#071 “Magnificat: The Melody of Advent Hope” (Luke 1:46-47)

A teenage girl’s song breaks 400 years of silence—and suddenly, hope has a melody again.

In this week’s episode, Kate steps into Luke 1:46–47 to hear Mary’s Magnificat not as a sentimental lullaby, but as Scripture set to praise. You’ll uncover the story behind the song: the world Mary lived in, the centuries of waiting that shaped her faith, and the Word that finally took on flesh.

You’ll learn how to: Understand the weight of Advent waiting so you can feel the brilliance of God’s timing, Recognize how God ripens desperation before He speaks redemption, Train your faith like Mary’s—rooted in Scripture, ready to rejoice even in scarcity, Turn Advent into a daily posture of hope, humility, and holy anticipation.

If your life feels noisy or your hope feels thin, this episode will help you find a steady center in the good news of Jesus. Come hear why hope sings loudest when the night is darkest—and how you, too, can join the melody of Advent faith.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Opening And Luke 1 Read-Aloud
• 6:11 Why Luke Grounds Faith In History
• 7:33 From Eden To Exile: The Long Promise
• 10:50 The 400 Years Of Silence Introduced
• 13:20 Persian And Greek Eras Summarized
• 16:36 Egyptian And Syrian Pressures On Faith
• 19:14 Maccabean Revolt And Hanukkah
• 22:20 Rome Rises And Herod’s Reign
• 25:36 Five Jewish Parties And Their Influence
• 29:53 The Stage Set For Messiah
• 31:20 Gabriel, Mary, And A Kingdom Without End
• 35:40 Mary Visits Elizabeth: Confirmations
• 39:30 Faith Under Fire And How It Grows
• 42:00 Community Invitation: Abidable Plus
• 44:10 The Magnificat: Words From The Word
• 49:20 David’s Promise And Mary’s Line
• 53:30 God My Savior: Prophets To Nativity
• 56:40 Personal Trials And Practicing Resilience
• 1:01:40 Then And Now: Parties, Power, And Hope

Transcript

Kate: 0:00

Hey guys, this is Kate from Abidible.com, and you're listening to the Abidible Podcast. I'm just a regular wife and mom who's had my life transformed by learning to study the Bible on my own. If I can, you can. On this show, I help you know and love God more by abiding in Him through His Word, yourself. In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah of the division of Abijah, and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. Now, while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by Lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John, and you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb, and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready for the Lord a people prepared. And Zechariah said to the angel, How shall I know this? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years. And the angel answered him, I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time. And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple. And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them. And they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple, and he kept making signs to them and remained mute. And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home. After these days, his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me to take away my reproach among the people. In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you. But she was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. And Mary said to the angel, How will this be since I am a virgin? And the angel answered her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren, for nothing will be impossible with God. And Mary said, Behold, I am the servant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her. In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord. And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. This passage started out in the days of Herod, King of Judea. As we established last week, Luke is the author of our book. He is now introducing us to a cast of characters as he lays the foundation for the orderly account of the gospel story. We've got Herod, Zechariah, Elizabeth, God, soon to be born John, the angel Gabriel, Joseph, Mary, and soon to be born Jesus. Luke was not only a doctor, but a historian. He describes to us the source materials used to write his gospel, written accounts of the life of Christ, and oral reports by those who were eyewitnesses. He doesn't just narrate the story of the life of Jesus to us in a bubble, he connects it to a time period, to real people, and to specific geographical locations. To skip over those would be to do ourselves a great disservice. So, in true Kate slash abidable form, we are going to go full nerd again today to gather this information. That way, by the time we take our deeper look at verses 46 and 47 about magnifying and rejoicing in the Lord, a very important historical scene will have already been set. But real quick, if you're a big fan of the Abidible Podcast, please check out the link in the show description to learn more about partnering with us. So let's remind ourselves of where this cast of characters fits into the greater narrative of God's story. God created all things and made man in his own image as the crescendo of that creation. God blessed them and gave them a garden that was like paradise and set them as stewards over all of creation. He also gave them free will, forbidding them just one thing, to never eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But they ate anyway. When they did, the consequences were disastrous. Their perfect fellowship with God was broken, mankind fell, every kind of sin, suffering, and pain entered the world, and so did physical and spiritual death for the human race. But Adam and Eve's sin also set in motion a promise. To the serpent who had tempted Eve and caused both Adam and Eve to fall, God said, I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. And as Adam and Eve departed from the garden forever, the story of God's rescue mission for all mankind began. The entirety of the Old Testament follows this journey. We see a strikingly similar cycle repeat itself. God makes a promise and calls his people to covenant faithfulness. They break the covenant and face profound suffering. God does