Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20101226.htm

CHRISTMAS INTERLUDE
Mary's Confession In The Magnificat
Part IV: Mary's Confession Regarding Her Hebrew People
(Luke 1:51-55)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    God led us to this study of Mary's Magnificat when He let me discover a Children's Christmas CD from an evangelical publisher had a story of a statue about Mary coming to life to help a little boy! T. A. McMahon's article, "Mary Who?" in The Berean Call, October 2000, p. 1 explains that Americans from all denominations are now reaching out to Mary, and that even in Islamic countries, apparitions of her occur, and the Qur'an and many Islamic hadiths pay homage to Mary.

    A question we must answer in this series is raised in noting that though key groups exalt Mary, they do not exalt her Hebrew people :

    (1) Though Islam honors Mary over its other revered women, one hadith cites Muhammad as teaching the annihilation of the Hebrew people by Muslims. (Ibid., TBC, February 2000, p. 3, citing Mishkat al Masabih Sh. M. Ashraf, 1990, p. 147, 721, 810-11, 1130, etc.)

    Fueling this hadith is Islam's belief that Ishmael, Abraham's son by Hagar and ancestor of many Arabs and some say of Muhammad himself, is heir to the Abrahamic Covenant and of the land of Canaan, that it is not Isaac like Genesis 17 teaches (since Muslims hold this text to be corrupted). (Jean-Pierre Isbouts, The Bib. World: An Illus. Atlas, p. 68-69; why-christians-convert-to-islam.com, a pro-Islamic site!)

    (2) Though the Roman Catholic Church and some Protestants exalt Mary, and neither now fosters violence against Hebrews as the Church did in the Middle Ages, groups in both entities hold to Replacement Theology, a belief that the Church replaces Israel as the recipient of God's promises to Abraham. ("What's The Difference Between Israel and the Church?" in thebereancall.org/node/841)

    Thus, a Roman Catholic synod in the Vatican last October saw archbishop Bustros of Our Lady of the Annunciation in Boston deliver the final address in which he condemned the existence of the State of Israel! He claimed God's promises to the Hebrews "were nullified by Christ'" and called for all Palestinian refugees to return to the land, "a sure recipe" for the fall of the Jewish State. ("Catholic Church: Christ Nullified Promises to Israel," Ibid., thebereancall.org/node/8856)

    In Protestant circles, some Reformed and Charismatic groups push forms of Replacement Theology with the same ideas expressed at the October Vatican synod. (Ibid., thebereancall.org/node/841/print)

    So, we ask, "If Mary is exalted by groups that do not honor her Hebrew people, what does her Magnificat say about Israel?"

    Need: "What does the Magnificat teach on the right view of Israel?"

