjectly poor you are spiritually and how far you have gone astray
from God–and how lost, how undone you are! And then comes in this
blessed message of our text, "He has filled the hungry"–that is, such
sinners as you are, so full of needs–"He has filled the hungry with
good things."
How is it that the hungry get filled while the rich are sent away
empty? I think it is, partly, because the hungry are not to be
satisfied with anything but bread. There are many in the world who
spend their money for that which is not bread–and they are content
with an unsubstantial diet. But a really hungry soul knows that it
needs bread and will not be put off with anything else. When a soul
really feels the pressure of sin, it needs to have it pardoned, and it
will not be content with anything less than pardon. It needs peace with
God, and it will never rest till it gets it. The soul that once hungers
after God, the living God, will not be put off with ceremonies and
so-called "sacraments." It needs Christ, Himself! It needs to hear Him
say, "Your sins, which are many, are all forgiven; go in peace." You
can pacify those whose desires are only whims, but when men's desires
are based on such voracious appetites as the hungry have, you cannot
satisfy them by the clatter of plates and dishes, or the rattling of
knives and forks, or even with the sight of food. They must have it to
eat–they will not be put off without it! They cry until they get it
and, therefore, they get it, for God hears their cry and grants their
request. If a man's prayer is of such a character that only Sovereign
Grace, real pardon and true salvation will content his soul, then he
shall not be put off with anything else, but he shall have that for
which his soul craves. Such a man prays with one of our hymn-writers–
"Gracious Lord, incline Your ear,
My requests vouchsafe to hear.
Hear my never-ceasing cry,
Give me Christ, or else I die!
Lord, deny me what You will,
Only ease me of my guilt!
Suppliant at Your feet I lie,
Give me Christ or else I die!
You have promised to forgive
All who in Your Son believe–
Lord, I know You cannot lie.
Give me Christ, or else I die!" How vain a thing it is for a man to
boast of the privileges he enjoys rather than of the use which he has
made of them! How many say, like the Jews of old, "The temple of the
Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord are these,"
because they think they belong to an orthodox denomination or they are
members of a church which is correct in its creed, or they attend a
ministry which God has greatly blessed to the salvation of souls. Ah,
Sirs! But if the Creed is not believed in your heart, and if the
ministry is not blessed to you, your boasting is as vain as that of one
who was clothed in rags, died in poverty, but who boasted of the wealth
of London! Or of the man who shut his eyes, but who, nevertheless,
boasted of the light that shone upon his countenance. Unless you
useyour privileges. Unless you get through the external husks into the
very spirit and kernel of them, instead of boasting, you have reason to
be ashamed and to hide your heads! But the truly hungry soul is not
satisfied with privileges and opportunities–he wants Christ! To sit in
a place of worship to hear a Gospel sermon, he counts to be a favor,
for he is very humble, but it is a favor that cannot content him. His
soul cries, "Lord, give me Christ! Give me salvation! Give me assurance
to know that my many iniquities are cast behind Your back, to be
remembered against me no more forever!" He cannot be content with
anything short of a full Christ for his poor empty spirit!
Further, a hungry soul is likely to get the blessing it craves because
it is an importunate soul You know that our Lord Jesus Christ, in His
parable of the widow and the unjust judge, set forth the prevalence of
importunate pleading
with God. And, on another occasion our Lord used the figure of one who,
though not himself hungry, was able to satisfy the hunger of a friend
who had unexpectedly called upon him when he had nothing to set before
him. But, by his importunity, he obtained for his friend the food that
he needed. Yes, and let a man really have the fear of Hell before his
eyes and a sincere desire for reconciliation with God–let his soul be
really hungering after peace with God through Jesus Christ–and he will
be at Mercy's door both night and day! He will hammer away at the
knocker and give God no rest until He puts forth His hand and gives the
Bread of Life to that poor starving suppliant. Yes, it is holy
importunity that wins the day–and the spiritually hungry man gets the
blessing because his importunity gives success to his pleading with
God!
I feel sure that there are some in this place who, knowing their
need–being painfully conscious that they have no good thing of their
own–are hungering after eternal life. I trust that this hunger will
grow into a craving that will never be satisfied until you get what
your spirit wants. I pray God that you may never be comforted till
Christ comforts you–never get peace till He becomes your peace, never
feel that you are safe till you get into the very heart of Christ– and
never suppose that you are clean till you are washed in the Fountain
filled with His blood! Beware of getting peace apart from Christ!
