Hannah's Song
Pastor Matt Bell
Sermon Summary
In this sermon, Pastor Matt explores "Hannah's Song" in 1 Samuel 2, presenting it as a prophetic portrait of God's character and His upside-down kingdom. The message is structured around around three main points: who the Lord is (holy, our rock, all-knowing, and the ultimate judge), what the Lord does (ruling sovereignly by reversing the natural order to exalt the humble and bring down the proud), and our required response (a life of total worship and surrender). By contrasting earthly kingdoms—where rulers lord their power over subjects—with the kingdom of God, demonstrated supremely by Jesus washing His disciples' feet and dying on the cross, the sermon emphasizes that God uses the weak and lowly so that He alone receives the glory. Ultimately, the message points to Jesus Christ as the true King and Messiah who will judge the earth and reign forever.
Sermon Transcript
Introduction
We're going to jump right into the word of God this morning. So if you have your Bibles, open with me to 1 Samuel chapter 2. We're in a series called The Year of the Bible. We're taking the year of 2026 to work our way through the whole Bible together as a church and to read through the Bible together as a church. In your handout, you'll see that the chapters for this week are there printed for you. I encourage you to be reading along with your church family this week.
Just at the end of last week, the last couple days, we made our way into the book of 1 Samuel. And so for the next couple of weeks, we'll be reading through 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel. These are incredible books of the Bible. Some people's favorite books of the Bible, because of the stories that are in here—just fascinating stories that not only are good to read, but also edify the soul. So I would highly encourage you to be reading with us the next several weeks, through the books of 1 and 2 Samuel.
Today we're taking our sermon from 1 Samuel chapter 2. First Samuel chapter 2 is known as Hannah's song. I want to give you a little bit of background from chapter one, and then we'll read the text and work our way through it this morning. But in chapter one of 1 Samuel, we're introduced to a family of a man who has two wives. One of his wives is very fruitful and has lots of children. His other wife is named Hannah, and she is barren. She's not able to have children. And she goes to the Lord, to his tabernacle, and she cries out to the Lord, and pours her soul out to the Lord because of her brokenness of not being able to bear children. It's something that she desperately wants to do and desires to do.
I don't know exactly what the relationship is between your husband's other wife. I don't know if that's a formal relationship, but her counterpart—we'll call it that—made life very difficult for her, mocking her, belittling her. It was a difficult life that Hannah had because of her situation. And so she goes to the Lord, she calls out to the Lord, she cries out to the Lord, and she pours her soul out to God. And the priest who's there at the time, a man named Eli, mistakes her for being a drunken woman because of how sorrowful she is and how expressive that she is. And when she says, "I'm not drunk, I'm just brokenhearted," Samuel says to her, "May the Lord give you the request that you've prayed for."
And as we read the rest of 1 Samuel chapter one, the Lord gives her a son and she names that son Samuel. And she takes Samuel to the Lord and dedicates him to the Lord, and Samuel lived his whole life in the presence of the Lord and in the work of the Lord.
Well, chapter 2 of 1 Samuel, this prayer or this song that Hannah prays or sings to the Lord, it's a song of thanksgiving and celebrating of the work of God and what he's done in her life. But it's placed here at the beginning of these books, 1 and 2 Samuel, foreshadowing the events that will take place. Foreshadowing the events that will take place in these stories that revolve around the kings of Israel, specifically King Saul and King David. And it's foreshadowing not only King Saul and not only King David, but the fulfillment of the kingdom of God, that is only realized in Israel's true Messiah, Christ Jesus. And so all of that is in this song. And so with that introduction, why don't we stand again this morning as we read this song?
Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 2:1-10
1 Samuel chapter 2. We're looking at verses one through 10 here this morning. It says:
And Hannah prayed and said, "My heart exults in the Lord; my horn is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation. There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God. Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble bind on strength. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn. The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and on them he has set the world. He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness, for not by might shall a man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; against them he will thunder in heaven. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed."
