Law and Life

The Magnificat

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Law

Genre: Speech

Lesson: 8 of 39

Track: 119

Dictation Name: RR156D8

Date: 1960s-1970s

[Rushdoony] Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. Let us pray. All glory be to Thee, O God the Father almighty, who hast given us Thine only begotten son, Jesus Christ, that we might have salvation and life through Him. Glory be to Thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, who became man that we might become the sons of God. Glory be to Thee, O Holy Spirit, who hast made us Thy dwelling place, and who dost direct and rule, correct and rule our hearts. We praise Thee, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and in this glorious season rejoice, that all things come from Thee, that Thou art Lord of heaven and earth, that all things fulfill Thy holy purpose, that Thou hast called us to be Thy people, and put a song of praise and gratitude in our hearts. O Lord our God, how great Thou art, how marvelous Thy gifts, and we praise Thee. In Jesus name, Amen.

Our Scripture lesson is from the first chapter of Luke, verses 39 through 55. Luke 1:39-55; the Magnificat. The Magnificat itself is verses 46 following, but we’ll begin with verse 39.

“And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Judah;

and entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth. And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: and she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord. And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For He hath regarded the low estate of His handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

For He that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is His name. And His mercy is on them that fear Him from generation to generation. He hath showed strength with His arm; He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich He hath sent empty away. He hath holpen His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy; as He spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to His seed forever. And Mary abode with her about three months, and returned to her own house.”

The Magnificat is one of the most beautiful passages of Scripture and one of the most loved, one of the most favored. It is, to use the term, and escatalogical declaration. That is, it speaks about history and its outcome, its future. Mary declared the birth of Christ as the sign of victory, the King, God incarnate, was coming to claim His kingdom, to dethrone all His enemies, to reverse the priorities of men and to establish in their stead His priorities and His will, and to rule in strength, mercy, and grace. Many prophesies of the Old Testament were put together, unified, to make up the Magnificat. It is important for us to understand this. Twice before we have dealt with the Magnificat, this time more specifically with Mary in relationship to the Magnificat.

It is an unhappy fact that Mary’s position is not a properly understood one in the church today. On the one hand, in recent generations, the Catholic church has exalted her to the position of being a mediatrix, with the result that Protestants have reacted to the other extreme and have acted as though she barely existed, and neither is a healthy position. Let us see what this Scripture tells us about Mary; our relationship to her, how we should regard her, and how Mary herself saw the meaning of the birth of Christ. Now the first thing that we should notice as we analyze this Scripture is Mary, after the annunciation, because she realized what a great thing was happening to her and that prophesy was being fulfilled in her, studied the Scriptures. She was the one of whom Isaiah spoke, that a virgin shall conceive and bring forth a child who would be the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace, and of the increase of whose government, there should be no end. That upon his shoulders would be the government of all nations; all men of the entire earth. Knowing these things, what Mary obviously did, although brought up in the faith and knowing the Scriptures, was to go through the Scriptures and read the whole of the Old Testament very carefully; to read it very carefully in terms of what does it mean in terms of what has happened to me? And what is happening through me?

Now of course one of the things she noticed first of all and she echoes in the Magnificat is the song of Hannah. Hannah gave birth to Samuel, God had answered her prayer and promised her that she would have a son, that this son should be set apart for God’s service. And Hannah, as inspired of the Holy Spirit, sang with joy, declared that indeed great things were to come to pass, that her son as a prophet would be a forerunner of the Messiah. And that what had happened in the fall would be reversed ultimately by He who was to come. And that God in giving her miraculously a son was in a sense setting forth that which He was to accomplish in the future through His only begotten son. Mary meditated on the song of Hannah, on the Psalms, on Genesis; especially 17:7 which she quotes, on Malachi which she again quotes, Isaiah which she echoes over and over again. She obviously had studied very carefully in the days immediately after the annunciation, in every spare moment; the whole of the Old Testament. And many of the passages that had to do with her son and with herself had burned themselves into her memory so that at this point as Elizabeth, inspired of the Holy Ghost, greets her, she too bursts into inspired song. And every word thereof brings together in a unified whole the meaning of prophesy. The Magnificat has become a song.

