Car Chat Podcast with Amy & Jamy

NT Episode 1: Elizabeth - Women of the Bible Series

• Amy Petersen & Jamy Fisher • Season 2 • Episode 1

Share episode

Send us a text

***Before we dive into the episode...

  • FREE RESOURCE: We have loved our 2 year journey with the Old Testament women and hope you have too. If you would like to go back personally or lead a group through, we have compiled all the discussion question guides into one booklet. It's our FREE gift to you! Click this link and download: 

Old Testament Women of the Bible: Discussion Guide Booklet 

FREE to download and print: covers all 18 Old Testament women we discussed with the discussion questions for each episode

______________________

Here we GO with the first episode of our series with the New Testament women...starting with:

E L I Z A B E T H (mother of John the Baptist)

Oh boy, ya'll! We dive into some really tear-filled, precious truths like:

If you ever think there is a haphazardness to the events of your life, you don’t have to look very far into scripture to realize that God is in control of every bit. - Amy

I am only satisfied when I’m resting in the truth that God’s already done what he’s promised. So, I get to join in this life of seeing what it looks like. - Jamy

Elizabeth was:
1. was righteous, barren, and old.
2. trusted a second hand promise.
3. was discerning.

She is a lot like me.
Who God was to her, he is to you and me.

We pray it encourages you.

Love,
Amy and Jamy

_______________

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: NT Episode 1 ~ Elizabeth

*See episode description in the show notes. Review the book of Esther for her story.

1. What is your favorite part of Elizabeth’s story?

2. Review the description of Elizabeth and Zechariah in Luke 1:5-7. Why do you think God describes them as blameless and why was that important in their time?

3. Why do you think Elizabeth secluded herself for the first months of her pregnancy?

4. Review the story of Mary’s visit, what sticks out to you the most?

5. Read Luke 1:45. We learned today that “blessed” means “satisfied.” When you apply this definition to the verse, how are you challenged to apply it to your own life?

6. The descriptions of John by the angel and by Zechariah are so amazing; but we know that John’s life was actually very difficult and ended violently. How can you reconcile these descriptions with the reality of what happened to him?

7. Review the three descriptions from the podcast and discuss which one resonates the most with you. Elizabeth:

  • was righteous, barren, and old.
  • trusted a second hand promise.
  • was discerning.

8. “Elizabeth is one of us. Who God is to her, He is to me.” Who was God to Elizabeth? What does that mean to you in your life today?

9. What are your biggest take away lessons today? In other words, in a couple of sentences how can you apply this lesson to your life right now?

Let's stay connect:
IG: @amyruthpetersen
@jamyfisher

produced by: 4110 Ministries, LLC

Amy:

Hey everybody, welcome to the Car Chat Podcast. I'm Amy, I'm Jamy and each month we chat in my car about a woman of the Bible, and today we begin in the New Testament. I'm so excited. We have 18 New Testament women that we've identified and put in a list that we're going to be working through if we follow the same template for the next couple years, like we did with the Old Testament women.

Amy:

Well, we just love this community of broken yet redeemed women, both with you listening and the women in the Bible, to learn about the power and the presence of God in their lives.

Amy:

We hope that through these conversations, you know that you are not alone in your faith and struggle and in your growth, even when no one is around, and that is something that's not going to change. As we've talked about all through the Old Testament women and the New Testament women and this is what also is not going to change is the purpose of why we're doing this. We're answering the question which each one of these women who is she? And we will discover these two things that she is a lot like me and who god is to her. He is to me. If you don't want to miss an episode, if you'll just on your ipel podcast, whatever stream platform that you're listening to it on click the follow button and it will automatically, whenever we release a new one, it will just put it right there into your library of podcasts, your playlist of podcasts, and so I wanted just to make that clear, because some of you have said, oh, I missed this, this and this, but it was because it wasn't being sent and delivered right into your library.

Jamy:

We can tell when we're taking a little bit of a long time we'll start getting messages. That's always encouraging, it is.

Amy:

You're so one to listen, so we are just grateful for you to be on this journey with us as we dive into the New Testament. Also, before we start, I wanted to make notes that we recorded a little mini episode about the intertestamental period, which is the 400 years between the Old Testament and the New Testament. It really beautifully sets the stage for kind of the culture and political shifts that happened during the time between Malachi and Matthew, and so we just encourage you to go back and listen to that. So we start, of course, with Elizabeth. Yeah, so let me give you a snapshot.

Amy:

Elizabeth was a mother of John the Baptist. She was a devout and righteous woman, married to the priest Zechariah. She had been childless for their entire lives, and when Elizabeth was elderly, the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah announcing that she would conceive a son, john the Baptist, who would be the forerunner of the Messiah. Elizabeth's story is primarily found in the book of Luke, with her strong faith and recognition of Mary's pregnancy Mary, the mother of Jesus as a sign of God's blessings. Those are both highlighted, making her a significant figure in the narrative leading up to Jesus's birth. Yes, so that is who we're talking about, elizabeth, and it starts in Luke 1. I have a couple of interesting facts. Oh good, okay.

Amy:

So I love this part. I know this is so fun. She, Elizabeth, was the first woman mentioned in Luke's gospel obviously it's Luke 1. And we know that the first four gospels, matthew, mark, luke and John, cover the same story of the life of Jesus, but from four different perspectives, and so different things are added, and God has used all of those points of view to kind of create a beautiful narrative of the influence of Jesus.

