#077 "The Upside Down, Revolutionary Kingdom of God" (Luke 1:53)

This week on The Abidible Podcast, host Kate continues walking slowly through Mary’s Song in Luke 1:51–53 and shows why the kingdom of God doesn’t just comfort us — but flips everything upside down so that we can be right side up again.

In this episode, you will learn what Mary meant when she said God scatters the proud, brings down the mighty, lifts the humble, and fills the hungry. Listen and see how these lines are not poetic exaggeration, but a summary of God’s proven pattern throughout Scripture. Understand why God’s kingdom often feels “upside down” — and how that feeling exposes the values we’ve quietly absorbed. You'll also discover how pride, self-sufficiency, status, and strength subtly shape your faith without you noticing and gain practical clarity on how God’s revolution shows up in everyday life: weakness, waiting, obscurity, hunger, and surrender. Finally, learn how remembering what God has done can steady your faith when obedience feels costly.

Kate connects Mary’s confidence to the larger story of Scripture and brings the passage all the way home, helping listeners recognize where God may be lovingly undoing false power, false fullness, and false security in their own lives. This episode is for anyone who has ever wondered: Why does faith feel backwards sometimes? Why does obedience cost more than expected? Why does God seem to work through weakness instead of strength? This conversation will equip you with biblical categories that help you trust God’s work — even when it feels disorienting — and recognize His mercy in the middle of reversal.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Today’s Focus
• 0:35 Mary’s Song And God’s Character
• 2:32 Moral Revolution: Scattering The Proud
• 9:10 From Eden To Babel: Separation
• 16:50 Social Revolution: Thrones Brought Low
• 24:45 Exalting The Humble Across History
• 29:43 Economic Revolution: Hungry Filled
• 36:30 Great Reversal In God’s Kingdom
• 40:35 Prophetic Certainty Of Mary’s Words

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. I'm going to prove that to you today. But to do that, we first need to closely look at the Father. Zoom in on his eternal traits and unchanging character. Who is the Father? Based on who he is, what does he then do? How does he act? We are in Luke 1.53 today, which says he has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty. But like I said on the podcast last week, we have been treating verses 51 to 53 as a group. First, we talked about how these verses demonstrate God's omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience. Then last week we looked at how Mary was able to base her response to God, the calling that he was placing on her life, based on the evidence of who he always had been, rather than her emotion. And then I said that this week we would look at the specific examples from ancient times that Mary was likely referencing. To set the stage and refresh our memory, verses 51 to 53 is the part of Mary's song where she has turned outward. Remember, she began with who God always has been to her personally, the God who sees, the Holy One, the mighty one, he who has done great things for me, to who God has always been to her people. He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty. This is who God has been since the beginning, since the ancient times of her people. She bases these verses from her song on everything she'd ever been taught about Yahweh, the one true God. What stories do you think she was referring to specifically when she recounts all that God has done? We're going to discuss it today. And as promised last week, we're going to discuss the revolutionary nature of our God, how he has always been on mission since the fall to set this upside-down world right side up. He's the God of moral revolution, of social revolution, and of economic revolution. Let's look at the revolutionary nature of God our Father. But first, real quick, if you're a big fan of the Abidible Podcast, check out the link in the show description to learn more about partnering with us by buying us a coffee. Alright, so God is revolutionary. How so? Well, first, he brings about moral revolution. Verse 51 says he has shown strength with his arm, he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. This Greek word scattered is connected to the ancient agricultural practice of winnowing or of separating the wheat from the chaff. Grain would be harvested and then thrown into the air. The wind would carry off the chaff, and the grain would fall to the winnowing floor, separated. Our pregnant expecting Mary sings of an all-powerful God who scatters the proud. Why? Because this is an important part of his nature. God has always been a God who calls his people to be holy, to be set apart, separate. Why? So that they could have relationship with him, the holy one, and so that the nations around them would know that he is God. When they obeyed, he remained with them in their midst. He granted them favor and honor. When, not if they failed to do so of their own free will, he would bring that scattering or separation to pass. These judgments would fall cyclically, and God would use them to separate the wheat from the chaff. He would use it to draw his people back to him and to demonstrate to the nations that he alone is God. Moral impurity or moral relativity or any moral compromise whatsoever was never going to stand with the God who has always been on mission to set the world morally right again. He will bring about moral revolution because he is holy, yes, but also because he is our good Father who knows what is best and right and good for us. We've only ever fought against him in