Scripture tells us that Mary said, rather than sang, these things. But we know that the word “praise”, as with the angels’ song, was another way of saying “singing”, and we know that words of praise, even though spoken, were often referred to as a song even though they were not sung in our sense of the word because for Israel, “praise” “joy” meant song. “Sing unto the Lord a new song for He hath done marvelous things.” So that when one was joyful, the words that poured out, even though spoken, had the connotation to Israel of song.

When Mary sings, when she gave voice to the Magnificat, she saw the meaning of the prophesies not in terms of herself, not even in terms of her son, but in terms of what her son was going to do for fallen man, for the covenant people of God, for the whole earth. She shows that indeed it means a mighty reversal of all things, and that this great reversal begins with the birth of Jesus Christ. Moreover, she sees all of the future accomplished as a present fact, for now God incarnate was coming into the world. The song, thus, is not about heaven, there was no doubt in Mary’s mind of the glories of what heaven means, nor about the new creation after the judgment, but the song is about history; a fallen world that is to be restored, a fallen mankind that is to be redeemed. It is this she sings about. The world created to be a paradise had become a nightmare of sin and Christ from heaven had come to create a new paradise of righteousness and obedience. And so, one of the central facts she hails first of all is “His mercy is on them that fear Him from generation to generation.” The glories of God’s mercy. She echoes Genesis 17:7, Exodus 26, and Psalm 103 verses 17 and 18, among many like verses.

The verses I cited in particular say “and I will establish my covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant; to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee.” And then in the Ten Commandments God speaks of showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments. And the Psalms with “the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto children’s’ children, to such as keep His covenant, and to those who remember His commandments to do them. Now as we look at the Ten Commandments, we again see this note of God’s mercy. In Deuteronomy 5, 9 and 10, “Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them nor serve them, for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments.”

Now very often we misunderstand that meaning, showing mercy unto thousands. It means, very literally, to the thousandth generation. This is brought out very clearly in Deuteronomy 7, 9 through 11, “know therefore that the Lord thy God, He is God the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments, to the thousandth generation, and repayeth them that hate Him to their face to destroy. He will not be slack to him that hateth Him, He will repay him to his face. Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them.” This is a marvelous declaration. What God here affirms is that He will abide by His covenant promise, thou He will judge the generations that are faithless. Yet, having made a covenant with a people, He will remember that covenant to the thousandth generation, and will effect His redemption of their seed and establish them in His grace. Here is the election of grace; God’s faithfulness to His covenant people despite their sins, His promptness indeed of punishing all violations by covenant breakers, but even more, the emphatic stress on God’s electing grace. And Mary hails this and rejoices in it. This is the marvel, the glory of God, to the thousandth generation He remembers His covenant grace.

But Mary begins by praising God with reverence to herself. My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God, my savior. Why? For He hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden, the low estate: she, like Joseph, was of the line of David; the royal family. But for four centuries or more, five centuries, the royal family had been nothing; forgotten people, bearing the name of David but living in obscurity, sometimes in poverty, in a low estate. But God remembered His promise that He had made to David, that of him should be born the great King; the Messiah. And God had remembered the low estate of His handmaiden. For behold, from henceforth, all generations shall call me blessed. For He that is mighty hath done to me great things, and holy is His name. Now Mary had just been called blessed by her cousin Elizabeth. Elizabeth, inspired of the Holy Ghost, had hailed Mary as blessed. And Mary now declares from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed, and rightfully so; Scripture requires it. And although, because of our Protestant background, for some of us to speak of the blessed virgin Mary may seem a little strange in our ears, it is nonetheless Scriptural.