Jamy:

The full picture of Jesus' life.

Amy:

So in the book of Luke, elizabeth was the first woman mentioned, and then we also see that Elizabeth is the first person in Luke to refer to Jesus as Lord. Isn't that special, I know. And this is something that's also so cool. We just had that mini episode on the year 400 years of silence and we will see in Luke 1 that this is the first time in 400 years when the Lord has spoken through his angel Gabriel to Zechariah. So this is the breaking of those years of silence.

Jamy:

He's bringing a new prophetic voice, yeah, exactly Through Zechariah and then eventually, john the Baptist Baptist. But what's really cool is that Elizabeth gets her own spirit-filled voice in this narrative and that's one of the things that I just think.

Amy:

I am so grateful again that God includes and honors women in this story so sweet.

Jamy:

And she's her three family members. So Elizabeth, Zechariah and John the Baptist all of them are specifically said in the Bible that they are filled with the Spirit and she's the first. She's the first of the three and every time I see that I think what a cool legacy to say everyone in our family is filled with the Spirit and that means such a more precious. We don't take that to heart like we should, that we are all filled with the Spirit when we have faith in Jesus. But in this season, in this really unique and very precious season, to have them, just one at a time, just be filled with Spirit from the womb, it's just so good. There's so much good in this.

Amy:

That is very encouraging, it's very cool and I think we do need to celebrate that. Yes, Because any of us that have families. We know how well this family doesn't get it perfect, for sure, but all of them are filled with the spirit and what was one of the things that you mentioned, jamie, about the focal point of the women within the New Testament? In comparing, to the Old Testament. Let's kind of review that for a sec.

Jamy:

Well all of our the Old Testament women. Their stories are all directed by and related to what we can learn about God. Of course, of course, of course, and they're all pointing toward Jesus in their own way. But the women of the New Testament are specifically, really clearly pointing us toward the stories of Jesus, the person of Jesus on this earth, and after you know, we'll have the stories of, of the women that are a part of his birth, that are a part of his growing up, they're a part of his ministry, his death, his resurrection, and then the women that are part of the early church. We get all of them and all of them. Their focus is not, maybe, maybe, focused on lessons we can learn about God and who he is, and there is glaring, big signs pointing in the direction of Jesus. Every single, every single story. I just love it. It's going to be so fun.

Jamy:

He is either present or being pointed to in every single story.

Amy:

Oh, my goodness. Okay, so let's talk about Elizabeth, and we're going to look at three ways to describe her and kind of chunk up her life based on based on these points. Yes, so the first kind of section that we're going to talk about is that she was righteous, barren and old, and that's not the three things, that is just the first thing, that's right, that's right. And point one she's the end. Thank goodness, that's not the end righteous, barren and old.

Amy:

I mean that's that's the first point in the first description of her and we see that in Luke 1, 1 through 7. Yes, and you know, in the Bible we see that they were both righteous, Like what you mentioned that she was childless because she could not conceive and had not been able to conceive all this time through her old age.

Jamy:

Yes, and you know, when I'm teaching women how to study the bible, I encourage them to read the same text in different translations and the one where it talks about her being old. In my notes I have that she was old, well along, far advanced, quite old, very. I mean it's when you have the different translations.

Amy:

They just change the adjectives, but she's old, she's old and and here she is probably had given up on the dream of having a family. Yeah, and it seems like, based on her faith-filled steps forward from what we can see in this story, that she has lived a life of faith and of trust in the midst of not having children, that's right and she is.

Jamy:

She and Zachariah are, are. It is said that they are blameless, and that doesn't mean sinless in the way that this, this works. The way that description should be understood is that it's not that they're sinless. Blameless means that they are what they walk consistently in a in a pattern that shows their devotion to God, and that's that's who she is. And so, even in the midst of disappointment and for some listening, this is the the point of this whole entire podcast she she stayed devoted to God in a way that protected her from bitterness, so that when he did the miraculous, she was, she was ready for it.

Jamy:

And the rest of the story and how she interacts with Mary and Jesus shows if she had just been bitter that God wasn't doing what she wanted, she wouldn't have been able to minister to Mary the way she does. So I think there's a big lesson here the way that Elizabeth handles this disappointment because she she wasn't childless, because she was sinful and much of the culture believes that that's right and we know that, because pretty much the only negative thing she says is God has taken away my reproach. Later Heads up A little spoiler when she gets pregnant, you know, she says he's taken away. So she feels that reproach obviously of I must have done something, they must have done something. They can't be that great because God got didn't give him a baby.

Amy:

You know I was thinking about when you said she lived a life of devotion even in the disappointment. If we would take that into this cultural, this life, our life right now, what does it look like? I mean like, really, what are the elements to living a divided life right now? What does it look like? I mean like, really, what are the elements to living a divided life in the disappointment? What does that look like for us as women now?

Jamy:

Yeah, and it's, it's a repetition. I mean this. This seems like. Why are we talking about this again, the whole baby thing again?

Amy:

because it was so many of our old.

Jamy:

Testament stories. So trusting God in the midst of disappointment means believing that he's good, believing what you have learned in scripture is true about him choosing to serve and love the people he's given you, even when he won't do what you want. It doesn't seem that he's doing what you want, so I know. For me, trusting in the midst of disappointment a lot of times is the discipline of choosing to believe and really rely on the truth that I know and choosing to then do the things that are reflective of that belief, instead of digging my heels in, letting myself grow bitter, letting myself grow lazy.

