#076 "Magnificat in the Mess Because He Has Done Great Things" (Luke 1:52)

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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):
Well, it's Wing It Week.
Sometimes it almost happenslike every podcast series that
there's one episode where partof it is timing and schedule,

(00:43):
that it just does not work forme to sit down and write
something out.
And then there's also just likea sensation that I feel in my
spirit that's like this one'snot meant to be scripted.
I have no notes.
I do have some text messages toKate McKenzie from Kate
McKenzie on Sunday night at 1.20in the morning.

(01:04):
And so I'm going to read themto you verbatim so you can see
what happens when the Lord wakesme up in the middle of the
night and puts some thoughts onmy heart.
But we are in Luke 1:52 today,continuing our study of Mary's
song, The Magnificat.
And I'm also in the middle ofjust life and the holiday season
and the busyness.
And we're doing the 12 days ofChristmas, first time ever with

(01:26):
a Bidable.
This is something I've wantedto do for many years, just fun
little surprises and deals andoffers and new products for the
first 12 days of December.
And so I'm very busy with thatright now and also busy with
teaching how to multiplydecimals.
That took an hour and 50, fivezero minutes this morning with

(01:46):
sixth grade math and thenpronouns and antecedents.
And Lord, Lord help me.
And so I thought I'm justgonna, I have some things that
are on my heart, some thingsthat I also want to dive into a
little bit more.
And so I've sort of never donethis before where I attempt to
work out my thoughts live withyou, but I thought that might be

(02:08):
kind of fun to see what happensas I'm studying and trying to
learn and put my thoughtstogether too, and trying to let
the Lord speak to me.
So let me do something.
I want to read our verse, Luke,of course, Luke 152, but I also
want to read it in the contextof this section.
We have been studying thatMary, as a response to what God

(02:30):
was about to do through her,rejoices in the Lord, her soul
magnifies the Lord, she praiseshim for seeing her, for looking
upon her in her humble estate,and says, He who is mighty has
done great things for me, andholy is his name.
So there's this whole firstpart of her song that is deeply

(02:51):
personal where she's recountingwho God is to her and naming
him, he who is holy, mighty, theGod who sees.
Like we've talked about all ofthat so far in the series.
I hope you've been enjoying it.
This has been really supertimely and encouraging for me in
the sense that I feel like, andI think by the time this
episode, yeah, by the time thisepisode comes out, so I can say

(03:12):
this, it's not a surprise, uh,or I'm not gonna ruin a
surprise, but our Magnificat,high-quality hoodie, embroidered
hoodie, has a big M, not a bigM.
It's embroidered on the chestarea, the left chest.
And then underneath, MagnificatAnima Mea Dominum in Latin.
I'm so excited about it.
It's beautiful.
So that's launching at the endof this week.

(03:34):
But I have been just feelinglike I know Mary was responding
to the amazing miracle, thefulfilled promise of the Messiah
that her and her people, and aswe know, she was well
acquainted with the word, thismessiah that her and her people
have been waiting for forthousands of years.
This wonderful thing ishappening and she's praising

(03:56):
him.
And also at the same time, thisterrifying thing is happening
where she, as a virgin, is goingto show up in town pregnant and
face the potential consequenceswith her betrothed Joseph,
who's gonna know that this isnot his child, and her parents

(04:17):
and her friends, and everybodyelse at the temple and in her
small community, was she gonnabe stoned to death?
Would she survive?
And she just chose and knewbecause of the history of God
and his character, knew that hewould take care of her.
And so there's this response ofpraise.

(04:39):
But I also wonder if there isI'm gonna stick my stake in the
ground and choose.
My soul will magnify the Lord,and my spirit will rejoice in
God my savior, for he who ismighty has done great things for
me, and holy is his name.

(05:00):
And then she starts the secondsection of the song listing off
some of the specific things thatGod has done and who he is.
And I just feel like I'm inthis place right now, and I've
talked to so many people who areso broken and so hurting.
It's like, I don't know, wejust feel it more in the
holidays, or just life is extrahard, the world is extra broken.

(05:21):
It feels like that.
I mean, does every generationsay that?
I'm sure they do, and itdepends on context and who you
are and where you live.
I mean, we have first worldproblems that pale in comparison
to what people are facingpersecution-wise in other places
of the world, but there's justthis idea of like come what may,
my soul will magnify the Lord.

(05:43):
I will sing and rejoice in God,my savior, because of what he
has done.
So it doesn't matter what I'mfacing.
It is hard, it is scary, butthere's just been this like
power, I guess, that's beenavailable to me as I've been
doing this study to like stickmy stake in the ground and say,

(06:03):
my soul magnifies the Lord.
I choose in this moment withall that I am, despite what I'm
facing, despite what I'mfeeling.
My body is still sort of awreck, not sort of, my back is
like twisted like cement, is howmy my physical therapist put
it.
So I'm in pain a lot of thetime.
I'm in perimenopause, so I'mhaving these hot flashes.
I had to call time out on aconversation with Jason

(06:26):
yesterday because he asked me ifI wanted to bake cookies on
Friday with my mom.
And I just started to crybecause I felt so overwhelmed
with my schedule and witheverything that I'm trying to
get done.
And I want to be there, but canI be there?
And if I'm not there, then doeseverybody think I'm a schmuck?
And what's most important isfamily and spending time with

(06:49):
family and all the things that Ipreach about, you know, what's
so important.
And I was trying to, I don'teven honestly know.
Like, you know, when women,like you know, when your
hormones take over and you'rejust seeing red.
I literally had to call timeoutand say, please stop talking to
me because there's a monsterinside.
My flesh is screaming, and Ijust I just sat in my chair

(07:10):
crying, and Liam was like,What's wrong with mama?
I was like, Yeah, don't get oldand be a woman with
perimenopause.
But like, there's just thisthing that I'm like looking at
Mary's song and she's like, youknow what, this is hard.
This is exciting.
I can't believe that he haschosen me.