Always be afraid of a hope that is not grounded upon Him, for it is far
better to continue to hunger and to thirst than to be satisfied with
the dust and ashes of this world's religion, or this world's pleasures!
O you hungry ones, hear the words of the text and be encouraged–"He
has filled the hungry." Look at that blessed word, "filled." He has not
merely given them a little refreshment, or administered some temporary
consolation to them, but, "He has filled the hungry"–given them all
that they can wish for, all that their souls really need! Turn to this
blessed Book of God and see what promises are there for needy souls. Do
they need pardon? There is plenteous forgiveness! Do they need
adoption? "They shall be My sons and my daughters, says the Lord
Almighty." Do they need comfort? There is the Holy Spirit, Himself, to
be their Comforter. Do they need anything on earth or in Heaven? Then
it shall not be denied to them, seeing that, in giving Christ to them,
God has given them all things! "He has flledthe hungry."
It is a blessed thing to see the man who was once spiritually hungry,
after he has had his soul filled by God. How he rejoices! He dances
like David did before the Ark–no, more than that–his soul seems as
though it would dance into Heaven itself with glorious leaps of
overwhelming joy! As Christ is mine and Christ is All, I have in Christ
all that I can ever desire! It is a blessed fullness, a Divine satiety,
a heavenly satisfaction which the Lord gives to us when He makes our
youth to be renewed like the eagles by filling our mouth with good
things!
We must notice one other word in the text. "He has filled the hungry
with good things." I shall not be altering the text, but only giving
its true sense if I say that He fills the hungry soul with the best of
things. They are positively good and they are comparatively
good–better than all the good things of the world. And they are
superlatively good, for even Heaven, itself, has no better things than
God gives to poor hungry souls when they come to Him by faith in Jesus.
We are apt to think that if men are starving, the most common kind of
food will do for them as long as they are able to keep away from
death's door–but it is not thus that God deals with the spiritually
hungry. He spreads the table bounteously, royally, with the best of
food and fills the hungry with good things–not simply with a good
thing, but the word is in the plural, "with good things." Their needs
are many, so the mercies given to them shall also be many! Their needs
seem to be as many as their moments, but the mercies of God exceed
their utmost needs! All their capacious souls can wish, they shall find
in Jesus Christ, who shall be their All-in-All.
The text, you observe, refers to the past, but it may be taken for
granted that what God did yesterday, He will do today–and what He does
today, He will do forever, so far as it is necessary and right. And as
He is "the same yesterday, and today, and forever," all the blessings
that He gives to His people shall be continued to them as long as they
need them. Some of us can say that we were filled with these good
things 20 years ago, and we have never again hungered as we hungered
then. The Lord has satisfied our souls by giving us Christ–and we are
fully content with Him! His own word is true to us, "Whoever drinks of
the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that
I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into
everlasting life." God is still filling the hungry with good things.
There are many in this house who can testify that in answer to prayer,
they have had their griefs relieved and heavenly comforts granted to
them and, poor Sinner, God is willing to do the same for you! If you
are hungering and thirsting, come unto Him, for there is as much Grace
in Him today as there ever was! So come, just as you are, and trust
Him–rely upon Him and you, too, shall be filled with good things!
The other half of the text, in its reference to sinners, I shall touch
upon very briefly–"The rich He has sent away empty." Oh, how many
sinners there are who think themselves rich! According to their own
valuation, they are rich in merit, but the Gospel has nothing to do
with merit! It only deals with misery and, therefore, it sends them
away empty because it does not conduct its business on the lines that
they approve. There are many sinners who are so rich in their own
estimation that they will not take Christ and His Cross for nothing.
