(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!