Starting this Sunday, we will spend four weeks looking at the first four chapters of Proverbs and the implications of the way of wisdom and the way of folly.

Proverbs is a collection of wise sayings, primarily written by King Solomon. 1 Kings 4 tells us that “God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore, so that Solomon's wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people…He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005…And people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon…”

Chapter 1 introduces this entire collection of wise sayings. Verses 1-7 give us an overview of wisdom. Chapters 1:8 through 9:18 make up the first major section of Proverbs, which is characterized by a father’s invitation to his son to follow the way of wisdom, demonstrating that walking in the way of wisdom is far better than the way of folly. Not only that, but for God’s covenant people, walking in the way of wisdom is a natural response to his love for us.

We know that the wisdom bestowed on Solomon was wisdom from God. And in Matthew, Jesus tells us that in him, something greater than Solomon is here. We see in Jesus, the prototypical wise man who lives according to the will of the Father. And, it is in Jesus that we are able to live, act, and think for the glory of God. It is ultimately Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, who enables us to say yes to wisdom and no to folly.

The passage before us is often referred to as The Magnificat. It is the Latin word for “magnify” which is how Mary begins her song: “My soul magnifies the Lord.” And what a song it is! It is a song of truth for an age of deception. It is a song of hope for an age of cynicism. In reading the words carefully we come to notice that Mary’s song is, as one scholar puts it, “a virtual collage of biblical texts.” Every line is drawn either directly or indirectly from the Scriptures which Mary had learned at home and in the synagogue. It bears certain resemblances to the songs of Miriam (Ex. 15:19-21), Deborah (Judg. 5:1-31), and especially of Hannah (1 Sam. 2:1-10), all of which Mary would have known.

The central theme of the Magnificat is that through the Son that Mary bears in her womb, God will bring about a great reversal of the world’s sinful order. The proud will be brought low and the lowly will be lifted up. But these are not political categories nor do they belong to mere social status. The gospel of Mary’s Son will be about the salvation of sinners and the dawning of a new creation. These themes will be echoed in Jesus’ sermon on the Mount, particularly the beatitudes where He pronounces blessing upon those who are “poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” In contrast to the values of the world, Jesus tells us that the way to blessedness and joy and peace is through humility, a lowliness in which the sin-weary flee to the Savior.

We sing this song as those who are able to look back on Jesus’ ministry, his life of perfect obedience, his atoning death and victorious resurrection. We are able to see that the great reversal of which Mary sang has been purchased and is already underway. Sinners and scoffers still dismiss it. Such is the way of those who are wise in the world’s eyes. But for the humble ones who are poor and spirit, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the message is clear. God saves those who have come to realize that they have no hope of saving themselves. He keeps his gracious covenant. “And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation” (vs. 50).

What is recorded by Luke in these verses is historically referred to as the Annunciation, that is, the Announcement. It is The Announcement of all announcements! Some of the world’s greatest composers and artists and poets have sought to capture the marvelous wonder of the scene Luke describes. What was announced to Mary on that fateful day was the answer to all of creation’s groaning. It was the answer to all of humanity’s sin and brokenness.

In Galilee, in the town of Nazareth lived a young virgin betrothed in marriage to an upright man named Joseph. The virgin’s name was Mary and the Lord bestowed remarkable grace upon her as the one who would carry the Consolation of God’s people, the Messiah, within her womb. Never before or since would such a miracle be repeated. What the angel announces to Mary is the mystery of mysteries, the incarnation of God Almighty in human nature.

It is understandable that this extraordinary announcement troubled Mary. She knew as well as any one of us that virgins do not conceive. And of course she was right. For this to happen, God would act directly in space and time. By the power of the Holy Spirit, apart from any physical union, Mary would conceive within her womb the One who would “be called holy – the Son of God.”

And just as in the days of Joseph and Mary, the doctrine of the virgin conception of Jesus is a stumbling block. To allow for the miraculous conception of Jesus then one must allow for the incarnation itself. Not only that, the miraculous conception of Jesus also makes way for his sinless life, atoning death, and victorious resurrection. Indeed, the whole gospel leans upon the virgin conceived Messiah. Perhaps that is why it is so maligned. The hope for sinners rests upon the truth of what was announced to the young virgin in Nazareth.

The prophets Isaiah and Micah were contemporaries, laboring to proclaim the word of the LORD to a stubborn people. Micah is known as a prophet zealous for justice, having witnessed the downstream effects of the blatant violations of Israel and Judah’s rulers, false prophets, and corrupt priests. We know little about Micah’s background, but his message points to the obvious work of the Lord to use him in preaching God’s judgment and blessing. We will see a formidable prophecy that the LORD will cast his people into exile because of their grievous sins. However much God is just, exacting consequences for sin, we will see in chapters 4-5 that God is also abundant in mercy. In the end, his judgment against his people is light compared to the overwhelming mercy that will be revealed in the latter days.

The ministry of Isaiah the Prophet was during a time of great pressure and chaos for the people of God. The kingdom was divided. Israel to the north was being decimated by the fierce Assyrians. Meanwhile, to the south, Judah, the home of Jerusalem and Bethlehem, was being threatened by the Babylonians. Isaiah came to warn Judah that the Lord was going to judge her for her many years of sin and idolatry. As part of that judgment, the people would be taken captive by foreign enemies much as they had been nearly a thousand years earlier by Egypt. The Lord spoke through Isaiah, not only to pronounce judgment but also to announce the coming salvation through a Servant who would atone for the sins of God’s people by his own suffering.