Amy:

That's really good are there any like tips or strategies that you do to stay focused, Like, do you just turn your brain or do you write cards or do you have verses in front of you? What are some like practical steps that we can encourage other people who are kind of in that stuck place of disappointment? But, just really are stuck.

Jamy:

Well, some kind of strategy to stay in the word, whether it's a Bible study with some accountability or something, even if it's a little bit, some kind of strategy to stay in the word and be practicing, learning, practicing taking those promises in.

Amy:

Okay, pause, that's really good. I think in a daily time with the Lord, that is key. So that's one of the things that you can do. Y'all is be committed to every day. Be in his word. For you personally, yes, and there's a couple devotional books that have helped me with that. One was New Morning Mercies by Paul David Tripp.

Amy:

Yes, unbelievable Streams in the Desert is another great devotional. That just because sometimes, when I'm in the midst of disappointment, my brain doesn't have the capacity to just deep dive into a tremendous Bible study. Yeah, it's not always the season for that. That's right.

Jamy:

And this is the thing, just like food, sometimes healthy food you really enjoy. Sometimes healthy food is really just to nurture your body, that's true, and I think there can be seasons when God's Word, just you're on track're, you're going with it, just it's like honey, I mean, like like the Bible calls it. But there's sometimes when you are nourishing yourself out of discipline, trusting him, and it's, it's okay. It's okay if it tastes a little not great today, that's all right. And I think doing that in community is important and not, yeah, you don't have to be like the whole big Bible scholar doing these huge, long Bible studies.

Jamy:

Just feed yourself every day and then figure out a way to ask yourself how do I believe, am I believing this? How can I believe this? What you know all day long? Little reminders to remind yourself to believe the truth about him, so that the circumstances don't, the disappointing circumstances don't overwhelm you.

Amy:

That's so good. Sometimes I just have to force my brain to think on that thing you do, and so I've done like bible verse cards and put it on note cards. I know that's kind of an old school way of doing it. Now people have it on their phone and their lock screens whatever works.

Amy:

get the verse that really is the truth point that lifts your, your head up from the disappointment to just and actually say it out loud. I mean, there has been times in target, there's been times, obviously, in my car, in the bathroom, doing laundry, in which I've had physically to say out loud my go-to verse is Isaiah 41, 10,. Do not fear, for I'm with you. And I kind of pause and I go do I believe that he is with me? Yeah, and it says here that he's with me, and I kind of pause and I go.

Jamy:

Do I believe that?

Amy:

he is with me, yeah, and it says here that he's with me, yeah, and so then address him. God, you are here with me, yeah.

Jamy:

I don't need the discipline of asking that question. How am I believing this?

Amy:

Yeah, and so find that verse and just kind of talk through it, and it is amazing what the power of scripture does to it. It overpowers your fleshly sinful thoughts and it just does it, it does.

Jamy:

And, I think, practicing gratitude you know the gratitude journal.

Jamy:

I know that sounds maybe cheesy, but I have a, just a page in my journal that I'll start until I fill that page up and I'll mark it and just remembering the things to be thankful for, to to keep that in mind and that. So I might be going on with other things I'm learning or writing down, but I come down to that page until it's all, because that way you're creating the reminder that you're remembering, which I took. This is another lesson that I believe it's a spiritual discipline Be careful to be remembering God's goodness, so through his word, through being grateful, through community.

Amy:

That's so great. One of the things that someone told me recently was the thing that you last look at before you go to sleep is what stays with you through the night and you wake up with, and so I think it would be a great discipline just as you're going off to sleep, just be thinking of the things that you're grateful for, and what God, how you saw God that day, and so those are some great strategies.

Jamy:

And I think that is a good description of Elizabeth's nature.

Amy:

What we've just been talking about? Yeah, I think that is a good description of Elizabeth's nature. Yes, what we've just been talking about, yeah, I think so too, and we don't. It's not spelled out here, but we see it through her life actions in the other couple episodes. Absolutely. Is there anything else you want to say about she was righteous, barren and old, no, just that it was true.

Jamy:

I mean, she was disappointed and she hadn't done anything wrong. It wasn't punishment.

Amy:

Do you need to hear that, girls? If you're ladies, men, whoever's listening if you are living in disappointment? It may not, it probably, it doesn't mean it doesn't mean that you've done something wrong. Yeah, and I think sometimes we just need to let that settle. Yep, all right. So that's number one. Number two is who is Elizabeth? Well, she trusted a secondhand promise from God.

Jamy:

I love this. I love the way you put this together.

Amy:

You read into the story. You see. Well, you just kind of download the story. As with Zechariah and the promise that was given to him, yeah, Okay.

Jamy:

So it's really unique. He's a priest, but we don't really understand just from at first glance exactly what that means. I think for a long time I just assumed all the priests lived there and just kind of did their job there at the temple. Yeah, but I learned this in my ESV study Bible. It said that there's 24 divisions of priests and each served in the temple for one week twice a year. So they lived nearby so they could travel to the temple. But they're not living right there. They don't even necessarily, they definitely don't live in the temple. They don't live in Jerusalem necessarily. Even so, there's 18,000 priests that were serving during this time is what the ESV study Bible says. Golly 18,000? Yeah, so when it's their turn it's like when they're division it's their turn to be there, present at the temple, to serve. Then by lots and this is in the scripture, you can read this, this is in the verse they're just kind of randomly chosen who's going to do the specific jobs.