Prayer
Father, we do thank you for this song, your word. Lord, we thank you for the way it shows us who you are, the way it shows us what you do. And Lord, I pray that as we dive into this morning, that you would speak to each heart that is here. Lord, you are the God who speaks today. You speak by your spirit. You speak through your word. We're here this morning to worship you, to be in your presence, and to hear from you. Lord, I pray that you would help me to communicate what it is that you want your people to hear this morning. Lord, that we would be edified, that we would be strengthened, that we would be built up in our faith, that you would use us for your glory in the earth today. In Christ's name, we pray. Amen.
You may be seated this morning.
Point 1: Who the Lord Is
There's three things in this song that I want to draw out for you this morning from Hannah's song. As I mentioned, she's weaving together these themes of kings and kingdoms, of the Lord's anointed. It ends with saying that the Lord will give power to his anointed. This is the first time in the Bible that this idea of the anointed one being a person is used. We've read through the Bible of certain people being anointed for ministry. The priests were anointed with oil. But this is the first time that someone is called his anointed. And the word anointed is the word Messiah. It's the word for Christ. This is the very first time that we're getting a glimpse of the king above all kings, this figure who will rule and reign over God's kingdom. And in this, we see glimpses of Saul, the first king of Israel. We see glimpses of David, the greatest king of Israel, but it's all pointing us towards Christ, who truly is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
In this song, there's really three things that stand out as we read through it. And the first is who the Lord is.
It begins by telling us that the Lord is holy, verse 2. There is none holy like the Lord. This idea that God is holy, or that the Lord is holy—this is God's defining characteristic. Who is God? God is holy. Twice in scripture it tells us that God is not only holy, but that God is holy, holy, holy. This three-times repetition of the attribute of God's holiness is exalting this attribute of God to the highest degree. In Isaiah chapter 6, verse 3, it's speaking of the angels in the throne room, and it says, they say to one another, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory." At the end of the Bible, John, in the book of Revelation, he has another vision of the throne room of God. And it says, the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around them and within, and day and night, they never cease to say, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come."
Both of these visions that the prophet Isaiah has, that John the Revelator have, they're visions of God in heaven, seated on his throne. And no other attribute of God is exalted to the highest degree like God's holiness. There are other things that we read about God. God is love. God is just. God is merciful. God is patient. God is kind, but there's only one attribute that is exalted in this way, that is highlighted in this way, and that is God's holiness.
What this means is that holiness is God's defining characteristic. This is who God is. God is holy. And what this means to be holy, it means to be totally separate in a category all by himself. That's why the next verse says that there is no one besides you. There's no one beside God. There's no one who stands next to God as his equal. We just saw the Olympics a few weeks ago. They have the gold medal, the silver medal, the bronze medal. They put them on the podium. And the gold medal stands a little bit taller than the silver medal, but the silver medal's next to them. And then the bronze medal is a little bit lower and next to them. But that's not how God is. There's no one next to God. There's no one besides God. There's no one, he says, no one holy like the Lord. Only God is holy.
And this is describing God in his transcendence, in his glory, in his majesty, just how high and far above us and all of creation that God is. The angels aren't holy. Nothing a part of creation is holy. Only God is holy, totally separate, totally exalted, totally transcendent, totally perfect in everything that he does. God is in a category all by himself. There is none beside him. We sang that in our song this morning. I don't know if you remember that. We sang that, "Holy, there is no one like you. There is none beside you." What is that saying? It's saying there's no one who compares to God. At all. He's in a category all by himself. No one is God's equal and all are subordinated under him.
Unfortunately, humanity in our fallen state, we do not live in this revelation. Since we ate of the fruit in the garden, ever since then, we have thought that we can be like God. That we are not under God and under God's authority and his rule and reign, but that we can be like God, determining good and evil for ourselves. But that is not the truth. The truth is that only God is holy, and that he is high and exalted. That's the first thing that this song tells us about God.
It goes on to say in verse two, not only is God holy, not only is there none beside him, but also in verse two, it says there is no rock like our God. What does that mean? It means God is our shelter. It means God is our protector. It means God is our strength. It means God is our sure foundation. In Psalm 46:1, it says, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." Are you in trouble? You need God. Is our world in trouble? Our world needs God. God is our refuge and strength. God is our rock. There is no rock like our God. In Psalm 34:8, it says, "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him." God is our rock. He is our shelter. He is our stronghold. He is our protector.
