October 26, 2025 • 52 mins
In this Advent kickoff, host Kate invites listeners into the revolutionary beauty of Mary’s Song in Luke 1:46–55. What begins as a teenage girl’s praise becomes a bold, Scripture-saturated declaration that God scatters the proud and lifts the lowly.
Kate helps listeners uncover both the power of Mary’s words and the trustworthiness of Luke’s account—exploring the evidence for Lucan authorship, the gospel’s purpose, and its unique focus on God’s mercy to the humble. Along the way, she reviews Abidible's simple and lasting study methods to help you memorize, annotate, and reflect on the context of a Bible passage.
Listeners will walk away confident in the reason to study Scripture, equipped to study it for themselves with God's help, and encouraged to let praise rise even under pressure. This episode is an invitation to anchor your Advent in the Word and join Mary in magnifying the Lord. Grab your "Mary's Song" study and join Kate on this Advent journey.
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Episode Transcript
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Kate (00:00):
Hey guys, this is Kate from Abidible.com, and you're
listening to the AbidiblePodcast.
I'm just a regular wife and momwho's had my life transformed
by learning to study the Bibleon my own.
If I can, you can.
On this show, I help you knowand love God more by abiding in
Him through His Word yourself.
(00:21):
We are in the book of Luke,Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Luke, the third of the Gospels,as laid out in our modern
Bibles, and we are about tostudy the words of a song, the
(00:45):
exact words that were sung bythe mother of our Lord over
2,000 years ago when sherealized who God was about to
place in her womb.
This series is going to be holyand transformative for us.
It has to matter because I'venever faced more personal
attacks preparing for a seriesor trying to get the first
(01:07):
episode complete for you guys.
I'd list them off, but you'dlaugh and think I'm making them
up.
This has been a battle, which Iknow means it's going to be so
worth it.
We are going to have theprivilege of studying about
Mary, the mother of Jesus.
And as we do, we will becomeintimately familiar with this
(01:28):
unwed yet betrothed teenagerfrom Nazareth right around the
time that time itself changedfrom BC before Christ to AD, the
year of our Lord.
We'll begin to understand howthis peasant girl of humblest
circumstances was able to hearthe news that carried with it a
(01:48):
potential death sentence, to bea virgin with child, and instead
of curse God, praise him andtrust him, saying, Behold, I am
the servant of the Lord, let itbe to me according to your word.
It is my prayer that Mary'ssong, also known as the
(02:09):
Magnificat from the Latin,magnificat anima mea dominum, my
soul magnifies the Lord, willbecome our song as well, come
what may, let it be so.
May our spirits learn torejoice in God our Savior no
matter our circumstances,because he who is mighty has
(02:31):
done great things, and holy ishis name.
As with every new series webegin here on the Abidible
Podcast, we have a bunch ofquestions and a lot of exciting
work to do together.
I had fun with our Ask UsAnything series that Jason and I
just did with you guys, whichis not complete.
We still have one episodecoming, but I am ready to be
(02:53):
back studying the word together.
Let's pray, and then I'm goingto give you an overview of what
to expect in this episode, andthen we'll read the full passage
together, and after that, we'lljump right in.
Sound good?
Let's pray.
Father God, ourpromise-keeping,
prophecy-fulfilling,miracle-working God, we praise
(03:14):
you for your word.
It tells the story of yourfaithful loving kindness toward
us.
You have loved us with aneverlasting love, and you have
faithfully and kindly kept allof your promises to us,
including the oldest promise ofall, to rescue us from Satan,
sin, and death.
This has been your unified planfor all of history, a plan for
(03:39):
the fullness of time to uniteall things in Christ.
You alone are God.
There is none like you whoaccomplishes all your purposes.
And when the fullness of timehad come, at the very moment
appropriate to your plan and allthat you had promised, you sent
forth your son, born of woman,born under the law, to redeem
(04:03):
those who were under the law.
The people who walked indarkness have seen a great
light, for to us, yet first toMary, a child is born.
To us, but first to Mary, a sonis given.
As we begin the study of Mary'ssong and head into the
Christmas season, as we pullapart and analyze the words of
(04:26):
praise that poured out of youryoung, sweet servant girl, Mudi
Yom, would you open our eyes andhearts to see you as she saw
you?
Will you reveal more of yourheart and your character and
your faithfulness to us as youdid to her two millennia ago?
Will you show us how to praiseand magnify you with our whole
(04:49):
soul and spirit just as Marydid, no matter what
circumstances we are facing?
Will you teach us to willinglysurrender our lives to you based
on our firm confidence in yourworthiness because of who you
are and all that you've done?
You sent your Son for us.
We commit this series to you.
(05:10):
We dedicate ourselves to you inthis season of study, to
knowing and loving you more, andwe ask, Holy Spirit, that you
would illuminate the words herein Scripture in supernatural
ways so that we might drawcloser to you this Advent and
Christmas season.
God, make the words of my mouthand the meditations of my heart
(05:32):
be pleasing and acceptable toyou.
Let remain what you want toremain and let fall away what
needs to fall away.
You are our rock and ourredeemer.
We love you, and our soulsmagnify you, rejoicing in God
our Savior, for you who aremighty, have done great things,
(05:52):
and holy is your name.
In Jesus, the precious Son ofMary's name, we pray.
Amen.
Alright, well, what are wegoing to be doing together
today?
First, let me encourage you topause and get the study if you
haven't already, so that you cando it alongside me over the
next 10 weeks leading up to andprobably one week beyond
(06:15):
Christmas.
The digital copy is just $10and can be downloaded instantly,
so you can start right now, orthe hard copy is $20, and we
print and bind it for you withfree shipping in about 11 to 12
business days.
Either option is available toyou at the link in the show's
description.
As always, if possible, Iencourage you to do the work on
(06:37):
your own before listening to ourpodcast episodes so that you're
learning to study for yourself.
Ideally, what I do here on thepodcast is meant to follow your
work, supplementing it orcomplementing what you've
already done on your own.
Why?
Because we believe that you areable to abide in the Bible
yourself.
(06:57):
What we will be covering intoday's episode is our saturate
section at the beginning of theworkbook, pretty much everything
through page 14.
Now, if you're brand new to theAbidible Podcast and want to
simply listen along and perhapstry studying like this on your
own next time, you are mostcertainly welcome to do that as
well.
Or you can listen to theepisodes first to get some
(07:19):
guidance and then go do thecorresponding work on your own.
This is Liberty Hall, really.
We hold the format with an openhand.
Just know that we are deeplypassionate about coming
alongside you in your study ofGod's word, but not usurping the
work itself by always doing itfor you.
Abiding in God's Word is aboutknowing and loving Him more, and
(07:41):
you are absolutely able tostudy it yourself.
We get that it can take timeand support to get there, and
that's why we have our How toStudy the Bible course and these
studies and the AbidiblePodcast.
While we want you to studyindependently, we also never
want you to feel that you arealone in the process because
you're not.
And you may already know this,but if not, I want you to know.
(08:03):
I am doing this study rightalong with you.
I'm coming with the samequestions, blind spots,
confusion, anticipation, andexcitement that you are.
I'm not a professionallytrained theologian or Bible
teacher.
I'm just a regular Jesus-lovinglady who has learned that my
very life is found in this book,and clinging to it with all my
(08:25):
heart is what I want and need todo for the rest of my days.
So this is how I study, and youare so welcome to be here and
study right along with me, okay?
In this episode, we will begoing over two steps: the
saturate step and a few of theexcavate steps here at Abidible,
which, if you have a copy ofMary's song, you've probably
(08:46):
already noticed is a little bitdifferent.
We'll get to that in a moment.
The purpose of the saturationstep is to put God's word
everywhere.
This biblical concept comesfrom Deuteronomy 6, and so we
walk you through how to letterthe verse on note cards so that
you can hide God's word in yourheart through memorization.
We do this by taking the firstletter of each word in the verse
(09:08):
because it really works.
For example, and Mary said, Mysoul magnifies the Lord, becomes
A M S M S M T L.
We also encourage you to letterthe verse throughout your home,
and we do memory work allthroughout the study.
(09:29):
All of the instructions takeyou step by step through this in
the workbook.
Then we begin the process ofexcavation by doing some of our
own foundational work.
We dig into annotation, slowingdown and marking up the passage
to look for patterns and tohighlight commands or note
repetition.
And we also do some backgroundinfo research about the book,
(09:50):
its author, its intendedaudience, and its purpose and
theming.
I've also added a brand newstep for the first time ever to
Mary's song.
This new step is called the 321method and is meant to quickly
help you gather more context forour passage.
Just like you wouldn't pick upa book and turn to page 149 to
start reading and then beshocked by the fact that you're
(10:13):
totally confused about what'shappening, we also don't want to
just randomly jump into a Biblepassage without more context.
The steps that we teach taketime and work, but don't
underestimate their value.
We are actively andintentionally preparing the soil
of our hearts.
What else would we rather bedoing?
(10:33):
This work has eternal value andreward.
We are studying the living Wordof God and we get to do it
together.
I'm so fired up, you guys.
One final thing before we dothis preparation work together
right now, I want you guys toknow that your support really
does help us continue the workthat we are doing here.
(10:54):
It actually covers our costs sothat we can do what we're
called to do.
Help people know and love Godmore by abiding in his word
themselves.
If you can't donate or supportus right now, that's okay.
Your prayers and your shares,spreading the word about what
we're doing, are a tremendousblessing.
But if this ministry has helpedyou in any way and you feel led
(11:17):
and are able to partner withthe Ministry of Abidible and the
Abidible Podcast, you can checkout the link in the show
description.
We're so grateful for ourpartners and members and donors.
All right, are you ready tobegin?
We've already prayed, I'vegiven you an overview of this
episode, and I've talked to youabout the prep work of lettering
your verses.
(11:37):
Now, let's slow down by readingLuke 1, verses 46 to 45
together, and then we'll talkabout annotation.
From there, we'll move on tobackground information and
context.
We're gonna super geek out now.
Bible nerds unite.
And then that'll be it for thisepisode.
So here's our passage.