Amy:

Interesting. So 18,000 priests are divided into 24 different sections.

Jamy:

Yeah, okay.

Amy:

And then, within those sections, when it's your time you get just kind of drawn out of a lot of who's going to go your time.

Jamy:

You get just kind of drawn out of a lot of who's gonna go, okay. So he, basically Zechariah, gets chosen to do this very special thing, which is to go in and right next to like right next to the holy of holies at the altar of incense. I think and this is a what we need to realize about this this is a once-in-lifetime opportunity. This is like his career moment. So think of yourself or your husband and like what is the height of their career to be able to get the chance to do that. He's there doing this. Elizabeth is there.

Jamy:

This is a very, very big deal that they get to do this, yeah, and so he gets to go in. I love that. Oh, I love the visual of this. He gets to go into this place and he's going to pray for this really special prayer. It's like during one of their festivals and all the people are outside waiting and praying and worshiping. It's very, very special. So while he is there alone, while everyone else is outside waiting, he he's praying and the angel comes up, comes like next to him and freaks him out. Of course he's scared. Um, I think the Bible says in verse Luke one 11 that he was I think I'm looking at the amplified. He was fear, he was overcome, he was troubled. Fear took possession, he was gripped, shaken, paralyzed. We now look at all the different translations. So he was totally freaked out.

Amy:

And the angel.

Jamy:

Basically, the angel says and this is really special because this is our first word from God in this intertestamental period and what he says is God has heard your prayer. I think it's so interesting because you can read the whole passage there. It's still in chapter 1, right, yes, and he says God has heard your prayer. But then he goes on to talk about the fact that a baby is coming, and he's not prophesying about Jesus, he's prophesying about John the Baptist, yes, and that a baby is coming, and he's not prophesying about Jesus, he's prophesying about John the Baptist and the description of John the Baptist and his calling. And so I just have to wonder Zechariah gets this chance and he goes in and he's praying the things he should pray about, um, about his people, for his people, and praising God. But he also, while he has this chance, he has to have said and God, if it's possible, and God, if it's possible, could you give us a baby?

Jamy:

And I think it's so dear that somewhere in this God heard that prayer and he answers. And the angel says, yes, he's coming, it's John the Baptist. That is so cool, and so then, Zechariah kind of messes up because he demands for a sign Once again.

Amy:

it's never a perfect path. It's never perfect. There's imperfection all over it.

Jamy:

And I love this part about Zechariah because the you know kind of the um. The end of that is that he, he loses his ability to talk. So until the promise is fulfilled, and the angel basically says God's going to do this, I just told you he's going to do, he's going to do it, but because you demanded a sign, uh, you won't be able to speak until it happens. And I just this always gets me because I think so often, before we will believe what God has said, we demand certainty. Whoa, this will get us Say that again. Before we'll believe what God has said, we demand certainty. We want certainty in our circumstance before we're willing to claim and believe the truth that God has given.

Amy:

And that does not work.

Jamy:

It has to be the other way we have to believe God, and he works out the circumstance. Oh, how many of you find yourselves there, and I just got to go ahead to this one thing.

Jamy:

It's so funny. So this promise happens. He's struck dumb where he can't talk. Then he comes out and everyone's waiting. He's like the Bible says that he was taking a long time. He comes out. Now he can't talk, like this one glowing moment in his career where he gets to say give the people the blessings from god after. And he can't talk. So he's doing sign language, trying to tell them or not sign language. He's gesturing trying to tell them what happened. I just think that is oh is funny. That gets me every time, I know.

Amy:

Every time Just such a humbling experience. Yeah.

Jamy:

So it's a gracious rebuke that he has. But that's what happens. But the point you made about that she is trusting a secondhand promise. God gave the promise to Zechariah. He didn't really receive it the way he needed to, but she does and she takes it to heart.

Amy:

It all comes to pass, she becomes pregnant and she holds on tightly to God's promise in the middle of that, gosh, don't you wish you knew the conversation when Zechariah came home and he couldn't speak, but he needed to?

Amy:

tell her that he was able to tell her and to be pregnant, that's what god has said yeah oh my goodness, because it says in verse 23, when he came, when his time of priestly service was finished, he returned to his home, in verse 24. Now, after this, his wife elizabeth became pregnant and for five months she secluded herself completely, saying this is how the lord has dealt with me in the days when he looked with favor on me to take away my disgrace among men. Yes, yes.

Jamy:

Amazing. That is her statement of belief. The NLT says the Lord has done this for me. How kind the Lord is.

Amy:

I love that.

Jamy:

How she's just accepting and relishing it. I love this occlusion. I think this occlusion shows a little bit too of how difficult her loss had been and the griefishing it. I love this occlusion. I think this occlusion shows a little bit too of how difficult her her loss had been and the grief of it. She's just holding tight, staying at home, believing God and letting this baby grow, just kind of hoping and hoping and hoping. Yeah.

Amy:

And it's kind of like I don't know if you have something that is a very um, I don't know if you have something that is a very delightful surprise that has caused disappointment. There's just such a sweet specialness when it is only you and your husband and the Lord and you are the only ones that know it.

Amy:

She doesn't have to explain it or be afraid of losing it or or or mishandling any of this promise, yeah. Or even again, even getting to the emotional whatever with other people yeah, out of their excitement. It's just this precious, tender, vulnerable space in which only a few know. But she is just feeling the growth of this life and what that silence would have been like Because he, I mean it's quiet. That's right, because Zechariah's not saying anything.