David knew enough to say to the Lord, "With the froward You will show
Yourself froward. For You will save the afflicted people, but will
bring down high looks." If a man thinks that he is so good that he does
not need the Gospel, God regards him as so vile that the Gospel brings
no message of mercy to him until he humbles himself and repents. Jesus
said, "They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that
are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
Of all the sins that can happen to us, perhaps the deadliest of all is
that of not being conscious of having any sin. A good old Scotchman
used to say that there was no devil in the world so bad as having no
devil at all, and that not to be tempted was the worst sort of
temptation. I agree, and not to be conscious of any sin is, perhaps, to
be at the furthest point from God to which any human being can go, for,
the nearer we are to God, the more conscious we are of our own
shortcomings and the more earnestly do we struggle to overcome every
atom of sin which we discover to be within our souls.
"The rich" are those who are far from being hungry–they have enough,
and to spare. Instead of going down upon their knees, like beggars, to
ask mercy from God as a charity, they talk proudly about what they
deserve, what good deeds they have done and what they mean to do in the
future and, therefore, they thank God that they are not as other men
are.
Now, what becomes of these sinners who think themselves so rich that
they have no need of the good things with which God fills the hungry?
The text does not simply say that they are not fed. It does not say
that the door of Mercy is shut in their faces, but it says that they
are sent right away from Mercy's door because they have no right to
stand there! Why should a man be allowed to pray when he has nothing to
pray for? These rich people are sent away from Mercy's table because
they do not want to feed on Mercy's fare. Why should they sit there and
uselessly occupy places where hungry ones might sit and feast? So they
are sent away.
And, mark you, it is an awful thing to be sent away from the Gospel.
And it is a remarkable thing that the only people who are sent away
from the Gospel are those who consider themselves spiritually rich. You
who think yourselves so excellent, moral and amiable. You who cannot
see any fault in yourselves. You who think you are going to Heaven
because of your good deeds–the Gospel not only does not open its door
to you, but it even sends you away from its door! And how does it send
you away? The text says, "The rich he has sent away empty." Empty even
of what you once thought you had! I only hope that the gracious meaning
of the text may be fulfilled to some of you and that while listening to
the Gospel, you may be made to feel that, after all, you are not
spiritually rich, but that you are "wretched, and miserable, and poor,
and blind, and naked." It will be the best day's work that was ever
done for you if you are brought to realize your true position and come
to Christ confessing your abject poverty! For, as Joseph Hartwell
says–
"'Tis perfect poverty alone
That sets the soul at large.
While we can call one mite our own,
We have no full discharge."
We know what happened to the two debtors. [See sermon Number 3015,
Volume 52–THE TWO DEBTORS] "When they had nothing to pay, he frankly
forgave them both." But if they had had anything with which they could
pay, there would have been no forgiveness vouchsafed to them. Oh, for
such an emptying that you may afterwards be filled with good things!
But there are some who are sent away from hearing the Gospel with the
same conceit of fullness as they had before– and they are allowed to
remain empty without discovering their true condition. This is a
dreadful state for anyone to be in–to go on deceiving one's self and
thinking all is well for time and eternity–and only to find out one's
fatal mistake where the discovery will come too late! "Woe is me,"
cries the self-righteous professor, when he wakes up in the world to
come and finds that he is shut out of Heaven–"Woe is me that I should
ever have fancied that I had a sufficient store of good things for
eternity, yet now I have not so much as a drop of water to coat my
tongue and I am tormented in this
flame! Woe is me that I am banished forever from the Presence of God,
and from the glory of His power–'sent away
empty!'"
O my dear Hearers, may this text be fulfilled to you in a gracious
sense, and not in this sense of terrible justice! One of the two it
must be, for if you are "rich" as the text uses that term, you must be
"sent away empty" in one sense or the other. I pray that instead, you
may be filled with good things because the Spirit of the Lord has
caused you to hunger and thirst after righteousness!
II. I shall now briefly use the text WITH REFERENCE TO SAINTS.
Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, if your experience at all
tallies with mine, I think you will have found that the first clause of
this portion of Mary's song is most true to you in your spiritual
experiences. I find that whenever I am hungry–that is to say,
conscious of my utter unworthiness, weakness, insignificance–then it
is that Christ is most precious to me. The promises are peculiarly
sweet, the Covenant of Grace is a dainty morsel and the assembling of
myself with the Lord's people brings me to the King's banqueting table!
