Bible Women: Elisabeth and Mary: When the Old and Young meet in Reformation Times

And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. Luk 1:36-38  

The Excellency of God

“And so I despaired,” cried the Preacher. And so suddenly I felt exhausted too. I said to myself, 'I will only rest this Sunday and the next I will start again.' But Sunday came, and the pall of lethargy was still insurmountable.

But it actually felt good to take a breather. God knows I needed it. So I wanted to go to “Bithynia” but the Spirit constrained me to go to “Macedonia.” I’m sorry I went off radar, dear reader, I vanished, but my landing has been safe, by God’s grace. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28).  

Yes, God has been extremely gracious. He has paid all my debts, both physical and spiritual. He has given me the peace which passes understanding. Surely what does a man want?

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?... O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! Psa 8:3-4,9 

From the Gardens into the City

The Old Testament feels like sea waves building into a herculean landing, which it does in the New Testament.

We were used to men and women like us before. We were used to speeches like our own (though we’ve never dwelt in tents and trekked on desert sands like they did); we were used to barren women and loving men who trusted God to the end; we were used to songs which we sang in the night while strange thoughts rampaged through the mind.

We left our dwelling lands to embark on sojourns whose ideal was nothing but faith. God visited, God promised, and God hath made us believe.

So the New Testament opens on a completely new trajectory. In the old we were heading to a place where God promised he would be, but in the new God has come and is dwelling in our hearts. We have left the land behind us and now we’ve entered into the city.

In the Mount of Spices

The air is rich with hope in the new. Elizabeth and Mary merge in a splash of praise. We know them even before we meet with them in the outdoors. Not that they were vastly different from the women we’ve studied before.

We’ve known Sarah, we’ve known Lear and Rachel, and Ruth and then we’ve known Hannah. And anyone of these women might’ve been an Elisabeth or Mary but that wasn’t God’s design, for each had their lives to live and each had their deaths to die.

So what part of the journey of faith are you in, and will you carry it to the end?

Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. 1Th 5:24  

Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. 1Co 12:4-6  

And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Luk 24:44  

Every life God touches he leaves it with the imprint of his loveliness. And so were the lives of all the women who believed, and so will be the lives of all the men who shall never doubt.

May you too be one of those men and women who every day see the star and who follow it faithfully without doubting that it will lead them home.

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. Mat 2:1-2  

And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. Mat 2:11  

We know Elisabeth, but perhaps we know Mary better. They are cousins. And they visit each other as all girls with expectant news visit, and because of the latter the world will never forget, “Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.” 

May you too be blessed among the women in your own home. May you too have a husband and bear your own children. May you too be welcomed in the end by the king himself with open arms saying, “Enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”

Suddenly a new scent pours forth. Flowers bloom in a desert, and rivers break from rocks. The streets we walk on become adorned with gold. And beautiful things always begin to happen when the throne of God is in the heart.

May you behold him today. May you drink him to your fill. “O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.”  In Jesus God has served us the best wine last.

My stay in “Macedonia” is over. I have been refreshed. “The night cometh, when no man can work,” says Christ. So let us get back to work now while it is still day. Let us delve into it with all our heart. Let us work as unto the Lord. See you next week in a new blog series and in a new fortnightly pace!