Jamy:

It's just Elizabeth and this little baby growing and this silent husband. How sweet those days of humility and promise and faithfulness must have been. I think it must have been really sweet.

Amy:

That's crazy and I wonder what the timeline was, from the time in which she came home to the time that she got pregnant? Yeah, Because you know when he demanded certainty? We don't hear that from her. Yeah, and I just I wonder if she just said okay, we'll just see how God works it. Yeah, but I love, at the end too, that she said this is going to take away my disgrace among men. Yes, and it just points to the fact that she did feel that shame.

Jamy:

Yes, reproach. I think some of them said, yeah, that's good from not having children.

Jamy:

Yeah, it was seen I think Liz Curtis Higgs is where I read this that it was seen as a faithful reward for service or something like that being able to have so. So it's even more so in this ministry that they're in. It's even a bigger kind of smack in the face that she can't have a baby. Yep, because it was correlated with righteousness. Yeah, and we do that to ourselves in ministry. You know, we have our own little standards of kind of what we think our lives should look like as far as how we serve and what we've done and what we sacrificed, and God doesn't play like that. He doesn't really even tolerate it.

Amy:

But those are lessons we all have to learn. That's so good. And do you know, just before we move on to the third point, it's so fascinating to me as far as the numbers go. I had to pull out the calculator because I can't do this math in my head. But if you have 18,000 priests divided into 24 different sectors, that means there's 750 priests per sector During that time.

Jamy:

During that time.

Amy:

And so one in 750 chance to get selected at that time. This is no accident. And God's sweetness of all, through that silence, of his silence, of no barrenness I mean of no children of being barren and then for him to be preparing and working out the time and the place in which Zechariah would be in the temple at that moment. For him, I mean it's just in the timing of when his son enters, it's just. If you ever think that there is a haphazardness to the events of your life, you don't have to look very far in Scripture to realize that God is in control of every bit.

Amy:

So that may be a reminder that you needed to hear today, God's timing is coming and it's perfect, so good.

Jamy:

So don't, don't lose your don't during the days of waiting, don't lose yourself to bitterness or the frustration of not being able to control your circumstances. He's got it. He knows what he's doing. Oh, that's so good.

Amy:

All right. So is there anything else about she trusted a secondhand promise from God?

Jamy:

I just love that part. I love the whole part with Zechariah I do too. I just think it's human, if you've never read that, to see the especially with the imagery, and go look at, get in your study Bible and look at the pictures I mean it's not obviously a picture the drawings, the illustrations of the temple and kind of what it would have looked like, and to kind of see where he would have been standing and how he would have come out and seen all. I just can't get over imagining them going. What's he saying? What happened? He saw an angel, is he? You know, I'm just kind of what's he saying? Why isn't he talking to me? What is he doing? Yeah, that is so funny. Do you think he saw an angel in there? Is God saying, yeah, I just think that is hilarious.

Jamy:

So, funny and stay in that space for maybe a year.

Amy:

I mean 10 months of pregnancy and then who knows how long it took for them to get pregnant? But the secondhand promise from God. I think there's also a sweet truth there, because she believed that and we have firsthand promises from God in his word and just as a real kind of loving challenge for us to know that his promises in his word are directly yes to you, yes, and that he is faithful to all he's promised.

Jamy:

Know them so that you can believe them that's good.

Amy:

Yep, all right. Well, the third point of Elizabeth is that she was discerning. Yeah, and this is where we jump into the last little episode. Is that in chapter 2?

Jamy:

No, it's at the end of chapter 1.

Amy:

It's at the end of chapter 1.

Jamy:

I think 8 through 24 is what I have in my notes.

Amy:

That's a long chapter.

Jamy:

It's very, very, very long.

Amy:

It goes to 80 verses in chapter 1 of Luke oh my gosh, Okay.

Jamy:

Very, very, very long. It goes to 80 verses in chapter one of Luke. Oh my gosh, okay. Oh yeah, it's 39 to 45 when Mary is visited by the angels, so we'll do that later. Yes, so that's already happened. Now Mary finds out she's going to have baby Jesus. She's pretty freaked out, hasn't told anybody and she goes to see. Elizabeth so that's where we are in the story. That's right.

Amy:

So if you'll look in verse 39, it says Now, at this time, mary rose and hurried to the hill country, to a city of Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, her baby leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and empowered by him, and she exclaimed loudly Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

Amy:

And how has it happened to me that the mother of my Lord would come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leapt for joy, and blessed is she who believed and confidently trusted that there would be a fulfillment of the things that were spoken to her from the lord oh, this is one of the most beautiful parts it is, and that's that part where you said, where she says how could it be that, my lord? Yeah.

Jamy:

She's not talking to Mary.

Amy:

Yeah.

Jamy:

Elizabeth is the one who gets to call Jesus out his Lordship out. It's the most pro-life passage there is. Oh, that's so good.

Amy:

These two babies in utero.

Jamy:

I know Jesus is little. No one knows about him.

Amy:

He's not like you know, pooching out with his big he's a jelly bean, he he's not like.

Jamy:

You know, cooching out with his big, he's a jelly bean, he's little, yeah yeah. So this is very much a supernatural God given announcement recognition she's. She is very discerning. She's been listening to God, she's used to it, so when she, the minute she even hears Mary's voice, she knows Jesus is there.

