Helping and Merciful

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

HELPING AND MERCIFUL

Luke 1:54-56

54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55 to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers." 56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.

NIV

We just wanted to finish up with Mary’s song her final words about Jehovah helping his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful. What exactly does it mean that God has helped Israel? When we look into the Greek word, antilambanomai, it is only used three times in the entire New Testament, once as helped, or holpen as the KJV translates it, and once as ‘to support’ and lastly, as ‘partakers’. This gives us a full picture of what it means when God helped his servant, Israel. Considering that we have become servants of God we would also believe that God has helped us, for we are also a descendant of Abraham through the promise. He supports us, and He partakes with us, as He lives within us, being a partaker in our lives, as we then would also partake in the life of Christ, who is the mercy of God. This is what Mary is prophesying that the Son of God who is within her womb is God reminding himself to be merciful to Israel. However, the mercy of God, who is Jesus, was not just for Israel, unless we take that which Paul spoke, through the power of the Spirit, regarding the circumcision of the heart and it is those whom God has circumcised their hearts are true Israel. However, even if that is not fully the case, we are still descendants of the promise, for we have surely experienced the mercy of God in the person of Jesus Christ. Without God displaying his mercy, or reminding Himself to be merciful, we would be still lost and under the power of death and without any hope of life everlasting through our resurrection from the dead. Praise God for His mercy, for Jesus has conquered death, or taken away, destroyed the power of death, and through God’s divine plan, Mary will give birth to Jesus, bringing salvation to the world. We cannot help but wonder what our lives would have been like had not God remembered to be merciful. But He has and our lives are the richest they could ever be. We have life and life more abundantly, which we believe simply means that we have this life, and life everlasting solely because God is partaking with us, supporting us, and helping us by showing us mercy.