(07:31):
May it be, you know, to meaccording to your word.
She's surrendering to him.
But there's also the reality ofwhat she's gonna be asked to
walk through, not to mention thechallenges that come for her,
that are going to come for heras being the mother of the
Messiah and what she's going toface and see and experience, and
ultimately how she's gonnawatch her son.
She doesn't know this yet, butshe's gonna watch her son as we

(07:53):
know how the story ends.
Yes, victory is coming and joycomes in the morning, and three
days later the tomb is empty,but she has to watch her son.
I can't even talk about it.
So she's just like, I don'tknow, I feel like there's this
element, at least this is whatthe Lord is speaking to me.
I don't know if any of you guysfeel like that as you're going
through this story, but it'slike it's not just like a rote

(08:14):
response.
Like she's reading someresponsive reading, you know, in
in church with all the otherpeople, and it's empty and
hollow, and just like memorizedlike a rote response, like my
soul magnifies the Lord, and myspirit rejoices in God, my
savior.
Like, I think it's acombination.
I think it's filled with joy,and I also think it's filled

(08:35):
with determination.
Like I'm going to continue tochoose, come what may, to
rejoice in the Lord.
And so I think what is socritical for us is, as I always
say, abiding in the word andbeing reminded of who he is and
what he's done so that we canplant our feet on that firm
foundation when our flesh fails,or when, you know, everything
is going wrong in our marriageor with our children, or

(08:58):
everybody's sick, or the car isbroken down and the refrigerator
is broken, and now the garbagedisposal is also broken and your
husband is out of town.
You know, like those kinds ofthings in those moments, my soul
magnifies the Lord.
I will choose to continue tomagnify him because he, who is

(09:19):
mighty, has done great thingsfor me, and holy is his name,
and he has.
And so that's the section thatwe're talking about today, where
she starts to transitionoutward, right, as this public
coming to be a public figure,the mother of the Messiah.
She's now turning outward andaligning herself and her heart
with the mission of her son tobe, the mission to be of her
son, which is the mission ofGod, which has always been the

(09:39):
mission of God from the verybeginning in the garden when we
fell and he set a plan in placethat the seed of the woman would
crush the head of the serpent,right?
So she now says the he hassection, he has.
And so I'm gonna read this toyou, I'll highlight which one is
52.
Last week, when we read 51, youknow, 50 was and his mercy is

(09:59):
for those who fear him fromgeneration to generation.
Okay, right.
That comes right after he whois mighty has done great things
for me, and holy is his name.
We talked about his mercy forthose who fear him from
generation to generation.
And then last week for 51, hehas shown strength with his arm.
He has scattered the proud inthe thoughts of their hearts.
And so that was the beginningof the he has.
And last week we talked aboutthe omni qualities of God, God's

(10:21):
omniscience, omnipresence, andomnipotence.
We talked about what each ofthose mean, what it means for us
practically in real life, andthe strength of God, the
presence of God, and theall-knowing, unbelievable power
of God.
So if you missed that, checkthat out.
But today I want to focus onthese he has together as a
group.
So here they are.
Again, 50.
This is 51 through 53.

(10:44):
I'm gonna hold off on 54 and 55because we're gonna end with
those together the week ofChristmas, and then the week
after Christmas, I do my recapepisode.
So I just want to read 51through 53 to you together.
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

(11:08):
filled the hungry with goodthings, and the rich he has sent
away empty.
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 with goodthings, and the rich he has sent

(11:30):
away empty.
Next week, when we go oververse 53, sort of to end this
section, I want to focus alittle more specifically on the
instances that Mary was thinkingabout from the history of her
people, what she would haveheard in the temple, what she
would have sung about with herfamily in feasts during feasts

(11:54):
and holidays, the stories thatcame from Torah about who God
always had been to his people.
Okay, we have specific examplesthat we're gonna get into in
each of these, but today I wantto talk a little bit more
generally just about theevidence of God.
So let me the evidence of whoGod is.
I want to read you this thingthat I texted myself in the

(12:14):
middle of the night.
Let's see if any of it iscohesive and then um have a
conversation about it.
So I said, Do you haveevidence?
That's the big question, right?
We want evidence that arestaurant is good before we eat
there, that a product is goodbefore we buy it, that a person

(12:36):
is safe before we meet withthem, that so-and-so really said
or did whatever they're accusedof saying or doing, or
credited, I suppose we couldsay, with saying or doing.
We demand the same with God.
Evidence.
We stand as judge and jury overthe judge.

(12:58):
I think what I was saying hereis that because we are so
accustomed, I mean, I read everyreview for every hotel I'm
gonna stay at, for a restaurantI'm gonna eat at.
I want evidence.
I want to know what everybodyelse says and thinks about
something before I make adecision.
And in a world where we havemore information and technology

(13:21):
in front of us than we've everhad before, there's just this
like false sense of reallyomnipotence, like this notion,
which is not a new notion oftrying to be like God or
thinking that we are like God.
It's not a bad thing.
What I'm not saying is thatit's it is certainly not a bad
thing to want clear evidencebefore you place your faith and

(13:46):
trust in God.
And I believe genuinely that wehave examples all through the
New Testament and the OldTestament of God being a God who
provided evidence.
Yes, he talks about blessed arethose who have faith without
seeing, but he also understoodand provided evidence for people
like Thomas, who doubted andwho wanted more clear examples.
And all throughout the OldTestament, God would do things

(14:08):
and then he would say, so thatthey may know that I am the
Lord.
He would give them concrete,real life, physical evidence
that he was God, and would usethat as the foundation for
calling them to faith byrevealing who he was.
And never more so did he dothat than what he's doing right
now in the womb of our Mary,right?