Amy:

She's, she's, she's recognizing God it gives me goosebumps.

Jamy:

And if she had held this against God all these years probably 50 plus years if she'd held it against God and been bitter about her barrenness, she would have missed this. God would have done exactly what he was going to do, but she would not have been a part of it. And even the fact that Mary goes to her that has to say something about her character and her trustworthiness with matters that are so spiritual. I don't know, I just love her.

Amy:

I'm so grateful that we get insight through his word on this little picture that happened. So she was discerning because of the life of faith lived and devotion to God. In the midst of disappointment, in the midst of disgrace, in the midst of all those things, she just kept on walking with the Lord that she was ready. She was prepared for all that he was going to do in and through her.

Jamy:

Hear the challenge of that listeners, that is, oh, that you will miss the most spirit filled, important moments of your life If you walk your days of disappointment and bitterness disappointment is. It's not. It's not an accident, he's. He's preparing us for something. I love this and I did. I did the this, this, uh. It just got to me so much when I very, very first studied it that I looked, I kind of wanted to understand deeper what all of these words meant, and so I did some word studies about.

Jamy:

As Elizabeth is talking to Mary right here and first in verse 42, when she says blessed are you, blessed is the baby. That's a really great blessing word. It means it's where we get our word eulogy and it means to speak well of you know. So it's like you're, uh, this is great, you know, I'm speaking well of you, you're, you're blessed. But in verse 45, when she, when she says blessed, uh, this is a. This one is a little bit different. This word blessed um means in the original Greek it means to be fully satisfied. In a biblical sense it's a blessed person is one whom God makes fully satisfied, not listen, not because of favorable circumstances, but because he indwells the believer through Christ. So when she because first she says you're blessed, the baby is blessed now, but now she's in, in, with the Holy Spirit leading her she is telling Mary you are blessed because you believe that God will do what he said. Now put yourself in Mary's shoes. She has just heard this really scary, miraculous thing. And she has responded with willingness, which we're going to get into later with Mary's stories. But she said, okay, may it happen. But then she runs to Elizabeth. Within 30 seconds of being in Elizabeth's presence, she's overwhelmed with the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit, through Elizabeth, says to Mary you are blessed, you are fully satisfied because you believe that God's done, he's going to do what he said. And just this kind of vision casting is so beautiful and I and this is what God had been preparing Elizabeth to be able to do, so that she could say this over Mary.

Jamy:

And this is you know, I'm held to my 52, I think yeah. So in here, here I am, in my fifties. I want to be able to be an Elizabeth. I want to be able to recognize and be discerning enough to follow God when he says encourage these young women, encourage them to encourage your daughters, encourage your people, your girls.

Jamy:

I call a lot of the women that I disciple my girls, you know, encourage them when you see God in them. You know, encourage them when you see God in them, call it out, remind them that when they believe, only they'll only be satisfied in this huge chase for contentment that we spend so much of our energy on. They're only going to be satisfied when they're really trusting that I'm going to do what I've promised to them. And then another thing I learned when it says the fulfillment of what I promised, the word fulfillment means completion or successful, the attainment of a perfect whole. And it doesn't like. I looked up a contrasting in the in the Bible dictionaries. Looking at it, contrasted with it, it wasn't an attainment to be reached. Instead, it's a completeness as an attainment already achieved.

Amy:

Oh, okay, so when?

Jamy:

I really just spent some time with this. Uh, this is how. This is how Luke one 45 kind of, came to be to me and how I I learned through these word studies. Is this what it says? This is what it says and what it means to me. I'm satisfied when I'm convinced that he's already done what he said because he has already completed it. Elizabeth is proclaiming this truth of you're satisfied because he's already done it. And we think about the completion, the entire point of the gospel and the work that Jesus is about to set out to do. That work is already finished.

Jamy:

From the start, god already knew he already had this plan and through the work of Jesus it happens and that that gets me. So, if I can know God's word, I will be satisfied when I'm convinced he's already done what he's promised. I don't have to do anything to be able to, like, get him to the point where he's going to do what he said. It's not like I have this certain level where I have to get up to and be worthy of his doing. He's already done it.

Jamy:

So I can let go of everything, all the control, everything trying to manage my circumstances, trying to manage my home, trying to manage my ministry, my kids, my husband, all of the things that are completely unmanageable. I can't control them, we can't. I can't make my, I can't make my circumstances right, I can't make it work, I can't make it make it fit my expectations. I am only satisfied when I'm resting in the truth and really believing and relying on the truth that God's already done what he's promised, and so I get to join in this life of seeing what that looks like. How's that going to happen? How do I get to see it? And and we will talk about this with Mary more but what I love is Elizabeth's encouragement, her mentoring and her speaking the truth over Mary takes Mary from a place of willingness to a place of celebration, and that's what I want to do for my ladies.

Amy:

Oh, that's good, Because we see her burst into song. Yeah, cause the Magnificat comes next, because we see her burst into song.

Jamy:

Is that what comes next? Yeah, because the Magnificat comes next. So I think that's what there's so much beautiful beauty to that, and this is the thing, and this is a real downer, and so I don't really want to say this.

Jamy:

except what is so beautiful in this moment is Elizabeth is proclaiming loudly blessed are you. Blessed is the fruit of your womb. You are satisfied because you believe that God's going to do what he has said. But then, when I think about the next 30 years for both of these women, their lives and the lives of their sons are not easy, oh gosh. And they're not happy, it's hard and painful.

