Lesson 2: “My Soul Doth Magnify the Lord”, New Testament Gospel Doctrine Teacher’s Manual, (2002)
1. Introduction
a) Last week, Reid and Diane taught
i) preparing our soil so
(1) seeds of gospel learning
(2) more importantly, testimony
(3) will take root there,
ii) tilling and nourishing that soil
iii) roots will go deep
iv) the harvest will be plentiful
b) Continue to talk about how we do that in connection with today’s lesson and the beginning of a new year
c) Learn to know Jesus
i) Pagan religions
(1) God that is unlike anything we know or understand.
(a) Angry god.
(b) Distant god.
(2) God totally alien to human experience.
ii) Apostate religions
(1) trinity
(2) mystery
(3) unknowable god
iii) Reading 1: Many years ago a young lady wrote these words as she began a study of the New Testament. The question to which she was responding is the one found in Matthew 22:42: “What think ye of Christ?”
“I know quite a bit about Christ and I really believe that he is my Savior, but more than anything else in life right now I want to get to know Jesus as a brother and I want to be his friend. I have thought about Christ a lot lately and I know that somehow I have got to gain a testimony so that I know for myself that he lives.”
At the conclusion a year studying the New Testament, she responded again to the same question. She wrote this:
“I hardly know where to begin. Jesus Christ is the most important [person] in my life. I know, without a doubt, that he lives, that he is the Son of God and that he loves me with a most complete and perfect love.
“This past . . . year I have grown so much! I have learned about the Savior’s life, his mission, and all the things he taught. But most important, I have come to know that Christ lives. He is a real person with feelings, and personality. I love him very, very much and I hope I always will. I know that if I will just live the teachings that he taught, I will never have to wonder and doubt again.” (Ted Gibbons, LDS Living, New Testament Lesson 1, December 29, 2010)
iv) Reading 2 - President Harold B. Lee told of how he prepared when he was asked to give an Easter radio address a few days after becoming a member of the Twelve: "During the days which followed, I locked myself in one of the rooms over in the Church Office building, and there I read the story of the life of the Savior. As I read the events of his life, and particularly the events leading up to and of the crucifixion, and then of the resurrection, I discovered that something was happening to me. I was not just reading a story; it seemed actually as though I was living the events; and I was reading them with a reality the like of which I had never before experienced. And when, on the Sunday night following, after I had delivered my brief talk and then declared, simply, 'As one of the humblest among you, I, too, know that these things are true, that Jesus died and was resurrected for the sins of the world,' I was speaking from a full heart, because I had come to know that week, with a certainty which I never before had known." (CR, Apr 1952)
v) Reading 3 - Brigham Young said: The greatest and most important of all requirements of our Father in Heaven and of his son Jesus Christ is . . . to believe in Jesus Christ, confess him, seek him, cling to him, make friends with him.
Take a course to open and keep open a communication with . . . our Savior (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, 8:339)
vi) READ John 17:3:
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
2. The preparation for the birth of the Son of God involved six of the most righteous people ever to walk the earth
a) Zacharias
b) Elisabeth
c) John the Baptist
d) Mary
e) Joseph
f) The Angel Gabriel, who was Noah
3. John the Baptist is born to Elisabeth and Zacharias
a) Background
i) King David divided the priests of Aaron into twenty-four courses, houses, or families.
ii) Priests lived in thirteen towns mostly near Jerusalem.
iii) Each course went up to Jerusalem, twice a year, in rotation to serve in the temple.
iv) They served for six days and two Sabbaths each time.
v) Temple Duties were many and varied
(1) Priests were assigned to duties by lot
vi) Most coveted duty was to burn incense in the Holy Place, near the Holy of Holies
(1) This opportunity might come to a particular priest once in a lifetime
(2) Procedure
(a) Two priests would enter the Holy Place
(i) First priest carried burning coals taken from the altar of sacrifice
1. Spread the coals on the altar of incense and withdrew
(ii) Second priest sprinkled incense upon the burning coals
1. Ascending smoke and odor symbolized the ascending prayers of all of Israel
2. Second priest prayed on behalf of all Israel.
a. The prayer of Israel at this time was for redemption, for deliverance from the Gentile yoke, for the coming of the Messiah, and freedom from sin.
b) Elisabeth and Zacharias
i) Reading 4: Luke 1:5-7
5 ¶There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judæa, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elisabeth.
6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
7 And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years.
(1) Note that Zacharias was a priest of Aaron and Elisabeth was a daughter of Aaron
(a) Direct descendants
(2) righteous before God
(3) walking in all the commandments and ordinances
(4) blameless
(5) they had no child
(a) Undoubtedly had prayed for many years for a child
(b) The timing was not right
(c) Reading 5 – Elder Neal A Maxwell has said:
The issue for us is trusting God enough to trust also His timing. If we can truly believe He has our welfare at heart, may we not let His plans unfold as He thinks best? The same is true with the second coming and with all those matters wherein our faith needs to include faith in the Lord’s timing for us personally, not just in His overall plans and purposes. (Even As I Am (1982), 93.)
ii) When the time came for Zacharias to go to Jerusalem to serve in the temple, he drew the lot that assigned him to burn incense on the altar in the temple
(1) An angel appeared to him
(a) At this time, the heavens had been closed to the Jews in Jerusalem since the death of the prophet Malachi
(i) 400 years
(ii) No prophets
(iii) No recorded visits by angels
(2) Reading 6 – Luke 1: 11-17
11And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.
12And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.
13But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
14And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.
15For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.
