(All Scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated)
And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my
spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has
regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; for
behold, henceforth all generations shall call me
blessed. (Luke 1:46-49).
All generations indeed have called Mary blessed! For God entrusted her to bear the Messiah, Jesus Christ! The lyrics of the modern classic by Mark Lowry, “Mary Did You Know…?” raises questions which Mary may have posed as she looked into the eyes of her newborn infant Jesus!
Here are the lyrics:
Mary did you know
That your baby boy will one day walk on water?
Mary did you know
That your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?
Did you know
That your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you've delivered
Will soon deliver you!
Mary did you know
That your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Mary did you know
That your baby boy will calm a storm with His hand?
Did you know
That your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
And when you kiss your little baby
You've kissed the face of God!
Mary, did you know?
The blind will see!
The deaf will hear!
And the dead will live again!
The lame will leap!
The dumb will speak
The praises of the Lamb!
Mary did you know
That your baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary did you know
That your baby boy will one day rule the nations?
Did you know
That your baby boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?
This sleeping child you're holding
Is the Great I Am!
Oh, Mary, did you know?
We are examining the last three lines in the third stanza! The first of these three is…
- Mary, did you know?…The lame will leap!
✡ The Old Testament prophesy is found in Isaiah
35:5 and 6:
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and
the tongue of the dumb shall sing. For wa-
ters shall burst forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert.
This prophesy concerns Jesus’ whole miraculous ministry!
The third category of miracles mentioned is, “...the
lame shall leap like a deer....” This is the only pro-
phetic reference of the lame being healed that I could
find in the first 39 books of the Bible. But once is
enough when it comes to God prophesying of things to
come!
✞ There are four fulfillments concerning Jesus healing
the lame in the gospels:
➔ Matthew 11:2 through 6 – When John the Baptist
sent his disciples to confirm that Jesus was
indeed the Messiah, Jesus answered, “The blind
receive their sight...the lame walk...lepers
are cleansed...the deaf hear, the dead are
raised...the poor [receive] ...the gospel....
And blessed is he who is not offended because
of Me.”
➔ Matthew 15:30 – “...great multitudes came to
Him having with them those who were lame,
blind, mute, maimed, and many others. And
they laid them down at Jesus’ feet, and He
healed them.”
➔ Luke 13:11 through 13 (Contemporary English
Version) – “...a woman...had...an evil spirit
for eighteen years. She was completely bent
over and could not straighten up....Jesus
called her over...‘You are now well.’ He
placed his hands on her, and...she stood up
straight and praised God.”
➔ John 5:2 through 9 – At the pool of Bethesda
in Jerusalem, Jesus healed a man who could
not walk for thirty-eight years! “...Jesus
said to him...‘Do you want to be made well?
...Rise, take up your bed and walk.’ And
immediately the man was made well....”
✞ And there are three instances of the apostles heal-
ing the lame through the power of the Holy Spirit!
➔ Acts 3:1 through 8 – A lame beggar asked
alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple.
Peter and John saw him, and Peter said,
“Look at us....Silver and gold I do not
have, but what I do have I give you: In
the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
rise up and walk.” The man jumped up and
walked for the first time in his life!
And “...he entered the temple with them
— walking, leaping, and praising God.”
➔ Acts 9:32 through 35 – Peter went to Joppa
on the Mediterranean coast. “There he found
...Aeneas...paralyzed...[and] bedridden for
eight years....Peter said to him, ‘...Jesus
the Christ heals you. Arise....’ Then he
arose immediately.”
➔ Acts 14:8-10 – Paul and Barnabas, on their
first missionary trip to Asia Minor, found
at Lystra a man crippled from birth and
couldn’t walk. “Paul, observing him intently
and seeing that he had faith to be healed,
said with a loud voice, ‘Stand up straight
on your feet!’ And he leaped and walked.”
Yes, Mary, the blind will see!
- Mary, did you know?…The dumb will speak The praises of the Lamb!
✡ That the dumb will speak is prophesied in Isaiah
35:5 and 6 (as featured in “Mary Did You Know...”
– III):
The eyes of the blind shall be opened, and
the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and
the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters
shall burst forth in the wilderness, and
streams in the desert.
But the most specific part of the “Mary Did You
Know...” lyrics is “The dumb will speak the praises
of the Lamb”!