Jamy:

Yes, With lots of loss, with lots of loss, but it's worth it because of the spiritual realities that are happening and that's what we, when our life seems so full of loss, we got to remember. There's spiritual growth, there's spiritual reality that we can't measure.

Amy:

Amen, Y'all that lands so rawly on my heart too.

Jamy:

Yeah, me too and I wrote I don't know, maybe we can post this. I've shared it with you, I've shared it with lots of people. But when I first learned this lesson from Elizabeth, I wrote on a chalkboard at my house and so I was looking for it this morning, trying to find that picture. And I found the picture and I looked at the date and I took the picture almost six years ago, almost to the day Wow, so this is a lesson that, oh gosh, you know that's encouraged me for a long time a long time and through all the seasons that the last six years have held long time and through all the seasons that the last six years, yes, and it is held, true, yes, and it was when he said I've already done it, you're satisfied, when you're believing that I've already done.

Jamy:

He knew what six years ahead was gonna be. He did. He knew what today was gonna be.

Amy:

Yeah yep, gosh, there's. There's a still a point of consternation of scratching my head and knowing even how that connects, because of the hard.

Jamy:

Yes, and because it turns over. It just strips away our effort and we don't know how to live without it.

Amy:

We don't know how to live without our own effort.

Jamy:

Yeah, like, how do we do that? What am I going to do if I'm not trying hard? Not that we shouldn't try hard, but really.

Amy:

Because the extent of our control is nothing, yeah, and we just spin our wheels. Gosh, jamie, I just when you say he's already done it, what is it that he's done? I mean, what is that promise? When you think about your current situation and you think, okay, god, you've already done it, what is it that he's already done? Well, what?

Jamy:

I want to say is all the circumstances that I want to work.

Jamy:

Okay so what he's already done is restore my husband's body so that he can do these things he wants and is called to do my husband's body so that he can do these things he wants and is called to do. But that's not really the promise. This promise is all completely 100% about Jesus, so it's about the gospel. That's already been the work of the gospel. I am fully satisfied when I'm believing that he's already done what he said he would do and imagine for Elizabeth and for Mary, it's okay. I was just told by an angel I'm going to give birth to Messiah. So for her, it's that, for God's people, it's out of this long season of quiet and loss and not having a country or a people or a King or a savior, a Messiah, for all of these hundreds and hundreds of years, he's coming. Well, he's already done that.

Jamy:

But, and some some of them got it, some didn't. So for us it's he's already done the work so that I can walk with him, so I can know him, so that I can live every day with him, sharing him and the truth of him, not burdened down by anxiety or worry or loss or uncertainty. I can walk with him, with entrusting to him my husband's body that is broken, my children that might be struggling in some way, my ministry or my ministry loss or my misunderstanding, my parents, I mean and I'm not saying all of these, that first one was definitely mine, yeah.

Jamy:

But all of those things that we're struggling, the different everything that you're trying, that I'm trying so hard to manage, that you're trying so hard to manage, that our sisters listening are trying so hard to manage. He's already done the gospel work to make it what it should be.

Amy:

That is so good. And it is not defined by circumstances Never. And when you said that, I thought that is my problem. That's why I can't make the connection, because I want, I want the last page of the story of circumstantial. We do have the last page of the story. Jesus Christ has come, he is resurrected, he has given us new life, he washes us clean by his grace and he has restored us to a place with him in heaven forever, as we accept him. That is what he's done, that's the work he's done, but so much because of my management, because my management addiction, because of my effort, all of those things.

Amy:

I don't know how to peel that away. Yeah, from life. Yeah, and that's why what he has done. I have always answered it as the end picture of the circumstance that I'm wrestling with. Yes, this is what he's already done. So he has. I don't know if you have parents that are struggling with health. He's created them whole, they're healthy, they've defeated cancer, they've have rehab from hip surgery Great and they're living their best life. That's the circumstance that I want to manage.

Jamy:

Or my adult child that you know graduated from high school or is graduating from college and is making good choices and not struggling. Yeah, we want that to be it, and so like how can I make that? How can I get there? How can I work to make it there? How can I believe your promises, but really only believe them so that you'll do that thing I want you to do?

Amy:

That is so true and it's like so we want to force God into that box, saying oh so you have already determined it, so is this it? Yes, can this be it? And, like you said at the very beginning, I'm only going to trust you when I have certainty of your promise fulfilled. But he's saying and it's almost like when our kids come to us with some superhero struggle and there's, you know whatever, something that seems so silly or non-consequential to us, and they come to us and we just want to say, oh baby, You're just not looking at the right thing.

Amy:

Look higher and realize that you know whatever. But I see I feel like God does that to us too. Oh baby, you're just, you're not seeing it high enough.

Jamy:

You're not looking up high enough.

Amy:

you're not seeing the work that I've done to restore you, to save you, to rescue you, to walk with you, to walk with my presence to be with you and I I don't know if I value that enough yeah, and I think that my prayer in December is going to be God, may I value what you value. Yeah, may I believe it is a reward to receive not what I want, but who you are. That's right.

Jamy:

Because it is all yes.

Amy:

Nearness. It's all circumstantial for me. Yeah, because that's all I could picture in my head when we were looking at this. Looking at this first yeah, how does so in certain situations in my life? Okay, so, god, what is it that you're? You've already done? Yeah. You've already done this? Yeah, okay, then I can trust you. But that that only fits it to me. Yeah, it is so much bigger than that.