(14:31):
He is coming in the flesh thathe will say, you know, Jesus
will say, If you have seen me,you have seen the Father.
This is the Father revealing,as we talked about too, the
right arm of the Lord, like sortof this symbolic right arm of
the Lord is Jesus, that he'sputting on flesh and that he is
coming, that we can see him,touch him, eat with him, talk to

(14:53):
him, pray with him, and see himsuffer, die, and be resurrected
for us with our own eyes.
Yes, it was the eyewitnesses ofthe people who were there, but
he came at a specific time, in aspecific place for specific
people in the flesh, a realhuman being who was fully God
and fully man.
This is the hypostatic unionthat we talked about that is

(15:15):
beyond comprehension, one of themysteries of God, that he was
fully divine and fully human andcame in the flesh as evidence
to prove that he loved us andthat he is real.
And so it's not a bad thing towant evidence.
But when he has given usevidence and we ignore it or we

(15:35):
forget about it, or we demandmore, or we say that it's not
enough, then we stand.
This thing that I'm sayinghere, we stand as judge and jury
over the judge.
So I said, today we're gonnatalk about evidence.
We'll get to Mary's words ofwhat she was thinking.
My guess is that it's a mix ofpersonal remembrances and
ancient ones, which I want totalk about the ancient ones next
week.
I do want to circle back on thepersonal remembrances, like

(15:58):
what Mary was probably doing.
She was thinking about specifictimes because she says it,
right?
He who is mighty has done greatthings for me.
And it's not just that doesn'tjust spring out of somebody who,
for the very first time, isexperiencing the presence and
provision and blessing of God.
This is a woman, as we've seen,who's quoting scripture left
and right.
And so she is going to have atestimony.

(16:21):
This woman has a testimony ofwho God is and what he's done
for her.
So she's recounting personal,she's also talking about ancient
examples.
And so then I wrote, Do youremember a time when God
demonstrated the strength of hisarm personally?
So we could even go througheach one of these.
Like, can you ask thesequestions of yourself?

(16:41):
And I think that would be anexercise that you could use in
your workbook, one of the extranote pages, that you could go
through this exercise and writea few personal examples of times
when you have seen God showstrength with his arm, when you
have seen God scatter the proudin the thoughts of their hearts,
when you have seen him bringdown the mighty from their

(17:03):
thrones, and when you've seenhim exalt those of humble
estate.
I'm not just talking aboutexamples from scripture.
We're gonna do that again nextweek, like I said, but in your
own life, have you seen him fillthe hungry with good things and
seen him, have you seen himsend the rich away empty?
I can think of examples forthese.

(17:24):
I mean, he has shown strengthwith his arm in my own personal
family's life.
I mean, we we weren't walkingwith Jesus.
We kind of went to church anddid our thing, but the strength
that he demonstrated in not justsaving, you know, first my dad,
then my mom, and then me, allwithin like a short period of

(17:45):
time, he turned all of us tohimself radically.
I mean, like sold out for him.
And I think it's probablybecause, you know, this idea of
um, is it first Peter likeproclaiming the excellencies of
him who's called you out ofdarkness into light?
Like we had been through a lotas a family.
And so I think there was justlike unbelievable power.

(18:07):
And people would say that Iremember being in high school.
Some of you who knew me backthen were like, who even like
who are you?
I remember distinctly this one.
Who are you?
And what have you got, whathave you done with Kate?
Because God had so radicallytransformed me.
And I have talked about beforethat one girl in particular who
sometimes listens to the podcastand sent me a beautiful letter

(18:30):
when I was healing from mysurgery just recently, super
thoughtful.
So, how cool is that?
Like 20 years later, we'restill getting to chat and and be
in communication.
But she had told me how howbadly I had hurt her.
I was a mean girl and veryinsecure and in a crowd of mean
girls.
And it was if you're not, ifyou're not the one on the outs,

(18:50):
then somebody else has to be onthe outs.
And so we just, it was notgreat.
And I was not a kind person.
I told Liam, you wouldn't havewanted to be friends with me.
And I was a mess looking foridentity and all kinds of
different things.
And God roadblocked my path androadblocked my parents' path in
their marriage.
And just, I mean, this is anexample in my own story, my own

(19:13):
testimony of him showingstrength with his arm,
particularly if you think of itin light of what we've talked
about that Jesus is the symbolicarm, like all throughout the
Old Testament.
It talks about God'soutstretched arm, his mighty
hand and his outstretched arm.
Like his he's powerful and he'sstrong, but he's reaching
toward us, and never more so inthis baby that that's growing in

(19:35):
Mary's womb, right?
Like Jesus, the Messiah, who'scoming for us to rescue us and
to save us from our sin.
Like the people who walked indarkness have seen a great
light.
Like that is the outstretchedarm of God, Jesus himself coming
to rescue us.
And that's what happened to myfamily.
I mean, our testimony as afamily, all three of us getting

(19:56):
saved together, is not evidenceof any of anything.
That any of us did in and ofourselves, not anything that um,
you know, the counselors or thechurch or the TV program that I
watched when I heard the gospelfor the very first time and
gave my heart to Jesus at thefoot of my parents' bed, where

(20:18):
all three of us held hands andprayed, and I sobbed and asked
Jesus to be Lord of my life.
And I'm laughing because it wasCarmen.
And if you don't know whoCarmen is, you need to look up
who Carmen is, was.
I didn't know any of his othermusic, anything else he had ever
done.
My husband did because he grewup in church, and so he played