something to remind them of who he is, they repent, God forgives, and the relationship is renewed for a time until the people break away again. Throughout this cycle, God remains faithful to his people even though they are overwhelmingly, wickedly unfaithful to him. Despite ridiculously repetitive warnings, any parents out there know that feeling, the people ultimately push God too far in judgment falls. Not only are they conquered and carried off to faraway lands, but their temple is destroyed in 586 BC. Prior to its destruction, we read something devastating in Ezekiel 10 that God's glory, his very presence, departs the temple. But God doesn't leave them forever. He never forgets his promises, and as always, he preserves a remnant even in exile. In the second temple period, God moves heaven and earth to make a way for his people to rebuild the temple so he can once again dwell in their midst. And it is rebuilt, but it isn't long before the people are back to their old ways. The Old Testament ends in Malachi with a promise that God will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children. Does this sound familiar? And the hearts of children to their fathers, meaning they will return to the law of Moses, remembering all the promises of God. And then God goes silent. We can flip from Malachi to Matthew in mere seconds, but that's not how it happened for God's people. To understand the desperation of the situation Mary and her people were in, we need to take time to research the historical context. I'm going to depend heavily on the believer's Bible commentary for this next section describing the setting and historical happenings of the intertestamental period leading up to God's announcement through Gabriel to Mary. Bible nerd glasses on. So, when God delivered his final message through Malachi, he paused in his communications through man for nearly 400 years. For quick context to help us try and grasp a time span of 400 years, let's take a look at what was happening about 400 years ago from right now. The English, Dutch, and Spanish were colonizing the Americas. The Ottoman Empire, though declining, was still a major world power. The British East India Company was expanding its influence. Under King Louis XIII, France was coming out of the French wars of religion, and the Holy Roman Empire was in the midst of the 30 Years' War. Sound like a long time ago? It was. A lot happens in 400 years. So back to the intertestamental period, though I want you to be thinking about times when you felt God was silent in your life, perhaps that's even right now, God had paused his revelation for 400 years. Quote, a deafening silence in divine revelation resulted. No doubt the silence of God gave rise to many theories about his nature. Some might have demanded that he act as he had always acted. Others might have surmised that man was too sinful to hear from God. Still, others might have suggested, and quite strongly so, that man's lack of faith was the cause of God's silence and apparent inactivity. None of these theories would have taken into account the omniscience and sovereignty of Jehovah God. His determined covenantal love, Hebrew has said, had already set its course. This long silence was part of his eternal plan. He had spoken on numerous occasions and through various people, but he was now preparing to speak his greatest and most powerful capital W word to mankind, Jesus. A pause, a long and distinct pause, would add emphasis to that monumental revelation. A brief review of the way God ministered to man during the years chronicled in the Old Testament is very instructive. A consistent pattern of action emerges from the accounts recorded through the Holy Spirit's inspiration. Two things stand out. First, God generally designed or allowed a desperate situation to arise before presenting his message or providing his deliverance. Secondly, he always called upon a faithful servant to stand in the gap, making intercession to him on behalf of the people, and to be his agent through whom he performed his work. We see this with Noah and Abraham, with Joseph and Moses, with the judges, and with Esther and Nehemiah, and on and on. In each of these examples and others like them, the efforts of man had to be frustrated before divine intervention ensued. The recorded history of the intertestamental period points to a similar experience. It seems that God allowed his people to exhaust their resources and to be reduced to another desperate situation before he brought to the scene his most faithful and only perfect servant, his son Jesus Christ. So let's take a deeper look at what was happening in this region during the 400 years of silence. Were the people of God in despair? Were they desperate for deliverance? Let's see what had happened in the 400 years leading up to our introduction to this cast of characters, Zechariah, Elizabeth, and John, as well as Joseph, Mary, and Jesus. Continuing with the Believers Bible commentary, which is an amazing resource, and I will link it in the episode description. Throughout this 400-year span of time, there were no prophets and no inspired writers of divine revelation. Six historical divisions are observable during these 400 years, and we're going to talk about them. If you love taking notes, this is a great time to grab a paper and pen. Here are the six time periods. The Persian era, which actually dates all the way back to 536 BC, but it coincides with the intertestamental period from 397 to 336 BC. That's the first one. Then the Greek era from 336 to 323 BC. Next, the Egyptian era from 323 to 198 BC. Then the Syrian era from 198 to 165 BC. Next the Maccabean era from 165 to 63 BC. And finally, do you know what it is? The Roman era from 63 BC on. For each of these periods God's people endured, I want to provide you with a brief historical situation and the religious ramifications and developments from that period. I don't know about you, but I had always just sort of thought things were quiet for 400 years. God was silent, but I didn't really understand that anything of historical or religious significance was happening. In reality, it had been 400 crazy years of turmoil. By taking the time to