Jamy:

Yeah, and the circumstances are not to be trusted and even in my current situation.

Jamy:

There's a you know, there's a place where I want to say okay, we've already done this really hard thing, so now we can get over the hard thing and how I measure that and it's the only way we have, and there's I don't. I don't want to put too much, I don't want people to feel like we're talking down to them or getting onto them for being aware of their circumstances and trying to better their circumstances. Our circumstances are what I mean. We have to deal with them Right and they are. It's right there and I will have anxiety based on this, this particular thing not working, but I can't put all my hope in that and I have to always be realizing that walking with God is way beyond making this next step work out for me as far as what I can see and what I can measure. It's just, it's just really difficult.

Amy:

That is so good, it's hard to communicate.

Jamy:

I can't ever quite say this, and even today I love this story of Elizabeth. I know it well, I talk about it often, but even today, sharing it has this whole new feel to it that I can't wrap my words around right and I feel overly emotional talking about it and talking about her.

Jamy:

But that that part about the fulfillment being in the past tense, basically it's not really in the past tense, it's just out of time. Yeah, that that he's already done that, that is so meaningful to me and it encourages me on a whole. And the satisfaction um, we seek satisfaction in so many wrong places and our satisfaction comes from trusting him and walking with him that's it.

Amy:

That's so good. Oh, I want my heart to be aligned to value that some personalities have a easier way of doing it and some people, some personalities, have hard challenges, and I think the achiever, who has been very successful with achieving things in their life, um, really has a challenge to not do that to God.

Jamy:

Oh, it's very hard, especially because everyone else is looking at you and saying how good you've done it.

Amy:

Well, I just love how Elizabeth. Well, I just love how Elizabeth was discerning, without words exchanged, it was just an understanding of the Lord's presence. But then she also spoke, that blessing over Mary.

Jamy:

Yeah, the boldness of speaking, that was just amazing.

Amy:

It was, and loudly. I mean. I know, when I get excited about things I really talk loudly, like my husband when I'm on the phone and I'm getting excited. He was like you're talking really loud and I'm like, oh my gosh, I didn't even know it we do that sometimes.

Jamy:

We do on this podcast when the volume goes up.

Amy:

But the way that you differentiated in verse 42 of the blessings there of this is awesome, because there's that point. But then the other blessing in 43, and my bible says so, favored but it's the fully satisfied by the indwelling of the believer in jesus.

Jamy:

I love that. Who would have ever thought that works? But I love, I love that. That's really great. So well, and even at the end of their story we see the power, we see the fruit of this, because now mary's out of the story and it's just Zechariah and Elizabeth and this baby that now they have to name. But they're with their community, they're with the whole neighborhood. I think one of them and it's so neat to see the fruit of this faith that has been hammered out in the last year we get to see it and the whole community is affected and I think her discerning, her discernment, her lack of bitterness during her disappointment, puts her in the perfect place to be able to support her husband, support his, the decisions he's about to make, and Zacharias' obedience at the end of this story influences their whole community in a way that's really powerful.

Amy:

Oh, that's so good. Well, you see that John the Baptist is born in verses 57 through 66. And then you'll see Zacharias has a prophecy and a praising in 67, to the end of the chapter.

Jamy:

Yeah, after he gets his voice back. After he gets his voice back.

Amy:

And what he does is he just praises and prays to God, which? Is just so precious and I mean I just it's such a great story and such a real life example of following and trusting and loving Jesus and how God, how God, knit this family into the beginnings of the entrance of Jesus is, um, just really, really special.

Jamy:

So special. I think sometimes in the birth narrative we skip or we miss the parts special, so special.

Jamy:

I think sometimes in the birth narrative we skip or we miss the parts that these parts to get to the jesus parts, when the jesus parts are important they're the most important they are, but the story of zechariah and elizabeth and john, the baptist arrival and her speaking over jesus is very, very precious, and it's just a story everyone needs to know I know, and I'm so glad that we went there today, because I, I mean, to be honest, I I didn't quite know where we would go with this because I was a little just a little not bored with her story, cause that sounds awful.

Jamy:

Well, she just kind of seems like the doting old aunt. That's like oh honey, I'm so glad to see you. Everything's great, come on in and rest for a bit. We Everything's great, come on in, rest for a bit. We miss the spiritual importance of her proclamation. Yes, yeah, yes, and Zechariah's? Too, I mean what he says. When he obeys, he is healed, but he also brings healing to his community with the truth that he shares. When he gets his voice back, he uses it in the right way, and so go read his sermon.

Amy:

And that is Elizabeth, and we just pray that the Lord will use what we just talked through into your heart to comfort you, to challenge you, to love you and to write your vision yeah, as you continue to march forward in this month, that you're listening.

Jamy:

So much of what the way that we live and what we're called to march forward in this month that you're listening so much of what the way that we live and what we're called to live is in the invisible and the choice to trust him, even when it just doesn't seem like we can.

Amy:

Who she was was discerning, she trusted a second hand promise from God and she was righteous, old and barren, yeah, and who?

Jamy:

God was to her Wonderfully beautiful.

Amy:

Yes, that's right and who God was to her is who he is to you and me, and we just pray. It was a blessing. We're glad that you joined us on this episode of Car Chat Podcast and we will see you next month.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Amy Petersen

Host
Head Shot

Jamy Fisher

Co-host