(20:38):
some of the songs for me.
And God bless, you know, Godcan do anything and God can use
anyone, and God bless you,Carmen, for sharing the gospel
message in 2000, the year 2000,maybe 1999, when I was 17.
2000, because I got I got savedand I met Jesus because of
that.
But that is a demonstration,honestly, of the power and

(21:00):
might, the strength of God'sarm.
You know, he scattered theproud in the thoughts of their
hearts.
I have an example.
It's friends of ours that welove, and so it's a personal
story that I can't share.
But there was, you know, thewagons were circling around dear
friends of ours who are some ofthe most faithful, genuine,

(21:25):
sincere, steadfast,Jesus-loving, God-glorifying
friends that we have.
And man, they were, they werethrown into the lion's pit, into
the fiery pit, into the storm,the den, whatever.
And um, there were people, youknow, hyenas really circling

(21:46):
around them, trying to destroythem.
And God, I mean, like lightningfrom heaven scattered the proud
in the thoughts of their heartsand rescued, reached down,
literally reached down andrescued my friends.
And I had a front row seat tothat agonizing season.
And I will never forget thatwhen God chooses, you know,

(22:07):
sometimes he sits back and heallows the consequences to come
from the actions of sinful man.
And sometimes thoseconsequences fall on godly men
and women, and we suffer becausein this world we will have
trouble.
And it's hard to understandthat when we don't have uh God's
omniscience and we can't seethe full story.

(22:29):
You know, we're only on page 17of a 35,000-page book.
Sometimes he comes in and hesays enough and he he defends
his people.
And he always, in in one way oranother, he always defends and
he always delivers, and therewill always be victory for his
people in this life or the next.
But in this particularsituation, I got to see

(22:50):
firsthand that he did scatterthe proud in the thoughts of
their hearts.
And, you know, I think for me,when I read these other ones,
he's brought down the mightyfrom their thrones and the rich
he sent away empty.
I I think that one, you know,we have to think probably
further than our immediatecircle, even our own immediate
communities.
I think more global or morenational on a more national

(23:13):
scale, or I think aboutHollywood, some of the most
tragic stories and tales come,and it's a repeated story.
The tale as old as time of, youknow, absolute power corrupting
absolutely and seeing how farthe mighty fall and how great
that fall is.
Just shocking things that wehear about people who were, you

(23:37):
know, once our heroes.
And I'm not going to name namesor get into it because each one
of you can think about a litanyof people who fall into these
categories.
And that, you know, can bringup another question too,
sometimes, which is, you know,why does it seem that those who
are mighty continue to havepower, continue to get to be on

(23:58):
their throne?
Why does it seem like the richare not being sent away empty,
that they're prospering?
And I think again, we have toremember that this is an ongoing
story.
Just because it has not yetbeen rectified.
The score has not yet beensettled, does not mean that this
isn't true.
If it is in here, it is true.

(24:20):
He will send away the richempty.
Meaning, you can't you can berich and love Jesus, by the way.
Your money is not your God.
Your money is a gift from God,and you use it to bless God and
bless others.
Just because you have tounderstand this is the rich who
are who worship their money.
That's you got to understandthis verse in the context of all

(24:42):
the rest of scripture thatmoney is not the root of all
evil, but the love of money isthe root of all evil.
So, why does it seem likesometimes the people who are
prospering are wicked and evil?
And why is God not yet bringingthem down from their thrones?
And I think what brings megreat confidence is that the
story is not over yet.

(25:03):
He can still redeem them, hecan still change their hearts.
I mean, gosh, I just thinkabout some people in Hollywood
or some people in power who Godhas gotten a hold of.
It seems like he's doing itmore and more.
And it's probably becausethere's more people who have
platforms who are sharing morepersonally.
But some of the people who havebeen coming to Christ, it's
shocking and it's beautiful.

(25:25):
And so nobody is ever beyondredemption.
If I wasn't, then nobody is.
Um, and we know the story ofJesus on the cross with the two
criminals.
And he said, you know, the oneto the one who repented and gave
his allegiance to Jesus next tohim on the cross.
I mean, he said, Today you'llbe with me in paradise, right?
So there's nobody who is beyondhope, but for those who choose

(25:47):
to continue and who do not wantanything to do with God, but
want to be God, their own gods,they will have their fill in
this life, and then they willget what they ask, which is
eternity apart from God, right?
So let me go back to my notes.
I'm like, I knew this wouldsort of happen, and God bless.

(26:08):
I hope you're still with me.
But I said, I asked thatquestion, do you remember a time
when God demonstrated?
And I just encouraged you tothink through each of these
things in your own personallife.
And then I said, Why is it thatwe will spend hours researching
the best hotels in yourDisneyland?
Kate McKenzie, but zero timeresearching where God has

(26:31):
demonstrated X.
Now, to be fair, I do spend agood amount of time in the Word.
But it's true, like why are wemore willing to get the answers?
Is it because like we don'tknow how?
I think that's part of itsometimes.
Like, I don't know how to findout that God is merciful.