(11:58):
And Mary said, My soulmagnifies the Lord, and my
spirit rejoices in God mySavior, for he has looked on the
humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on allgenerations will call me
blessed.
For he who is mighty has donegreat things for me, and holy is
(12:18):
his name.
And his mercy is for those whofear him from generation to
generation.
He has shown strength with hisarm, he has scattered the proud
in the thoughts of their hearts,he has brought down the mighty
from their thrones and exaltedthose of humble estate.
He has filled the hungry withgood things and the rich he has
sent away empty.
(12:39):
He has helped his servantIsrael in remembrance of his
mercy as he spoke to ourfathers, to Abraham, and to his
offspring forever.
See what I mean about jumpingin?
It's beautiful, that's forsure.
It's filled with meaningfulwords and praise, with a record
of things God has done and whyhe's worthy of that praise.
(13:00):
We know Mary is the mother ofJesus, and these are her words.
But who recorded them?
And when?
And why?
And what is happening beforeand after she sings this song?
What do some of these thingsmean, and what is their
connection to Mary and what isabout to happen to her?
These aren't necessarily thethings most moms would say about
(13:22):
God when they find out they'regoing to have a baby.
He's scattered the proud in thethoughts of their hearts and
brought down the mighty fromtheir thrones.
He's exalted those of humbleestate and filled the hungry
with good things, yet sent therich away empty?
What does it all mean?
This is what annotation beginsto help us with and what
(13:43):
background and context will clueus in about.
First, annotation.
We have the passage in front ofus in our workbooks, double
spaced with wide margins.
This time, you may havenoticed, I put the annotation
key right next to annotation inthe workbook for your
convenience, and the crowd goeswild.
(14:03):
You guys have been asking forthis.
I will try and do this movingforward in all our new studies
and will perhaps try to add itto old ones too when I can.
And remember, if you have yourown method of annotating a
passage, have at it.
Anyway, we mark up the passagehere in this annotation step so
we can find things we'd miss ifwe just skimmed over it and read
(14:27):
it quickly.
I began by marking the placeswhere God the Father or any of
his pronouns are mentioned.
Because Mary is singing to theFather, I considered all of the
references in this passage to beabout the Father.
For example, magnifies theLord, he who is mighty, holy is
his name, his mercy is for thosewho fear him, etc.
(14:48):
Though you could use a redcross for the son, where she
says, God my savior, because weknow that's true, and is a title
often used for Jesus, her ownson would also be her savior.
It's mind-blowing, really.
So I did a purple triangle anda red cross on Savior.
In terms of commands tounderline, I just marked fear
(15:10):
him from generation togeneration.
Though you could also make acase for other things Mary said
that could be commands, like theideas of magnify the Lord and
rejoice in God.
There weren't any geographicallocations to underline in green.
In this passage, Israel isreferring to the people, not the
land.
How about repeated words orphrases?
(15:31):
Did you find any to highlight?
Mary mentions generations andoffspring multiple times.
She talks about God doing greatthings and good things.
The word humble appears twice,once in reference to herself as
God's humble servant, and asecond time about God exalting
those of humble estate.
(15:52):
She calls herself God's humbleservant and also refers to
Israel as God's servant.
God's might is mentioned as itrelates to the great things he's
done and also alluded to bymentioning the strength of his
arm.
I'd say the most notablerepeated phrase, however, is he
has.
He has done great things, hehas shown, he has scattered, he
(16:17):
has brought, he has filled, hehas sent, and he has helped.
Through this repetition, we seethat Mary is clearly basing her
praise on specific things Godhas done in the past as the
foundation for why she ispraising him for what he is
doing now, even though it'sgoing to be hard.
She's reminding herself and uswhy knowing who God is and what
(16:42):
he's done always matters in ourpresent circumstances.
This will be very important inour study.
We see God's love demonstratedin this passage through not only
the things he's done, but alsoin the traits that are listed by
Mary.
We see her describing God assavior, all-seeing, mighty, doer
(17:04):
of good and great things, asholy, faithful to generations,
strong, just, merciful, as herhelper, and as the one who
remembers and keeps hispromises.
If there is any sin orconsequences of sin addressed in
this passage, it would be inthe references made to those who
are opposed to God in theirpride, those who are mighty in
(17:28):
their own strength, and thosewho trust in their riches
instead of God.
We see the consequences ofthose sins.
The proud are scattered, themighty are brought down from
their thrones, and the rich aresent away empty.
This highlights another themethat we see in this passage: the
presence of opposites, thehumble versus the proud and
(17:50):
mighty, the hungry versus therich, bringing low those high
and exalted on thrones, fillingthe hungry and leaving the rich
empty, and so on.
This is noteworthy because, aswe're going to see in Mary's
story, the God she worships is aGod who always does the
unexpected and who flips thingsupside down in his kingdom.
(18:13):
Can we just pause for a secondhere?
I feel compelled to stop andremind us that though we don't
know how old Mary was exactly,most Christian historians
believe she was 14 or 15 or 16.
At this time in Israel and inmany other ancient or historical
civilizations, young motherhoodwas culturally normal, with
(18:34):
teenage girls marrying andstarting families earlier.
So though it's hard for us tothink about a 15-year-old girl
that we know right now in thiskind of circumstance, we have to
be careful to not put ourmodern-day biases and worldview
on this story.
And what I'm pausing for andcontemplating with profound
admiration is Mary's faith andher family's legacy of faith.
(18:58):
She probably couldn't read.
She was raised in a low-incomefamily in an area of Israel that
was often written off asirrelevant, Nazareth in Galilee.
And she was a girl.
Females didn't have the sameaccess to education, and not
just females, but most people inmore rural, impoverished areas
like Nazareth didn't know how toread or write.
(19:20):
Why am I bringing that up?
Well, just look at what she'ssinging.
How does she know about all thethings that God had done
historically for her people?
How does she just rattle themoff so eloquently in her song?
She's talking about who God isand what he's done.
Remember, in the midst ofworld-changing, yes, but also
(19:42):
personally, potentiallycatastrophic news.
She is a betrothed virgin whowas going to have a baby in a
culture where adultery wasforbidden, which is what this
would be considered.
Her betrothal to Joseph was asbinding as marriage, and so this
would be adultery, an offensepotentially punishable by death.
(20:03):
These words of praise arecoming from a girl who clearly
has a rock solid foundation anda true personal relationship
with God, her Savior.
Her response (20:13):
this song and these words are evidence of her
profoundly personal and realrelationship with God that must
have been forged over yearsthrough the things that her
family and community had taughther about him.
Mary's song is not written inan isolated bubble, though for
(20:33):
the moment she only hasElizabeth and Zechariah.
I don't think you or I can wrapour minds around how special
these words truly are.
Hopefully, by the end of thisseries, we'll come close.
To close out this annotationsection, I just want to make
sure that you're making room toask your questions.
Here are some examples of thekind of questions you might ask.
(20:56):
What has happened right beforethis that Mary is responding to?
What does she specifically meanby her humble estate?
Why is Jesus' birthannouncement causing her to talk
about the rich and the mightyand the proud, as well as the
humble and the hungry and thepoor?
What specific generationalpromise does Mary believe God is
(21:17):
fulfilling?
What does it mean for a soul tomagnify the Lord?
Ask as many questions as youcan think of in this section,
knowing that no question is offlimits or too silly, and that
now isn't the time to answer thequestions, just to consider
them.
As we study, all of yourquestions should be answered.
And that's it for annotation.
(21:39):
We'll be right back after thismessage.
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(22:23):
And now back to the show.
We are moving on to page six inour Mary's song workbook
background info.
Here's where we're going toanswer some important questions
to give us a foundation for thepassage we are studying
together.
We'll start with who wrote it.
We want to know this, right?
(22:44):
We know that Mary sang thesong, but who wrote the book?
We want to know who has theknowledge and the evidence and
the authority to tell us thesewere the words that Mary
actually sang.
So let's put in the work.
Here's what you'll find whenyou do some research.
Luke is not named as the authorof the book of Luke, nor is he
(23:04):
named to the other New Testamentbook that is ascribed to him.
Do you know which one that is?
If you said Acts, you'recorrect.
The author of the Gospel ofLuke opens by stating that he is
writing to Theophilus to givehim an orderly account regarding
what Theophilus has been taughtabout Jesus.
The book of Acts opens with theauthor stating, In the first
(23:28):
book, O Theophilus, I have dealtwith all that Jesus began to do
and teach.
Clearly, Acts is volume two,and the gospel we're referring
to, Luke, is volume one.
These books were written by thesame author to the same person.
We don't have real clarityabout who Theophilus was.
You can read about differentfun theories online, but we have
(23:50):
clarity about who the authorwas.
It was Luke.
But how do we know that Lukewas the author?
Great question.
Do you know that it's okay toask questions like this?
It is.
It's good, not bad.
It builds your faith and it'sfun researching and finding the
answers.
So, just because we don't readlove Luke at the end of either
(24:14):
of these books, it doesn't meanwe can't be confident that he's
the author.
Lucan authorship, there's a newword for you, is supported, as
the ESB study Bible says, byboth external evidence, meaning
church tradition, and internalevidence.
Early church tradition for Lukeas the author begins in the mid
(24:34):
to late second century AD, soclose to about 100 years from
when the events written aboutoccurred.
This is actually a reallyreliable span of time when it
comes to the legitimacy ofhistorical texts.
This early church traditionunanimously supported Luke as
the author of this gospel andthe book of Acts.
Specifically, we have writtendiscussions of Luke as the
(24:58):
author of Acts from Irenaeus,the bishop of lions in Gaul,
modern-day France, in the late2nd century A.D.
Irenaeus was taught byPolycarp, the bishop of Smyrna,
who was a disciple of theApostle John.
So, John, the best friend ofJesus, known as the beloved
(25:18):
disciple, the one whom Jesusloved, and to whom Jesus
entrusted the care of his motherMary, that John trained
Polycarp, who trained Irenaeus.
That's a very reliable chain ofcustody.
And Irenaeus attributes theGospel of Luke in the book of
Acts to Luke, the physician andco-worker of Paul.
