Marvel at God’s Majestic Might
After living in the city for a few years there is one thing I’ve decided I really don’t like: the streetlights. Sure, they make it easier to drive and walk at night and help with public safety. But I miss being able to see the night sky ablaze with stars. I loved being able to see all of the constellations and even on very dark nights the hazy arm of our galaxy.
The heavens are a testament to the might and power of our God. As we look at the vastness of his creation, we cannot help but marvel at God’s majestic might. Throughout history, God has done great things for his people. He brought plagues on Egypt, made the sun stand still in the sky, and rescued them from hungry lions and fiery furnaces. But God’s greatest deed was accomplished when he sent his Son to be born of a Virgin. God’s might and power were on full display as he broke the power of sin and death by his death on the cross. As Advent draws to a close, we join with Mary and magnify the greatness of our God and marvel at God’s majestic might.
Imagine Mary’s awe as she considered the proclamation of the angel Gabriel that she would conceive and give birth to the very Son of God. The long years of waiting were over. The Savior God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was about to be born. The anticipation of God’s amazing grace was about to be fulfilled. Gabriel told Mary that as a sign of God’s power and promise her cousin Elizabeth was also pregnant in in her old age even though she had been called barren. In her joy, Mary hurried to see this miracle and to share her joy that she was carrying God’s promised Savior.
We can only imagine Elizabeth’s joy and anticipation as she neared the end of her miraculous pregnancy. The son promised to her and Zechariah was soon to be born. As she heard the greeting of her cousin Mary the baby John leaped in her womb in joy as his Savior approached. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and marveled at God’s majestic might as the promises of God were fulfilled in her very presence.
When Mary heard the Word of the Lord spoken by her cousin she was filled with joy. Her soul could not help but magnify the glory of the Lord. Mary’s song, the Magnificat, is a glorious hymn of praise to our awesome God. It reminds us that our God is a powerful warrior who fights for his people and who keeps all his promises. It is a song of joyful anticipation that points us to the fulfillment of God’s amazing grace in the birth of our Savior. As we think about her song, we too marvel at God’s majestic might.
As we look at the beauty of creation, the expanse of the starry heavens, the roar of the vast oceans, and the multitude of life in this world, we marvel at God’s majestic might. Our souls magnify our Lord, and our spirits rejoice in God our Savior. Yet there is still a part of us that cannot help but be afraid of God’s marvelous might. When we are confronted by the awesome majesty and holiness of God our sinful natures cower in fear. We know that for a sinner to stand in God’s holy presence and see his face means death. Adam and Eve knew this as they hid themselves from his presence after they ate from the tree, he commanded them not to eat from. We hear this fear echoed in God’s chosen people as they heard God’s holy law at Sinai. All the people saw and heard the thunder and the lightning and the sound of the ram’s horn and the mountain smoking. The people saw, and they trembled and stood far away. Then they said to Moses, “Speak with us yourself, and we will listen, but do not let God speak with us, or we will die.”
Because of sin, this is our natural response to the holiness of God. We know that our sinful nature and our sins of thought, word, and action separate us from him. We know that by nature we deserve only his wrath and punishment. But God does not want us to live in fear of his wrath. God wants to comfort us with his grace and shower us with his blessings. This why: when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son to be born of a woman, so that he would be born under the law, in order to redeem those under the law, so that we would be adopted as sons. God sent Jesus to fulfill his law and be punished in our place. Our God is a God who fights for his people. He sent his Son to fight a battle we could never win. Jesus came to destroy the power of the devil and break the chains of death. On the cross, Jesus paid the debt of our sins. Through the waters of baptism, we have been reborn as God’s dearly beloved children.
Mary knew the promises of God. She knew that God’s strong arm was not something that his people needed to fear but to marvel at. Our God is mighty to save. We know the great things he has done for his people. Thinking of God’s mighty arm calls to mind God rescuing his people from Egypt. At the Red Sea God
used his might to save his people. He bared his mighty arm and parted the waters so Israel could pass through in safety. He then brought those waters crashing down and cast the army of Pharoah in the depths of the sea. God scatters the proud and casts down the mighty. God is a fearsome and powerful foe to those who reject and oppose his will. But to those who love him and trust in the name of Jesus, he is a mighty warrior who fights for his people. We marvel at the majestic might of our God who still fights to save us. Who rules over all things for the good of his church and sends his angels to guard and keep us.
The song of Mary calls to mind all the great and mighty things God had done to save his people. As she praised God, she marveled that his greatest act of salvation was about to be fulfilled through her. Mary knew that there was nothing majestic or awesome about her. She was just a lowly virgin who had been chosen by God to bear his Son. Mary wanted people to remember her throughout the ages because of what God had done through her, not because of anything she had done. In the same way, there is nothing glorious or majestic in us. By nature, we are all sinners, but in his great love, God chose each of us to be his dear children. Through the cross of Christ, he adopted us as his children and made us heirs of his kingdom. We marvel that our mighty and majestic God loved us enough to die to save us and we live in humility because we know that we have been saved by grace alone.
Mary knew the history of her people. She knew the promises that God had made to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his children forever. She rejoiced that our mighty God is faithful to his promises. Even when the children of Israel abandoned their covenant with God, he did not forsake them. He remembered his promises. He sent his prophets again and again to call his people to repentance. He brought them out of captivity in Babylon and preserved them so a Savior could be born in Bethlehem Ephrathah. He showed the full depth of his mercy to his servant Israel as he fulfilled his promise and sent his Son to free all people from their sins.
Our merciful and mighty God continues to show us his mercy. He calls us to repentance through the preaching of his law. He invites us to turn to Jesus in faith and trust the promise that all our sins have been forgiven by the blood of Christ. At the shore of the Red Sea God bared his mighty arm and cast the army of pharaoh into the depths of the sea. God was about to accomplish an even greater act of salvation through the child Mary carried. We marvel at the majestic might of our God as he suffered and died on the cross for our sins. On the cross, Christ bared his mighty arm and crushed the head of Satan. On Easter morning Christ defeated the power of death and hell and gave us the certainty of eternal life with him.
The next time you gaze up at the night sky take time to marvel at the majestic might of our God. Consider all the great and mighty deeds he has done for you. Remember how he fulfilled the promises he made to Abraham and to his children. Wonder at the warrior who defeated the power of death and hell for you. And gaze in awe as we celebrate the night the heavens were filled with songs of angels as they announced that Emmanuel had been born to free the world from sin.
O come, O Root of Jesse free your own from Satan’s tyranny; from depths of hell your people save and give them victory o’er the grave.