understand these six eras during the 400 years leading up to the birth of Christ, we're going to comprehend more comprehensively that God's people were desperately waiting and waiting and waiting for deliverance. To see the significance of Gabriel's announcement to John and Jesus' parents, we need to know how bad things had really gotten. To appreciate Mary's magnifying soul and rejoicing spirit, we need to feel a portion of what she and her people had been feeling for 400 years. And really, not just for 400 years. Mankind had been groaning since the garden. Getting this matters deeply to our study this Advent. Advent is about reflecting and remembering and repenting and anticipating. We use this season to prepare our hearts as we wait on the one who came and who will come again. Your mind is about to be blown, so lean in and get a little uncomfortable with stretching yourself as we take a more academic look at this time period. We'll start with the Persian era from 397 to 336 BC. As far back as 536 BC, the Persians, modern-day Iran, were the dominating power in the Middle East. God had used the Persians to actually deliver the Jews from the Babylonian captivity. Persia's attitude toward the Jewish remnant was mostly tolerant until some political rivalries arose, and Persia partially destroyed Jerusalem. Religiously, God had used the Babylonian captivity to purge idolatry from his people. And it was during this time that many returned to Jerusalem with renewed reverence for God and the law of Moses. This is when we see the rise of the synagogue and of scribes for preserving and interpreting scriptures in the synagogue. During the Greek era, in 336 to 323 BC, Alexander the Great conquered the region, including the land of the Jews. Alexander's goal was a unified empire, all under the same language, custom, religion, and civilization. This process was called Hellenization. Jews were pushed to assimilate, and this caused deep and bitter struggle. Some did assimilate, but faithful Jews staunchly resisted the pagan polytheism of the Greeks. Next is the Egyptian era from 323 to 198 BC. The Greek Empire was divided into four segments under four generals, interestingly, as prophesied by Daniel in chapter 8. Ptolemy Soder, the first of the Ptolemaic dynasty, received Egypt and soon dominated nearby Israel. He dealt severely with the Jews at first, but toward the end of his reign and into the rule of his successor, the Jews were treated more favorably. The Jews prospered until near the end of the Ptolemaic dynasty when conflicts between Egypt and Syria escalated. Israel was caught in the middle. When the Syrians defeated Egypt, Judea was annexed to Syria. This period was dangerous for the Jewish faith. Tolerance and the peaceful coexistence of Judaism and Hellenism led to a gradual infiltration of Greek influence and way of life. Hellenism's emphasis on beauty, shape, and movement encouraged Jews to neglect Jewish religious rites, which were aesthetically unappealing. Thus, worship was influenced to become more external than internal, a notion that had a lasting impact on Judaism. Two religious parties emerged, the Hellenizing Party, which was pro-Syrian, and the Orthodox Jews, in particular the Hasidim, or pious ones, predecessors of the Pharisees. A struggle for power between these two groups resulted in a polarization of the Jews, and it was the same conflict that brought about the attack of Antiochus Epiphanes. It was the same conflict that brought about the attack of Antiochus Epiphanes in 168 BC, which is where we go next, to the Syrian era from 198 to 166 BC. So we've gone from the Persian to the Greek to the Egyptian, and now the Syrian era. This is the fourth during the intertestamental period. There are two more after this. Initially, in this Syrian period, the Jews were allowed to maintain local rule under their high priest. This continued until the Hellenizing party decided to have their favorite, Jason, anointed to replace Onius III, the high priest favored by the Orthodox Jews. They did this by bribing Antiochus Epiphanes. This political conflict eventually brought Antiochus Epiphanes to Jerusalem in a fit of rage in 168 BC. He set about destroying every distinctive characteristic of the Jewish faith. He forbade all sacrifices, outlawed the rite of circumcision, and canceled observance of the Sabbath and feast days. The scriptures were mutilated or destroyed. Jews were forced to eat pork and to sacrifice to idols. His final act of sacrilege, and the one that spelled his ultimate ruin, was to desecrate the most holy place by building an altar and offering a sacrifice to the god Zeus. This ushered in the Maccabean era from 165 to 63 BC. An elderly priest named Matatheus from the house of Hasmon revolted against Assyrian officials' attempts to enforce heathen sacrifice. He then fled to the mountains where his five sons, including Judas Maccabees, or Judah the Hammer, followed. This family carried on the revolt so successfully that by December 25th, 165 BC, they had retaken Jerusalem, cleansed the temple, and restored worship. This event is commemorated today as the Feast of Hanukkah, or dedication. This fighting continued until the Syrians were finally defeated by the Maccabeans, who received their independence in 142 BC. They would enjoy this independence for nearly 70 years. The most significant religious and political development of this period was infighting about rightful kingship and high priesthood of Judea. Orthodox Jews, now known as Pharisees, rejected any priest not from the line of Aaron, and any king not from the line of David. Those who opposed the Pharisees and supported the Hasmonians, like the line of Matatheus and Judah Maccabees, were known as Sadducees. Our final era leading up and spilling into the timeline of our caste of characters was the Roman era, which began around 63 BC. The independence the Jews had enjoyed for nearly 70 years ended in 63 BC when Pompey of Rome took Syria and entered Israel. Antipater the Idumean was appointed procurator of Judea by Julius Caesar in 47 BC. A procurator was similar to a governor and was responsible for administrative, financial, and judicial duties in the region