(25:41):
If that tradition of Lucanauthorship had been incorrect,
of course John would have notedthat to Polycarp, who would have
passed that on to Irenaeus.
But instead, put on yourdetective cap here, Irenaeus
notes that the internal evidencefor Lucan authorship is the
occurrence of the first personnarrative we throughout the
(26:03):
later chapters of Acts, startingat 1610.
This use of we indicates thatthe author of Acts was a
companion of Paul and presentwith him on these occasions.
These we passages in Acts arethe key to the authorship of
both Acts and the Gospel ofLuke.
The author of Acts wastherefore most likely one of
(26:26):
Paul's companions, listed in hisletters that were written
during this time.
We learn that Luke is listed asa traveling companion of Paul
in Colossians 4.14, 2 Timothy4.11, and Philemon 24.
The author of Acts can't besomeone referred to in the third
person in these lists ofcompanions.
(26:46):
Just like if I was writingabout my family's trip to
Disneyland, I wouldn't say wehad the best time.
My mom and dad and Jason andLiam and Kate loved Disney.
I wouldn't name myself in thethird person.
And Luke didn't either.
In addition, the other cluesthat help us confidently say
that Luke is the author includethe well-known fact that the
(27:07):
author of Luke was from thesecond generation of the early
church, meaning he wasn't aneyewitness of Jesus' ministry.
In the introduction to Luke andActs, the author tells
Theophilus that he is compilinga narrative, an orderly account
of all that Jesus did andtaught, and then what happened
with the early church.
(27:28):
He reveals that he has closelyfollowed this story for, quote,
some time past, and that hereceived the information from
eyewitness accounts and thosewho were ministers or guardians
of the word.
The Greek here indicates thatthe author is passing on what
was handed down to him by thosewho from the beginning were
(27:50):
self-seeing eyewitnesses, akathose who saw it all with their
own eyes.
This term eyewitness in theGreek is autoptes, which can
also be a medical term for, anyguesses, autopsy, or a detailed
examination, which is coolbecause the other thing we know
about Luke from Colossians 4.14is that he was a physician and a
(28:14):
Gentile from Antioch, which, ifyou did our Jars of Clay series
with us, was an importantlocation in the Apostle Paul's
life.
Quick aside, imagine being theApostle Paul's traveling
companion and personalphysician, considering all of
the physical beatings andailments he endured.
Can you imagine what Luke saw?
(28:35):
Ultimately, we trust that asthe ESV notes say, because Luke
traveled with Paul, this gospelwas received as having apostolic
endorsement and authority fromPaul, and was a trustworthy
record of the gospel that Paulpreached.
Other early supporters of Lucanauthorship, just to drive this
point home, were Origen,Eusebius, Justin Martyr,
(28:59):
Hegesippius, Clement ofAlexandria, and Tertullian.
Within the first severalhundred years of these events
taking place, it was unanimouslyagreed that Luke was the author
of the Gospel of Luke.
I'll close with this quote fromchurch historian Eusebius, a
contemporary of Constantine, whosaid, Luke, who was by race an
(29:20):
Antiochan and a physician byprofession, was long a companion
of Paul and had carefulconversation with the other
apostles, and in two books leftus examples of the medicine for
souls which he had gained fromthem.
Luke was written by Luke.
Now, onward to our nextquestion.
(29:42):
When was Luke written?
This is another fun rabbithole.
And because I asked for yourpermission to go full nerd, and
many of you gave it to me onsocial media, we're going to
ride the elevator all the waydown to the basement.
I do have a reason for takingthis time, by the way.
I really, really want us to.
Have confidence that the wordswe're reading in Mary's song
(30:04):
were in fact Mary's.
Luke is one of the fourGospels, as I said: Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John.
Have you ever been curious toknow the order in which the
Gospels were written?
I hope so, or at least I hopeI'm piquing your curiosity
because that's what we're goingto talk about now.
I wanted to know, were theGospels written in the same
(30:26):
order that we have them in ourBibles?
But then I thought, first, weshould talk about what even is a
gospel.
Well, the word gospel literallymeans good news.
The Bible project says thisgood news refers to the
announcement that Jesus hasbrought the reign of God to our
world through his life, death,and resurrection from the dead.
(30:50):
Again, the Bible Project saysthey are not, the Gospels,
merely historical chronicles,but are also narrative
announcements that make thesignificant claim that Jesus is
the Messiah of Israel and thetrue Lord of the world.
The Gospel stories claim toboth recount history and aim to
(31:11):
persuade the reader toacknowledge Jesus as Lord and
become his disciple.
We have four Gospels from fourdifferent authors who paint a
complementary and well-roundedpicture of the life and
teachings of Jesus.
So, what order were theywritten in?
While we can't be 100% certain,here's one strong possibility
(31:35):
in terms of order.
Matthew was written first, thenLuke, some people think Mark,
then Mark, and finally John.
How is this the prevailingview?
Here's a quick gotquestions.orgsummary from Dr.
David Allen Black's book, WhyFour Gospels.
(31:56):
Keep in mind that many reliablehistorical records and events
put the crucifixion of Jesus onFriday, April 3rd, A.D.
33.
Keep that date in mind as wedate the Gospels, give or take a
few years, depending on thesource.
After Christ was resurrectedfrom the dead and the church was
(32:16):
born, the believers realizedthe need for a written record of
the account of Christ's life.
Matthew was selected for thetask of producing that account,
and, under the inspiration ofthe Holy Spirit, he penned his
work before the Jerusalembelievers were scattered from
the persecution of Herod AgrippaI, which occurred in A.D.
(32:38):
42.
This is potentially around 11years after Jesus' death and
resurrection.
Paul began his evangelisticwork and found the need for a
gospel account that spoke moreto the Gentiles.
Matthew's gospel was writtenfor a Jewish audience.
Paul worked with Luke toproduce his gospel, which was
(32:59):
completed sometime between A.D.
58 and 60 or 62.
So that's about 25 years afterJesus' death and resurrection.
During Paul's detention inRome, sometime around 60 to 62
A.D., he asked Peter topersonally authorize Luke's
gospel, which he did.
(33:20):
While in Rome, Peter delivereda number of testimonies about
Christ's life to an illustriousRoman audience.
Those messages were recorded byJohn Mark, Peter's secretary.
After Peter was martyred,Mark's work was published as a
gospel sometime around A.D.
66 or 67, which is about 33 to34 years after Jesus' death and
(33:45):
resurrection.
And then finally, John's Gospelwas written and published while
John lived in Ephesus.
The most accepted time for thiswriting was A.D.
85 to 90, which was about 52 to57 years after Jesus' death and
resurrection.
The completion of the Gospel ofJohn rounded out the eyewitness
(34:07):
accounts of Jesus' life.
Support for Black's timeline isfound in the writings of the
early church fathers.
Referring to the Gospel ofMatthew, Origen, who lived
around A.D.
185 to 254, writes (34:19):
The first written was that according to
the one-time tax collector, butlater apostle of Jesus Christ,
Matthew, who published it forthe believers from Judaism.
Clement of Alexandria, AD 150to 215, quoted by Eusebius,
(34:39):
supports Origen and providessome details for Luke.
Quote, Clement has set down atradition of the earliest elders
about the order of the Gospels,and it has this form.
He used to say that theearliest written gospels were
those containing thegenealogies.
So that's Matthew and Luke.
Clement also speaks of Markwhen he writes, Peter was
(35:04):
publicly preaching the gospel atRome in the presence of some of
Caesar's knights and utteringmany testimonies about Christ,
and on their asking him to letthem have a record of the things
that had been said, wrote thegospel that is called the Gospel
of Mark from the things said byPeter.
On the subject of theauthorship and timing of the
(35:25):
Gospel of John, there is littleto no opposition to John's
authorship and its being last inorder.
Irenaeus writes, John thedisciple of the Lord, who leaned
back on his breast, publishedthe Gospel while he was a
resident at Ephesus in Asia.
So again, while it isimpossible to be certain about
(35:46):
the order in which the Gospelswere written, the prevailing
viewpoint seems to be that theorder was Matthew, then Luke,
then Mark, and then John.
This book that we are about tostudy, Luke, was therefore most
likely written around A.D.
58 to 62, which was withinabout 25 years of Jesus' death
(36:09):
and resurrection.
25 years.
Let's talk about this timelineand how it applies to our next
question (36:17):
to whom was it written?
In order to understand timelineand audience, we have to put
ourselves in the shoes of theearly church, and we have to
understand the power of oraltradition and eyewitness
testimony, and also the mandateof the Great Commission to be
Jesus' witnesses in Jerusalemand in Samaria and to the ends
(36:38):
of the earth.
By the way, that includes us,you guys, which I will never not
be moved by.
First of all, and keep this inmind as we think about how the
words of Mary's song werepreserved, oral tradition in the
ancient world was not a game oftelephone, but a communal
process where stories andsayings were repeated and
(37:00):
memorized.
Think about it.
Initially, how did Jesus'followers share the good news?
Through word of mouth.
At the time, and in thatimmediate region, eyewitness
accounts were seen as powerfuland sufficient.
Again, especially in the localcommunity of Jerusalem where
people had direct knowledge ofJesus' ministry.
(37:23):
Also, initially, believersthought Jesus' return was
imminent, so they didn't see theneed for a written record when
oral tradition and eyewitnessaccounts seemed sufficient.
But as time passed, believersand eyewitnesses began to die.
And as the faith spread beyondJerusalem to a wider, more
(37:44):
educated audience who did notknow the eyewitnesses, there
became a clear need for writtenaccounts to educate new
believers accurately.
So that's exactly what theydid.
Again, with the first account,Matthew, likely written within
10 to 12 years of Jesus'ascension.
The Gospels are so cool, youguys.
Our next question (38:04):
for what purpose was it written?
We can think about the Gospelsin general and then Luke in
particular.
Think about how each Gospelwriter focuses on certain
aspects of Jesus and hisministry, his kingly fulfillment
of Old Testament prophecy inMatthew, his ministry to
Gentiles in Luke, his sufferingand servant role in Mark, his
(38:28):
divine identity in John.
This variation doesn't meanconflict, but a broadening of
the portrait.
