40 Minutes In The Old Testament - CHF Christmas Special 2017

Episode Date: December 22, 2017

It's Christmas! And that means 40 Minutes in the Old Testament and 30 Minutes in the New Testament are coming together again. Daniel, Chad, and Erick tackle the song of Mary recounted in the first chapter of Luke's Gospel. There is a lot going on in these 10 verses and the guys have a lot of fun taking it apart. Have a listen and Merry Christmas!

Come down to the manger, see the little stranger Wrapped in swaddling, below the beds of peace The wheels start turning, the torches start burning And behold, wise men journey from the east How a little baby boy Brings the people so much joy Son of a carpenter Mary carried the light

This must be Christmas, must be tonight welcome to the 2017 christmas special where we do the unthinkable and combined 40 minutes in the old testament with 30 minutes in the new testament or at least the cast of those two particular podcasts and that means i am joined by chad bird and eric sorenson how's it going boys Hey, it's good. I look really forward to this. This is, what, our second time, third time to do this? Yeah, second time.

Second time for Christmas, right? Yeah, second time for Christmas, and then we got to do it at the Here We Still Stand conference, and that was great. So, yeah, I love being able to do this, too. Anytime that we can show our listeners the specific connection between the Old and New Testaments is a good thing. Or as Chad likes to call it, the superior and inferior testament. Yes, correct. My favorite name for the New Testament is actually Inspired Commentary in the Old Testament. That's what I – yeah.

Yeah. I think you can credit St. Jerome or something like that for that title. Yeah, exactly. i mean we've got i think uh if not the perfect text for if we're talking about this uh this this connection between the testaments and it's certainly one of the top three uh it's the uh it's mary's song it's the uh the magnificat that we're going to be talking about and you i mean it's like it's in the new testament but if you were just like reading it out of context you'd be like oh is that like one of the psalms or is that uh is that something that's like

a maybe a poem and in samuel or something like that because that's that's the feel of it that's the language of it that's the cadence of it is it's very infused with this old testament quality yeah i mean it's a good perfect one and i feel like the gospels in general i mean the life of the life of christ is sort of this um this transitional period uh i mean i i realized the gospels are in the new testament but uh they're really they're like for in my mind like sort of like real real new testament kind of stuff is like the epistles and that and acts you know that kind of stuff uh the life of christ is like where this new covenant this new testament is being sort of wrought uh this is where you see the the the like the crossover happening uh the

transition happening and so there's lots of things uh i mean all the scriptures it's not like jesus quotes paul you know jesus quotes isaiah and david and uh jeremiah and moses you know that kind of stuff uh when people appear with him it's not it's not like you know it new testament guys it's elijah and moses that kind of thing and so you really do have this um the gospels are sort of and that's probably the reason why every time we do this uh and we decide that we're gonna like merge the two we always end up in the gospels yeah yeah that's a good point yeah i mean i even i've even said people like bring up the thief on the cross a lot uh when in terms of any number of things and we treat thief on the cross as an example for dang near everything it seems like

but uh but i they'll be like well like did they like you know maybe it's baptism and they'll be like oh he wasn't baptized and uh and i always say like yeah the thief on the cross is like the last dude getting in uh it's sort of in the old the old like as the new covenant is being wrought like he really is like the last old covenant dude uh believing in the promise of the messiah watching the fulfillment of everything prophesied happen right before his eyes uh that's that's how the gospels work yes i mean it's pretty clear especially when you you know look at um especially matthew's gospel where it seems like every chapter every passage he's going this is to fulfill this remember this is what was written here and this is why jesus did that

that so much of the gospels is being uh expressed to show jesus is the fulfillment of everything it's all about jesus and the rabbis the rabbis like to say uh to quote from a jewish verse that everything after moses was commentary i think there's a lot to that i mean we see the new testament according to the old testament we also see the later prophets quoting the earlier prophets and we see the earlier prophets quoting from joshua or we see allusions in joshua back to the torah so you have this you certainly have this kind of a layer after layer after layer build-up of the scriptures from uh from really the earliest chapters of genesis on everything is always harkening back to what came before it so there's this build-up over time and until we