Is it so with you? When you are hungry, do you get filled with good
things? You remember when you were under the Lord's chastening hand and
much broken in spirit through bodily pain, how precious that promise
was, "You will make all his bed in his sickness"? You were laid aside
both from the means of Grace and the cares of business life–and your
soul had time for thought and meditation–and in its hunger, the Lord
was made very sweet to you. You remember when you were poor, some years
ago, when you had to live from hand to mouth, what blessed times you
had with your Lord and Master?
You are supposed to be better off now, but you are really worse off if
you do not have so much of Christ as you had then! You used to, then,
take the promise, "Bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure"
in a more literal fashion than you do now. A message which came to your
soul with quickening power was this, "Man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." You
were hungry then, so your Lord filled you with good things. Every now
and then the pangs of this hunger seize us–our spirits sink, our
confidence grows dim through the smoke of our sin and we get such a
sense of our sinnership as we have not had, perhaps for months. We feel
as if we ought never to have made a profession of religion. We are so
ashamed of ourselves that if we could ship with Jonah to go to
Tarshish, we would be glad to flee from the Presence of the Lord and
from the presence of His people, too! At such a time as that, if we
hear a Gospel sermon preached to the very chief of sinners, if the
preacher opens his mouth wide concerning Sovereign Grace, and forgiving
mercy, and the cleansing power of the precious blood of Jesus, oh, how
welcome the message is to us! We go to the sanctuary, not to criticize
the preacher, but to seek spiritual food for our souls–and if the
preacher does the work which God gave him to do, we are filled with
good things!
But, on the other hand, those who reckon themselves to be spiritually
rich are "sent away empty." Yes, "sent away empty" from a full Gospel!
How many people there are who have such peculiar tastes–they call them
such refined tastes–that there are only one or two ministers whom they
can hear in a radius of twenty miles! It is a sure sign of a bad
spiritual appetite when you must always have little dainties all to
yourself, or, in other words, when the old-fashioned Truths of God
become distasteful to your palate. There are two things that I always
like to see on the table–whether at breakfast, dinner, or tea–they
are never out of place. And those two things are bread and salt. And
the old-fashioned Gospel, like bread and salt on the table, ought to be
in every sermon! And those whose souls are in a right spiritual
condition will always want to hear it. There are some who crave fancy
cookery–this dish must be prepared after the Plymouth fashion and that
dish must be spiced according to some other mode. And if it is not made
according to the last new fashion in theology, there are some who
cannot feed thereon. Oh, to be brought down from such richness as that
and to be made spiritually poor! I am sure that our Bibles would be a
hundred times richer to us than they are now if we were a hundred times
poorer than we are–by which I mean that the Bible would be more truly
to us what it really is if we had a truer sense of what we really are.
As we went down in our own esteem, it would go up, and the Doctrines of
the Bible, the Promises of the Bible–yes, and even the Precepts of the
Bible–would possess a wonderful sweetness to us if we had a greater
spiritual hunger. Solomon said, "The full soul loathes honeycomb; but
to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet." There is such a thing
as getting full of our own graces, full of our own prayers, full of our
own sermons, full of our own good works, full of ourselves–and what
state can be worse than this? It is being blown out almost to bursting.
Then, Soul, empty yourself of yourself! And when you think of yourself
as you ought to think, you will abhor yourself. You will see no good in
yourself whatever, but you will see the black fingerprints of your
fallen nature even upon the bright alabaster works of Divine Grace
within your soul–and you will mourn over even your best things because
you have defiled them. When we become thus empty, God will fill us with
good things.
III. Now, lastly, I believe, Brothers and Sisters in Christ, that our
text is true WITH REFERENCE TO CHRISTIANS IN THEIR CAPACITY AS WORKERS
FOR CHRIST.
Give me hungry dogs to hunt with and give me really hungry workers to
work with for the Lord Jesus Christ! I mean, men and women who are
dissatisfied with the present spiritual condition of the nominal
Christian Church, dissatisfied with the progress that is being made,
earnestly longing for something better, determinately set on doing
something that shall be for God's Glory and the good of the
people–crying and sighing for the conversion of souls, not satisfied
with ones and twos, but wanting to see the Kingdom of Christ come in
all its power and the will of God done on earth as it is done in
Heaven! Give me men who will not slumber although the professing Church
of God slumbers! Men who cannot rest because sinners do not find rest
in Christ! Men who have no peace because Christ has not become the
sinner's peace! Give me such men, for they will be filled with good
things. A Church that longs for the blessing and will not be content
without it, will get it, but, on the other hand, the "rich" church
which says, "We have got the blessing. We are doing very well. We
cannot see anything in which we could improve–we preach the Gospel, we
have all the usual agencies, they are all conducted with propriety and
with a measure of success. Everything goes on exceedingly well. On the
whole, we, perhaps, are ahead of the rest of the churches–we ought to
let well enough alone and not try to get up excitement, or be seeking
after what is not attainable and attempting such great things that we
are pretty sure to fail in our attempts." Such "rich" people will be
"sent away empty."