Mary herself, inspired of the Spirit, declares that this is now her title. People shall look to her and call her blessed. There is thus a change in her status. And the change in her status is the starting point of a world-wide change. For He that is mighty hath done to me great things, and holy is His name. God’s electing grace had manifested itself unto her. She was in a low estate, she had become (although of the line of David) nobody, nothing, an insignificant peasant girl. But God, by His electing grace, had kept His covenant promise, singled her out and made her the mother of Jesus Christ, and she hails this fact and declares that this is a sign and a symbol of the change which shall come to all the earth. This change which begins in me, I who am a nobody am now by His electing grace to be called blessed. So, all those who through my son are made new creatures in Christ shall also be blessed; shall also by God’s electing grace be exalted.

And she goes on to hail this fact. He hath showed strength with His arm; He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich He hath sent empty away. He hath holpen His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy; as He spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to His seed forever. In calling her the blessed virgin Mary, therefore, we hail the fact that by God’s grace both she and we have been made blessed; that we ourselves are made blessed by her son, that God by the strength of His arm hath scattered the proud, the evil ones, in the desires of their hearts, as they say “Go too, let us make us a tower, let us build a one world order apart from God. Let us say that God is dead, that God is not.” But He hath put down the mighty from their seats. And even as He has exalted me, He hath remembered the low estate of His handmaiden. He exalts them of low degree, and we who in the eyes of the world are nothing are in His eyes blessed; kings, priests, and prophets, the heirs of the new creation called to do battle for Him in this world and to conquer. And given the certainty that in the new creation, when it comes in all its fullness, we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. The low estate of His handmaiden exalted and made blessed, and we who are of low degree exalted and made blessed along with the virgin Mary.

He hath filled the hungry with good things and the rich He hath sent empty away. The world as in its evil it seeks to deprive the people of God, to say the earth is ours not the Lord’s, and to declare that the blessed meek shall not inherit the earth, but that the proud and the ungodly shall, are put down and sent empty away, and we are filled with good things. Not just with necessary things, that’s not the point of this. With all richness, with all delicacies, we are banqueted. This is God’s purpose for us. He hath holpen His servant Israel, His covenant people, those who by faith are the sons of Abraham, in remembrance of His mercy as He spake to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever.

The consequences of the blessing of Mary are the overturning of all things by her son, of whom Ezekiel prophesied, God speaking through him, “I will overturn, overturn, overturn it and it shall be no more, until He come whose right it is, and I will give it to Him.”

The song of Hannah is echoed in the Magnificat. Let us then look briefly at the song of Hannah. “My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, mine horn is exalted in the Lord: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God. Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength. They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble. The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and he hath set the world upon them. He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

So Hannah rejoiced, by strength shall no man prevail. We are blessed indeed and it is of God’s grace, and the adversaries of the Lord shall be broken. And so Hannah saw herself as blessed, and so Mary hailed herself in inspired song, and declared from henceforth, all generations shall call me blessed. Because in her person she witnesses to the greatness of electing grace, and because through her came He who is accomplishing the mighty reversal of all things; God’s work of restoration beginning with man. And so we too call her the blessed virgin Mary, because her blessing is a sign also that we too are the blessed people of God through His sovereign and electing grace, through the work of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Let us pray.

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, we give thanks unto Thee that Jesus Christ is come, that unto us a child is born, a son is given, and that the government upon all things is upon His shoulder, that through Him even as the virgin Mary is blessed so we too are blessed and we too have the joy of having been exalted out of low degree and having been made kings, priests, and prophets unto Thee; the heirs of all things in Jesus Christ. O Lord, our God, how great Thou art and we praise Thee. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

We have one brief announcement, and in part a report this morning. If you have not yet gotten your subscription to the Journal of Christian Reconstruction in, please do so as soon as possible. We’re very, very happy to report that the response has been phenomenally good. As a matter of fact, we will have as of now half as much as one of the outstanding, perhaps the outstanding theological journal in the country, and we expect to have far more by the time we begin. I think this is a very wonderful response and evidence that Chalcedon’s work is being well-received everywhere, so that people are very happily and readily subscribing to the Journal of Christian Reconstruction, and we ask you to remember our work in your prayers that this coming year might indeed be one of great growth and success. Let us bow our heads now for the benediction. And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always. Amen.

[End of tape]