And because they were writtenin different historical phases
of the church, each gospeladdresses the circumstances and
needs of a particular community.
Thus, the fourfold witnessreflects the breadth of the
(38:50):
early Christian movement.
The similarities among thegospels testify to a shared core
truth about Jesus, notconflict.
And the differences enrich ourunderstanding rather than
confuse it.
The diversity of perspective ispart of the divine design
rather than a flaw.
(39:10):
And having multiple gospelsalso echoes the biblical
principle of multiple witnessesthat we see in Deuteronomy 17.6
and 2 Corinthians 13.1.
This just strengthens thereliability of the testimony
about Jesus.
And finally, the four gospelsfit together to show how the
gospel message moves yet furtherand further outwards, from
(39:34):
Jewish roots to the Gentileworld, from early church
beginnings to a universalmission.
This beautifully helpsbelievers see themselves in the
story.
The gospel is for all kinds ofpeople in all contexts.
So, somewhere around AD 60,Paul and Luke saw the need for
(39:56):
an orderly account of the lifeand teaching of Jesus for a
primarily Gentile audience andset out to do exactly that.
These combined historical,cultural, and social settings of
oral tradition, eyewitnessaccount, and the need to get
everything written down wouldhave ensured that the words of
(40:17):
Mary's song of praise were firstcirculated and then remembered
and finally recorded accuratelyamong the early followers of
Jesus.
What song could be moreimportant than perhaps the first
lullaby ever sung to the Son ofGod while in the humble womb of
God's chosen servant and thesubject of our study together,
(40:40):
Mary?
Our final question has to dowith the literary style of our
passage.
Usually we look at the literarystyle of the book, but in this
case, we're going to hone inspecifically on the literary
style of the song itself.
Because the book of Luke is sostylistically diverse, in fact,
no gospel encompasses such acomplete range of subgenres as
(41:04):
Luke.
The Magnificat, or Mary's song,bears a striking resemblance to
other hymns in the OldTestament, most notably the song
of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2, verses1 through 10.
Think about what that means.
It likely indicates that Mary,as we talked about, as a devout
(41:26):
Jewish young woman, would havebeen steeped in the scriptures.
So of course her song wouldhave echoed familiar, memorized
scriptural language.
This poetic, patterned naturein the original language, which
is sadly lost on us intranslation, would have also
made it easier to preservethrough oral tradition.
(41:48):
And somehow, this young teenagegirl knew that these words
would need to be foreverpreserved.
Don't you want to havescripture pour out of you like
that?
With Mary's song in mind, let'sdo it.
Let's go to 1 Samuel 2 and readportions of Hannah's prayer.
This is so cool.
And Hannah prayed and said, Myheart exalts in the Lord, my
(42:12):
horn is exalted in the Lord, Irejoice in your salvation.
There is none holy like theLord, for there is none besides
you.
There is no rock like our God.
The bows of the mighty arebroken, but the feeble bind on
strength.
The Lord makes poor and makesrich, he brings low and he
exalts, he raises up the poorfrom the dust, he lifts the
(42:36):
needy from the ash heap to makethem sit with princes and
inherit a seat of honor.
For the pillars of the earthare the Lord's, and on them he
has set the world.
He will guard the feet of hisfaithful ones, but the wicked
shall be cut off in darkness,for not by might shall a man
prevail.
Mary surely learned thatprayer, don't you think?
(42:58):
The song of Hannah's heart, andout of her foundation in the
oral tradition of God's word,Mary sang her own song.
I am so moved by this idea thatI am going to be creating a PDF
printable insert in ourAbidible Plus members community
to add to your Mary's songstudy.
This will be a page for you toput at the end of your book and
(43:23):
write your own song to the Lord.
I think by the time we wrap upthis study after Christmas, you
will be overflowing with praiseand truth.
Imagine sitting down to write asong like this, following in
the footsteps of some prettyincredible women in the Bible.
Now, a little more generallyspeaking, let's talk about some
of the really cool literaryfeatures of this song.
(43:45):
This is a psalm ofthanksgiving, because Mary
begins with praise for God andthen elaborates on why she is
thankful.
This is a very common structurein Psalms of Thanksgiving.
It's also considered ancientHebrew poetry, similar in form
and content to the Psalms.
It is filled with references tothe Old Testament and therefore
(44:07):
powerfully reveals how what ishappening to Mary fits into
God's larger plan.
We also see parallelism andcontrast, especially in the
second half, to describe how Godreverses fortunes.
We talked about this a littlebit during our annotation
section.
For example, it contrasts theproud, the mighty, and the rich
(44:30):
with the lowly, the humble, andthe hungry.
The song is also deeplytheological, focusing on God's
mercy, strength, andfaithfulness, as well as his
role in overthrowing worldlypower structures.
More on that to come.
And finally, this song is usedby the book's author, Luke, to
(44:51):
foreshadow the radical andrevolutionary nature of Jesus'
ministry of reversal for theworld.
So cool.
And that's it for ourbackground research page.
This sheds so much light on thepassage we're about to study,
doesn't it?
But I think we can take just alittle more time together to do
(45:12):
one final powerful step.
And that is our new 321 contextmethod.
This is simply a way for us toquickly get a picture of the
surrounding context for ourpassage.
This is how we avoid justdropping in blindly to a small
section of scripture.
By locating the heading fordifferent sections in Luke 1 and
(45:32):
2, and then briefly answeringsome basic questions, we can get
a feel for what's happeningimmediately before and after
Mary sings this song.
Each section has a fewquestions to answer as you make
some observations about thepassage.
But for the purpose of wrappingup our nerdfest episode into
Mary's song, I'm only going toshare the heading and the sense
(45:56):
of that section with you.
The sense is the part where wesummarize what's happening in
about 25 words or less.
So here's what we've gotDedication to Theophilus.
Here, Luke writes an orderlyaccount so Theophilus may have
certainty about the gospel.
The next section is Birth ofJohn the Baptist foretold.
(46:18):
The miraculous conception ofJohn is a work God does through
his righteous but old servants,Zechariah and Elizabeth.
John will prepare the way forthe Lord.
Next is the birth of Jesusforetold.
Here, a virgin named Mary istold that she will carry and
(46:38):
deliver Jesus, the long-awaitedMessiah.
She faithfully accepts theLord's plan for her.
Next, Mary visits Elizabeth,and we see confirmation that God
will do exactly what he hassaid he would do for Mary and
ultimately for all people.
He beautifully uses Elizabethand John to comfort and affirm
(47:02):
his plan for Mary.
It's either during orimmediately after this visit
that Mary sings her song.
Then we have the birth of Johnthe Baptist, where God performed
such a miracle through John'sbirth to Elizabeth and Zechariah
that everyone around took noteand was talking about it.
(47:23):
Next comes Zechariah'sprophecy, in which we are told
that John will be the prophet ofthe Most High, the promised
Messiah who will save anddeliver his people and bring
light to those who sit indarkness.
And finally, we have the birthof Christ.
Mary gives birth to Jesus inBethlehem as promised.
(47:45):
This is Luke 2, and the rest ofthe second chapter is about
Jesus' birth and his childhood.
If you're really curious, youcan keep going.
In Luke 3, John the Baptistprepares the way for Jesus, and
we have Jesus' genealogy throughMary's side of the family.
We're going to get more intoJesus' amazing genealogy in
future episodes.
(48:06):
I can't wait for that.
And then in Luke 4, Jesus hasbeen baptized, faces the
temptation in the wilderness,and begins his ministry.
So that's the 3-2-1 method.
It just gives us our bearings.
I think it's a valuablepractice, and I hope you will
too.
As we move to wrap up thisintro episode to Mary's song, I
(48:26):
just want to offer a simple wordof encouragement to keep
showing up.
The Holy Spirit is your guideas you study the living word of
God.
Lean on him, invite him intoyour study time.
In John 14, 26, Jesus made apromise to you.
He said, But the helper, theHoly Spirit, whom the Father
will send in my name, he willteach you all things and bring
(48:48):
to your remembrance all that Ihave said to you.
Friend, don't try and workthrough this study in your own
strength.
Don't do it to check a box orto earn anything from God.
Don't do it as penance or tomake yourself look or feel holy.
Do it in his power, by hismight, out of a desire simply to
(49:10):
know and love him more.
That's it.
When you don't feel like it,pick it up anyway.
When you have less time thanyou'd like, use whatever time
you do have.
When you miss a day, pick itback up the next day.
When you don't understand,press in, lean in and fight.
The word of God is your verylife and abiding in it helps you
(49:33):
to remember who He is and allthat He's done.
And just like we see with Mary,having that foundation is what
enables us to say, Your will bedone.
May it be to me as you havesaid.
Check out the link to learnmore about partnering with us by
(50:23):
buying us a coffee one time, byjoining our Avidable Plus
membership community of womenfor $10 a month, or by becoming
a monthly supporter.
If you made it this far and arewondering about our missing
fifth and final episode in theAsk Us Anything series that
Jason and I did, sit tight andkeep looking for it.
This last episode is on churchhurt and the role of the church
(50:47):
in finding a church, et cetera,et cetera.
I promise we'll do it.
I'm not sure when, but we'llget it to you.
My health has thrown a wrenchin the plans this fall.
Not only has my post-surgeryjourney been trickier than
expected, but I also was sickfor two weekends in a row, and
our dog threw out his neckagain, and a bunch of other
crazy personal things have beengoing on.
(51:07):
So it's out of sight for themoment.
So we could get moving onMary's song, but it is certainly
not out of mind.
Now, for those of you followingalong in the workbook for
Mary's song, go ahead and beginworking on our first verses in
this series, Luke 1, 46 to 47,on pages 18 to 21 in your study
workbook.
(51:28):
I combined them in the workbookbecause they are both so short.
Ideally, you would have thissection done before you listen
to the next episode, number 71.
In this episode, we will learnwhat it means to have a soul
that magnifies the Lord and aspirit that rejoices in God, our
Savior.
The verses next week sayexactly that from Luke 1, 46 to
(51:48):
47.
And Mary said, My soulmagnifies the Lord, and my
spirit rejoices in God, mySavior.