  1. Luke 1:51-53 alludes to six Old Testament passages (Psa. 89:10 and 2 Sam. 22:28 at Lk. 1:51; Job 12:9 and 5:11 at Lk. 1:52 and 1 Sam. 2:5 and Psa. 107:9 at Lk. 1:53) to express Mary's joy that God had DELIVERED her from her OPPRESSORS as a Galilean Hebrew despised by Rabbis in God's arranging for her to give birth to the Messiah. (U. B. S. Greek N. T., 1966, p. 203, ftns. to Lk. 1:51-53; A. Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Mes., 2004, p. 156)
  2. Luke 1:54-55 WIDENS Mary's theme of victory over her OWN OPPRESSORS to give similar victory to her HEBREW PEOPLE:
    1. Mary's Luke 1:54-55 claim counters anti-Semitism in Islam:
      1. Mary's claim that she would give birth to the Messiah meant God had kept His Abrahamic promises to Israel (Lk. 1:54) shows she felt Jacob, or " Israel" (Gen. 32:27-30), inherited that Covenant!
      2. Well, Jacob was a son of Isaac (Genesis 25:21-26), and God in Genesis 17:18-21 specified it was Isaac , NOT Abraham's older son Ishmael by Hagar, who would inherit His Covenant blessings!
      3. Also, both Protestant (Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T. ) and Official Catholic Bible (New American Bible , 1986) notes show Luke 1:55 alludes to Genesis 17:7 where God established His Covenant with Abraham and his seed, a Covenant including eternal possession of Canaan (Genesis 17:8), all in the Genesis 17:18-21 context where God said that Isaac, not Ishmael would inherit that Covenant!
      4. So, Mary held God's promises to her Hebrew people were given to her forefather Isaac and not to Ishmael as is taught in Islam!
    2. Mary's Luke 1:54-55 claim counters anti-Semitism in Christendom:
      1. Christendom's Replacement Theology view that the Hebrews were replaced by the Church as recipients of God's Abrahamic promises grew out of the amillennial belief that there would be no Hebrew Millennial (1,000-year) Kingdom because Israel had rejected Jesus, John F. Walvoord, The Blessed Hope and the Trib., 1976, p. 12-13; Charles C. Ryrie, A Survey of Bible Doctrine, 1978, p. 163-164.
      2. This amillennial belief rose from a nonliteral, allegorical handling of Bible prophecy by third century Alexandrian Christians who tried to make Christianity fit Platonic philosophy, Ibid., Walvoord.
      3. Handling prophecy thus led to the view that the Church was true Israel and lost Hebrews were stripped of Abraham's promises due to rejecting Christ and calling for Jesus' blood to be on them and their children in Matthew 27:25. (Walvoord, "Millennial Series," Bib. Sac., 108:415-17, Oct. 1951 as cited in Pentecost, Things to Come, 1972, p. 87; John Cornwell, Hitler's Pope, 1999, p. 24).
      4. Accordingly, Origen of Alexandria came to blame all of the future generations of Hebrews for Christ's death. (Ibid., Cornwell; Ibid., Walvoord, The Blessed Hope and the Trib ulation, p. 12).
      5. This led to centuries of such intense anti-Semitism in Catholic and Protestant circles that it was a key cause for the rise of the Nazis and the holocaust (Hal Lindsay, The Road to Holocaust , 1990, p. 5-6, citing Barry Leventhal, "Theological Perspectives on the Holocaust," 1982 (doctoral dissertation for Dallas Theological Seminary), p. 4, and citing Raul Hilberg, The Destruction of the European Jews , 1961, pp. 1-4. Barry Leventhal noted Hitler cited anti-Semitic remarks by Martin Luther in his Mein Kampf and Raul Hilberg reported Nazi war criminal Julius Streicher used Luther's anti-Semitic words in his own defense at the Nuremburg trials!)
      6. Yet, Mary's Luke 1:54-55 words counter such anti-Semitism from Replacement Theology by countering the amillennialism behind it:
        1. Mary claimed that God's promises to Abraham and to his seed through Israel, i.e., through Isaac and Jacob, were "forever".
        2. The Church did not then exist (Matthew 16:18), so as God's promises to Abraham and his seed is eternal, Mary held they were forever applied to her Hebrew people!
        3. Also, James, the son of Mary and Joseph (Ibid., Ryrie, p. 1749) as head of the Acts 15 first CHURCH Council, cited a Hebrew prophet at Amos 9:11-12 to support the idea that God would yet ("After this I will return", or when Christ returns) rebuild David's Hebrew kingdom (Acts 15:15-17), the premillennial view! (Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to Acts 15:15-17)
        4. Thus, holding to the "normal" interpretation of Scripture, Mary with her family believed God's promises to their Hebrew people were applied to them forever in contrast to amillennialism and Replacement Theology that opens the door for anti-Semitism!
Application: May we (1) trust in Christ for salvation, John 3:16 (2) and (a) view the Bible plainly, (b) supporting the Hebrew people, (3) learning from history not to compromise with vain philosophies!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 Mary's Magnificat at Luke 1:54-55 is invaluable for us, for it represents our dispensational view of Scripture at its crucial points.

Charles C. Ryrie's book, Dispensationalism Today (1970), at pages 44-47 presents three essential aspects of the dispensational view of Scripture, and we note each is reflected in the Magnificat as follows:

(1) First, dispensationalists keep Israel and the Church distinct. Even Daniel Fuller in his dissertation that opposed dispensationalism correctly observed: "(T)he basic premise of Dispensationalism is two purposes of God expressed in the formation of two peoples who maintain their distinction throughout eternity.'" (Ibid., p. 44-45)

That is exactly what Mary did in Luke 1:54-55 -- she claimed God's promises to Israel were eternally applied to her Hebrew people!

(2) Second, this distinction between Israel and the Church is the product of a consistent literal, or "normal" literal, grammatical, historical method of interpreting all of Scripture, Ibid., p. 45-46. That is what Mary and later her son James (by Joseph and Mary) did: they consistently handled Scripture "normally" with a dispensational result!

(3) Third, dispensationalism does not make salvation God's main purpose as do amillennialists, but the glory of God, Ibid., p. 46-47. This was Mary's main focus throughout her Magnificat: though mentioning the fact that God was her Savior in Luke 1:47, Luke 1:46, 48-55 repeatedly described the various ways God had wrought great glory to Himself in honor of the holiness of His name, Luke 1:49!

Thus, we at Nepaug Bible Church follow the lead of Mary and her family members like the Apostle James when we consistently interpret the Bible in its "normal", or literal, grammatical and historical framework, arriving at an eternal distinction between Israel and the Church as "dispensationalists", all to the glory of God.

As a result, opposite adopting the amillennial stance via allegorizing Scripture to open the door for anti-Semitism, we are premillennialists; we hold Christ will set up His Hebrew Millennial Kingdom to the honor and blessing of Mary's Hebrew people and of the world, all to the glory of the God of Abraham.

May we view Mary as a dear Sister in Christ who was used of God to bring His Son into the world, but view her as ONLY that, and, as DISPENSATIONALISTS, CONTINUE to HONOR her Hebrew people as ETERNAL heirs of God's Abrahamic promises!