And because of that, we can trust in God. When the world is topsy-turvy, when we don't know what's going to happen from one day to the next, where do we look for our security? Where do we look for our sense of protection? What are we trusting in as the people of God? Are we trusting in our military might? Are we trusting in our strength? If that's what we're trusting in, our faith, that will never keep us. That is not enough. Strength in natural means is not enough. Natural means will always fail us. Are we trusting in our political leaders? I hope you're not. I hope you've learned by now in life that whether they're from the left or the right or from Mars, wherever they're from, men will fail you. So the Bible tells us, do not put your trust in princes or men, but place your trust in the Lord. God Almighty, he is our rock. If the events of the day don't show us just how feeble and frail and imperfect and prone to error human leaders are, mankind is, I don't know what will expose that to you. If you feel uneasy in the times that we are in, could it be because you've been placing your trust in something or someone other than God and God alone? Everything and everyone but God will fail. God is our rock. And there is no rock like our God.
She goes on to say—I'm not used to saying that, so I might say 'he' a few times—she goes on to say that God is a God of knowledge. The Lord is a God of knowledge. We see this in verse 3. So not only is God holy, not only is God a rock, our shelter, our protector, but God knows all. God sees all. This is wonderful news because it means that nothing is a surprise to God. Nothing catches him off guard. Nothing happens that is outside of his ultimate plan of redemption for the world because God is a God of knowledge. He knows all, he sees all, and he is sovereign over all. God knows the events of our lives. God even knows the very thoughts and intentions of our heart. God even knows us better than we know ourselves. You know, you can deceive yourself. But you cannot deceive God. God is all-knowing, he sees all. He knows all that has been and all that will be.
In verse 8, it tells us not only does God know all, but that God is the Creator God. He's the one who has created the world. He's the one that has set it into motion, and he is the one who upholds the world as the book of Hebrews tells us, upholds the world by the word of his power. The world is sustained by our God, our Creator God.
And finally, in verse 10, it tells us that he will judge the ends of the earth. The Lord is the judge. The judge of the living and the dead, he is the one who judges mankind. God is the faithful judge. This is who our God is. He is holy. He is our rock. He knows all. He sees all. He's the Creator. He formed and fashioned each one of us in our mother's womb, and he is the one who gave us our life, and the one at the end of our life, who we will ultimately stand in front of. This is who Hannah tells us the Lord is.
Point 2: What the Lord Does
Then she moves on from who the Lord is, to what the Lord does. That's our second point this morning. Who the Lord is, now what the Lord does. And in these verses, she gives us an Old Testament portrait of the kingdom of God. We can see how the kingdom of God will play out under the rule of King Saul. We can see how it will play out under the rule of King David. And even in these stories, it tells us to hope for and to long for a future king who will sit on David's throne forever and ever, who we know is Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah.
But in verses 4 through 8, it tells us how God, who is King over all kings, how he governs the world, what the Lord does. The first thing is that the Lord rules sovereignly. He sovereignly rules. Listen to what it says in verse four:
The bows of the mighty are broken. But the feeble bind on strength. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. The barren have borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn. The Lord kills and the Lord brings to life. He brings down to Sheol, that's the grave, and he raises up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich. He brings low and he exalts.
And then verse 8:
He raises up the poor from the dust. He lifts up the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and on them, he has set the world.
This is a portrait of the kingdom of God here in the Old Testament. In the kingdom of God, we know is an upside-down kingdom. It's an upside-down kingdom from the kingdoms of the world or the kingdoms of men. It's not like the earthly kingdoms of the world, and Jesus will tell us this in Matthew chapter 20 and all over the gospels. We see ways in which Jesus says that his kingdom, the kingdom of God, is not like the kingdoms of men. It's not like earthly kingdoms.
And in Matthew chapter 20, we have this story of the mother of James and John coming to Jesus, and in Matthew 20, verse 20 and 23, it says, the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, kneeling before him. She asked for something. And he said to her, "What do you want?" She said to him, "Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom."