on behalf of Rome. Fun fact, Antipater the Idumean, Idumean means from the land of Edom. And Esau, the brother of Jacob, was the father of the Edomites. So there is still this struggle going on between Jacob and Esau now through their descendants. In 40 AD, Antipater's successor was, any guesses? Herod, king of Judea, who we read about at the very beginning of this episode. In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah. Herod was a devoted Hellenist and hated the Hasmonean family. He killed every descendant of the Hasmoneans, even his own wife and the two sons that he had with her. This was the man on the throne when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. What a dark and desperate situation for God's people. No wonder Zechariah sang, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace. In addition to the Romans, there were five major parties or groups in Judea who were influential contemporaries of our caste of characters. I'll briefly introduce you to each. We've already mentioned that the Pharisees were separatists who were loyal to the law and religion of Jehovah. They emphasized and adhered to the scriptures with a strong attachment to oral law or Mishnah, which sought to apply the written law to everyday life. This sounds good, right? The problem was that by the time Jesus was born, the Pharisees had become rigid with legalistic expansions to the law that had little to do with the original intent of Scripture and denied the spirit of the word. The second group, which was much smaller, were the Sadducees, and this party was more attractive to the socially minded Jewish leaders and had more political slash earthly attachment to the office of the high priest. The Sadducees belonged mostly to the wealthy, influential priestly families who formed the social aristocracy of the Jewish nation. They saw God's law and a nation's politics as entirely separate. Religion was religion, and politics was politics. The third party, the Herodians, were loyal to Herod, and their main purpose was to further his government. They feared the Romans and the total destruction that the empire could bring, so they were deeply opposed to the Pharisees, who emphasized separation. They wanted to go with the flow because it felt safer. Our fourth group were the zealots, yes, of Simon the Zealot fame. The Zealots were in direct opposition to the Herodians, who would not conform to Roman rule. They also rejected the Pharisees' view of patiently and submissively waiting for Israel's Messiah to arrive. They believed that God would help those who helped themselves, and therefore they stood at the ready to fight for independence. The zealots were zealous for scripture, but to that zeal, they added nationalism and stressed a type of man-made, military deliverance rather than divine intervention. Our fifth and final group were the Essenines. Though they are not mentioned in the New Testament, they've received more attention since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in Qumran around 1947. This group was religious, not political, and withdrew from society to practice a monastic kind of life and a mystical kind of Judaism. The Essenes were so passionate for the spirit of the law and separation to God that they lost sight of the evangelistic mission of Israel. They were content to lock out the world, ignore its problems, and let it die without hope. So, those 400 years were not silent. Power passed from the Persians to the Greeks, to the Egyptians, to the Syrians, to the Maccabeans, to the Romans. At the time of Jesus' birth, there were five main groups divided politically and religiously the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Herodians, the Zealots, and the Essenes. Here's how the Believer's Bible commentary concludes all this. It says the stage was set. Man's futility. Attempts to deal with the shifting tide of political power and religious belief had produced very little. Israel was in a kind of spiritual bondage that was even worse than their political bondage. The rise of the various parties and movements was evidence of a sincere search for some final solution to Israel's problem. But all seemed to have failed. The stage of history was dark. The situation was indeed desperate. Amid this setting, God broke 400 years of silence with the announcement of Christ, the faithful servant of the Lord, and the intertestamental period came to an end. And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. Zechariah, Elizabeth, and Mary were the very first to hear from God after 400 years of silence. God chose them because they had, despite all their people had been through, and imperfectly for sure, somehow remained faithful. God always preserves a remnant, and this cast of characters was that remnant. His ancient promises were now coming to pass. Somehow, they had not stopped believing that if God said it, it would happen. That's remarkable. With that historical context, we can now turn our attention to Mary, the singer of the song we're studying leading up to Christmas. Mary, the mother of our Lord. This context comes from all of Luke chapter 1, leading up to Mary's song in verses 46 to 55. Six months after Gabriel's appearance to Zechariah, or after Elizabeth became pregnant, Gabriel reappears, but this time to a virgin named Mary. We are told that Mary lived in the town of Nazareth in the district of Galilee. She is betrothed to Joseph, a descendant of David, who is a carpenter. The Believers' Bible commentary says that betrothal was considered a much more binding contract than engagement is today. In fact, it could be broken only by a legal decree similar to divorce. This betrothed virgin, Mary, is going to become pregnant. To announce this news, Gabriel begins by calling Mary highly favored and one whom the Lord is giving special privilege. Mary is told that the Lord is with her, meaning that she would be filled with favor and grace in this unbelievable calling God had for her life. Note that the angel did not worship Mary, and that Mary was the recipient of grace, not the giver of grace. Mary was not sinless, though she was righteous and highly favored by God. We'll briefly get into some more