this revolution. He is the revolutionary, we're the rebels to our own destruction. So, what was Mary thinking about as she sang her song? He has shown strength with his arm, he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. Specifically for this verse, I immediately think of the garden. Adam and Eve walked with God. Then they chose rebellion and they were cast out, and a flaming sword was placed at its entrance, separation. Cain kills Abel because of the pride in his heart, and God declares that Cain would be a fugitive and a wanderer all the days of his life. Genesis 4, 16 says, Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord. Separation. Just six chapters into the Bible, and we read, the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. It was so bad, so dark, so corrupt, so vile, and so wicked that God sent a flood. Separation. Then we have Babel. In the pride of their hearts, they attempted to build a name for themselves by constructing a tower to the heavens, quote, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth. God wanted and commanded them to increase in number and to fill the whole earth. They didn't want to do that. Rebellious and filled with the pride of their hearts, they thought a thought that wasn't a new thought. Let's be like God. We'll build a great city and congregate here to make a name for ourselves, to get glory for ourselves. As a symbol of our power and might, we'll build to the heavens to be like God. So God confuses their language and they no longer could communicate with each other. And so what do they do? They scattered. Those who spoke the same language went together to settle in other parts of the world. Diaspora, separation. Joseph's brothers come against him, pridefully plotting for their brother to be sold into slavery. Their plan leads to the destruction of their father Jacob's spirit and away from the favor of God into famine. Separation. On and on it goes. Israel rebels, God withdraws, judgment falls, Israel purifies itself, relationship is restored. Israel forgets, God removes his protection and favor. The tribes are carried off into captivity, they turn back to God, and God redeems, restores, and forgives. Finally, in the book of Ezekiel, the sin of the people has so grieved God that the Spirit of God departs from the temple. His presence just left, out to the east over the Mount of Olives, separation. And then silence. Mary sings into that silence because though our sin separates, she knew the evidence proved that God would be faithful again, that he alone is the revolutionary, working all along to bring about the final moral revolution that would restore us to right relationship. God the Father brings moral revolution. Second, God the Father brings social revolution. Verse 52 says he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate. He sets things right side up again. What, or more importantly, who was Mary maybe thinking about as she sang here? Who do you think? My mind goes right to Pharaoh. He was the epitome of arrogant power, enslaving Israel and refusing to let them go. I imagine Mary closing her eyes and remembering Exodus 15. The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. You blew with your wind, the sea covered them, they sank like lead in the mighty waters. Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? I also imagine that Mary was thinking of the kings of Canaan, like Adonai, Zedek, Jabin, and the coalition of 31 kings listed in Joshua 12 who opposed Israel's entry into the land, or maybe of King Balak of Moab, who hired Balaam to curse Israel, and instead of curses, Balaam was forced to bless Israel repeatedly. Maybe of King Og of Bashan and King Sihon of the Amorites. These are almighty rulers who were brought down from their thrones, like Psalm 33, 10 says, the Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing. He frustrates the plans of the peoples. Just as we might think of Washington, Sherman, or Grant, historically leading our people to victory, Mary surely is thinking of her God who fought a social revolution against the morally bankrupted rulers of Canaan, sending hailstones, making walls fall at the sound of a trumpet, and causing the sun to stand still in order to exalt his humble, small nation. The people he had chosen out of all the people on the earth to demonstrate his Hasid, his loving kindness and abundant mercy. I think Mary was thinking of her great-great grandfather, great, great, great, great-grandfather David, striking down Goliath with a river stone, and of God removing the anointing of King Saul because of his proud disobedience. And maybe of the 185,000 men of Sennacherib, king of Assyria, who fell in one night because the king mocked the living God and threatened Hezekiah in Jerusalem. Mary was probably singing and remembering King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who claimed divine authority until God struck him with madness, and he lived like an animal for seven periods of time until he bowed his knee to the living God. Mary probably was remembering King Belshazzar, who blasphemed by drinking from the Jerusalem temple vessels, saw the writing on the wall, and was killed that very night as Persia conquered Babylon. Mary would also have known the story of Darius the Mead, who persecuted Daniel and whose kingdom's corruption led to the judgment of his officials. And surely she would have thought of Esther as she sang, the queen who was divinely positioned for such a time as this by God to destroy the genocidal plot of Haman against the Jews by securing the favor of King Xerxes. Mary sang of a God who turns things right side up by bringing about social revolution. Mary sang, just as Hannah did in 1 Samuel 2, the bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble bind on strength. He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness, for not by might shall a man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces, against them he will thunder in heaven. And third, Mary's God brings economic revolution. She sings in verse 53, He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. What stories do you think came to her mind as these words poured out of her lips? Abraham and Sarah, aged and poor in promise, barren until they weren't, inconsequential until they received the covenant blessing, that through them all the nations of the earth would be blessed? Certainly, as Mary sang of the hungry being filled with good things, she would have thought of Joseph in the famine, and she would have been recalling manna and quail sent from heaven to feed her people in the wilderness. She's also likely thinking of Hannah's song again. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. The baron has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn. Hannah knew what it was to lack, to see those, quote, rich in life gloat. Yet the God of Hannah and the God of Mary often and unexpectedly reversed fortunes. What appeared to be much on the surface is exposed as pride that leads to emptiness. And those who lack, those who are humble and needy, are the ones who are filled. They are the ones who lack no good thing. Maybe Mary was thinking about Elijah, who was fed by ravens in the desert, and of the widow that Elijah served, and of King Ahab that Elijah opposed. As she sang, Mary was remembering her God who sent this holy man, Elijah, to a Gentile widow with nothing. The widow receives miraculous, sustaining, replenishing flour and oil, while Ahab, the wealthy king of Israel, who rejected God, became spiritually bankrupt and faced judgment. Was Mary maybe singing about Ruth, who returns to Bethlehem with nothing? Yet God filled her with food, gave her Boaz as a husband to redeem her status as a widow and to provide for her, and then gives her a son, Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of King David, and thus a place for Ruth in the Messiah's genealogy. Surely Mary knows this story. It's from her own family. She sings he has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty. By the way, what's the name of the rich kinsman redeemer in the story who chooses to not redeem Ruth? Right, we don't know his name. Despite his wealth, he was sent away empty, with no part in the best redemptive story in history. And what of the remnant of Israel after exile? Of Ezra and Nehemiah and those who rebuilt the temple and were restored to relationship with God and filled with joy. What happened to the rich, proud nations of Babylon and Persia that conquered Israel? They crumbled to dust. They were sent away empty. Mary is not singing about food and money. She's lighting a stick of dynamite and emphasizing the radical, revolutionary nature of the great reversal that takes place in God's kingdom. It's the theme of the scriptures she knows so well. The humble receive grace, the desperate are given abundance, the spiritually hungry are fed, and the rich, those who are satisfied with themselves, leave empty-handed. Mary is singing the love story of Israel and Israel's God, the God who brings about social revolution, who flips everything upside down so it can be right side up. These have to be some of the stories Mary was singing about in her song. These stories that she knew so well. He has, he has, he has. Upon initial observation, these appear to be past tense statements, but I learned something in my study. In these verses, we read, He has shown strength, he has scattered, he has brought. The ESV study notes say that Luke is using something called the prophetic aorist tense here. This futurist aorist tense is used to describe future events as if they've already happened to emphasize their absolute certainty. Let me read that again. The prophetic or futuristic aorist tense is used to describe future events as if they've already happened to emphasize their absolute certainty. Now, growing in her womb, likely hearing the words she is singing, is a baby who will look just like his father. The son of God, who will be the greatest moral, social, and economic revolutionary the world has ever known, is worthy of every word of her worship. Her baby isn't even born yet, but because Mary knows her God, she exclaims with absolute certainty, he has done it. Again, what is her certainty rooted in? Not her emotion. Her certainty is also not diminished by the 400 years of silence that her people have been living in, and it's not affected by any sort of fear about what could happen to her. Her certainty is simple and straightforward. Her baby will look like her father, her heavenly father. He will act like her heavenly father. Mary's certainty is established by the evidence of who she's always known God to be. He's done it before. He's set things right. He will do it again, and this time once and for all. The whisper all of Mary's life has been He's coming. He's coming. And I just imagine her standing and singing so quietly, somewhere alone, tears streaming down her cheeks, head bowed, hand on her belly. You're here. The rebellion, our rebellion, never once, not for one minute, did it compromise the mission. Because the revolutionary was always en route. Everything the Father is and was and did pointed to and prepared the way for the coming of his one and only Son. Our rebellion is what caused moral corruption, social bankruptcy, and economic injustice to literally rake the world. To set everything wrong that was once right, and worst of all, to separate us from the Father who made us in his image to look like him, act like him, and live with him. And in this very moment, as Mary repeats, he has, he has, he has, he has, she's also telling us what is about to happen. He will set everything right. This baby, God my savior, he's finally here. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. And this is the generation that will welcome him into the world for the whole world. I love this song, and I've been listening to it a lot this Christmas. It says, He who was before there was light, walked across the pages of time, he who made every Living thing, behold him. He who heard humanity's cry, left his throne to wake as a child. He became like the least of us, behold him. He who dined with sinners and saints, healed the blind, the lost, and the lame, even now he is in our midst, behold him. He who chose a criminal's end, paid with blood to settle our debt, buried death as he rose to life, behold him. Jesus, Son of God, the Messiah, the lamb, the roaring lion. Oh be still and behold him. Jesus, Alpha and Omega, our God, the risen Savior. Oh be still and behold him. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. Worthy, worthy, worthy to receive all praise. And the first song he received after putting on flesh was the praise of his mother Mary. And just like every mother, she loved him and knew him before she ever saw him. And she got every part of his revolutionary nature right. He who heard humanity's cry left his throne to wake as a child. He became like the least of us. What is the cry of humanity? What is our cry? To be rescued from Satan, sin and death, to be delivered from this upside-down world by someone who can make things right again, by the only one who can take everything we think we know and flip it on its head. In fact, we think God scattering the proud is just about them. But guess what? It's also about us. We are the proud of heart, scattered and separated from God by the proud thoughts of our hearts. We are the moral rebels. We think God bringing the mighty down from their thrones is about those guys out there. But we are glory thieves. We try to walk in our own might and knock God off his throne by being God of our own lives. Our incorrect understanding of the social structure of God's kingdom separates us from him. We are the social rebels. We think God sending the rich away empty is about other people, but we struggle with wanting to be elevated in status, comfortable with material things, and secure financially. We think money will buy happiness and that being filled with all the delicacies of the world will satisfy. Our hedonism and worship of stuff makes us economic rebels separated from God. And we chase all of it. We always have. Since Eve saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desired to make one wise, the trap was set. We bit, and in a second we were catapulted from life to death. What we thought we wanted wasn't what we wanted at all, and it certainly wasn't what we needed. And we've been homeless and homesick ever since. We know the world is not right, and we know that the world has nothing to offer us that will truly satisfy. John writes about what snared Eve in 1 John 2. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires. Disobedience leads to death, and we were dead men walking up until the angel visited Mary. We'll be right back after this message.com. While the sale may be over, these items are here to stay, and they aren't just cute merch. Every piece was intentionally created to help you know and love God more. Tools and reminders that tie directly into what we're studying together, including brand new items from the Mary's song collection. They're meaningful, purposeful, and available right now. Head to Abidible.com and take a peek. I think you're gonna love what you see. And now back to the show. Mary sings, because dead men walking, the dry bones that were prophesied about by Ezekiel are now about to receive the breath of heaven. Because of the baby-sized bones being knit together in her womb, the dry bones of Israel and of the nations would be blessed back to life. This baby, who looks just like his father, will do it. The revolutionary will reunite rebels to his father through redemption. And as always, nothing he does is as we expect it to be. He comes, not in riches and glory, to an affluent home and recognized family, but to a poor virgin girl and her blue-collar husband in a town no one knows and to a region often mocked and ignored as inconsequential. He lives a humble life, walking in obedience to his parents and sitting under the instruction of local teachers. He journeys to Jerusalem and spends time in the temple. And then the baby who leaped in his mother's womb at his cousin's approach, John, who leapt at Jesus in his mother's womb, gets ready, making a people prepared because it's time. For the next three years, Mary's son, Jesus of Nazareth, will usher in the kingdom of heaven. He will quite literally show us the Father by looking and talking and acting exactly like his father in all that he does. And just like his father, everything is upside down. The revolution has begun. The world's values, everything we'd gotten so completely wrong since the garden, are about to be overturned. In his first sermon, he preaches repentance and God's kingdom. He doesn't speak about Rome's kingdom toppling or Israel's political hopes coming to fruition. He speaks of the kingdom of God being at hand. And then he spends time defining that kingdom. He exalts the poor in spirit, the meek, the mourning, and the persecuted. He touches a leper, lets the bleeding woman touch him, and reaches out for a dead girl's hand. In the old world, the unclean makes the clean unclean. The revolutionary