Let every heart prepare Him room

Sing Praises to our God! In light of Christ’s coming… What was God doing? What did God expect of His people then? What does God expect of His people now?

I. What was God doing to prepare the way for His Son’s coming? Building on His past work, God worked through specific people at a specific time (verses 39-44, 56)

The Timing of Mary’s Visit “In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth” (verses 39-40) The “days” Luke is referring to is the time of the events in the preceding passage which occurred in the 6th month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy (verse 36) “Mary remained with [Elizabeth] about three months and [then] returned…home” (verse 56) which occurred before Elizabeth gave birth to John as verse 57 indicates Elizabeth’s pregnancy was 9 months, therefore, Mary must have “arose and went with haste” very soon after Gabriel’s pronouncement to her

I. What was God doing to prepare the way for His Son’s coming? Building on His past work, God worked through specific people at a specific time (verses 39-44, 56) God worked according to His plan and purpose as revealed through His word (verses 50-55) God was carefully attentive to His people as He worked among, in and through them (verses 39-40, 56)

II. What did God expect of His people as He prepared the way for His Son’s coming? God expected His people to persist in obedience to His word (verses 39-45) God expected His people to rejoice and praise Him for who He is and what He has done (verses 46-55) Mary praises God: for what He has done for her (verses 46-49) for who He is (verses 49-50) for the great reversal of fortune His kingdom will bring (verses 51- 53) for His faithful mercy to Israel (verses 54–55)

III. Sing Praises to our God for His Mighty Works! The Samaritan leper, “when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice” (Luke 17:15) “And leaping up, he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God” (Acts 3:8, the man Peter healed who had been lame from birth)

III. Sing Praises to our God for His Mighty Works! “It is fitting and right to sing of you, to praise you, to thank you, to adore you in all places of your dominion. For you are the ineffable God, inconceivable, invisible, incomprehensible, existing forever and yet ever the same, you and your only-begotten Son and your Holy Spirit. You brought us into being out of nothingness, and when we had fallen, you raised us up again. You have not ceased doing everything to lead us to heaven and to bestow upon us your future kingdom. For all this do we thank you and your only-begotten Son and your Holy Spirit - for all the benefits of which we know and those of which we are ignorant, for those that are manifest to us and those that lie concealed.” John Chrysostom, 4th Century church father

III. Sing Praises to our God for His Mighty Works! “O for a thousand tongues to sing My great Redeemer’s praise, the glories of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace.” Charles Wesley “You have not ceased doing everything to lead us to heaven and to bestow upon us your future kingdom.” John Chrysostom

“Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit” and “gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary…”