In fact, when we get to the New Testament, it's already inherited this tradition of your scriptures building on those, echoing those. Then you get to Revelation, as Dan and I have talked about many times. You get to Revelation, and it's like there's not a verse in the whole book that in some way doesn't quote, reference, or allude to the whole Old Testament in some ways. So that's just the way, that's the structure of the Bible itself. And incidentally, it's the failure to recognize that when one tries to interpret Revelation that leads to so many crazy interpretations of the book of Revelation. If you don't have knowledge of the Old Testament reference that John is sort of getting to, boy, you're going to go awry real quick. Yeah, I'm reminded of that every Sunday because I drive right by Hagee's Church in San Antonio on the way to my church. It's like two miles down the road.

Do they still have to close the roads around and have security out in front and rework? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. There's like probably half a dozen or a dozen officers that are stationed around to control the traffic. Yeah, I've been by there a few times. I have always been amazed at like, you know, coming from where I am in New York City, that ain't happening for a church. that ain't happening but down there yeah we're close to the roads because it's church i come across that all the time even smaller churches they'll have three officers out there directing traffic letting people out of out of church yeah we have we have that uh i don't have haggie here

i have the uh president of the southern baptist convention right next to my church and like and i i if you're picking a place to go to lunch after church they'll be like hey let's go over there to fuzzies tacos you're like no chance dude that's right by that church like there's gonna be chaos out there there are cops and helicopters it's uh you know you got the u.s military out there it's uh they don't actually have that but uh yeah it's it's nuts oh and i don't know how we got on that i guess it's all because of a bad interpretation of revelation this is going that must be what it is yeah well circling back to the magnificat uh what tell you what why don't i it's real short actually uh it's only about 10 verses so i'm going to read it

and uh then we'll go back and kind of set the context uh the the immediate context as well as kind of the background uh to to the to this uh this song or this hymn or this canticle or whatever you want to call it and then we'll we'll talk about the particulars uh in the uh in the song itself. So, this is Mary, and this is from Luke chapter 1, beginning here at verse 46, and I'll read the translation that I have here. My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. For he has had regard for the humble state of his servant. For behold, from this time on, all generations will call me blessed. for the mighty one has done great things for me and holy is his name and his mercy is upon

generation after generation toward those who fear him he has done mighty deeds with his arm he has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart he has brought down rulers from their thrones and has exalted those who were humble he has filled the hungry with good things and sent away the rich empty-handed. He has given help to Israel, his servant, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his offspring forever. So that is the Magnificat. That is Mary's song. But before we get to the immediate context, uh let me mention a couple things about uh the old testament context of of this or the background the poetic background of it anyway because it's this is one of those this is one of those parts

of the new testament i know you can't really understand the whole truth of the new testament without the without the old testament but there's some there's some parts of it that are almost impossible to to grasp if you don't realize the uh the theological the historical even some sometimes the linguistic background of of the new testament uh section and this is the magnificent is a perfect example of that so there's there's two things i guess i mean there's a lot of a lot of things we can point out in the details but there's two big things i think that we should keep in mind about this song, the influences on this song. And the first is that there's a whole lot of phrases and even whole verses in this, which are almost lifted

from an earlier song. This is the song of Hannah that she sings in the opening of 1 Samuel, when she's giving thanks to God for the birth of her son, the gift of her son Samuel. So this is an Old Testament mother who is given the gift of a child, of a son, and she sings this song to the Lord in response to his work for her. And she, too, talks about this theme of reversal, about God bringing down the high and lifting up the low and feeding the hungry and sending the rich empty handed away. So she's very heavily accenting the same kind of reversal themes that Mary does. So if you're going to study the Magnificat, if you're going to maybe go over it in a Bible class or something like that, you definitely want to first take a look at Hannah's song alongside Mary's song and see how these two echo each other. And then the second background of this is basically the book of Psalms, because what we see, the structure that's in Mary's song, the kind of parallelisms that she uses is taken basically from the book of Psalms.