(26:51):
So yeah, I can go on, you know,Yelp and read, or Trip Advisor
and read about the best hotelsaround Disneyland.
That's easy to do, but I don'tknow how to go evidence find the
evidence of God's mercy orGod's might or his outstretched
arm.
And so, well, it's just toohard.
I'm not gonna do it.
And I think this is a criticalerror in our relationship with

(27:15):
the Lord.
I think not knowing how is notan excuse.
I think it is a reality.
I mean, I didn't know how, butthe years that I spent stuck in
that place, I guess, likecomfortable and okay with my

(27:39):
ignorance and allowing everybodyelse to do the work for me and
trusting, you know, I was undergreat biblical teaching and
preaching, but that only does somuch on Sunday when you're
amenning and nodding your headand shaking a lot your your
shaking your what leg?
Shaking a leg to the sermonwhen you're responding to the

(28:04):
sermon, and then you go liveyour life apart from God for the
rest of the week because youdon't know how to abide and find
these things out for yourself.
And that's like why I'm sofiercely passionate about
teaching people and encouragingand calling people to go for the
love of God, literally dig intoscripture for yourself to find

(28:25):
evidence of the thing that youneed to know about him right now
in this season.
Like we are just dangerouslypassive, and we can't be because
life and this world are abattle, and there are powers and
principalities in this presentdarkness that we can't see that

(28:47):
are waging war around us, anddude, like we have to know, like
Mary knew.
How did Mary know she knew thestory of God from the people of
God?
She obviously studied it, sangabout it, celebrated it in the
annual feasts and festivals,heard about it in temple, but it

(29:10):
also had become personal toher, and she was able to recount
those, it's like she couldextrapolate.
Like, we need to be able toextrapolate the characters, uh,
characteristics of God and andthe traits of God and the things
that he's done into our ownlife, and also have like a
pattern of thankful, gratefulremembrance in our own life for

(29:33):
the things that he's done, youknow.
Like Mary is specificallytalking, I'm sure, about things
of ancient time, like I said,but also things from her own
life.
And we have to be able to dothat too.
We have to be able to do that.
So I said, true crime.
Oh boy.
Okay, this is at 122.

(29:54):
So this is two minutes later.
True crime.
The big question since thebeginning, oh gosh, of man is
did God actually did Godactually say?
And then I said, What I learnedin Genesis and why what Mary is
doing is important.
Well, I said, is importantly,because I can't type when my

(30:14):
eyes are half closed at twoo'clock in the morning.
Something happened to me thislast week, and I do, I was like,
am I gonna talk about this?
But I do feel like the Lordlaid it on my heart for a
reason.
I do think that it's relevant,and I need to grab my notebook
here.
This is relevant, and I amgonna talk to you about it
because this is Genesis 3.
This is the fall.
I have always historically gonethrough Genesis 1 and 2 really

(30:38):
quickly and beyond and to threeand beyond because I'm usually
in Genesis when I'm startingsome sort of reading plan,
right?
And I've never really taken thetime to camp on this, and I've
already, you guys have heard mesay that I've been spending my
own personal study time, I'vebeen spending a lot of time in
Genesis one and two.
And then guess what?
I literally had been like in itevery day for months.

(31:00):
And then Genesis three.
Now that the serpent was morecrafty than any other beast of
the field that the Lord God hadmade, I highlighted one word,
crafty, looked up what thatmeant.
Why did God allow him in?
I asked that question.
I I looked up an answer andwrote the answer to that, and
then I stopped.
It's like I was refusing to.

(31:20):
I don't know why this is makingme cry.
It's like I didn't, like I knowthis part of the story, and I
wanted to stay in paradisebecause it was so it was so
wonderful, you know.
Like God had been so kind andso generous in what he had given
to first Adam and then Eve, andjust bless them.

(31:43):
Like he gave them everything,and he planted a garden.
Like I just imagine the loveand care that goes into not just
creating everything out of thewords that you speak, but then
planting a garden for the man.
God is spirit, so he's not onhis hands and knees in the
garden, but it's just this ideaof cultivating something with

(32:07):
great care for someone that youlove deeply.
And God created Adam in hisimage, right?
And loved him, and then sawthat it wasn't good for him to
be alone and makes Eve.
But before he makes Eve, Godsays, after giving him
everything, God says a veryspecific command, right?

(32:27):
This is Genesis 2, 16.
And the Lord God commanded theman, saying, You may surely eat
of every tree of the garden, butof the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, you shall noteat, for in the day that you eat
of it, you shall surely die.
Now, Eve had not been createdyet, so she was not present,
physically present, to hear thatcommand.

(32:49):
When the devil, Satan, thesnake, the serpent, decides to
come into the garden, which Godallowed in.
This is a question that I needto answer real quickly, because
I think this is important too.
Why did God allow him in?
This got questions answer is sobeautiful.
For love to be proved genuine,God gave Adam and Eve and all

(33:12):
succeeding people the freedom tochoose.
So because the serpent comes,Adam and Eve are given the
freedom to choose, right?
We can choose to love or not tolove, to obey God or not to
obey him, to do good or evil.
If the human will had neverbeen allowed to be tested and
proved, then people would benothing more than robots.

(33:35):
God could have created us tolove and obey him automatically.
He could have put a fencearound Eden and never allowed
humanity to be tempted, butGod's desire was and is for
people to love him sincerely,obey him willingly, and worship
him wholeheartedly.
So he allows Satan in.

(33:56):
And Satan comes to Eve.
He doesn't go to Adam, he comesto Eve.
And I wonder, I'm sure there'sall kinds of theological
speculation on why this is, andmaybe you've heard sermons on it
and you're smarter than me.

But one thing I wonder is (34:07):
did he go to Eve?
Because her knowledge of thecommand that God had given was
secondhand.
She wasn't there for theoriginal command.
And so he says, Did Godactually say?
And this is the question thathe asks you every single day.

(34:28):
Did God actually say, Is Godactually good?
Can you really trust him?
Do you really want to obey him?
Trying to sow seeds of doubt,which we're going to get into in
the beginning of 2026 when wedo the in the wilderness study
with uh Satan coming to temptJesus, which is going to be
super powerful.
But this is the question thathe asks Eve.
It's the question that hecontinues to ask all of us every

(34:50):
day.
Did God actually say, You shallnot eat of any tree in the
garden?
So he's twisting God's wordsand asking Eve, did God actually
say that?
So then the question is, well,what's Eve gonna say?
Does she even know?
Has Adam told her?
What has Adam told her?
And I think her response isreally interesting.