is the only one who has the power to reverse purity laws and make the unclean clean. He eats with sinners and tax collectors, feasting with all the wrong people. He isn't ruined by them, he transforms them. He heals on the Sabbath to reveal God's heart and break down man's fences. He flips power on its head. Whoever would be first must be slave of all. Greatness is found in service. Leadership is built on sacrifice. He cuts deep into the heart of a world running on vengeance by saying, Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you. The revolutionary says, This is how you become sons of your father. And he tells story after story after story that completely rewires the way we are meant to see the world. The Good Samaritan, the prodigal son, the lost sheep, and the workers in the vineyard. In every story, the outsider comes in, the last becomes first, and grace covers sin. He doesn't just heal, but he forgives sin. He pronounces divine forgiveness, and his revolution is tied to eternity. And then, in the greatest reversal of all, he defeats evil not by killing his enemies, but by dying for them. He wins by losing. And he reigns from a cross. When he resurrected, the result of his revolution was that God's new creation exploded into the old world. Because his garden tomb was empty, the access we once had to the garden was restored. Everything broken starts working again, and the upside-down world is made right, and all things rightly begin running in reverse. Ordinary fishermen become bold witnesses. The weak confound the strong, the humble are lifted, the rich are taught sacrificial generosity, the poor are honored, the nations are welcomed, and you and I become part of the family. The rebels become the redeemed. And everything Mary prophetically sang is fulfilled through her child. God has, in ancient times, and now in Jesus, scattered the proud, brought down the mighty, sent the rich away empty, and shown his strength by lifting the lowly and filling the hungry. Here's the big idea. In Mary's son, Jesus, the upside down world becomes the right side up kingdom of God. What does this mean for us? The kingdom of heaven is at hand, friend. We are living in the reality of things Mary had just begun to sing about. We are on the other side of the resurrection and nearly 2,000 years beyond the early church. Every day that passes is one day closer to his return. And while we wait, we must know this. He is still scattering the proud, still bringing down the mighty, still sending the rich away empty, and he is still demonstrating strength with his arm, exalting those of humble estate, and filling the hungry with good things. I'm going to give you eight quick real-world examples of how this upside-down kingdom can be seen in our lives right now. These are not merely theoretical, these are real places where the revolution brought on by the baby Mary would deliver can still radically transform every aspect of how we live our lives as we await his return. What Jesus did while he walked this earth matters just as much to us now as it did to those who lived back then. So here are some examples. One, when pride and self-reliance feel normal, God's power shows up in your weakness by reminding you to surrender. And here's a real life example. You feel overwhelmed by parenting or ministry or your own emotions. And instead of just gritting your teeth, you finally confess your limits to God and maybe a friend, and suddenly you see God supply the patience, the wisdom, or the courage you never could have manufactured on your own. This is Luke 151 in real life. He is scattering the proud parts of your heart so he can fill you with power as you cry out in humility. 2. When powerful voices intimidate you and try to get you to give in where you shouldn't, God gives courage to do what's right. And here's a real life example. You have a controlling boss, a domineering family member, or someone who uses their confidence to make you feel small. They talk to you in condescending ways or try to steamroll you into doing things you're not comfortable doing. But instead of shrinking, you start obeying God quietly and consistently, and their power loses its grip on you. This is Luke 1.52. God still brings down the mighty. 3. When you're overlooked, God sees and lifts you. And here's a real life example. You serve, you give, you pour into others, and it seems that no one notices. But then God opens a door, a conversation, a ministry moment, a relationship, a job, something that has his fingerprints all over it. Just to let you know that he sees you. Not because you sought out the affirmation, but simply because he loves you and you've been faithful. This is Luke 152 again. Four, when your soul is hungry and God meets you where you are. A real life example might be that you're dry, spiritually starved, you've lost your appetite for scripture, but you open your Bible anyway, and suddenly one verse completely breaks you open. The Holy Spirit comforts, convicts, and strengthens you. This is Luke 153. God always meets our needs, but filling us isn't always about material things or physical needs. Sometimes he fills you with the very best he has to offer himself. 