Now, a couple things here. First, we've just learned and we've been reading that God is holy. And there's no one beside him. And so this tells us that John and James' mother has a lower view of Jesus than what he really is. Or she has a very high view of her sons. It's one or the other. And so she says, when you come into your kingdom and you are seated on your throne, and you are exalted, I think it'd be great if my two sons were right there next to you. One on your right hand and one on your left. What's better than one throne? Three thrones. This is gonna be great. This great idea.
So that's the first thing, is she has a lower view of God and an elevated view of man. Obviously, she doesn't know here that Jesus is God in the flesh, that hasn't been revealed to her yet. Jesus' glory was veiled in his humanity, in his flesh. That's something that's perpetually being revealed to them. And so, having not this revelation yet, this statement is absolutely absurd on its face. But the second thing I want to bring out to you is the weasel-like nature of James and John that sends their mother to ask this question of Jesus, that they couldn't do it on their own, that they had to get their mother involved in this. So there's that going on there as well.
Jesus does not say, "Hey, that's a great idea. I wish I would have thought of that." No, that's not what he says. In verse 22, he says, "You don't know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?" The cup, if you'll recall, in the Garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus is praying, pleading with the Father, he says, "Father, if there is any way, let this cup pass from me." The cup was a representation of God's wrath that would be poured out on Christ for sin. It was a picture of all that Christ was going to endure in his ministry of substitution on the cross. So he's saying, you want to be exalted like me. Are you able to drink the cup that I'm going to drink, the suffering that I'm going to endure? They said to him, "Yeah, we are able. We can do that. No problem. Sure." He said to them, "You will drink my cup"—what he's saying there is, you are going to suffer. You are going to suffer. They're not going to suffer in the same way that Christ did, but we know that both James and John will suffer greatly for their witness as apostles of Christ. He says, "You will drink my cup." They didn't know what they were saying, but Jesus did. "You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father."
Now, look at this in verse 24. And when the ten heard it—that's the other disciples, the rest of the disciples—they were indignant at the two brothers. They were angry at them. And I think they were probably angry because they didn't get their mom to go ask Jesus this first. They beat them to the punch. And Jesus, trying to tamp all of this desire for self-glory, self-glorification down in the hearts of his disciples, he calls his disciples to him, and he says, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles," the kingdoms of the earth, the kingdoms of men, "you know that they lord it over their subjects, and that they exercise authority over them." Basically, the kingdoms of men press people down. They're totalitarian. They abuse people, they lord their authority over them. They subserviate people. He says, you know that this is how the world works, the kingdoms of men, the Gentiles. But verse 26, he says, "It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you, must be your servant. And whoever would be first among you must be your slave. Even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many."
Jesus is in explicit form saying what Hannah had sung about in her song, that the kingdom of God is not to be like the kingdom of men. To be great in the kingdom of God means to be the least, means to be the servant of all. Do you want to be great in God's kingdom? Serve others. Sacrificially give to others without expecting anything else in return. Serve others, love others, give to others in the name of Christ, without any expectation whatsoever, only to be a blessing. Jesus says, it is those who live this way who will be great in the kingdom of God, and that you are to follow my example just as I came not to be served, but to serve and to give my life.
The greatest pictorial, practical example of this that Jesus does for his disciples is in John chapter 13, when Jesus does what? He washes his disciples' feet. There's such a shocking thing that Jesus would do this, and that day it was so far beneath a teacher, a rabbi, to do that for his followers, his disciples. That was the task reserved for the lowliest of servants or slaves. And yet Jesus takes off his outer garment and wraps himself in a towel, dressing himself as a servant, and goes around and washes each of his disciples' feet. When he gets to Peter, Peter says, "You cannot do this. I will not allow you to do this." And Jesus says, "If I don't wash you, you have no part in me." Jesus is saying, I have to wash you. I have to cleanse you and say, a picture of the saving work of Christ.