(35:12):
And I did a word study on it.
And I think maybe this might besomething that you've never
heard.
I certainly had never heardthis before either.
But here's her response, andthen we're gonna compare them
side by side.
Let me help you one more timewith God's actual words to Adam.
So this is first God to Adam in2, 16 to 17.
And the Lord God commanded theman, saying, You may surely eat

(35:35):
of every tree of the garden, butof the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, you shall noteat, for in the day that you eat
of it, you shall surely die.
And the woman said to theserpent, We may eat of the fruit
of the trees in the garden, butGod said, You shall not eat of
the fruit of the tree that is inthe midst of the garden,

(35:58):
neither shall you touch it lestyou die.
So what I learned is that whenhe says, He being God, says, You
may surely eat of every tree ofthe garden.
The Hebrew there is not a wordfor surely.
It is the word I'm gonna say itwrong, a call, a K-A-L, a call

(36:20):
in Hebrew that is repeatedtwice, like a call, a call.
And the repetition of that wordside by side does not mean
you're gonna eat again, but it'sto emphasize certainty.
So the idea here, it's likethis literary device used to
emphasize certainty orintensity.
It means eating with certaintyor freely eating.

(36:44):
This heightened emphasis is notcaptured in the English
language.
So God says, You can eat withcertainty every fruit from every
tree in the garden, you can eatwith freedom.
And then the same expression,surely, is used at the end of
God's command where it says, Donot eat from the tree of the

(37:06):
knowledge of good and evil, forin the day you eat of it, you
shall surely die.
Same thing here.
This is die, die.
It's repeated twice foremphasis to give the
consequence, the clearconsequence of disobedience.
And it's so interesting thatGod's abundant provision, eat,

(37:27):
eat, is contrasting dramaticallywith the single prohibition.
So you can eat from everythingin the garden except for this
one tree, the tree of theknowledge of good and evil, for
you will surely die.
The consequence is clear andcertain.
God was emphatic, emphaticallyclear about this.
And what happens is that Evecomes in and she says, she said,

(37:51):
there's enough of a twist,there's enough, she's speaking
in generic language.
You know, like it's like uswhen we we twist the word of
God, or when a preacher twiststhe word of God, or an
influencer, or you add to it, oryou subtract to it, or you
water it down.
It's kind of like what Evedoes.
So, so she says, We may eatversus God saying, You may

(38:15):
surely eat.
It's a small thing, but heronly using that verb eat once
compared to God using it twice,removes the certainty of that
freedom, removes the beauty ofthe certainty of that freedom
that they could eat from everyother tree in the garden.
She says, the tree in the midstof the garden.
She doesn't name it, it's ageneric tree where versus God

(38:37):
saying very clearly, the tree ofthe knowledge of good and evil.
And then finally, she says, Youwill die one time, uses the
verb one time versus surely die,where the verb is used twice
for emphasis to clarify theclear consequence of that
disobedience.

(38:58):
So she, whether she twisted itlike a game of telephone,
inadvertently or intentionally,she's not saying or repeating or
standing on the same wordcommand of God.
There has been a distortion.
I don't know how much time haspassed, it's not clear, but
there has somehow been adistortion between what God

(39:21):
specifically, clearly,emphatically said to Adam about
this command and what Eve is nowrepeating to the devil.
Did Adam tell her wrong?
We don't know.
We don't know what happened,but she gets it wrong.
And then this floored me.
Satan's response, the serpent,but the serpent said to the
woman, this is 3 4, you will notsurely die.

(39:44):
He gets it right.
He says it with the two verbsdie, die, repeated, but he also
adds a third.
And it says, as I was studyingwhat that means, when a word is
repeated three times.
Times it's meant to showsupremacy and express the
highest superlative form.

(40:05):
Satan knows scripture, he takesit and uses it as a weapon,
twists it, adds his own emphasisas he deceives the woman.
For God knows that when you eatof it, your eyes will be open
and you will be like God,knowing good and evil.
And he even names the two samesame um words in Hebrew for the
tree of the knowledge of goodand evil.

(40:26):
And he lies to her and hedeceives her, and she takes and
she eats, and she gives it toAdam, who it says was with her,
whatever Adam was doing, and wefall.
And I just have never taken thetime to sit in this and grieve

(40:48):
what really happened herebecause Eve and Adam passively
did not know or choose to knowor stand on the commandments of
God.
It got watered down, it gottwisted, it got forgotten, it
got morphed into whatever workedfor them.

(41:10):
And in that moment, you know,she saw that the tree was good
for food and that it was adelight to the eyes, and that
the tree was desired to make onewise.
She took of its fruit and sheate and she gave also some to
her husband.
And I feel like what Mary isdoing is such a significant
battle cry, like a revolutionarybattle cry of like, like I

(41:36):
said, planting her stake in theground and saying, I will
magnify the Lord.
My soul will rejoice in God, mysavior, for he who is mighty
has done great things for me,and holy is his name.
And then here's who my God is.
He's the God who sees, he's theGod who knows, he's the God who
is mighty and holy is his name.
And then here are the specificthings that he's done, right?
He has shown strength with hisarm, you guys.

(41:58):
This is who my God is.
He's scattered the proud in thethoughts of their hearts, he's
brought down the mighty fromtheir thrones and exalted those
of humble estate.
He has filled the hungry withgood things and the rich he has
sent away empty.
And I'm gonna close with this.
This isn't even in my notes.
Um I gotta like sorry, Ian.
The best editor ever, mostgenerous with his time.