16And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.
17And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
(a) Note in footnote to Verse 17 - Elias is the Greek form of the Hebrew name, Elijah. Matt. 11:14; D&C 27:7 (6–8).
(b) From the Bible Dictionary – Elias - anciently two Eliases were spoken of, one as a preparer and the other a restorer. John was sent to prepare the way for Jesus, Jesus himself being the Restorer who brought back the gospel and the Melchizedek Priesthood to the Jews in his day
(i) Elias is usually a title, but may also be the name of a person – see D&C 110:12
(c) John the Baptist was “the outstanding bearer of the Aaronic Priesthood in all history” (Bible Dictionary, “John the Baptist,” 714)
c) How would Elisabeth and Zacharias feel about all this?
i) Zacharias wondered how this could happen and was struck dumb until his son was born
(1) His sudden recovery was yet another evidence to him that all the prophesies of Gabriel would be fulfilled.
ii) Elisabeth hid herself away for five months
d) Sacrifice of Zacharias and Elisabeth
i) We are aware that Mary and Joseph had to take the infant Jesus to Egypt because of Herod’s command that all children under the age of two be killed.
ii) John’s life was also threatened by this command because he was under the age of two
(1) Elisabeth took John into the wilderness to protect him
(2) Zacharias refused to tell Herod’s soldiers where John was and was executed for his refusal. (Matthew 23:35)
4. Mary and Joseph learn that Mary will be the mother of the Son of God
a) Six months after Elisabeth conceives John, Gabriel shows up again
b) READ Luke 1:26-33
26And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
27To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
28And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
29And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
30And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
31And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
32He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
33And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
c) Mary wonders how she can conceive since she is a virgin. Gabriel says she shouldn’t worry about that and points to the miraculous conception of her cousin Elisabeth.
d) Verse 37 – For with God nothing shall be impossible
e) Mary’s response – Verse 38 - And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.
f) Each of these two births is announced by an angel, Gabriel, second only to Michael the archangel in importance
i) Parents had to know the importance of raising their children to fulfill their unique callings
ii) Mary and Joseph had to be able to testify of the divinity of Jesus’ father
(1) Angel Gabriel would appear to Joseph in a dream
5. Mary Visits Elisabeth
a) Reading 7 – Luke 1:39-47
39And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda;
40And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth.
41And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost:
42And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
43And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
44For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.
45And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.
46And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,
47And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
(a) Verse 41 – Remember the prophesy of Gabriel In Luke 1:15 that John the Baptist “shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.”
(i) What is the single most important role of the Holy Ghost?
1. To testify that Jesus is the Christ
6. Nature of the Savior
a) Reading 8 - Speaking of Jesus Christ, Elder Bruce R. McConkie taught: “God was his Father, from which Immortal Personage … he inherited the power of immortality, which is the power to live forever; or, having chosen to die, it is the power to rise again in immortality, thereafter to live forever without again seeing corruption. …
“… Mary was his mother, from which mortal woman … he inherited the power of mortality, which is the power to die. …
“It was because of this … intermixture of the divine and the mortal in one person, that our Lord was able to work out the infinite and eternal atonement. Because God was his Father and Mary was his mother, he had power to live or to die, as he chose, and having laid down his life, he had power to take it again, and then, in a way incomprehensible to us, to pass on the effects of that resurrection to all men so that all shall rise from the tomb” (The Promised Messiah [1978], 470–71).
7. The Gospels
a) The Gospels
i) From the Bible Dictionary
(1) The four Gospels are not so much biographies as they are testimonies.
(2) They do not reveal a day-by-day story of the life of Jesus; rather, they tell who Jesus was, what he said, what he did, and why it was important.
(3) The records of Matthew, Mark, and Luke present a somewhat similar collection of materials and have considerable phraseology in common, as well as similar main points, and thus are sometimes labeled as the “Synoptic Gospels” (meaning “see-alike”).
(4) John’s record is quite different from the other three in vocabulary, phraseology, and presentation of events.
b) We are introduced to two Gospels this week.
c) Matthew
i) From the Bible Dictionary
(1) Known before his conversion as Levi, son of Alphaeus (Mark 2:14).
(2) He was a tax gatherer at Capernaum, probably in the service of Herod Antipas, in whose tetrarchy Capernaum was.
(3) Matthew was probably a thorough Jew with a wide knowledge of the O.T. scriptures, and able to see in every detail of the Lord’s life the fulfillment of prophecy.
(4) His Gospel was written for the use of Jewish persons in Palestine, and uses many quotations from the O.T.
(5) His chief object is to show that Jesus is the Messiah of whom the prophets spoke. He also emphasizes that Jesus is the King and Judge of men.
d) Luke
i) From the Bible Dictionary
(1) Author of the Gospel of Luke and of the Acts.
(2) In all passages in Acts in which the first person plural is used (e.g., Acts 16:10), we can assume that Luke was Paul’s fellow-traveler.
(3) Born of gentile parents, and practiced medicine.
(4) He may have become a believer before our Lord’s ascension, but there is no evidence of this.
(5) The first information about him is when he joined Paul at Troas (Acts 16:10);
(6) He seems to have remained at Philippi for several years, as Paul found him there on his last journey to Jerusalem (20:6), and the two were together until their arrival in Rome.
(7) Luke was with Paul during his second Roman imprisonment.
(8) Luke’s Gospel was specially intended for gentile readers.
(9) The Acts was a continuation of the Gospel, and deals mainly with the growth of the gentile churches.
8. Conclusion
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