Advent: The Songs of Christmas

I hope you will pardon me if I illustrate this truth with a personal song of thanks. I was not born into the loving arms of a family who wanted me. I was a product of sin and shame. I was scheduled to be aborted. But God regarded me. He used His mighty arm to protect me and give me life. I could have been reared in a terrible environment, but God who is Mighty and Powerful did great things for me. He placed me in a loving home and in the arms of a childless widow, who adopted me and gave me love and faith. God regarded me, for what reason I do not know, but He used His power to protect me and give me life. I was a prodigal and left the pathway of God, but in my suffering and my sadness in the twists and turns of running from God, He came to me and saved me. His mighty arm has done great things for me. And today through the gift of a godly wife, a happy home, and children who know the Lord, I can say that future generations will be blessed because God saved me.

Oh, this is the Song of every saint! This is the Song of Songs for weary, desperate people who see no hope, who can find no consolation in this life, who think that things can never be changed and that life holds no wonder. Oh, listen this Advent, my friend, to the Song of Mary and hear the Song of a person who has been redeemed. Hear the romance of the Gospel. Jesus has come and nothing can ever be the same again! Jesus invites you to come and believe and receive Him as Lord and Savior and be free of the domain of cheerless living:

“God rest you merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay, remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas day, to save us all from Satan’s pow’r, when we were gone astray;

O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy, O tidings of comfort and joy.”

Mary’s Song was a Praise Song, a Sweet Song, and I say that her song is:

A Deep Song

The third and final division of the Magnificat is found in verses 50-55. Mary started by praising God in verses 46 and 47, she moved to thanking God in verses 48 and 49, and now we come to learn the deep, theological foundation of Mary’s faith.

Mary teaches us several great truths of the Incarnation.

The Incarnation Is about God’s Mercy

In verse 50 she declares “His mercy is on those who fear Him.”

Make no mistake about it: Mary ground her salvation in the mercy of God. I believe that Mary understood the total depravity of mankind better than anyone did. She understood that unless God sent a Savior who would meet the demands of the Law and take the penalty of sin upon Himself, that unless a Man did that and yet a Man who was altogether God, mankind would be lost forever.

This Song is a deep doctrinal statement on God’s mercy on sinners.

The Incarnation Is about God’s Irony

In verses 51-53, Mary affirmed faith in God’s wonderful irony. He has shown strength with His arm, not by man’s arm, and He has scattered the proud. He had put down the mighty. And He has exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry and sent the rich away empty.