This post continues our study of the relationship between the birth of Jesus and the character of God.
The Christmas story, like every other story in Scripture, shows us that God’s attributes are inseparable from and lead inevitably to his actions.
The incarnation teaches what we see throughout the Bible: God does because of who God is.
Psalm 119:68 provides a concise summary of this glorious truth:
“You are good and do good.”
Mary’s hymn in Luke 1:46-55 demonstrates this. She is praising God because “he . . . has done great things” (v. 49). Two weeks ago, we discovered that God sent his Son to earth because of his holiness (v. 49). Last week we saw that God provided a Savior because of his mercy (v. 50. 54). This week, we will focus on his power as yet another wonderful reason for the season.
Our God is “the Lord God Almighty” (Revelation 4:8). He is the possessor and source of all power in the universe. As David wrote, “Once God has spoken; twice have I heard this: that power belongs to God” (Psalm 62:11).
I again quote A.W. Tozer. “God has power. Since God is also infinite, whatever He has must be without limit; therefore God has limitless power. He is omnipotent.” (The Knowledge of the Holy)
As Steven Lawson writes, “Because God has all power, He can do any one thing as easily as He can do another thing. It is all the same to God. Whatever He does is done effortlessly, because nothing is difficult for him to carry out. When God acts, He loses none of His strength. He expends no energy that must be replaced. Because He is immutable, He never needs to regain any lost strength. His power always remains unchanged.” (Show Me Your Glory)
Mary was well aware of God’s power. Note her repeated mention of it:
He who is mighty has done great things for me” (v. 49)
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts (v. 51)
he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate (v. 52)
What God Did for Mary
Obviously, God performed an unparalleled work of power in Mary. A virgin became pregnant. How can that happen? Humanly speaking, it doesn’t. It’s impossible. But “nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37), because God has the power to do the humanly impossible. He’s the Creator of the universe, the One who made everything from nothing. Certainly, God can create a human being to appear in Mary’s womb. “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?” (Jeremiah 32:27)
What God Does for All
God’s power to bring about the virgin birth of the Messiah is the same power that brings about the final destiny of all people. Note the shift in Mary’s emphasis from what God did “for me” (verses 46-49) to what God will do for the rest of humanity (verses 50-53).
There are only types of people in the world, and Mary describes them both:
The humble and hungry (v. 52-53).
Like Mary, they fear God and are blessed and exalted by him (v. 48, 50, 52).
The proud and rich (v. 51-53).
When God brings them down, their short-lived wealth and so-called “might” will vanish like a mist (v. 51, 53).
The humble are the spiritually hungry people who receive God’s good gifts of salvation – those spiritual blessings of regeneration, adoption, justification, and reconciliation, as taught in the New Testament writings of the apostles and their associates. Because of God’s power, the Father sent Jesus to earth so we could be “delivered from the dominion of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14). Only the infinite strength of God can provide these blessings of never-ending fullness.
In stark contrast, God “scatters” the proud and mighty, bringing them down from their thrones and sending them to the lake of fire, to a hell of eternal agony and conscious torment, a place with nothing but sorrow, regret, and poverty.
In the end, the hungry become rich and the rich become poor. Speaking as if these events have already happened (as in Isaiah 53), Mary rejoices in her God as the One who will destroy those who reject Christ and elevate those who revere and adore him. Like the Old Testament prophets, she speaks about the effects of Christ’s first and second advents. Jesus comes the first time as the lamb-like Savior, canceling sin’s debt by laying down his life for the sheep. And he comes a second time as the lion-like Judge and Executioner to oppose the proud and defeat the mighty. “Your right hand, O LORD, is majestic in power, Your right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy” (Exodus 15:6).
Only the power of God can make this happen. When we see the condition of the world today, Mary’s hope-filled psalm can seem like a far-fetched pipedream. But when we focus on the omnipotence of God – meditating on his promises and his infinite power to fulfill them – we can rest assured that one day there will be “new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13).
Like Mary, let’s magnify the Lord for his incomparable power. “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might” (Daniel 2:20). Only Jesus is “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3).
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