detail on Catholic doctrines of Mary in the next episode. For now, we'll adopt British preacher G. Campbell Morgan's view of Mary. Mary was a member of the sinning race, but the honor conferred on her was the highest, and our thoughts of her, our language concerning her, should at least not lack the dignity and respect manifested in the words of Gabriel. Hers was the crown and glory of all motherhood, and we should ever think and speak of her reverently. Our sweet girl Mary was understandably troubled by this greeting that she initially didn't understand. And then, calming her fears, Gabriel explains to Mary why he is there. He tells Mary that she is going to be the mother of the long-awaited Messiah. She would be overshadowed by the Most High and would conceive a son whom she was to call Jesus or Jehovah, God is our Savior. He would be great and would be called the Son of the Most High. He would be given the promised throne of his father David. And this baby's kingdom would be an everlasting one. Mary is told that her son will reign forever, and of his kingdom there would be no end. Think about the conflict that had ravaged Israel for 400 years and all the years before that. Think about the religious and political parties vying for power and authority in the region. Think about how dark and desperate things really were for the Jews living under Roman occupation. It's really hard for us to try and wrap our minds around what this teenage girl is being told and what it meant in that time and in that place. God would be incarnated. He would become Emmanuel God with us. He would take on flesh and grow in her womb. Mary is being told that that which seemed impossible is possible with God. That which she and her people had waited for was now about to happen. The Believers Bible commentary says language cannot exhaust the mystery that is shrouded here. As evidence and confirmation of God's capability, the angel sends Mary to her cousin Elizabeth, who had miraculously conceived in her old age. In haste, Mary sets out from Nazareth to the hill country of Judah to see with her own eyes this thing that the angel said had happened. Imagine that journey for Mary. Could it be? How could it be? Did I dream that? Did an angel really appear before me saying what he said? Will Elizabeth really be pregnant? Could Elizabeth actually be pregnant? Swirling questions for such a young mind, quickly traveling 80 to 100 miles to see for herself. And what happens when she arrives? I'll tell you what happens. God kindly gives Mary an abundance of evidence as confirmation of what he was about to do. This is verses 39 to 45 again, leading right up to Mary's song. In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country. She was really anxious to get there, a town in Judah. And she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, this is like the coolest, one of the coolest stories in all of Scripture. The baby, cousins, right? The baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord. Mary believed God without proof, but at the same time, he didn't call her to do the impossible without first surrounding her with proof and evidence. He sends an angel. He does a miracle for Zechariah and Elizabeth. And then he sends Mary to them, having Elizabeth's baby, the baby John, leap in her womb. And then Elizabeth affirms everything that the angel had said. Elizabeth had no way apart from the Holy Spirit of knowing that not only was Mary pregnant, but that she was pregnant with the Lord. We have heard this story so many times, I fear that it loses its wonder, but we cannot let that happen. The scandal that Mary's pregnancy would become is here, somewhere in the hill country of Judah, made sweet by a baby leaping in a womb and a prophetic proclamation from an old, righteous woman who had apparently somehow never stopped believing that God always keeps his promises. The Believers Bible commentary says Elizabeth assured Mary that her faith would be abundantly rewarded, her expectation would be fulfilled. She had not believed in vain. Her baby would be born as promised. And now, and only now, Mary sings. Affirmed and comforted, Mary can put to action what she had uttered by belief. Let it be to me according to your word. By God's grace, Mary is resolute, unfazed by the fact that this scandal could lead to not only Joseph divorcing her, though the angel would take care of that, but also her own death, willing to be identified as one who had committed serious sin? How was she willing to do that? It's because of her confidence that God would do exactly what he had always said he would do. And so the praise just pours out of her. How in the world do we have faith like this when our circumstances are different than what we expect? How do we face an impossible future? How do we get over a disappointing or devastating past? How do we conquer fears related to God seeming silent or indifferent toward us? How do we remain faithful when it is so very easy to lose faith? We don't know how, do we? Not on our own, not in the flesh. Sometimes we may fake it. Sometimes we don't even actually desire to be faithful to God. We throw in the towel because it's just too dang hard. And the hard stuff keeps on coming. What are we to do? What are we to choose? You might be someone who looks at Mary's story and feels discouraged rather than encouraged. You may be someone who looks at her and just says, I'm not good at having faith. This past weekend, my pastor talked about maturing in the faith, and he made an analogy to lifting weights. He said, You may say I'm not very strong, so I'm not equipped to lift weights. But my pastor pointed out that the very act of lifting weights is what makes you strong. You don't have to be at a certain level of strength in order to do. You just start doing it, and as you do, you become stronger. I assure you that Mary did not arrive at a thy will be done, surrendered servant's heart in a bubble or by accident. Her song, as we discussed last week, is very similar to Hannah's song in 1 Samuel. Additionally, there are no less than 12 other allusions to Old Testament scripture in Mary's song. What does that tell us about Mary and even about her