5. When you feel spiritually rich and self-assured, God lovingly empties you. A real life example might be that you've been cruising on autopilot spiritually, maybe disciplined on the outside, but disconnected inside. So God uses exhaustion or a conflict or disappointment or conviction from scripture to expose your self-reliance. It feels like being sent away empty, but it's actually mercy. This is Luke 153 as well. Sometimes he first empties us so that he can feed us. 6. When culture says assert yourself, Jesus teaches you to settle in toward the back of the room and serve instead. A real life example might be instead of clapping back, defending your reputation, or fighting to be seen, you choose humility and gentleness. You choose patience. You choose to absorb a wrong with grace. And you realize this is what kingdom power looks like. Humility is the revolution. Seven, when relationships feel broken, Jesus flips the script. A real life example might be a cold marriage or strained friendship. Maybe you feel tension with a child or a parent. But instead of matching coldness with coldness, Jesus empowers you to love sacrificially, generously, and without waiting for them to move first. That's upside-down kingdom stuff. That's revolutionary mercy. And eight, when anxiety about the future dominates, God gives peace that makes no sense. And some real life examples might be that you look at finances, health, politics, or your children's futures, and anxiety tries to swallow you. But then the Holy Spirit reminds you, He who is mighty has done great things for me, and it quiets you. This is the kingdom reversal of fear to trust. Can you think of other examples in your life? Places and times and seasons when the Lord has flipped the upside-down world right side up by the power of God at work in you? That is evidence of the revolution that still marches on today. Mary's magnific is filled with dynamite, and it's still exploding on the scene today, in big ways and in the still small, quiet ways of our everyday personal relationships with him. Could she ever have imagined that the life growing inside her would be able to do all that? She knew he had done great things, so she knew he would do great things. But if a regular child can grow up to surprise his parents with what they accomplish, then certainly there was much about Jesus that Mary could never have imagined. But just like his father, he would do exceedingly abundantly more than Mary could have ever asked or imagined. Starting in the small corners of our actual lives, we get to continue the revolution. The upside-down kingdom Mary sings about becomes real today when we allow God to break our pride, lift us in our weakness, empty us of our self-sufficiency, feed our spiritual hunger, give us courage to do what's right, teach us to serve instead of grasp for power, fill us with peace and anxiety, empower us to love difficult people, and remind us that he works through the humble, like Mary, his humble servant, like Jesus, the suffering servant, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count a quality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. Philippians 2 continues, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. This is how he turns the world right side up again, and how we join him on that mission by emptying ourselves. When we lay down our desire to be impressive and best and first and most, we become co-laborers with him, exploding like sticks of dynamite. We carry the kingdom of his new creation into this old, dead, dying, upside-down world. In short, we become right side up, redeemed revolutionaries. What else would we rather be? 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 Women's Abbidable Plus membership community for $10 a month, or by becoming a monthly supporter. For those of you following along in the workbook, go ahead and begin working on our final two verses in this series, Luke 1, 54 and 55, on pages 54 to 57 in your study workbook. Ideally, you would have this section done before you listen to the next episode, number 78. In this episode, we will close out our passage from Mary's song, and then the following week will be our big final recap podcast episode on our entire series. The verses next week, again, are Luke 1, 54 to 55, and they say, He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his offspring forever. As we step into these final lines of Mary's song, we'll focus on Mary's repeated theme of God's sweeping faithfulness across generations. This is her fourth time mentioning generations or offspring. So it's a theme we want to close with. She draws our attention to it because of how important generations are to God. Next week, we'll get to see how the promises made to Abraham are still the promises. God keeps for his people today. It's a beautiful reminder that our God is not only mighty and merciful, He is consistent. He always finishes what He starts. And that's probably a message each of us needs to hear this Christmas. I can't wait to wrap up this passage with you. I'll pray for us and then close us out with our memory work for Luke 1.53. Father, we praise you for the mighty way you work, scattering the proud, toppling the self-exalted, and lifting up those who know they need you. Thank you for filling the hungry with good things, not only with daily bread, but with the deeper nourishment of your word, your presence, and your steadfast mercy. Lord, would you make these truths real in us today? Where pride has crept in, humble us. Where fear has taken root, steady us. Where we feel empty, fill us with what only you can give. Shape our imagination so we can see our lives through the lens of your kingdom, not the world's. Help us to trust that you are still turning things right side up, still rescuing, still providing, and still lifting the lowly. Make us a people who daily live as if all that Mary sang in her song is true, because it is. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's close by doing our memory work together. I'm going to repeat Luke 153 five times. Say it out loud with me or quietly to yourself. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. Luke 1 53. Remember, you are able to abide in the Bible. We'll see you next time. Until then, let's abide.