I want us to be a people whomagnify God and who rejoice in
our Savior no matter what we'refacing, don't you?
I still don't know how to dothat.
To have my knee-jerk reactionconsistently be surrender and
(52:11):
praise.
But I do desire that.
God, please help me.
Help us.
I can't wait to learn more withyou about this next week.
Since I prayed for us at thebeginning of the episode, I'll
go ahead and wrap things upright here for now.
But remember, as always, youare able to abide in the Bible.
We'll see you next time.
(52:32):
Until then, let's abide
Hey guys, this is Kate from Abidible.com, and you're
listening to the AbidiblePodcast.
I'm just a regular wife and momwho's had my life transformed
by learning to study the Bibleon my own.
If I can, you can.
On this show, I help you knowand love God more by abiding in
Him through His Word yourself.
(00:21):
We are in the book of Luke,Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Luke, the third of the Gospels,as laid out in our modern
Bibles, and we are about tostudy the words of a song, the
(00:45):
exact words that were sung bythe mother of our Lord over
2,000 years ago when sherealized who God was about to
place in her womb.
This series is going to be holyand transformative for us.
It has to matter because I'venever faced more personal
attacks preparing for a seriesor trying to get the first
(01:07):
episode complete for you guys.
I'd list them off, but you'dlaugh and think I'm making them
up.
This has been a battle, which Iknow means it's going to be so
worth it.
We are going to have theprivilege of studying about
Mary, the mother of Jesus.
And as we do, we will becomeintimately familiar with this
(01:28):
unwed yet betrothed teenagerfrom Nazareth right around the
time that time itself changedfrom BC before Christ to AD, the
year of our Lord.
We'll begin to understand howthis peasant girl of humblest
circumstances was able to hearthe news that carried with it a
(01:48):
potential death sentence, to bea virgin with child, and instead
of curse God, praise him andtrust him, saying, Behold, I am
the servant of the Lord, let itbe to me according to your word.
It is my prayer that Mary'ssong, also known as the
(02:09):
Magnificat from the Latin,magnificat anima mea dominum, my
soul magnifies the Lord, willbecome our song as well, come
what may, let it be so.
May our spirits learn torejoice in God our Savior no
matter our circumstances,because he who is mighty has
(02:31):
done great things, and holy ishis name.
As with every new series webegin here on the Abidible
Podcast, we have a bunch ofquestions and a lot of exciting
work to do together.
I had fun with our Ask UsAnything series that Jason and I
just did with you guys, whichis not complete.
We still have one episodecoming, but I am ready to be
(02:53):
back studying the word together.
Let's pray, and then I'm goingto give you an overview of what
to expect in this episode, andthen we'll read the full passage
together, and after that, we'lljump right in.
Sound good?
Let's pray.
Father God, ourpromise-keeping,
prophecy-fulfilling,miracle-working God, we praise
(03:14):
you for your word.
It tells the story of yourfaithful loving kindness toward
us.
You have loved us with aneverlasting love, and you have
faithfully and kindly kept allof your promises to us,
including the oldest promise ofall, to rescue us from Satan,
sin, and death.
This has been your unified planfor all of history, a plan for
(03:39):
the fullness of time to uniteall things in Christ.
You alone are God.
There is none like you whoaccomplishes all your purposes.
And when the fullness of timehad come, at the very moment
appropriate to your plan and allthat you had promised, you sent
forth your son, born of woman,born under the law, to redeem
(04:03):
those who were under the law.
The people who walked indarkness have seen a great
light, for to us, yet first toMary, a child is born.
To us, but first to Mary, a sonis given.
As we begin the study of Mary'ssong and head into the
Christmas season, as we pullapart and analyze the words of
(04:26):
praise that poured out of youryoung, sweet servant girl, Mudi
Yom, would you open our eyes andhearts to see you as she saw
you?
Will you reveal more of yourheart and your character and
your faithfulness to us as youdid to her two millennia ago?
Will you show us how to praiseand magnify you with our whole
(04:49):
soul and spirit just as Marydid, no matter what
circumstances we are facing?
Will you teach us to willinglysurrender our lives to you based
on our firm confidence in yourworthiness because of who you
are and all that you've done?
You sent your Son for us.
We commit this series to you.
(05:10):
We dedicate ourselves to you inthis season of study, to
knowing and loving you more, andwe ask, Holy Spirit, that you
would illuminate the words herein Scripture in supernatural
ways so that we might drawcloser to you this Advent and
Christmas season.
God, make the words of my mouthand the meditations of my heart
(05:32):
be pleasing and acceptable toyou.
Let remain what you want toremain and let fall away what
needs to fall away.
You are our rock and ourredeemer.
We love you, and our soulsmagnify you, rejoicing in God
our Savior, for you who aremighty, have done great things,
(05:52):
and holy is your name.
In Jesus, the precious Son ofMary's name, we pray.
Amen.
Alright, well, what are wegoing to be doing together
today?
First, let me encourage you topause and get the study if you
haven't already, so that you cando it alongside me over the
next 10 weeks leading up to andprobably one week beyond
(06:15):
Christmas.
The digital copy is just $10and can be downloaded instantly,
so you can start right now, orthe hard copy is $20, and we
print and bind it for you withfree shipping in about 11 to 12
business days.
Either option is available toyou at the link in the show's
description.
As always, if possible, Iencourage you to do the work on
(06:37):
your own before listening to ourpodcast episodes so that you're
learning to study for yourself.
Ideally, what I do here on thepodcast is meant to follow your
work, supplementing it orcomplementing what you've
already done on your own.
Why?
Because we believe that you areable to abide in the Bible
yourself.
(06:57):
What we will be covering intoday's episode is our saturate
section at the beginning of theworkbook, pretty much everything
through page 14.
Now, if you're brand new to theAbidible Podcast and want to
simply listen along and perhapstry studying like this on your
own next time, you are mostcertainly welcome to do that as
well.
Or you can listen to theepisodes first to get some
(07:19):
guidance and then go do thecorresponding work on your own.
This is Liberty Hall, really.
We hold the format with an openhand.
Just know that we are deeplypassionate about coming
alongside you in your study ofGod's word, but not usurping the
work itself by always doing itfor you.
Abiding in God's Word is aboutknowing and loving Him more, and
(07:41):
you are absolutely able tostudy it yourself.
We get that it can take timeand support to get there, and
that's why we have our How toStudy the Bible course and these
studies and the AbidiblePodcast.
While we want you to studyindependently, we also never
want you to feel that you arealone in the process because
you're not.
And you may already know this,but if not, I want you to know.
(08:03):
I am doing this study rightalong with you.
I'm coming with the samequestions, blind spots,
confusion, anticipation, andexcitement that you are.
I'm not a professionallytrained theologian or Bible
teacher.
I'm just a regular Jesus-lovinglady who has learned that my
very life is found in this book,and clinging to it with all my
(08:25):
heart is what I want and need todo for the rest of my days.
So this is how I study, and youare so welcome to be here and
study right along with me, okay?
In this episode, we will begoing over two steps: the
saturate step and a few of theexcavate steps here at Abidible,
which, if you have a copy ofMary's song, you've probably
(08:46):
already noticed is a little bitdifferent.
We'll get to that in a moment.
The purpose of the saturationstep is to put God's word
everywhere.
This biblical concept comesfrom Deuteronomy 6, and so we
walk you through how to letterthe verse on note cards so that
you can hide God's word in yourheart through memorization.
We do this by taking the firstletter of each word in the verse
(09:08):
because it really works.
For example, and Mary said, Mysoul magnifies the Lord, becomes
A M S M S M T L.
We also encourage you to letterthe verse throughout your home,
and we do memory work allthroughout the study.
(09:29):
All of the instructions takeyou step by step through this in
the workbook.
Then we begin the process ofexcavation by doing some of our
own foundational work.
We dig into annotation, slowingdown and marking up the passage
to look for patterns and tohighlight commands or note
repetition.
And we also do some backgroundinfo research about the book,
(09:50):
its author, its intendedaudience, and its purpose and
theming.
I've also added a brand newstep for the first time ever to
Mary's song.
This new step is called the 321method and is meant to quickly
help you gather more context forour passage.
Just like you wouldn't pick upa book and turn to page 149 to
start reading and then beshocked by the fact that you're
(10:13):
totally confused about what'shappening, we also don't want to
just randomly jump into a Biblepassage without more context.
The steps that we teach taketime and work, but don't
underestimate their value.
We are actively andintentionally preparing the soil
of our hearts.
What else would we rather bedoing?
(10:33):
This work has eternal value andreward.
We are studying the living Wordof God and we get to do it
together.
I'm so fired up, you guys.
One final thing before we dothis preparation work together
right now, I want you guys toknow that your support really
does help us continue the workthat we are doing here.
(10:54):
It actually covers our costs sothat we can do what we're
called to do.
Help people know and love Godmore by abiding in his word
themselves.
If you can't donate or supportus right now, that's okay.
Your prayers and your shares,spreading the word about what
we're doing, are a tremendousblessing.
But if this ministry has helpedyou in any way and you feel led
(11:17):
and are able to partner withthe Ministry of Abidible and the
Abidible Podcast, you can checkout the link in the show
description.
We're so grateful for ourpartners and members and donors.
All right, are you ready tobegin?
We've already prayed, I'vegiven you an overview of this
episode, and I've talked to youabout the prep work of lettering
your verses.
(11:37):
Now, let's slow down by readingLuke 1, verses 46 to 45
together, and then we'll talkabout annotation.
From there, we'll move on tobackground information and
context.
We're gonna super geek out now.
Bible nerds unite.
And then that'll be it for thisepisode.
So here's our passage.
(11:58):
And Mary said, My soulmagnifies the Lord, and my
spirit rejoices in God mySavior, for he has looked on the
humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on allgenerations will call me
blessed.
For he who is mighty has donegreat things for me, and holy is
(12:18):
his name.
And his mercy is for those whofear him from generation to
generation.
He has shown strength with hisarm, he has scattered the proud
in the thoughts of their hearts,he has brought down the mighty
from their thrones and exaltedthose of humble estate.
He has filled the hungry withgood things and the rich he has
sent away empty.