Self-satisfaction is the death of progress. Contentment with worldly
goods is a blessing, but contentment in spiritual things is a curse and
a sin. What did Paul say? "Not as though I had already attained." Some
of us think, "If we could get as far as Paul did, we would be
satisfied." But Paul said, "Not as though I had already attained," and
then he added, "Forgetting those things which are behind"–why, some of
us wish we had such things to remember! But he wished to forget all
that he had done and to think only of what remained to be
done–"Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth
unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the
prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Oh, for this sacred
forgetfulness, by way of contentment, of all successes and achievements
so as still to be pressing forward! I would that every Believer had,
for the Glory of God, that spirit which is never satisfied, but always
cries for more! I would have the hearts of Christians insatiable as
death and the grave, for how can we stand that men should be forever
lost? How can we be quiet while Hell is being filled and souls are
perishing day and night? How can we be at ease while God is blasphemed,
while Christ is unknown in a great part of the world, and where He is
known, He is not loved? How can we be contented while the black Prince
of Hell seeks to steal the crown rights of King Jesus? Contented and
satisfied? Never! Until all over this, our highly-favored land, Christ
shall reign as Sovereign Lord! No, not then, nor till in every
continent and island the nations of the whole world shall have heard
the Gospel and vast multitudes have prostrated themselves at Messiah's
feet in loyal and loving adoration!
Up, saints of God, from your resting places of inglorious sloth and
begin to cry aloud, and spare not! Come to God's Throne with a sacred
spiritual hunger, for thus shall the Church of God be filled with good
things! May God, in His Infinite Mercy, bless this message and HIS
shall be the praise and Glory forever! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: LUKE 1:26-56.
Verses 26, 27. And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from
God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a
man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name
was Mary. It was by the temptation of an evil angel that man fell and
Paradise was lost. It was, therefore, most appropriate that good angels
should be sent to announce the coming of the Restorer, through whom
Paradise is regained. "Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of
Galilee, named Nazareth." Christ's coming to earth must be announced in
the lowliest of cities and He must be born in the small Judean town of
Bethlehem. But it was also decreed that He must die at Jerusalem–in
the metropolitan city. Mark the simplicity, and yet the sublimity of
the arrangement by which the meek and lowly Savior was to be born in
our nature. The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a virgin, whose name
was Mary.
28, 29. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, you that are
highly favored, the Lord is with you: blessed are you among women. And
when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind
what manner of salutation this was. The best of news may sometimes
cause the greatest trouble of mind and heart. If you feel troubled when
you receive a message from God, do not be astonished, as though some
strange thing had happened to you. See how Mary, who was told that she
was to receive the greatest honor and favor possible to a mortal being,
was troubled by the angel's speech, perplexed by his extraordinary
salutation.
30. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for you have found
favor with God. If we have found favor with God, there is no cause for
us to fear. If God is gracious to us, we are raised above all reason
for alarm. Some court the fickle favor of men but even if they gain it,
they may well fear that they may shortly lose it. But the angel said,
"Fear not, Mary: for you have found favor with God." And having found
that favor, she would never lose it.
31, 32. And, behold, you shall conceive in your womb, and bring forth a
Son, and shall call His name JESUS. He shall be great How true is that
prophecy–"He shall be great." Christ is the greatest of all great
ones. How great He is in our esteem! The tongues of men and of angels
could not tell all His greatness! "He shall be great."