(42:20):
I feel like I gotta just letthese 1:30 a.m.
notes go.
Is there anything else worthknowing?
Mary's background soundtrackwas praise.
Mine can be doubt, fear,self-glory, excuses, regret.
And maybe hers was too atpoints, but she at some point
became a woman whose backgroundsoundtrack was praise.

(42:43):
Her choice response was praise.
So my soul magnifies the Lordand rejoices in God, my savior,
based on evidence and faith.
It's the choice, right?
It's we know this to be true,and I'm going to choose to
remember it.
I'm gonna choose to continue topraise.
I'm gonna choose to continue toput my trust in him.

(43:03):
And you know, Satan wants us tofold so badly because he wants
us to do what he did.
He wants us to be dissatisfiedat the feet of a God who's given
us everything because of ourbroken, fleshly sinful desire to
be like him or be equal to him.
But like we said, you know,when we read that, oh my gosh,

(43:26):
if you have not heard that afear to be desired, when I
shared that Charles Spurgeonsermon from 1878, go back and be
reminded of why God is soworthy of our fear.
I don't know how to transitionto this, but I have to read this
to you because this is notsomething, and maybe I'm gonna
have to flesh it out a littlebit more next week.
This is not something that Iwas seeing on my own as I was

(43:50):
reading this passage.
Maybe some of you have comeacross this as you've studied
and done your commentary herefor verses 51 to 53, but this is
McLaren commentary, and it saysthe main thought.
Tell me what you think of this,and we're gonna have to flesh
it out next week.
The main thought of verses 51to 53 is that the Messiah would

(44:13):
bring about a revolution inwhich the high would be cast
down and the humble exalted.
Okay, so this idea ofrevolution, that's not the only
place I saw it.
I also saw it in the commentaryI was studying for the Gospel
of Luke with William Barclay.
It says this here we have apassage which has become one of

(44:33):
the great hymns of the church,the Magnificat.
It is steeped in the OldTestament and it is closely
related to Hannah's song ofpraise in 1 Samuel 2, 1 through
10.
It has been said, you need towrite this down.
I need to write this down too.
It has been said that religionis the opiate of the people, but
it has also been said that theMagnificat is the most

(44:55):
revolutionary document in theworld.
It speaks of three of therevolutions of God.
One, he scatters the proud inthe plans of their hearts.
That is a moral revolution.
Christianity is the death ofpride.
Why?
Because if people set theirlives beside that of Christ, it
tears away the last vestiges oftheir pride.

(45:18):
Sometimes something happens tous which, with a vivid revealing
light, shames us.
The American writer O.
Henry has a short story about aboy who was brought up in a
village.
In school, he used to sitbeside a girl and they were fond
of each other.
He went into the city and fellinto evil ways.
He became a pickpocket and apetty thief.
One day he snatched an oldlady's purse.

(45:39):
It was clever work and he waspleased.
And then he saw coming down thestreet the girl whom he used to
know, still sweet with theradiance of innocence.
Suddenly he saw himself for thecheap, vile thing that he was.
Burning with shame, he leanedhis head against the cool iron
of a lamp standard.
God, he said, I wish I coulddie.

(45:59):
He saw himself.
Christ enables us to seeourselves.
It is the death blow to pride.
The moral revolution has begun.
Two, he casts down the mighty.
So this is going through theverses, right?
51 to 53.
Second part of the revolution,he casts down the mighty, he
exalts the humble.
That is a social revolution.

(46:21):
Christianity puts an end to theworld's labels and prestige.
Muratus was a wondering scholarof the Middle Ages.
He was poor.
In an Italian town, he becameill and was taken to a hospital
for wafes and strays.
I don't know what that means.
The doctors were discussing hiscase in Latin, never dreaming
he could understand.
They suggested that since hewas such a worthless wanderer,

(46:43):
they might use him for medicalexperiments.
He looked up and answered themin their own learned tongue.
Call no man worthless for whomChrist died.
When we have realized whatChrist did for each and every
one of us, it is no longerpossible to regard anyone as
being beneath us.
The social grades are gone.
And three, he has filled thosewho are hungry, those who are

(47:05):
rich he has sent away empty.
That is an economic revolution.
A non-Christian society is anacquisitive society where people
are out for as much as they canget.
A Christian society is asociety where no one dares to
have too much while others havetoo little, where everyone must
get only to give away.

(47:26):
There is loveliness in themagnificat, but in that
loveliness, there is dynamite.
Christianity brings about arevolution in the individuals
and revolution in the world.
So what are we to do in lightof that?
Like we have, I think, I I wasnot anticipating really that

(47:50):
this was what was gonna happen.
I mean, for me personally, butI feel like I'm just being
pushed to the precipice of likea choice, you know?
Like, am I going to at alltimes, not perfectly, but am I
going to be someone who, whenpushed to the flame, chooses to
praise?
I mean, that's what I desire,but I feel so weak and so

(48:14):
incapable in my flesh to respondin this way where my my soul
chooses to praise God in allthings, and I say that, but then
also offer the hope that I havefound in knowing how much he's

(48:35):
transformed me through the studyof his word.
Like I get zero credit becauseI know who I've been, I know I
know who I was four years agobefore I started studying this
way.
And anytime that I choose tosee myself correctly, the humble
estate of his servant, right?
To choose to be his servant andto see myself correctly and
accurately and respond inpraise, man, that's just

(48:58):
complete evidence of the work ofthe Holy Spirit in me, because
that's not my naturalinclination.
And that's just what he doesthrough his word, because as we
study his word, we get to doexactly what Mary was doing,
which is he has, he has, he has,he has.
So he will again because thisis who he is, that because this
is what he has done, he will doit again.

(49:20):
And then we're being pushed nowto see things correctly, to see
that our God, this this babythat is growing in the womb of
our Mary, this baby that isgonna bring about a moral
revolution, a social revolution,and an economic revolution as
he transforms individuals andentire communities.