The first 39 chapters of Isaiah are largely comprised of the prophet’s pronouncements against Judah for her sins and warnings of the judgment to come. But through it all we learn of both the holiness of God and the gravity of sin. And then chapter 40 opens with a message of comfort made all the more extraordinary because of what precedes it. In God’s dealings with his people throughout the ages, grace will have the final word.

In this section of chapter 40 we hear promises that will be fulfilled in the Lord Jesus. The comfort of God will be a Person. The consolation of Zion will be the virgin born descendent of David. He will be a Shepherd who will gather his people to himself and take them to his heart. It is a prophesy of a Messiah who will be both the Sovereign Lord and the Good Shepherd. In Jesus “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh will see it together…The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever” (vv. 5, 8).

Psalm two is a Psalm of David the king (Acts 4:25). Portions of this Psalm are quoted often in the New Testament particularly in reference to its high view of God’s Anointed (the Christ) and for its compelling vision of God’s kingdom. It begins with the Almighty’s derision of those who in their pride seek to break the bonds of God’s law. But God will have the final word, a warning of judgement and a call to salvation. Psalm two is “unsurpassed for its buoyant, fierce delight in God’s dominion and His promise to His King” (Kidner, 50).

Like so much of the Old Testament, Psalm two operates on two levels. On one level, it has a direct application to the times in which it was originally composed. Psalm two is fulfilled in part during David’s reign. He was the Lord’s anointed king. He did sit upon a throne in Jerusalem on Mount Zion. He did have great victory over enemy nations. But Psalm two also points to a greater, ultimate fulfillment in the Lord’s Christ, the King whose Kingdom is universal and forever. He is the Son of God whose Sonship is by way of an eternal divine begotteness.

In this Psalm we recall the language spoken at Jesus’ baptism and transfiguration. We find the same language applied to Jesus elsewhere (Acts 4:25-27; 13:33; Heb 1:5; 5:5; Rev 12:5). Psalm two is the only passage in the Old Testament which uses the three titles “Son of God,” Messiah,” (anointed one), and “God’s King” appear together. Ultimately, the earthly kingdom of David was a shadow of the everlasting kingdom of his greater Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Most likely, Psalms one and two were composed as a sort of introduction to the entire Psalter. Psalm two is classified as a royal psalm which highlights earthly rulers’ accountability to God. Psalm one is “a faithful doorkeeper, confronting those who would be in congregation of the righteous” (Kidner, 47). The psalm holds before us a choice between two different ways to live. It involves a choice between the ways of God which are righteous and the ways of the world which are wicked. Together, Psalms one and two encompass the “main themes of the book, the way the righteous are to live among the ungodly, and the salvation the righteous have in their divinely chosen King” (Ross, 182).

Much of the content of this Psalm suggests that it belongs in the category of biblical wisdom literature in that it shares much of the interest found in Proverbs. Themes of blessing in this life and eternity are contrasted with the futility of ungodliness and the judgment that follows. On the one hand, the blessed individual is the one whose life is characterized by delight in and obedience to God’s law. On the other hand is the unrighteous individual whose life is bound for a future without hope.

There is much in Psalm one which is applicable to the life of the Christian. A life of obedience to the Lord is the good and blessed life. But as we read just a bit below the surface we see that what the Psalmist commends is beyond us. The obedience and holy delight of the blessed man is ultimately too high a mark to reach. Who among us can say that they have never once walked in ungodliness? Who of us have lived lives of such uninterrupted godliness as to be compared to a tree that is always in season? The good news is that the righteousness by which God will judge his people is not their own but that of the truly Blessed Man, the Lord Jesus. As Martin Luther observed:

“The first psalm speaks literally concerning Christ thus: Blessed is the man. He is the only blessed One and the only Man from whose fullness they have all received (John 3:16) that they might be blessed.”

Jesus’ words to his followers in Matthew 5, “You are the light of the world, a city set upon a hill cannot be hidden,” were brought to fulfillment in the church. Luke’s description of the first church ends with these stirring words: “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (vs. 47). What a remarkable response of Divine favor! It is also a testimony of the powerful witness of a church committed to being a city on a hill.

And while that first church enjoyed the “favor of all the people,” that favor would eventually turn to hostility. The church’s being a city on a hill does not depend upon her perceived relevance by the world at any given moment. Irrelevance is not the church’s greatest enemy. If it were, then pragmatism would be supreme. The church would be constantly pivoting to remain relevant in the eyes of the world. But what Luke describes for us is the way the church remains truly relevant. And that is not by seeking relevance but by pursuing faithfulness.

In his description of the very first church formed at Pentecost under the apostles’ preaching, Luke means to give us an exemplary description. That is, the commitments and practices of the first church are meant to form our own commitments and practices. And what is at stake is nothing less than the souls of our neighbors. Luke makes a direct connection between the faithfulness of the first church and the fruitfulness of their witness: “And the Lord added to their number day by day, those who were being saved.”