EVENING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/15/2026
5:57 PM
My
Worship Time Focus:
“The
Promise of God is Veracious”
Bible
Reading & Meditation
Reference: Luke 1:56-58
Message of the verses: “And Mary stayed with her about three
months, and then returned to her home.
Now the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth, and she gave birth to
a son. Her neighbors and her relatives
heard that the Lord had displayed His great mercy toward her; and they were
rejoicing with her.”
Now as we look at verse 56 we can see that what Luke
was doing was to form a transition from Mary’s hymn of praise which is recorded
in verses 46-55 to the account of John’s birth in this passage. Since she came to stay with Elizabeth and
Zacharias when Elizabeth was six months pregnant as seen in 1:26-26 ¶ In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent
from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth.”
Mary evidently returned to her home (Her parents’ home, since
she and Joseph were not yet married) shortly before the birth of John.
John MacArthur writes as he ties in the
name of this SD, “Among the comforting realities in Scripture is that God’s
promises are veracious; that is, they are true, and will certainly come to
pass. Joshua 21:45 notes that ‘no one
of the good promises which the Lord has made to the house of Israel failed; all
came to pass’ (cf. 1 Kings 8:56).” “56 "Blessed be the LORD who has given rest
to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. Not one word has
failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant.” “For as many as are the promises of God, ‘ Paul
reminded the Corinthians, ‘in Him [Christ] they are yes’ (2 Cor. 1:20) because,
as the writer of Hebrews notes, He who promised is faithful’ (Heb.
10:23). There can be no doubt that
God will keep His promises, since ‘God is not a man, that He should lie, or
a son of man, that He should repent; has He said, and will He not do it? Or has
He spoken and will He not make it good?’ (Numbers 23:19); Paul writes that ‘God…cannot
lie’ (Titus 1:2), and the writer of Hebrews declares that ‘it is
impossible for God to lie’ (Heb. 6:18). God
is the God of truth’ (Ps. 31:5; Isa. 65:16), who is ‘abundant in…truth’
(Ps. 86:15) and whose ‘word is truth’ (John 17:17).”
“Through His angelic messenger Gabriel, God had
promised Zacharias, ‘Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will
give him the name John. You will have
joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth’ (1:13-14). In fulfillment of that promise, Elizabeth…gave
birth to a son. Her neighbors and her
relatives heard that the Lord had displayed His great mercy toward her; and
they were rejoicing with her. Luke’s
matter of fact statement that the time had come marks the beginning of
the apex of redemptive history. The
birth of Messiahs forerunner would be followed by the birth of the Messiah, the
Lord Jesus Christ, who would accomplish the work of redemption and ratify the
New Covenant, providing the sacrifice that brought forgiveness of sins and
eternal life to all believers from Adam on.
MacArthur concludes this
section: “The birth of the long-awaited
child who would remove the stigma of her barrenness caused Elizabeth to
rejoice, and her friends and relatives were rejoicing with her. Perhaps she even laughed for joy, as did
Sarah, another older, barren woman, when she gave birth to Isaac (Gen. 21:6;
Isaac means, ‘to laugh’ in Hebrew).”
(Gen. 21:6)
6 And Sarah said, "God has made laughter
for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.’”
“A barren land and a barren wife
Made Abraham laugh at his wandering life
A cruel joke it seemed then to call him the father of nations
A heavenly prank, a celestial joke
Cause grey hair and babies leave no room for hope
But hoping is something this hopeless old man learned to do
Chorus:
They called him laughter
For he came after
The father had made an impossible promise come true
The birth of a baby to a hopeless old lady
So they called him laughter
Cause no other name would do
A cry in the darkness and laughter at night
An elderly couple sat holding him tight
An imporbable infant, a punchline, a promise come true
They laughed til they wept then laughted at their tears
This miracle baby they've wanted for years
Would make a messiah who'd give us impossible joy
Chorus:
They called him laughter
For he came after
The father had made an impossible promise come true
The birth of a baby to a hopeless old lady
So they called him laughter
Cause no other name would do
This is a
song written and sung by Michael Card “The Called Him Laughter,” and perhaps
Zacharias and Elizabeth were thinking about the birth of Isaac when John was
born.
“Certainly Elizabeth and the rest of
those present praised God for His great mercy. God’s Mercy is His loving action toward
undeserving sufferers, such as this old childless couple stigmatized by barrenness,
and is a major theme in this context (cf. vv. 50, 54, 72, and 78).”
(cf. vv. 50, 54, 72, and 78)
“50 And his mercy is for those who fear
him from generation to generation.”
“54 He has helped his servant Israel, in
remembrance of his mercy,
“72 to show the mercy promised to our fathers and
to remember his holy covenant,”
“78 because
of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high”
Lord willing I will begin to look at the next
sub-section tomorrow morning “The Purpose of God is Gracious.”
3/15/2026
6:40 PM
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