Luke 1:52 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Luke 1:52

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God has down the centuries demonstrated his detestation and his hatred of human pride in the taking apart and throwing down of the mightiest empires. In 701 BC Sennacherib attacked the land and came against Judah with all his plans and boasts. Hezekiah cried out and the invincible Assyrians are defeated. In the course of time, that great Assyrian Empire collapsed utterly before the Babylonian Empire. Judah then goes into exile in Babylon for seventy years, before Babylon in turn is crushed by a relatively weak Persia. In one night the Babylonian Empire falls, and Belshazzar receives the sentence of God causing his knees to knock together. God then stirs Cyrus to issue an edict, allowing the Jews to return to their own land. Again, the seemingly invincible Medo Persian Empire, so strong, not only militarily, but intellectually, in learning, in mode of government, was brought down by Greece, before Greece also falls before the Roman Empire. These are the only empires that could truly be called world empires. Since that time there have been a number of other empires, but not so universal as these former world empires. They too have all lost their authority and their power in the course of time. It is the periodical theme that God brings all mighty institutions to an end, one after another. The only empire that has lasted is that spiritual empire in the hearts of men and women, the kingdom the church of Jesus Christ, and that will last to the end when it is all in all. But God brings down man’s empires to demonstrate his opposition to human pride. In spite of his patience with men and women, and his ongoing kindness, and his countless mercies, yet he must demonstrate his hatred of human pride. ‘And exalted them of low degree.’ We could think of David who began as a shepherd boy and was raised up to be the king of Israel. Esther was made the wife of the king of Persia. The disciples were, some of them, mere fishermen before Christ called them to be fishers of men. Every believer has been lifted out of the gutter of sin, and made to be a king and priest in the kingdom of heaven. But Mary is a prime example of God delight to give the lowly special privileges.

Application

The great enemy within is the pride of the human heart. The teaching of the Bible on this subject is so different from that of our present culture. It has not always been as it is today, but nowadays pride is something that is sought after and approved. In the present hour we have the whole psychological notion of the value of self-esteem. Yes, there are now many very fierce severe critics of it, and it is good to see that, but in recent years, self-esteem has been made to be so special and so essential. By contrast God tells us, ‘him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer’ (Psalm 101:5). He may continue proud to his dying day; he may be very rich; he may be very successful, but through his pride, he will know gigantic areas of loss and disappointment and unhappiness in his life. The fear of the Lord is to hate pride and arrogance. You don't have to have real accomplishments or real talents and powers in order to be proud; it is a problem with everybody. Pride can build much out of little, and exaggerate our capacities and our behaviour in our own estimation. If you are proud, you don't thank others for what they have done for you; you think it's all down to you. God resists the proud we read in the Epistle of James.

Pride is a moral problem; it breaks the law of God. God says, ‘Thou shalt have no other gods before me’, and we make gods of ourselves. We come first: self-rule and rebellion against God. It's also an intellectual problem, because it dominates our thinking. I have some great decision to make, and so often what influences me most of all is, how will this affect me? What will people think of me? I am centre stage. I fill the picture. It's a disease of the mind as well as a moral problem. It breaks into all our decisions to a greater or lesser extent. It makes us unbelievers so that we don't want God. We would have to come under his rule and his authority. It's a disease of the mind or the intellect, as well as a disease of the affections, because pride comes into all our tastes and our delights. We have to have things we want; our tastes are completely in accordance with our pride.

Today even in sports and professional sport, how much confidence is spoken about. The team can only win if it regains its confidence. It's our culture which is so opposed to the principles of God. They are taught that it is not enough to try to motivate and encourage team players to have a desire to win; they must somehow or other be convinced that they can and will do so. That is thought to be more effective, more powerful, so pride is encouraged. You cannot succeed without it. Then there is all the celebrity worship and the hero worship and people love to listen to these celebs and their vain self-promotion.

Jesus Christ has come into the world to make it possible for proud, proud people to be saved, to have their sins forgiven, to be changed by him, to be brought into the kingdom of heaven. Hell is the destination of pride, and Christ descended into hell, says the apostle's Creed. That doesn't mean that he literally went to hell. He is the holy one: that is entirely impossible. It meant that when he came down to Calvary's cross and suffered and died on that cross, he took our hell there. It is something one can scarcely take in. Do you mean that Christ the Saviour of the world allowed himself on Calvary's cross to be invisibly clothed with my pride, and there he took the punishment due to my pride? Yes, he took the punishment that was due and flowed from my pride. He experienced and tasted my rejection from God everlastingly somehow compressed into a space of time. He accepted the filthy offensive garment of my pride. He did it out of love. He gives us a new nature, new tastes and desires, so that from now on, we hate our pride and fight against it. The last vestige of the disease will still be in you until the day you die. If you belong to Christ, you won't be condemned, but he will purify you and make you gloriously wholly fit to live with him forever more. But in the meantime he will give you more self-control, a great desire to resist pride, a new humility.

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Luke 1:52 Commentary and Bible Study