family and community? We'll be right back after this message. Speaking of community, if you've ever finished an Abidible Podcast episode and thought, I wish I had someone to talk this through with, or I wish I could go even deeper into this, that's exactly why I created Abidible Plus. It's a private community for women who love learning and want to grow in God's Word together. For just $10 a month, you'll get access to full episode transcripts, bonus resources, and thoughtful discussion threads that help you think through, discuss, and apply what we're learning. But honestly, the best part isn't the perks. It's the people. It's women just like you who are hungry for the word and tired of surface level study. Inside Abbitable Plus, I share behind-the-scenes insights, sneak peeks at upcoming studies, and extra Bible nerd conversations that you won't hear on the main podcast. Like this week, our members got an early deep dive into the 400 years of silence between the Old and New Testaments. If you want to study with community, get extra tools to help you grow, and support the Ministry of Abidible in a tangible way, come join us. You can learn more and become a member at the link in this episode's show notes. And now, back to the show. We've established that Mary's response to Gabriel's news was remarkable. She sings a song of praise. In verses 46 and 47, she's essentially saying, and this is my paraphrase from the Greek: my breath of life, the seat of all that I am, celebrates the Lord and master of all by giving him glory and praise. I am exceedingly glad. I am jumping for joy, animated from within my spirit, because the one true God is my savior and deliverer, the healer who will save me from danger and destruction. This melody of hope piercing the advent or waiting season of darkness, division, and desperation in the nation of Israel means so much more when we understand the context. Do you think Mary ever felt like her faith muscle wasn't strong enough? That it wasn't developed enough? Do you think she and her family and community ever struggled with God's apparent silence? Of course they did. 400 years is a very long time. But in order to be prepared to respond with the song that Mary sung, something had to have taken place throughout the course of her life. Before the break, I asked, What do these words tell us about Mary, her family, and her community? The answer is: these words reveal that there was a remnant wholeheartedly devoted to the Word of God. Think about Moses' command to God's people as they were about to enter the promised land, the very land Mary and her family now inhabit about 1400 years later. God is the one true God. Love him with all that you are. Put his words on your heart. Don't forget him once you enter the land and have your fill of all good things. No, don't forget. Remember who he is and what he's done. That's the essence of Deuteronomy 6 and really all of Deuteronomy. The law of Moses, the book of the law, warned them, instructed them, and even begged them to remember. We learned all about that in our God is One series, right? Someone in Mary's family remembered. Someone in her community instructed her in Torah and helped her write the word of God on her heart through oral tradition and repetition and memorization. David Gusick says that Mary's song reveals that Mary was a woman who studied and knew God's word. The scriptures were on her heart and came out through her song. Commentator John Trapp puts it this way: She had, by her much reading, made her bosom bibliothicum Christi. I'm sure I'm mispronouncing that, but it's the idea of Christ's library. Her own heart was Christ's library, and may seem to have been exercised in the good word of God from infancy. Mary's words come directly from Scripture, friends. I hope you saw that in your cross-references. Here are a few quick examples. Hannah's song in 1 Samuel 2, My heart exalts in the Lord, I rejoice in your salvation. Also, we're going to get into Mary's genealogy when we study Luke 1.50 about generations. But for now, spoiler alert, Mary's mother's lineage, as recorded in Luke 3, proves that Mary was related and descended from King David. So when she sings her song, she's repeating the very words of her great, great, great, great, you get it, grandfather. In Psalm 34, 2-3, David says, My soul makes its boast in the Lord, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. In Psalm 35, 9, David sings, My soul will rejoice in the Lord, exulting in his salvation. And here's David again in Psalm 103, 1 and 2. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Think of Mary saying, My soul and my spirit, all that is within me, magnify and rejoice. David is saying the same thing. You know, a promise was given to David that one from his family line would come and sit on David's throne and rule forever. Are you sitting down? This is God's promise to King David in 2 Samuel 7. When your days are fulfilled, and you lie down with your fathers, when you die, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. Your throne shall be established forever. That is the promise given to David 1,000 years before his great, great, great, great, great granddaughter sings this song. And how his heart would have rejoiced in knowing that in a future generation, this granddaughter's song would be filled with the same lyrics, the same praise, the same remembrances about the same God who she is now miraculously conceiving, who is the heir to God's very promise to David, and to Abraham and to Isaac and Jacob and Moses and Noah and Adam. David sang, My soul will rejoice in the Lord, exulting in his salvation. And his great-great-granddaughter Mary sang, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. I am overwhelmed by the beauty of this. And speaking of God as Savior, this too is a concept Mary would have known well from Scripture. Isaiah 12, 2 says, Behold, God is my salvation. God describes Himself in Isaiah 45, 21, there is no other God besides me, a righteous God and Savior. In verse 22, he literally says, Turn to me and be saved. Isaiah 61 talks about being clothed by God with the garment of salvation. Zephaniah 3 describes God as a mighty one who will