(12:39):
He has helped his servantIsrael in remembrance of his
mercy as he spoke to ourfathers, to Abraham, and to his
offspring forever.
See what I mean about jumpingin?
It's beautiful, that's forsure.
It's filled with meaningfulwords and praise, with a record
of things God has done and whyhe's worthy of that praise.
(13:00):
We know Mary is the mother ofJesus, and these are her words.
But who recorded them?
And when?
And why?
And what is happening beforeand after she sings this song?
What do some of these thingsmean, and what is their
connection to Mary and what isabout to happen to her?
These aren't necessarily thethings most moms would say about
(13:22):
God when they find out they'regoing to have a baby.
He's scattered the proud in thethoughts of their hearts and
brought down the mighty fromtheir thrones.
He's exalted those of humbleestate and filled the hungry
with good things, yet sent therich away empty?
What does it all mean?
This is what annotation beginsto help us with and what
(13:43):
background and context will clueus in about.
First, annotation.
We have the passage in front ofus in our workbooks, double
spaced with wide margins.
This time, you may havenoticed, I put the annotation
key right next to annotation inthe workbook for your
convenience, and the crowd goeswild.
(14:03):
You guys have been asking forthis.
I will try and do this movingforward in all our new studies
and will perhaps try to add itto old ones too when I can.
And remember, if you have yourown method of annotating a
passage, have at it.
Anyway, we mark up the passagehere in this annotation step so
we can find things we'd miss ifwe just skimmed over it and read
(14:27):
it quickly.
I began by marking the placeswhere God the Father or any of
his pronouns are mentioned.
Because Mary is singing to theFather, I considered all of the
references in this passage to beabout the Father.
For example, magnifies theLord, he who is mighty, holy is
his name, his mercy is for thosewho fear him, etc.
(14:48):
Though you could use a redcross for the son, where she
says, God my savior, because weknow that's true, and is a title
often used for Jesus, her ownson would also be her savior.
It's mind-blowing, really.
So I did a purple triangle anda red cross on Savior.
In terms of commands tounderline, I just marked fear
(15:10):
him from generation togeneration.
Though you could also make acase for other things Mary said
that could be commands, like theideas of magnify the Lord and
rejoice in God.
There weren't any geographicallocations to underline in green.
In this passage, Israel isreferring to the people, not the
land.
How about repeated words orphrases?
(15:31):
Did you find any to highlight?
Mary mentions generations andoffspring multiple times.
She talks about God doing greatthings and good things.
The word humble appears twice,once in reference to herself as
God's humble servant, and asecond time about God exalting
those of humble estate.
(15:52):
She calls herself God's humbleservant and also refers to
Israel as God's servant.
God's might is mentioned as itrelates to the great things he's
done and also alluded to bymentioning the strength of his
arm.
I'd say the most notablerepeated phrase, however, is he
has.
He has done great things, hehas shown, he has scattered, he
(16:17):
has brought, he has filled, hehas sent, and he has helped.
Through this repetition, we seethat Mary is clearly basing her
praise on specific things Godhas done in the past as the
foundation for why she ispraising him for what he is
doing now, even though it'sgoing to be hard.
She's reminding herself and uswhy knowing who God is and what
(16:42):
he's done always matters in ourpresent circumstances.
This will be very important inour study.
We see God's love demonstratedin this passage through not only
the things he's done, but alsoin the traits that are listed by
Mary.
We see her describing God assavior, all-seeing, mighty, doer
(17:04):
of good and great things, asholy, faithful to generations,
strong, just, merciful, as herhelper, and as the one who
remembers and keeps hispromises.
If there is any sin orconsequences of sin addressed in
this passage, it would be inthe references made to those who
are opposed to God in theirpride, those who are mighty in
(17:28):
their own strength, and thosewho trust in their riches
instead of God.
We see the consequences ofthose sins.
The proud are scattered, themighty are brought down from
their thrones, and the rich aresent away empty.
This highlights another themethat we see in this passage: the
presence of opposites, thehumble versus the proud and
(17:50):
mighty, the hungry versus therich, bringing low those high
and exalted on thrones, fillingthe hungry and leaving the rich
empty, and so on.
This is noteworthy because, aswe're going to see in Mary's
story, the God she worships is aGod who always does the
unexpected and who flips thingsupside down in his kingdom.
(18:13):
Can we just pause for a secondhere?
I feel compelled to stop andremind us that though we don't
know how old Mary was exactly,most Christian historians
believe she was 14 or 15 or 16.
At this time in Israel and inmany other ancient or historical
civilizations, young motherhoodwas culturally normal, with
(18:34):
teenage girls marrying andstarting families earlier.
So though it's hard for us tothink about a 15-year-old girl
that we know right now in thiskind of circumstance, we have to
be careful to not put ourmodern-day biases and worldview
on this story.
And what I'm pausing for andcontemplating with profound
admiration is Mary's faith andher family's legacy of faith.
(18:58):
She probably couldn't read.
She was raised in a low-incomefamily in an area of Israel that
was often written off asirrelevant, Nazareth in Galilee.
And she was a girl.
Females didn't have the sameaccess to education, and not
just females, but most people inmore rural, impoverished areas
like Nazareth didn't know how toread or write.
(19:20):
Why am I bringing that up?
Well, just look at what she'ssinging.
How does she know about all thethings that God had done
historically for her people?
How does she just rattle themoff so eloquently in her song?
She's talking about who God isand what he's done.
Remember, in the midst ofworld-changing, yes, but also
(19:42):
personally, potentiallycatastrophic news.
She is a betrothed virgin whowas going to have a baby in a
culture where adultery wasforbidden, which is what this
would be considered.
Her betrothal to Joseph was asbinding as marriage, and so this
would be adultery, an offensepotentially punishable by death.
(20:03):
These words of praise arecoming from a girl who clearly
has a rock solid foundation anda true personal relationship
with God, her Savior.
Her response (20:13):
this song and these words are evidence of her
profoundly personal and realrelationship with God that must
have been forged over yearsthrough the things that her
family and community had taughther about him.
Mary's song is not written inan isolated bubble, though for
(20:33):
the moment she only hasElizabeth and Zechariah.
I don't think you or I can wrapour minds around how special
these words truly are.
Hopefully, by the end of thisseries, we'll come close.
To close out this annotationsection, I just want to make
sure that you're making room toask your questions.
Here are some examples of thekind of questions you might ask.
(20:56):
What has happened right beforethis that Mary is responding to?
What does she specifically meanby her humble estate?
Why is Jesus' birthannouncement causing her to talk
about the rich and the mightyand the proud, as well as the
humble and the hungry and thepoor?
What specific generationalpromise does Mary believe God is
(21:17):
fulfilling?
What does it mean for a soul tomagnify the Lord?
Ask as many questions as youcan think of in this section,
knowing that no question is offlimits or too silly, and that
now isn't the time to answer thequestions, just to consider
them.
As we study, all of yourquestions should be answered.
And that's it for annotation.
(21:39):
We'll be right back after thismessage.
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And now back to the show.
We are moving on to page six inour Mary's song workbook
background info.
Here's where we're going toanswer some important questions
to give us a foundation for thepassage we are studying
together.
We'll start with who wrote it.
We want to know this, right?
(22:44):
We know that Mary sang thesong, but who wrote the book?
We want to know who has theknowledge and the evidence and
the authority to tell us thesewere the words that Mary
actually sang.
So let's put in the work.
Here's what you'll find whenyou do some research.
Luke is not named as the authorof the book of Luke, nor is he
(23:04):
named to the other New Testamentbook that is ascribed to him.
Do you know which one that is?
If you said Acts, you'recorrect.
The author of the Gospel ofLuke opens by stating that he is
writing to Theophilus to givehim an orderly account regarding
what Theophilus has been taughtabout Jesus.
The book of Acts opens with theauthor stating, In the first
(23:28):
book, O Theophilus, I have dealtwith all that Jesus began to do
and teach.
Clearly, Acts is volume two,and the gospel we're referring
to, Luke, is volume one.
These books were written by thesame author to the same person.
We don't have real clarityabout who Theophilus was.
You can read about differentfun theories online, but we have
(23:50):
clarity about who the authorwas.
It was Luke.
But how do we know that Lukewas the author?
Great question.
Do you know that it's okay toask questions like this?
It is.
It's good, not bad.
It builds your faith and it'sfun researching and finding the
answers.
So, just because we don't readlove Luke at the end of either
(24:14):
of these books, it doesn't meanwe can't be confident that he's
the author.
Lucan authorship, there's a newword for you, is supported, as
the ESB study Bible says, byboth external evidence, meaning
church tradition, and internalevidence.
Early church tradition for Lukeas the author begins in the mid
(24:34):
to late second century AD, soclose to about 100 years from
when the events written aboutoccurred.
This is actually a reallyreliable span of time when it
comes to the legitimacy ofhistorical texts.
This early church traditionunanimously supported Luke as
the author of this gospel andthe book of Acts.
Specifically, we have writtendiscussions of Luke as the
(24:58):
author of Acts from Irenaeus,the bishop of lions in Gaul,
modern-day France, in the late2nd century A.D.
Irenaeus was taught byPolycarp, the bishop of Smyrna,
who was a disciple of theApostle John.
So, John, the best friend ofJesus, known as the beloved
(25:18):
disciple, the one whom Jesusloved, and to whom Jesus
entrusted the care of his motherMary, that John trained
Polycarp, who trained Irenaeus.
That's a very reliable chain ofcustody.
And Irenaeus attributes theGospel of Luke in the book of
Acts to Luke, the physician andco-worker of Paul.
(25:41):
If that tradition of Lucanauthorship had been incorrect,
of course John would have notedthat to Polycarp, who would have
passed that on to Irenaeus.
But instead, put on yourdetective cap here, Irenaeus
notes that the internal evidencefor Lucan authorship is the
occurrence of the first personnarrative we throughout the
(26:03):
later chapters of Acts, startingat 1610.
This use of we indicates thatthe author of Acts was a
companion of Paul and presentwith him on these occasions.
These we passages in Acts arethe key to the authorship of
both Acts and the Gospel ofLuke.