And that's no surprise. We don't know how old Mary was. Let's say she was, I don't know, 16. Well, she's been singing and hearing the Psalms for 16 years of her life. This was the Old Testament hymnal. So she probably knew many, if not most of the Psalms by heart, as did most of the Israelites. So this would have formed part of the kind of the song repertoire, if you will, of Mary. And so when she's writing her own song, she's going to draw from that which she already knows, like we all do.

So she's pulling from Hannah's song. She's also pulling from the whole language and structure of the book of Psalms itself. So putting Mary's song alongside those other two gives you kind of the background as to why it's set up the way it is. I think just maybe just that accent, what you're saying is it's so important for us to recognize the very Jewishness of Mary. We sometimes, because of our art and because of what we've sort of built up around tradition in the church, maybe are prone to seeing Mary in a certain more westernized light or more Anglo-European light. And the reality is she is utterly Jewish, and this song is great evidence of that. Our art, whatever the art comes from, whether it's from Europe or from America, that the artist typically, of course, is going to portray the characters in a way that reflects his or her own culture. So, I mean, we're used to seeing Mary on bulletin covers and whatnot as a white American teenager.

So, yeah, I mean, that's that's a great point to make, not just about Mary, but, you know, about so much in the New Testament. Hey, listen, Mary is like the all American girl next door. don't don't tread tread lightly guys that's what that's what's going on there i don't want to offend anybody yeah oh so yeah i mean that's a great that's a great accent to to put on this so that's the old testament background we'll probably be alluding to some more of that as we go along but let's get right to the story itself as i mean where does this come from what what's the context in which mary says this word or sings the song well this is after the angel has appeared to her and uh and we have you know the exchange between the angel and mary where he

tells her that she's going to be the the mother of the son of god and she responds you know i i am the lord's servant let it be to me according to according to your word so that happens and then she goes to visit her relative Elizabeth in the hill country. And she goes into the house to greet Elizabeth. And Elizabeth, as we know by this time in the story, Elizabeth herself is pregnant. So we have two pregnant women coming together. And as I've thought for some time, this greeting of pregnant Mary, young pregnant Mary, and old pregnant Elizabeth is like the coming together of the Old and the New Testament. An elderly pregnant woman who is bearing a son. You don't get much more Old Testament than that, where you have an elderly woman who's pregnant with a

promised son. So Elizabeth is like the Sarah of the New Testament. So she comes together with this young virgin who's pregnant, Mary, and it's like the two Testaments are coming together. You have Elizabeth, greeting Mary. You have John the Baptist in the womb who's going to leap with joy when he is now in the presence of the promised seed of the Christ who's in the womb of Mary. So this is really a fantastic coming together of the old and the new in this transition that's taking place. So Mary comes in, greets everyone. The baby in her womb leaps for joy. Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit, cries out, blessed among women are you.

and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how has it happened to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me, Elizabeth says. For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. And then Elizabeth goes on. Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord. So this is all Elizabeth's response. You have a nonverbal response to John the Baptist. Of course, he can't speak.

He's still a baby, but he he still responds. He leaps for joy in the womb of his mother. And then Elizabeth responds verbally by saying how blessed Mary is. She believed the word of God and she is now the mother of Elizabeth's Lord. So this is this is what Elizabeth says. And then immediately after that is when we have the song of Mary. so we have the speech of elizabeth followed by the song of mary so this is this is a young virgin pregnant israelite who is now really the embodiment of the people of israel in many ways mary is kind of like abraham abraham was the chosen one through whom the lord would bring blessings to all the nations and now and in some ways he was i mean he was like

all of israel were was inside him just waiting to come out and it's kind of like that with mary now she is the the one individual through whom whom god chose and through whom he's going to bring blessings to the whole world because literally inside her is the one who is going to be the new israel and who's going to bring all the blessings of god to to israel so you have the singular focus on a singular individual and what mary now sings is really the voice of israel singing this is she is the one who is saying to the world that what god promised he is now bringing to fulfillment all the promises he made to abraham and the patriarchs are now in my womb so all god's promises are yes in christ the very christ that is now inside me waiting to be born this let's

