In 1:46-56 we have the praise of the Man-Savior’s mother. Mary came to visit Elizabeth. When Elizabeth saw Mary, she blessed her. Mary responded to this blessing not by giving a blessing, but by offering praise to God.
Mary’s poetic praise is composed of many quotations from the Old Testament. This indicates that she was a godly woman, qualified to be a channel for the Savior’s incarnation. It also indicates that the Lord Jesus would grow up in a family which would be filled with the knowledge and love of God’s holy Word.
Although Mary was a young woman, she was very knowledgeable concerning the Old Testament and could quote verses from it in her praise to God. Actually, her praise was a composition of quotations from the Scriptures. Surely she was the right person for God to use in conceiving the Savior who was to be born.
Before Mary was visited by the angel to receive the word concerning the conception of the Man-Savior, she was already full of the knowledge of God’s Word. Many verses of the Scriptures had been absorbed into her being. Therefore, at the proper time she could pour out what was within her as she offered up praise to God.
Mary’s praise indicates that in order for us to be used by God, we need to have certain qualifications. One qualification is the proper knowledge of the Word of God. I hope that the young people in particular will learn of Mary in this matter. Do you intend to be used by the Lord to bring forth something of the Lord, even, in a spiritual sense, to “conceive” the Lord Jesus and bring Him forth? If so, then you need to be qualified by being filled with the Scriptures, filled with the Word of God.
In verses 46 and 47 Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has exulted in God my Savior.” First Mary’s spirit exulted in God; then her soul magnified the Lord. Her praise to God was initiated from her spirit and then was expressed through her soul. Her spirit was filled with joy in God her Savior so that her soul manifested her joy for the magnification of the Lord. She lived and acted in her spirit, which directed her soul. Her exultation in God in her spirit was due to her enjoyment of God as her Savior, and her magnifying of the Lord in her soul was due to her exaltation of the Lord—Jehovah, the great To Be.
Mary’s spirit exulted in God. To exult is higher than to rejoice. It is significant that Mary said that her spirit exulted in God her Savior, rather than in God her Creator. She regarded God as more than her Creator; she considered Him her Savior. She realized that she was a created person who had become fallen. Therefore, she needed her Creator to be her Savior.
We have seen that in verse 46 Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord.” Mary’s praise was to magnify the Lord based upon her experience of God as her Savior through His everlasting mercy (vv. 47-50) and her observation of others’ experience of God’s merciful and faithful doings (vv. 51-55). In content and standard, her praise is like some of the Old Testament Psalms. However, she does not say anything concerning Christ as does Elizabeth in her blessing (vv. 41-43) and Zachariah in his prophecy through the Holy Spirit (vv. 67-71, 76-79).
First Mary’s spirit exulted in God her Savior. Then her soul magnified the Lord. In these verses we see that Mary regarded God as both her Savior and Lord. We all need to experience what Mary experienced in knowing God as our Savior and Lord. When we enjoy God as our Savior, exulting in Him, then we shall magnify Him as our Lord.
When we magnify God as our Lord, we serve Him. Actually, to magnify the Lord is to serve Him as Lord. We need to be impressed with the fact that to serve the Lord is not mainly to do things for Him. On the contrary, the most important aspect of serving the Lord is to magnify Him. We need to be those who live a life not merely of doing things for God but of magnifying Him.
Magnifying the Lord is a matter of our soul, not of our spirit. This means that magnifying the Lord involves our mind, emotion, and will. It involves our thoughts, our likes and dislikes, and our decisions. In all these things the Lord should be magnified. He should be magnified in our thoughts, in our likes and dislikes, and in our decisions concerning our direction.
Mary enjoyed God in the spirit as her saving One. Then her soul, her being, with her mind, emotion, and will, magnified the Lord. When Mary spoke these words, she was still living at the conclusion of Old Testament times. She had not yet fully been brought into the New Testament age. Nevertheless, she could be a person whose spirit exulted in God her Savior and whose soul magnified the Lord. We certainly need to learn of her to exult in the Lord with our spirit and magnify Him with our soul.