The author of Acts wastherefore most likely one of
(26:26):
Paul's companions, listed in hisletters that were written
during this time.
We learn that Luke is listed asa traveling companion of Paul
in Colossians 4.14, 2 Timothy4.11, and Philemon 24.
The author of Acts can't besomeone referred to in the third
person in these lists ofcompanions.
(26:46):
Just like if I was writingabout my family's trip to
Disneyland, I wouldn't say wehad the best time.
My mom and dad and Jason andLiam and Kate loved Disney.
I wouldn't name myself in thethird person.
And Luke didn't either.
In addition, the other cluesthat help us confidently say
that Luke is the author includethe well-known fact that the
(27:07):
author of Luke was from thesecond generation of the early
church, meaning he wasn't aneyewitness of Jesus' ministry.
In the introduction to Luke andActs, the author tells
Theophilus that he is compilinga narrative, an orderly account
of all that Jesus did andtaught, and then what happened
with the early church.
(27:28):
He reveals that he has closelyfollowed this story for, quote,
some time past, and that hereceived the information from
eyewitness accounts and thosewho were ministers or guardians
of the word.
The Greek here indicates thatthe author is passing on what
was handed down to him by thosewho from the beginning were
(27:50):
self-seeing eyewitnesses, akathose who saw it all with their
own eyes.
This term eyewitness in theGreek is autoptes, which can
also be a medical term for, anyguesses, autopsy, or a detailed
examination, which is coolbecause the other thing we know
about Luke from Colossians 4.14is that he was a physician and a
(28:14):
Gentile from Antioch, which, ifyou did our Jars of Clay series
with us, was an importantlocation in the Apostle Paul's
life.
Quick aside, imagine being theApostle Paul's traveling
companion and personalphysician, considering all of
the physical beatings andailments he endured.
Can you imagine what Luke saw?
(28:35):
Ultimately, we trust that asthe ESV notes say, because Luke
traveled with Paul, this gospelwas received as having apostolic
endorsement and authority fromPaul, and was a trustworthy
record of the gospel that Paulpreached.
Other early supporters of Lucanauthorship, just to drive this
point home, were Origen,Eusebius, Justin Martyr,
(28:59):
Hegesippius, Clement ofAlexandria, and Tertullian.
Within the first severalhundred years of these events
taking place, it was unanimouslyagreed that Luke was the author
of the Gospel of Luke.
I'll close with this quote fromchurch historian Eusebius, a
contemporary of Constantine, whosaid, Luke, who was by race an
(29:20):
Antiochan and a physician byprofession, was long a companion
of Paul and had carefulconversation with the other
apostles, and in two books leftus examples of the medicine for
souls which he had gained fromthem.
Luke was written by Luke.
Now, onward to our nextquestion.
(29:42):
When was Luke written?
This is another fun rabbithole.
And because I asked for yourpermission to go full nerd, and
many of you gave it to me onsocial media, we're going to
ride the elevator all the waydown to the basement.
I do have a reason for takingthis time, by the way.
I really, really want us to.
Have confidence that the wordswe're reading in Mary's song
(30:04):
were in fact Mary's.
Luke is one of the fourGospels, as I said: Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John.
Have you ever been curious toknow the order in which the
Gospels were written?
I hope so, or at least I hopeI'm piquing your curiosity
because that's what we're goingto talk about now.
I wanted to know, were theGospels written in the same
(30:26):
order that we have them in ourBibles?
But then I thought, first, weshould talk about what even is a
gospel.
Well, the word gospel literallymeans good news.
The Bible project says thisgood news refers to the
announcement that Jesus hasbrought the reign of God to our
world through his life, death,and resurrection from the dead.
(30:50):
Again, the Bible Project saysthey are not, the Gospels,
merely historical chronicles,but are also narrative
announcements that make thesignificant claim that Jesus is
the Messiah of Israel and thetrue Lord of the world.
The Gospel stories claim toboth recount history and aim to
(31:11):
persuade the reader toacknowledge Jesus as Lord and
become his disciple.
We have four Gospels from fourdifferent authors who paint a
complementary and well-roundedpicture of the life and
teachings of Jesus.
So, what order were theywritten in?
While we can't be 100% certain,here's one strong possibility
(31:35):
in terms of order.
Matthew was written first, thenLuke, some people think Mark,
then Mark, and finally John.
How is this the prevailingview?
Here's a quick gotquestions.orgsummary from Dr.
David Allen Black's book, WhyFour Gospels.
(31:56):
Keep in mind that many reliablehistorical records and events
put the crucifixion of Jesus onFriday, April 3rd, A.D.
33.
Keep that date in mind as wedate the Gospels, give or take a
few years, depending on thesource.
After Christ was resurrectedfrom the dead and the church was
(32:16):
born, the believers realizedthe need for a written record of
the account of Christ's life.
Matthew was selected for thetask of producing that account,
and, under the inspiration ofthe Holy Spirit, he penned his
work before the Jerusalembelievers were scattered from
the persecution of Herod AgrippaI, which occurred in A.D.
(32:38):
42.
This is potentially around 11years after Jesus' death and
resurrection.
Paul began his evangelisticwork and found the need for a
gospel account that spoke moreto the Gentiles.
Matthew's gospel was writtenfor a Jewish audience.
Paul worked with Luke toproduce his gospel, which was
(32:59):
completed sometime between A.D.
58 and 60 or 62.
So that's about 25 years afterJesus' death and resurrection.
During Paul's detention inRome, sometime around 60 to 62
A.D., he asked Peter topersonally authorize Luke's
gospel, which he did.
(33:20):
While in Rome, Peter delivereda number of testimonies about
Christ's life to an illustriousRoman audience.
Those messages were recorded byJohn Mark, Peter's secretary.
After Peter was martyred,Mark's work was published as a
gospel sometime around A.D.
66 or 67, which is about 33 to34 years after Jesus' death and
(33:45):
resurrection.
And then finally, John's Gospelwas written and published while
John lived in Ephesus.
The most accepted time for thiswriting was A.D.
85 to 90, which was about 52 to57 years after Jesus' death and
resurrection.
The completion of the Gospel ofJohn rounded out the eyewitness
(34:07):
accounts of Jesus' life.
Support for Black's timeline isfound in the writings of the
early church fathers.
Referring to the Gospel ofMatthew, Origen, who lived
around A.D.
185 to 254, writes (34:19):
The first written was that according to
the one-time tax collector, butlater apostle of Jesus Christ,
Matthew, who published it forthe believers from Judaism.
Clement of Alexandria, AD 150to 215, quoted by Eusebius,
(34:39):
supports Origen and providessome details for Luke.
Quote, Clement has set down atradition of the earliest elders
about the order of the Gospels,and it has this form.
He used to say that theearliest written gospels were
those containing thegenealogies.
So that's Matthew and Luke.
Clement also speaks of Markwhen he writes, Peter was
(35:04):
publicly preaching the gospel atRome in the presence of some of
Caesar's knights and utteringmany testimonies about Christ,
and on their asking him to letthem have a record of the things
that had been said, wrote thegospel that is called the Gospel
of Mark from the things said byPeter.
On the subject of theauthorship and timing of the
(35:25):
Gospel of John, there is littleto no opposition to John's
authorship and its being last inorder.
Irenaeus writes, John thedisciple of the Lord, who leaned
back on his breast, publishedthe Gospel while he was a
resident at Ephesus in Asia.
So again, while it isimpossible to be certain about
(35:46):
the order in which the Gospelswere written, the prevailing
viewpoint seems to be that theorder was Matthew, then Luke,
then Mark, and then John.
This book that we are about tostudy, Luke, was therefore most
likely written around A.D.
58 to 62, which was withinabout 25 years of Jesus' death
(36:09):
and resurrection.
25 years.
Let's talk about this timelineand how it applies to our next
question (36:17):
to whom was it written?
In order to understand timelineand audience, we have to put
ourselves in the shoes of theearly church, and we have to
understand the power of oraltradition and eyewitness
testimony, and also the mandateof the Great Commission to be
Jesus' witnesses in Jerusalemand in Samaria and to the ends
(36:38):
of the earth.
By the way, that includes us,you guys, which I will never not
be moved by.
First of all, and keep this inmind as we think about how the
words of Mary's song werepreserved, oral tradition in the
ancient world was not a game oftelephone, but a communal
process where stories andsayings were repeated and
(37:00):
memorized.
Think about it.
Initially, how did Jesus'followers share the good news?
Through word of mouth.
At the time, and in thatimmediate region, eyewitness
accounts were seen as powerfuland sufficient.
Again, especially in the localcommunity of Jerusalem where
people had direct knowledge ofJesus' ministry.
(37:23):
Also, initially, believersthought Jesus' return was
imminent, so they didn't see theneed for a written record when
oral tradition and eyewitnessaccounts seemed sufficient.
But as time passed, believersand eyewitnesses began to die.
And as the faith spread beyondJerusalem to a wider, more
(37:44):
educated audience who did notknow the eyewitnesses, there
became a clear need for writtenaccounts to educate new
believers accurately.
So that's exactly what theydid.
Again, with the first account,Matthew, likely written within
10 to 12 years of Jesus'ascension.
The Gospels are so cool, youguys.
Our next question (38:04):
for what purpose was it written?
We can think about the Gospelsin general and then Luke in
particular.
Think about how each Gospelwriter focuses on certain
aspects of Jesus and hisministry, his kingly fulfillment
of Old Testament prophecy inMatthew, his ministry to
Gentiles in Luke, his sufferingand servant role in Mark, his
(38:28):
divine identity in John.
This variation doesn't meanconflict, but a broadening of
the portrait.
And because they were writtenin different historical phases
of the church, each gospeladdresses the circumstances and
needs of a particular community.
Thus, the fourfold witnessreflects the breadth of the
(38:50):
early Christian movement.
The similarities among thegospels testify to a shared core
truth about Jesus, notconflict.
And the differences enrich ourunderstanding rather than
confuse it.
The diversity of perspective ispart of the divine design
rather than a flaw.
(39:10):
And having multiple gospelsalso echoes the biblical
principle of multiple witnessesthat we see in Deuteronomy 17.6
and 2 Corinthians 13.1.