get to the uh let's get to the actual actual poem or hymn itself uh this is this is the way she starts out my soul exalts the lord and my spirit has rejoiced in god my savior for he is regarded the humble estate of his servant for behold from this time on all generations will count me or call me blessed for the mighty one has done great things for me i have to say this uh for those of you who uh who like to to read luther uh eric and i were talking about this before we we came on the air i cannot recommend uh anything better to read on the magnificat than luther's commentary on the magnificat if you if you happen to have luther's works it's in volume 21 you might be able to find it online i i don't know uh but this is this is

some of luther's uh best insightful interpretive work it's and it's relatively short it's not like genesis commentary which is like eight eight volumes long this is this is relatively short uh but this is this is a fantastic uh insightful work by by luther and i want to quote a couple things from him, but one of the things that he points out early on about these opening verses is that what Mary is rejoicing in, what she is magnifying, is God himself. This is from verse 47. She says, my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. One of the points Luther makes is that what we are prone to do is to rejoice in the things that God does for us, the things that God gives to us, and not so much in the giver himself, not so much in God himself.

So, I mean, we're always thankful when we get good stuff, right? And everybody wants to go to heaven and everybody wants to have all the wonderful blessings that are in this life, but we don't always, in fact, most of the time we don't, give thanks to the giver himself. So Mary, right from the start, says she's rejoiced in God, her Savior. So the focus is on him and who he is and his fulfillment of his promises, his giving of all that is necessary for us and for our salvation. So her spirit rejoices in god her savior the one who saves the one who who fulfills everything that he's promised abraham into his to his offspring he's also had regard or looked upon the humble estate of his of his bond servant this becomes uh i'll bring it out here although

it's made explicit later in the song this becomes a major theme of of the rest of what mary says is that God looks down upon the humble estate of Mary. So Mary's not boasting about her humility. Oh yeah, God's noticed me because I'm so humble. That's not the point. God is looking down upon her. He's looking down to where she is in her lowliness, in her simplicity, in her poverty,

in this humble estate of a servant. He's looking down to her because that's exactly the kind of God that he is. So I do want to let me let me read from read from the commentary of Luther that I was talking about here, because this is fantastic. This is the short section here. He says, just as God in the beginning of creation made the world out of nothing. Whence he is called the creator and the almighty. So his manner of working continues unchanged. even now into the end of the world all his works are such that out of that which is nothing worthless despised wretched and dead he makes that which is something precious honorable blessed and

living on the other hand whatever is something precious honorable blessed and living he makes to be nothing worthless despised wretched and dying so what god does is the very opposite of what we'd expect so he looks down into humility he looks down into lowliness he looks down into that which is nothing and it's precisely there that he does the kind of work that that he does Yeah, I mean, we are very much prone, and I've heard this said like a million times, you know, God used Mary because of her, essentially because of her piety, right? Her humility, her willingness, her faithfulness, and that's not to take anything away from this radical statement that she makes when she hears the proclamation that she says, you know, she does say, let it be done to me as you have said. I mean, that's worth noticing, and it certainly is an admirable statement of faith. However, like, Mary's a pretty good theologian in her own right, and when she's singing this song, she isn't saying, like, God has looked at how humble I am and how pious I am.

no like that's not that's not what that's not what humble estate means what humble estate means is god has looked at down at the nothingness that i am and has done great things and and yes like when we when she says like from now on all generations will call me blessed this is not the same thing as from now on all generations will call me worthy that's that's not what that means It's like what – like they should – we should call her blessed but not blessed like, hey, she really – like God really picked a good one. Blessed in the sense that I am nothing and he has chosen to make everything from nothing. He has blessed that. There's a big difference between being blessed and being worthy.