✡ The more involved Old Testament prophesy about
the Lamb concerns the Passover lamb! Here are
just some of the prophesies:
➔ Exodus 12:3 and 5 – “On the tenth day of
this month every man shall take for him-
self a lamb....Your lamb shall be without
blemish, a male of the first year.”
➔ Exodus 12:6 – “...the whole...congregation
of Israel shall kill it at twilight.”
➔ Exodus 12:7 – “And they shall take some of
the blood and put it on the two doorposts
and on the lintel of the houses where they
eat it.”
➔ Exodus 12:8 – “...eat the flesh...with un-
leavened bread....”
➔ Exodus 12:46 (Easy-to-Read Version) – “Don’t
break any of the lamb’s bones.”
➔ Exodus 12:13:
...the blood shall be a sign for you
on the houses where you are. And when
I see the blood, I will pass over you
and the plague shall not be on you...
when I strike the land of Egypt.
✡ Another reference that ties Jesus to the Lamb is
found in Isaiah 53, that great prophetic chapter
describing the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus
Christ over 700 years before He was born! In verse
7 it is written:
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He
opened not His mouth; He was led as a
lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep
before its shearers is silent, so He
opened not His mouth.
✞ The fulfillment is clear from what John the Bap-
tist said in John 1:29: “The next day John saw
Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold! The
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.’”
✞ But there are other New Testament Scriptures of
fulfillment. Consider the six prophesies mention-
ed above concerning the Passover lamb:
➔ Exodus 12:3 and 5 – “...without blemish
...a male of the first year...,” ful-
filled in...
❏ I Peter 2:22 – Jesus “...committed
no sin, nor was guile found in His
mouth....” He was without blemish!
❏ Luke 3:23 (English Standard Version) –
“Jesus, when He began His ministry,
was about thirty years of age....”
He was in the prime of life, as a
lamb of one year old would be.
➔ Exodus 12:6 – The lamb was “...killed by
the whole congregation at twilight...”
fulfilled in...
❏ Luke 23:18 and 21 – “And they [the
Jews] all cried out...‘Crucify Him
...!’”
❏ Mark 15:34, 37, 42 through 45 –
Although Jesus died “...at the
ninth hour...,” about three in
the afternoon, His body was not
taken off the cross until that
evening, when at twilight, Jos-
eph of Arimathea claimed Jesus’
corpse!
➔ Exodus 12:7 – The blood applied to the
doorposts and lintel, was fulfilled in
the crucifixion, where the stain of
Jesus’ blood was on the upright and
crossmember of the cross!
➔ Exodus 12:8 – “...eat the flesh...with
unleavened bread...,” fulfilled in...
❏ John 6:53 – “Jesus said...‘...un-
less you eat the flesh of the Son
of Man and drink His blood, you
have no life in you.’”
❏ The unleavened bread speaks of His
sinlessness!
➔ Exodus 12:46 – None of the lamb’s bones were
broken, fulfilled in John 19:33. The common
practice to hasten crucifixion death was for
the Roman soldiers to break the legs of the
one crucified, so that he could no longer
push up on nailed feet to exhale. “But when
they came to Jesus and saw that He was al-
ready dead, they did not break His legs.”
➔ Exodus 12:13 – When the angel of death saw
the blood on the doorway, he passed over that
house, and did not kill the firstborn, ful-
filled in Colossians 1:19 through 22:
...it pleased the Father that...by
Him [Jesus] to reconcile all things
to Himself...having made peace
through the blood of His cross. And
you who once were alienated and en-
emies in your minds by wicked works,
yet now He has reconciled in the body
of His flesh through death, to pre-
sent you holy, and blameless, and
irreproachable in His sight....
✞ The dumb will speak The praises of the Lamb!
➔ Matthew 15:30 and 31 (Contemporary English Ver-
sion):
Jesus...healed...all...People who had
never spoken could now speak. The lame
were healed, the crippled could walk,
and the blind were able to see. Every-
one was praising the God of Israel.”
➔ Revelation 5:6 – John saw “...in the midst of
the throne...stood a Lamb, as though it had
been slain....”
➔ Revelation 7:9 through 12:
...a great multitude...crying out...
saying, “Salvation belongs to our God
...and to the Lamb!...Amen! Blessing
and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and
honor and power and might, be to our
God forever and ever. Amen.”
➔ In Revelation 13:8 Jesus is identified as
“...the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world.”
So yes, Mary…even The dumb will speak The praises of the Lamb!