32-37. And shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God
shall give unto Him the Throne of His father David: and He shall reign
over the house of Jacob forever, and of His Kingdom there shall be no
end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know
not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, the Holy Spirit
shall come upon you, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow you:
therefore also that holy Thing which shall be born of you shall be
called the Son of God. And, behold, your cousin Elizabeth, she has also
conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her,
who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible. It
seemed meet that the Gospel dispensation should thus begin with two
great wonders. The age of wonders has opened upon us now that the day
of Grace has dawned. Now shall the barren woman keep house and be the
joyful mother of children according to the ancient prophecy.
38. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me
according to your word. Oh, that we all had such a spirit of submission
as she had, that we might be willing to place ourselves absolutely at
God's disposal, for Him to do with us as He pleased!
38. And the angel of the Lord departed from her. His mission was
accomplished, so he might go back to the Glory from which he had come
at God's command.
39-43. And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country
with haste, into a city of Judah and entered into the house of
Zachariah, and saluted Elizabeth. And it came to pass, that when
Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she spoke out with a
loud voice, and said, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the
fruit of your womb. But why is this granted to me, that the mother of
my Lord should come to me The most gracious people are always the most
humble people. This question of Elizabeth, "Why is this granted to me?"
has been one that we have often put concerning ourselves. She was the
older woman of the two, but she felt herself highly honored by this
visit from her younger relative whom the Lord had so wondrously
favored. It is well when Christian people have a high regard for one
another and think less of themselves than they do of others whom God
has especially favored. It is one of the traits in the character of
God's true people that they have this mind in them–while they who
think themselves great prove that they are not the Lord's. If you think
much of yourself, He thinks little of you.
44, 45. For, lo, as soon as the voice of your salutation sounded in my
ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she that
believed. Not only Mary, who believed the angel's message, and was,
therefore, blessed, but everyone of us who believes in God may share in
this benediction!
45, 46. For there shall be a performance of those things which were
told her from the Lord. And Mary said. This humble Jewish maiden was a
woman of great natural ability. This song of hers is worthy to be sung
throughout all ages. It is true that it is mainly taken from the song
of Hannah and other songs of devout persons in former ages, but this
shows how Mary had studied the Word of God and laid it up in her heart.
The best preparation that you young people can have for the highest
honor and service in your future life is to bathe frequently in the
Word of God and to perfume your whole life by a familiar and accurate
acquaintance with Scripture Truths. Nothing else can make you so pure,
or so prepared for all service which God may yet have for you to
perform.
46. My soul does magnify the Lord. That is a good beginning. Mary does
not magnify herself in her Magnificat, she has nothing to say
concerning her own dignity, though she was of a noble lineage. But she
sang, "My soul does magnify the Lord."
47. And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. She needed a Savior as
much as we do, for she was a sinner like ourselves. And though she was
blessed among women, she here indicates that she owed all that
blessedness to the Grace of God, who had become a Savior to her, as
well as to us.
48. For He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden. The family
from which Mary sprang had become poor and she dwelt in lowliness at
Nazareth.
48, 49. For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me
blessed. For He that is mighty has done to me great things; and holy is
His name. She was indeed a blessed woman to have such holy thoughts,
such reverence for God, such a true idea of His might and majesty–and
of the marvelous favor which He had shown to her.
50. And His mercy is on them that fear Him from generation to
generation. Remember this, it was not mercy to Mary only–it was mercy
to us, and mercy to all who truly trust the Savior in whom she trusted!
51. He has showed strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in
the imagination of their hearts. Sometimes we read of God's "finger."
That refers to a part of His great power. At other times, we read of
His "hand." That is a more brilliant display of His power. But here, as
elsewhere, we read of His "arm." This is the majesty of His
Omnipotence. Pharaoh's magicians told the king that it was the finger
of God that worked the plagues of Egypt, but it was with His
outstretched arm that He divided the Red Sea and overthrew Pharaoh and
his hosts. Mary felt that in the work of salvation we see God's
arm–not merely His finger, or His hand.
52. He has put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of
low degree. This is what God is constantly doing–casting down the high
and mighty ones and lifting up the meek and lowly!
53. He has filled the hungry with good things; and the rich He has sent
away empty. They who are self-satisfied shall sooner or later be cast
out, but those who look to God, alone, and are hungry after Him, shall
be satisfied with His favor.
54-56. He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy.
As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever. And
Mary abode with her about three months and returned to her own house.