It's the difference between someone giving me a gift and me going to work and earning it. Yeah, and I think the key to that understanding of this part of the story really can be found in the way that Mary is approached by the angel. Because he says to her, a few verses before this, greetings, O favored one. I mean, O graced one. I mean, this the whole thing is still it's starting by God's grace, not because he looked down, you know, the corridors of time and looked for a worthy enough woman in the same way that he chose Abraham based on his grace, not because Abraham said something so impressive. He chooses Mary. Yeah. Yeah. So this becomes a continuance of exactly how God always worked, as well as a perpetuation then of how he continues to work. Right. I guarantee you that wherever people are naturally prone to look for the work of God is the very last place that they should be looking. Because we are by nature always looking to to power and to glory and to wealth and to fame as is if that is, you know, that's going to be where God is going to be working, because that's where that's the awesome place.

Right. Look up high. Right. But God does the exact opposite. He looks down to that which is not famous, which, in fact, sometimes is infamous, which is low, which is despised. Whatever the world would walk right by and pay no attention to is exactly where God is going to be doing his greatest work. You know, I'm reading a book right now by a guy named Chad Bird that's all about this theme. Because your God is too glorious, but has a lot to say about this. This is quite fitting, Mr. Bird. I've heard of him. I'd be careful reading this stuff.

Yeah, I mean, that book is really drawing from the whole Old Testament because that sets the stage. Like you said earlier, Abraham had nothing to offer God. It wasn't like he was some famous saint that God chose to be the one that received the promises. He was raised in a polytheistic household. It's like most of the people in his culture were. And it wasn't like the Messiah would have come sooner

if someone had been as pious and humble as Mary, but god had to wait until she was born before he had someone worthy enough no it's not like that at all uh god chose her because that's the way that he works he chooses that which is low he chooses that which is which is which is in a humble uh nothing estate because that's where he likes to work that's why he didn't choose the daughter of the high priest or princess that's why christ wasn't born in jerusalem that's why he continues to hide in plain sight in those places where most of us don't expect them to be working. One note about that real quick is just

because I think people are prone to going, okay, then I need to make myself more low because we always want some skin in the game, right? Like we always want to be like, this is my contribution. I humbled myself enough. And in fact, no, it's like you are humble. Like you are a sinner already. So you are of low estate, whether you recognize it or not.

and that's how god works it's not based on you making yourself that way yeah if only i'll sell everything that i have and go live on the street then i'll be perfect material for god to use right right doesn't work that way yeah i've always i've always thought it was interesting it's always bothered me uh whenever you watch any any you know movie or uh or drama or even even in our art uh but specifically in film whenever you have you know nativity depictions uh or movies about the life of christ i'm always like weirded out that mary is always the best looking girl in town yeah it's like a beauty queen right yeah it's so weird and i've always bothered me because i'm like i don't think that's probably how it was like there's way too much of

like a cinderella aspect of it like everyone's mistreating her but she's obviously prettier than all of them everybody knows that mary was blonde and blue eye yeah i just i don't i'm like she probably like she probably liked jesus was like as average as it gets as regular of a person as you could possibly find like there was probably nothing like well yeah he would choose her i mean she's she's humble but she's gorgeous yeah she could have been ugly you know probably probably It could have been an extremely ugly girl. But that's not the way that we like to, so could Jesus have been. That's just not the way that we like to think of them, right?

No. They have to be perfect. And that's another part of the whole theology of glory, right? Something has to look fantastic if God is actually going to use that person. And if you look at pictures of the saints, a lot of them are, they're not head turners. so that's maybe mary was the same way so anyway uh uh god has looked with uh with grace with mercy he's regarded this humble estate of his servant of his uh of his female servant and uh because of god's work for her and in her and to her from from that time forth all

generation shall shall call her shall call her her blood because the mighty one has done great things for me which could also be translated to me and holy is his name so well let's let's go on and talk about uh some of these some of these other verses so it goes on this i'm now verse 50 she says and his mercy is upon generation after generation toward those who fear him now this is a very much of an Old Testament idea, this idea of fearing God. I mean, of course, it's brought up in the New Testament as well, but the fear of God runs through the whole Old Testament. And fear in the Old Testament can certainly have the idea of fright, which is usually what we think of when we think of fear or a phobia, you're afraid of something. But fear