save. And Zechariah 9:9 says, Rejoice, O daughter of Zion, shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem, Behold, your king is coming to you, righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey. And finally, how does Luke tell us that God announced Jesus' birth to the shepherds? For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. Mary accepted God's will because she was well acquainted with his word, and the word was coming into the world as promised. I'm falling apart. In many ways, these last 10 years have been the most difficult years of my life physically. The surgery I had two months ago to remove my extensive endometriosis was much needed, and I know God has me on the right path. But the recovery process has been much harder than I anticipated. I've had terrible breakthrough pain, wicked medication withdrawals, rashes, infections, sleepless nights, and just an overall sense of overwhelm. I am so, so tired. Last week, Jason had to have a skin tag tested from his back. It's benign, thank God. Our dog re-injured his spine. A massive tree came down in a windstorm, narrowly missing our home. My son was having major digestive issues, and I ended up needing an emergency root canal. The expenses associated with all of this have been enormous and stressful, as you can imagine. The patience required with me, with my dog, and with my son has just felt impossible when I'm already worn so thin. The worry about our budget and the timing of a trip that we had planned well in advance, that's kept me up at night. Additionally, I probably, like some of you, am tempted to be very stressed about the dumpster fire that is our world right now. All of these events would have put me into a spiral four years ago, hiding from God, perhaps even cursing him, forgetting his quote, benefits. I would have hyper-fixated on the hard stuff and lost sight of him altogether. I'm not pretending that I haven't had really hard, meltdown, dumpster fire days, because I have. But what's changed for me, it's what my pastor talked about, that the idea of getting stronger is so intimidating until you actually just start lifting the weights. Then you come back and you do it again and you do it again and then again. And one day you realize you're just a little bit stronger, so you keep going. The only difference between freak out Kate and the Kate that I am today is the time that I've spent in God's word. And that's what made a difference for Mary, too. I just know it. And for Elizabeth and for Zechariah. They studied and knew and abided in and clung to the promises of God. That's how you endure 400 years of silence. It's how you remain steadfast when government and religious authorities have been vying for power over you and over your land with no end in sight. I know that life is hard. It is for us and it was for our caste of characters. When we read about all the groups in their time, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Herodians, the Zealots, and the Essenes, it's easy to think, wow, they were really divided back then. But if we're honest, not much has changed, has it? Today we still have governments scrambling for control, political parties fighting for dominance, and religious groups drifting into opposite extremes, some clinging so tightly to rules that they miss the heart of God, others so focused on fitting in with the culture that they lose sight of truth altogether, and even others who simply decide to withdraw and isolate from society. It's not that different from the world Mary lived in. The Pharisees' obsession with law over love reminds me of how legalism still sneaks into the church today, where we can start measuring holiness by our checklists instead of by our hearts. The Sadducees' attachment to power and influence sounds a lot like our modern tendency, even in the church, to prioritize status and comfort over conviction. The Herodians go with the flow attitude mirrors that pressure we all feel to keep the peace, not rock the boat and blend in for safety. And the zealots, they remind me of the people who think the only way to fix what's broken is to fight harder and louder, to grab the reins, raise their voices, and make things happen their way, sometimes even with violence. Finally, there were the Esanies, who just opted out completely. They saw the corruption and said, forget it. I'll just withdraw, focus on me and God, and let the world burn. Sound familiar? We still see all of that. And if we're honest, we've probably felt all of that at one time or another. The frustration, the cynicism, the fear, the urge to retaliate or to retreat. Because deep down, human nature hasn't changed. We still can't fix what's broken in the world by human effort alone. We still need divine intervention. We still need Jesus. At the time of Mary's song, Israel was waiting for a Messiah, a real physical savior who they thought would deliver them from Roman oppression. They were waiting for hope. And when the angel told Mary she would bear that promised son, her soul magnified the Lord. She sang because she understood that the wait was over, that God, her soon-to-be son, and also her savior had come through just like he said he would. And now here we are, 2000 years later, in a world still fractured by power and pride, and we're waiting again. Not for his birth this time, but for his return. And Advent reminds us that just as surely as he came before, he will come again. And just as surely as he kept his promises then, he will keep his promises to us now, come what may, no matter what we're facing. That is our hope in a world which some days feels like a literal dumpster fire. Because no government, no policy, no movement, and no denomination can bring the peace our souls long for. Only Jesus can do that. And he already has. Knowing Jesus is how you endure physical pain or emotional betrayal or financial strain or political turmoil or disappointment or any sort of disruption or upheaval in your life. It's not by our own might or by our personal strength. It's by the power of the Lord who keeps all his promises. He will hold us fast. That's what Mary's song celebrates. That's why it's an Advent melody of hope. It's the song