(49:42):
I mean, this is what Mary isdoing now, right?
She's turning outward themission of her son, and her son
is going to be a revolutionary.
Unlike any who's ever comebefore.
It is a beautiful song, but itis a song filled with dynamite,
and I think I'll leave it therefor today.
I would just super encourageyou to go back and think about

(50:05):
specific instances in your life,journal through them.
When has he shown strength withhis arm?
When has he scattered theproud?
Maybe that's you too, right?
He scatters us, he breaks usdown in our pride, which is a
beautiful thing.
He's brought down the mightyfrom their thrones and exalted
those of humble estate.
He has filled the hungry withgood things, and the rich he has

(50:26):
sent away empty.
We're gonna continue in verse53 next week, but I would
encourage you to just sit downand think of personal examples.
We'll highlight more of thisidea of Christ being a
revolutionary, and then we'lltalk about the specific examples
of God doing these things inthe Old Testament that Mary is
referring to.
You know, from ancient times,this is who he's always been, so
this is who he's gonna continueto be.

(50:47):
Um, and the confidence andcomfort that comes from that
knowledge.
Uh, we'll tackle all of thatnext week.
But for now, that's it for thisepisode.
If you know someone who wouldbe blessed by what you just
heard, please share the Abidiblepodcast with them.
Keep spreading the word so wecan make much of the word.
Drop us a review, tell us whatyou love and what you're

(51:09):
learning.
Check out the link to learnmore about partnering with us by
buying us a coffee one time, byjoining our Avidable Plus
membership community for $10 amonth, or by becoming a monthly
supporter.
For those of you followingalong in the workbook, go ahead
and begin working on our nextverse in this series, Luke 153
on pages 46 to 49 in your studyworkbook.

(51:32):
Ideally, you would have thissection done before you listen
to the next episode number 77.
And I already said we're gonnatalk about in that next episode.
We're gonna be reading againLuke 1.53, but we'll be wrapping
up this whole section here,this revolutionary
dynamite-packed section.
But Luke 1.53 again says he hasfilled the hungry with good
things and the rich he has sentaway empty.

(51:54):
I'll pray for us and then closeus out with our memory work for
verse 52.
God, I just feel like it's anhonor to open your word with
your people.
And sometimes I'm a little moreorganized and thoughtful or put
together, and today felt alittle bit more like just having
a conversation with friends andprocessing things that I'm

(52:15):
learning and trying to figureout how it all ties together.
But I do know, Lord, that it isa privilege to study your word
and that our desire is to knowyour word.
Our desire is to be able tocorrectly quote and believe and
live out without twisting ordistorting or forgetting or

(52:37):
watering down or conforming yourwords to our will.
That's not our desire.
Our desire is to get it right,to understand it, to study it,
to apply it.
God, our desire also is not todemand evidence, to stand before
the judge, the creator of all,and demand evidence, but we know

(52:57):
that you have given usevidence, and that evidence
enables us to stand in the truthand the reality of who you've
always been, what you've done,and therefore what you will
continue to do.
And I just I feel so connectedto Mary, which is and it's
growing in this study, which issuch a beautiful gift.

(53:17):
I don't know, Lord, if my umlisteners are feeling the same.
I pray that they are, not in aworshipful way.
We don't worship Mary, but as asister in Christ way, right?
She um was redeemed and savedby her own son in a sister in
Christ kind of way.
I just feel so connected to herand her desire to surrender to

(53:41):
you, to be your servant, to loveyou and to bless you and
glorify you, but also with thebattles that she must have had
internally.
And ultimately, she chose toplant her stake in the ground
and praise you and glorify youand magnify you and list who you
were, who you continue to be,all that you've done and all

(54:01):
that you will do in a radicalrevolutionary way, just like her
son would too.
What a beautiful thing it is tosee her personal relationship
with you, Lord, the God of herfathers, of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, and the stories that sheknew and that she had studied
and she had celebrated and shehad sang about to see that be
the source of all that pouredout of her.

(54:24):
As she went public with herdeclarations, in public with her
own ministry as the mother ofthe Messiah.
Lord, would we be the same?
Would you plant in us theevidence and the certainty of
who you are, the desire to studyyour word and to get it right,
and the ability to join therevolution.

(54:49):
That we would be people who aretransformed and who are able to
be used by you to transform allthe lives of those around us
because of what that one babycame to do.
We're so grateful, and we're sothankful that we get to do this
right now in this season ofAdvent as we slow down.

(55:09):
Man, I needed this today.
Just it's stressful, there's alot going on.
We're so tempted to lose sightof what matters most.
And so I just thank you forthis time.
And I ask you to I ask you tolet fall away what needs to fall
away from my wanderings andramblings today, and let stick
what needs to stick, and thatyou would just bless the one

(55:29):
who's listening now.
Oh, how I love the people thatyou have given me the ability
and the blessing of serving.
And so do your thing in theirheart, Lord, and draw them
closer to you in Jesus' name.
Alright, let's close by doingour memory work together.
I'm going to repeat Luke 152five times.

(55:51):
Say it out loud with me orquietly to yourself.
He has brought down the mightyfrom their thrones and exalted
He has brought down the mightyfrom their thrones, and exalted
He has brought down the mightyfrom their thrones, and exalted

(56:19):
He has brought down the mightyfrom their thrones and exalted
Luke 1 52.
Remember, you are able to abidein the Bible.
We'll see you next time.
Until then, let's abide.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

The Joe Rogan Experience

Two Guys, Five Rings: Matt, Bowen & The Olympics

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}#076 "Magnificat in the Mess Because He Has Done Great Things" (Luke 1:52)