in the Old Testament has a much, much broader meaning. In fact, even at the time that the New Testament was written, there were Gentiles who would attend synagogue, participate in the worship. They didn't completely become Jewish like the men wouldn't be circumcised, but they would partake in the worship life of the synagogue. And these people were called the God-fearers. That was the name for them. So God-fearer was, to fear God or to be a God-fearer was basically to say that you're a believer. So there's no real aspect of being afraid that's part of this. I mean, maybe a minor bit, but most of what it meant to fear God was to stand in relation to him as one who acknowledges him as God,

as one who believes in him as one who understands that we are his servants we are his children we are those who stand in relation to him as a as a as a as a benefactor he's the one who gifts us who gives to us so when she says his mercy is upon generation after generation toward those who fear him she's not saying that you know everybody who's scared to death of god is going to be blessed no she's saying whoever fears slash believes slash reverences him they are the ones upon whom his mercy is showered from generation to degeneration yeah i mean if you're a believer in god that that necessitates that you recognize that who he is and uh that that is to recognize who he is is to recognize his holiness and his greatness and relation to your humble estate in

in relation to like what you are i'll give you like a very inadequate example that falls very short but it's fresh in my mind at the at the at the here we still stand conference uh i i had to get up and talk and i got up and talked and uh and there are certain people that i'm not like super in awe of i mean i i talk to chad all the time so as great as chad is you know it was it's not it's not super nerve-wracking having to do things with him i'm used to it but i got up and And as I look up, right dead center in the middle of this crowded room, I see Stephen Paulson sitting just dead center in this room, which I haven't been nervous talking in public in a very long time.

I do it every week. I'm not nervous about getting up and talking in front of people. And suddenly I was flooded with all this fear. And not because I'm afraid of him. because but because it's somebody that i've read a lot of it's someone i respect it's someone that i esteem as much greater than i in a theological sense he's my superior uh and you're like oh no like i'm in i'm in the i'm in the presence of something greater than me you have to amplify that a an innumerable amount of times for the same thing but it it illustrates the point that

i'm not afraid of that man but i am at that point recognizing that there's that we are not exactly the same when it comes when it comes to what i'm about to do uh and and i think that that's that's how it is is that to believe in god and to just to stand before him is to recognize that this is this is the this is someone who is infinitely greater than yourself and that doesn't mean that i need to stand there and be petrified of him but it does mean that i'm going to be in like somewhat of all yeah yeah i think that's a great point yeah i mean uh you could use the analogy that sometimes the scriptures use of a you know a parent to a child it's kind of the same you know we we fear god as a child fears his parent that is not afraid but it is this idea of looking up

to someone who's greater than greater than us all right so uh just to make sure we we we finish everything that's here let me let me read on mary next says god has done mighty things with his arm and uh this is so you can kind of put a colon if you're kind of picturing this god has done mighty things with his arm and then put a colon because we're about to have a list of the things that he's done with his arm and before we get to the list this is exodus language because the arm of the lord is a is a key image that you use in uh that's used in exodus to describe how god saves his people so the very word arm that is part of this poem brings in this whole story of the exodus here so back to what mary says here's what he's done with his with

his might with his arm he has scattered those who were proud in the imaginations of their heart he's brought down rulers from their thrones he's exalted those who were humble he's filled the hungry with good things and he sent the rich away empty-handed and he's given help to israel and remembrance of his mercy so those are the those are the things that god has done with his with his arm now think about that list this is exactly what we've been talking about the last few minutes about this reversal that takes place so the rulers who are the high ones they're brought they are dethroned they are brought low so the powerful people of this time you know the herods the political leaders the religious leaders they're going to be brought down but then god

is the exact opposite those who are low they are lifted up they are exalted the greatest person living at this time is the one who's singing this song. And nobody knew who she was outside of a very small circle of family and friends. Nobody knew who Mary was. And yet she bore within her God. So she was by far the greatest person to live on earth at that time. And yet hardly anybody knows who she is. And to just add to that, that lowliness in many ways seems to follow her for many of her days after this she still is throughout her life throughout jesus's life he's not recognized for being great but it seems to be there's implications that people think that she in fact was sleeping around i mean so she's she's made low by others for much of her life