sung to a God who keeps his promises, who topples the proud and lifts the humble, who fills the hungry with good things and never forgets his mercy. And as we enter this Advent season together, studying her song, I want to invite you to rediscover that same hope. Because if he kept his word that he would come to save us once before, born into a world of corruption, confusion, and chaos, then we can trust that he'll keep all of his words to us now and his word to come again. And that means we can have peace right now, even as we wait, just like Mary. Think about Mary and her family. They were living at the end of the 400 years of silence. Yes, the silence ended when the angel spoke to Mary, and they rejoiced and praised and magnified God. But Jesus hadn't come yet. He hadn't yet lived a sinless life. His death on the cross hadn't yet atoned for their sins. How much more reason do we have to praise him, come what may? He is our Savior. He is the God of our salvation. So let's praise him and rejoice in him no matter what. Listen to our cross reference from Habakkuk 3, 17 to 18. Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail, and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will take joy in the God of my salvation. That's what Mary chose to do. And the Son she brought into the world gives us infinite reasons to praise Him until the day He comes back for us. Magnificat Anima Meia Dominum. My soul magnifies the Lord. May yours as well. And that's it for this episode. If you know someone who would be blessed by what you just heard, please share the Abidible podcast with them. Keep spreading the word so we can make much of the word. Drop us a review, tell us what you love and what you're learning. Check out the link to learn more about partnering with us by buying us a coffee one time, by joining our Abidible Plus membership community for $10 a month, or by becoming a monthly supporter. For those of you following along in the workbook for Mary's song, go ahead and begin working on our next verse in the series, Luke 1 48, on pages 20. To 25 in your study workbook. Ideally, you would have this section done before you listen to the next episode, number 72. In that episode, we'll focus a little more on Mary, on her humble estate, and why God chose someone like her to be the mother of his only begotten son. We'll also take a brief look at Roman Catholic views on Mary and how those align or misalign with Scripture and even the things Jesus himself said about his mother. This has always been a curiosity of mine, so I'm looking forward to growing a bit in my understanding. I'll also share about my 2023 experience in Ephesus, Turkey, where I visited the supposed final home of Mary. The verse next week, as I said, is Luke 148, and it continues Mary's explanation of praise. For he has looked on the humble estate of his servant, for behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed. I want us to love and appreciate Mary, seeing her as Jesus wants us to see her. So I hope you'll join me for that next week. I'll pray for us and then close us out with our memory work for verses 46 to 47. Jesus, we thank you so much for your word and for what we can learn by studying it. We thank you for all the brilliant people who've also put together context and historical commentary for us to better understand exactly what this cast of characters was facing at the time that this promise was made. God, I thank you for the person who's listening to this episode, that you know them, you know exactly where they are, you know their faith journey, whether it feels solid and that they're walking on a firm foundation, or whether it feels shaky and broken. God, you know whether they are encouraged by Mary's faith or whether they are discouraged, making some sort of comparison where they feel they lack the faith that they want to have in you. I pray for the person who feels that you have been silent for a long period of time, maybe even for all their life. I pray, Lord, that the truth of Scripture, who you are, what you have done, and what you have said will supersede all of our own feelings and circumstances, and that we would learn what it's like to build our house on the rock, on the truth and the foundation of what your word reveals to us about who you are. Lord, I pray for comfort and for peace and for the ability for each one of us, come what may, to look at the bigger picture of your gift in your son and of the cross so that our praise can pour out of us as naturally as it did, Mary, that we would have more than enough reason. Come what may, no matter what fails, no matter what falls apart, no matter how hard life is, no matter what a dumpster fire the world around us appears to be, that we would have reason for praise to pour out of us naturally. Lord, we know that that comes from a heart that is walking with you and abiding in your word. And so, Holy Spirit, we ask you to empower us to be steadfast and faithful, like Mary was, like Zechariah was, like Elizabeth was. We know, Lord, that they weren't perfect. And certainly they had their moments of doubt and struggle in the silence that they faced and in the challenging historical, cultural, religious situations and circumstances of their day, just as we do. They faced hardship and poverty and who knows what else, Lord. You know, and you also know what each one of us faced. But Lord, give us a steadfastness to be able to proclaim, just as Mary did, my soul, no matter what, magnifies the Lord. And my spirit, the spirit, every part of who I am within me, rejoices in God, my personal Savior. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's close by doing our memory work together. I'm going to repeat Luke 1, 46 to 47, five times. Say it out loud with me or quietly to yourself. And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior. And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior. And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior. And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior. And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior. Luke 1, 46 to 47. Remember, you are able to abide in the Bible. We'll see you next time. Until then, let's abide.