In Luke 1:46-55 we find the song of praise Mary sang as she rejoiced after learning she would carry God’s earthly Son in her womb. It is a magnificent song, actually dubbed “The Magnificat” by church scholars long ago.

Mary was a very young virgin woman, who led a sheltered life. She would not have been sophisticated or highly educated. Like all Jewish women, she was not permitted to study Torah, but only got to hear the selected scrolls read in Synagogue meetings and whatever her father taught her.

I point this out because her song is amazingly rich with prophetic meaning and spiritual sophistication, far beyond her ability to express. The Holy Spirit surely inspired her words in order to speak to you and me today — to preach what I like to call the gospel within the gospel.

It is a lovely song to ponder. But for now, we focus on something very specific in Mary’s praise song, found in these opening words:

My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave;
For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed.
For the Mighty One has done great things for me; and holy is His name. (Luke 1:46-49 NASB)

All generations will count me blessed.

I want to share with you the words of Spiros Zodhiates, the Hebrew-Greek scholar, author of several study books and Bibles expounding on the original meanings of words in Scripture. One of the words he explains is the word blessed. Quoting now excerpts from a key verse note on Luke 1:48 in Zodhiates’ Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible:

This verse contains one of the most misunderstood words of the N.T. It is the word makarios, used repeatedly in the Beatitudes. … The [NAS] translation says, “all generations will count me blessed,” … but since the meaning of makarios is to be indwelt by God and thereby to be fully satisfied, the Virgin Mary was declaring that because she was indwelt by God, this fact was going to be recognized and declared by generations to come.

The Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible New American Standard Bible © 1984 and 1990 by AMG International, Inc.

Zodhiates explains here and in his book on The Beatitudes that we tend to equate “blessed” with “happy.” The problem with that, he explains, is that the Greek word for happiness is never used in the New Testament, because it is a word that actually means “lucky.” He says:

The Lord never promised happiness, good luck, or favorable circumstances to the believer, but makariotes, blessedness. This means His indwelling and the consequent peace and satisfaction to the believer no matter what the circumstances may be.

The Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible New American Standard Bible © 1984 and 1990 by AMG International, Inc.

This same word is the one used in James 5:11 when it says of those who endured hardship, “We count those blessed who endured.” In other words, James connects the ability to endure hardship to the fact one is indwelt by the Spirit of the Lord.

The gospel within the gospel, is that now, through Christ, we can be indwelt by God’s Spirit. All our blessing flows from this fact. There can be no greater fulfillment, because with God’s Presence comes all that brings satisfaction to your heart.

I pray you are blessed, Beloved, in every way the Lord intended!