it seems yeah so it's not just uh entertainer she was like this but you're right for the rest of her life but yeah and yet now uh everybody knows who mary is right so someone that hardly anybody knew is now known around the world so this is this idea of the reversal that god god brings about and he also to a different image that she uses as it he's he fills the hungry with good things but he sends the rich empty away and then she wraps it up by saying he's given help to Israel, his servant, in remembrance of his mercy. So I can't accent enough what a pervasive biblical theme this is, where God does the exact opposite of what we would expect him to do. And it's not just a biblical thing, but this is exactly the way that God

continues to work in our lives. Chances are, I'm sure there are exceptions to this, but chances are, whatever time in your own life you thought that God was most absent and doing the least amount of work in your life was probably the time when he was closest in doing the most amount of work in your life. That tends to be the way that God works. So you thought that God had abandoned you and chances are that was when he was as close as a marrow in your bones. And could be that those times when you thought that everything was just fantastic and that God was doing great and mighty things in your life well maybe he wasn't because this is the way that god is always changing things around he's bringing the high low he's bringing the low high he's feeding the hungry and he's

sending the rich empty away so we can't in other words simply rely on what we think or feel or experience where you know it seems like god is close or it seems like god is absent because that our feelings aren't reliable. Instead, we have to rely on where God promises to be and how He promises to be at work in our lives and in the life of the church. Yeah, I mean, how huge is this verse right here, Chad? I mean, we've talked about this a number of times, but she wraps this up with something that is super Old Testament, and we've probably mentioned this 25 times in 40 minutes of the Old Testament, but this line, in remembrance

of his mercy, and how when God remembers, this is like a verb here, right? When God remembers, something happens. When he remembers, he does.

And he remembers his mercy. And this is what all of this is. I mean, the Incarnation while is fueled by the love of god as we see in john 3 16 that god still loved the world that he gave this is the motivation behind the incarnation he also does this in remembrance that of his own mercy that that mercy is a primary attribute of god and he and he this isn't like he forgot it but this

this term remembrance instead is uh i am i am calling out i'm calling forth my mercy and that's And that's what the catalyst for all of this. And it's all in fulfillment of, as she wraps it up, as he spoke to Abraham, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever. So just the promises that God made to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the families that came after them, all of these promises are now yes in the one that is inside Mary. because that is how God has remembered to show mercy, how he's active in showing mercy to Israel and from Israel to the entire world. Yeah, and then as he says, as Paul will later say, lest you think like, well, I'm not an offspring of Abraham,

Paul later will say, no, all who believe in that promise are offspring of Abraham. That promise is for all who have believed and are trusting in the promises made to to uh to abraham and so what mary says here the offspring of abraham that is not just jews uh that is all who would trust in that promise so me and you and everyone else yeah in fact paul refers to the promise made to abraham in the old testament as the gospel he actually gives it that title the good news preached to abraham so there is this line in and throughout the entire scriptures connected with this Abrahamic promise and it's as if when you

hear in remembrance of his mercy it's in remembrance of the covenant I made with Abraham to do this Amen and that's it guys we are out of time that's all good stuff we probably could have spent

180 minutes on that but no one wants to listen to us for that long I hope everyone listening to this has a very blessed and Merry Christmas Chad, Eric, thanks for hanging out, Merry Christmas to both of you

you bet, thanks, thanks guys, Merry Christmas to you and to everybody else out there Merry Christmas all I heard the bells on Christmas Day their old familiar carols

play oh wild and sweet The words repeat Of peace on earth And goodwill to men I thought how as the day had come The belfries of all Christian dawn

And rolled along the unbroken song Of peace on earth and goodwill to men In despair I bowed my head There is no peace on earth, I said For hate is strong and marks the sun Of peace on earth and good will to men Then peal the bells more loud and deep God is not dead, nor doth he sleep

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail With peace on earth and goodwill to men Till ringing, singing on its way The world revolved from night to day A voice, a chime, a chant sublime Of peace on earth, goodwill to men