This just strengthens thereliability of the testimony
about Jesus.
And finally, the four gospelsfit together to show how the
gospel message moves yet furtherand further outwards, from
(39:34):
Jewish roots to the Gentileworld, from early church
beginnings to a universalmission.
This beautifully helpsbelievers see themselves in the
story.
The gospel is for all kinds ofpeople in all contexts.
So, somewhere around AD 60,Paul and Luke saw the need for
(39:56):
an orderly account of the lifeand teaching of Jesus for a
primarily Gentile audience andset out to do exactly that.
These combined historical,cultural, and social settings of
oral tradition, eyewitnessaccount, and the need to get
everything written down wouldhave ensured that the words of
(40:17):
Mary's song of praise were firstcirculated and then remembered
and finally recorded accuratelyamong the early followers of
Jesus.
What song could be moreimportant than perhaps the first
lullaby ever sung to the Son ofGod while in the humble womb of
God's chosen servant and thesubject of our study together,
(40:40):
Mary?
Our final question has to dowith the literary style of our
passage.
Usually we look at the literarystyle of the book, but in this
case, we're going to hone inspecifically on the literary
style of the song itself.
Because the book of Luke is sostylistically diverse, in fact,
no gospel encompasses such acomplete range of subgenres as
(41:04):
Luke.
The Magnificat, or Mary's song,bears a striking resemblance to
other hymns in the OldTestament, most notably the song
of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2, verses1 through 10.
Think about what that means.
It likely indicates that Mary,as we talked about, as a devout
(41:26):
Jewish young woman, would havebeen steeped in the scriptures.
So of course her song wouldhave echoed familiar, memorized
scriptural language.
This poetic, patterned naturein the original language, which
is sadly lost on us intranslation, would have also
made it easier to preservethrough oral tradition.
(41:48):
And somehow, this young teenagegirl knew that these words
would need to be foreverpreserved.
Don't you want to havescripture pour out of you like
that?
With Mary's song in mind, let'sdo it.
Let's go to 1 Samuel 2 and readportions of Hannah's prayer.
This is so cool.
And Hannah prayed and said, Myheart exalts in the Lord, my
(42:12):
horn is exalted in the Lord, Irejoice in your salvation.
There is none holy like theLord, for there is none besides
you.
There is no rock like our God.
The bows of the mighty arebroken, but the feeble bind on
strength.
The Lord makes poor and makesrich, he brings low and he
exalts, he raises up the poorfrom the dust, he lifts the
(42:36):
needy from the ash heap to makethem sit with princes and
inherit a seat of honor.
For the pillars of the earthare the Lord's, and on them he
has set the world.
He will guard the feet of hisfaithful ones, but the wicked
shall be cut off in darkness,for not by might shall a man
prevail.
Mary surely learned thatprayer, don't you think?
(42:58):
The song of Hannah's heart, andout of her foundation in the
oral tradition of God's word,Mary sang her own song.
I am so moved by this idea thatI am going to be creating a PDF
printable insert in ourAbidible Plus members community
to add to your Mary's songstudy.
This will be a page for you toput at the end of your book and
(43:23):
write your own song to the Lord.
I think by the time we wrap upthis study after Christmas, you
will be overflowing with praiseand truth.
Imagine sitting down to write asong like this, following in
the footsteps of some prettyincredible women in the Bible.
Now, a little more generallyspeaking, let's talk about some
of the really cool literaryfeatures of this song.
(43:45):
This is a psalm ofthanksgiving, because Mary
begins with praise for God andthen elaborates on why she is
thankful.
This is a very common structurein Psalms of Thanksgiving.
It's also considered ancientHebrew poetry, similar in form
and content to the Psalms.
It is filled with references tothe Old Testament and therefore
(44:07):
powerfully reveals how what ishappening to Mary fits into
God's larger plan.
We also see parallelism andcontrast, especially in the
second half, to describe how Godreverses fortunes.
We talked about this a littlebit during our annotation
section.
For example, it contrasts theproud, the mighty, and the rich
(44:30):
with the lowly, the humble, andthe hungry.
The song is also deeplytheological, focusing on God's
mercy, strength, andfaithfulness, as well as his
role in overthrowing worldlypower structures.
More on that to come.
And finally, this song is usedby the book's author, Luke, to
(44:51):
foreshadow the radical andrevolutionary nature of Jesus'
ministry of reversal for theworld.
So cool.
And that's it for ourbackground research page.
This sheds so much light on thepassage we're about to study,
doesn't it?
But I think we can take just alittle more time together to do
(45:12):
one final powerful step.
And that is our new 321 contextmethod.
This is simply a way for us toquickly get a picture of the
surrounding context for ourpassage.
This is how we avoid justdropping in blindly to a small
section of scripture.
By locating the heading fordifferent sections in Luke 1 and
(45:32):
2, and then briefly answeringsome basic questions, we can get
a feel for what's happeningimmediately before and after
Mary sings this song.
Each section has a fewquestions to answer as you make
some observations about thepassage.
But for the purpose of wrappingup our nerdfest episode into
Mary's song, I'm only going toshare the heading and the sense
(45:56):
of that section with you.
The sense is the part where wesummarize what's happening in
about 25 words or less.
So here's what we've gotDedication to Theophilus.
Here, Luke writes an orderlyaccount so Theophilus may have
certainty about the gospel.
The next section is Birth ofJohn the Baptist foretold.
(46:18):
The miraculous conception ofJohn is a work God does through
his righteous but old servants,Zechariah and Elizabeth.
John will prepare the way forthe Lord.
Next is the birth of Jesusforetold.
Here, a virgin named Mary istold that she will carry and
(46:38):
deliver Jesus, the long-awaitedMessiah.
She faithfully accepts theLord's plan for her.
Next, Mary visits Elizabeth,and we see confirmation that God
will do exactly what he hassaid he would do for Mary and
ultimately for all people.
He beautifully uses Elizabethand John to comfort and affirm
(47:02):
his plan for Mary.
It's either during orimmediately after this visit
that Mary sings her song.
Then we have the birth of Johnthe Baptist, where God performed
such a miracle through John'sbirth to Elizabeth and Zechariah
that everyone around took noteand was talking about it.
(47:23):
Next comes Zechariah'sprophecy, in which we are told
that John will be the prophet ofthe Most High, the promised
Messiah who will save anddeliver his people and bring
light to those who sit indarkness.
And finally, we have the birthof Christ.
Mary gives birth to Jesus inBethlehem as promised.
(47:45):
This is Luke 2, and the rest ofthe second chapter is about
Jesus' birth and his childhood.
If you're really curious, youcan keep going.
In Luke 3, John the Baptistprepares the way for Jesus, and
we have Jesus' genealogy throughMary's side of the family.
We're going to get more intoJesus' amazing genealogy in
future episodes.
(48:06):
I can't wait for that.
And then in Luke 4, Jesus hasbeen baptized, faces the
temptation in the wilderness,and begins his ministry.
So that's the 3-2-1 method.
It just gives us our bearings.
I think it's a valuablepractice, and I hope you will
too.
As we move to wrap up thisintro episode to Mary's song, I
(48:26):
just want to offer a simple wordof encouragement to keep
showing up.
The Holy Spirit is your guideas you study the living word of
God.
Lean on him, invite him intoyour study time.
In John 14, 26, Jesus made apromise to you.
He said, But the helper, theHoly Spirit, whom the Father
will send in my name, he willteach you all things and bring
(48:48):
to your remembrance all that Ihave said to you.
Friend, don't try and workthrough this study in your own
strength.
Don't do it to check a box orto earn anything from God.
Don't do it as penance or tomake yourself look or feel holy.
Do it in his power, by hismight, out of a desire simply to
(49:10):
know and love him more.
That's it.
When you don't feel like it,pick it up anyway.
When you have less time thanyou'd like, use whatever time
you do have.
When you miss a day, pick itback up the next day.
When you don't understand,press in, lean in and fight.
The word of God is your verylife and abiding in it helps you
(49:33):
to remember who He is and allthat He's done.
And just like we see with Mary,having that foundation is what
enables us to say, Your will bedone.
May it be to me as you havesaid.
Check out the link to learnmore about partnering with us by
(50:23):
buying us a coffee one time, byjoining our Avidable Plus
membership community of womenfor $10 a month, or by becoming
a monthly supporter.
If you made it this far and arewondering about our missing
fifth and final episode in theAsk Us Anything series that
Jason and I did, sit tight andkeep looking for it.
This last episode is on churchhurt and the role of the church
(50:47):
in finding a church, et cetera,et cetera.
I promise we'll do it.
I'm not sure when, but we'llget it to you.
My health has thrown a wrenchin the plans this fall.
Not only has my post-surgeryjourney been trickier than
expected, but I also was sickfor two weekends in a row, and
our dog threw out his neckagain, and a bunch of other
crazy personal things have beengoing on.
(51:07):
So it's out of sight for themoment.
So we could get moving onMary's song, but it is certainly
not out of mind.
Now, for those of you followingalong in the workbook for
Mary's song, go ahead and beginworking on our first verses in
this series, Luke 1, 46 to 47,on pages 18 to 21 in your study
workbook.
(51:28):
I combined them in the workbookbecause they are both so short.
Ideally, you would have thissection done before you listen
to the next episode, number 71.
In this episode, we will learnwhat it means to have a soul
that magnifies the Lord and aspirit that rejoices in God, our
Savior.
The verses next week sayexactly that from Luke 1, 46 to
(51:48):
47.
And Mary said, My soulmagnifies the Lord, and my
spirit rejoices in God, mySavior.
I want us to be a people whomagnify God and who rejoice in
our Savior no matter what we'refacing, don't you?
I still don't know how to dothat.
To have my knee-jerk reactionconsistently be surrender and
(52:11):
praise.
But I do desire that.
God, please help me.
Help us.
I can't wait to learn more withyou about this next week.
Since I prayed for us at thebeginning of the episode, I'll
go ahead and wrap things upright here for now.
But remember, as always, youare able to abide in the Bible.
We'll see you next time.
(52:32):
Until then, let's abide
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