How humbling it is to have Jesus wash us. How humbling it is, because we were so broken, because we were so unable to clean ourselves. Like a small child who's unable to take care of itself or to change its diaper. Or an elderly parent who's lost the ability to care for themselves, and now they have to be cared for by their own children. What a humbling experience, to have Christ stoop so low to wash us. Christ has washed us much more. He's washed much more than just our dirty feet. If it was so shocking to the disciples that Jesus would stoop so low to wash their feet, how much more shocking and humbling to us should it be that Christ left heaven's throne to be born in a manger, to die on a cross, the most shameful and wretched of deaths. To shed his blood to cleanse our sins. Something we don't deserve, by the way. We don't deserve. We don't deserve it. It's so humbling to be washed by Jesus. To need his salvation because we are so weak, because we are so broken, because we are so sinful. Not a day goes by, not a week goes by that we don't need his cleansing power. We could try as hard as we like. It's still not enough. We still need his cleansing every single day. How humbling it is to need to be washed by Jesus. Much more humbling than a parent needing to be cleansed and bathed by their own child.
Do you feel that? Do you feel that in your soul? When we take communion, when we look to Christ, when we sing of his work of redemption on the cross, his great cleansing power, are you humbled by that? It should humble you. It should humble you that Christ would stoop so low to wash us clean of sin. But Jesus says to his disciples, as I have done for you, now you go and do likewise. As I have loved you, if I have served you, as I have washed and cleansed you, you go and love and serve others. That is what it means to be great in the kingdom of God.
See, the kingdom of God is a great reversal of the natural order. The natural way of things. The kingdom of God is the opposite of that. It's upside down from that. It's not for my glory, it's for God's glory. It's not that I exalt myself, but it's that I humble myself. Jesus says, the first shall be last and the last shall be first.
As the story in Samuel continues, Saul, the first king of Israel, he's someone who represents the kingdoms of man. The children of Israel, they cry out, they say, give us a king like the other nations. We want to be like the other nations. So God says, all right, I'll give you a king like the other nations. And he gives them a king who looks the part. Who is head and shoulders above everybody else, he is strong, he is tall, he is physically superior. He has an intimidating presence. Everyone looked at Saul and said, that's a king I can get behind. He looks like a king. But Saul lacked the inward strength of character. He had the physical attributes of someone that we would think looks like a king, but he lacked the heart of a true king to rule in God's kingdom.
And so David, the second king of Israel, represents the king of the kingdom of God. He's a picture of Christ. He did not look the part, but he had the right heart. David didn't look like a king. When Samuel, the prophet, goes to anoint David to be the next king of Israel, David is overlooked. He's overlooked by others, he's overlooked even by his own father, that it didn't even dawn on him that maybe Samuel's here to anoint David. He just left David out there taking care of the sheep. He was young, he was small. He wasn't much to look at. Isaiah 53:2 tells us that Jesus wasn't much to look at either. He didn't have a physical presence about him that was appealing, it says, in Isaiah 53.
And so the kingdom of God is this great reversal. It's a reversal of the natural order of things. And so we read about that in verses 4 through 8. The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble bind on strength. He raises up the poor from the dust. He lifts the needy from the ash heap. If that's not a picture of salvation, I don't know what is. Lifting us from the dust, lifting us from the great spiritual poverty that we are all in in our sin. This great reversal of the natural order. The natural order is death and decay. That's the natural order. But the kingdom of God is not death and decay. The kingdom of God is death and resurrection. Death and resurrection. This is why it says, God brings down to the grave, but he raises up again. Who is it that can lift us up? Who is it that can raise us from our spiritual poverty? Who is it that can bring the dead back to life? It is only God. It is only God. It's a reversal of the natural order. It's death, and then resurrection. We must die to ourselves, and the apostle Paul will say that I die daily. We must die to ourselves, to our flesh, to our natural desires every day. Why? So that the resurrection power of Christ and the Holy Spirit can live in us, can be resurrected in us.
The good news is that God is still building his kingdom today. God through Christ on his throne is still establishing his kingdom in the world, not by the strength or the wisdom of man, but with those whose hearts are fully surrendered to him. Sometimes people think, well, God can't use me because I'm not smart, I'm not strong, I don't look the part. I'm not famous. Nobody knows me. I come from the lowliest of families. I come from this side of San Antonio, from this kind of family. I went to this kind of high school. There's no way that God could use me in his kingdom. Friend, if that's you, that's exactly the kind of person God loves to use. God can't use me, I'm like this. God can't use me, I'm not like that. God loves to use the lowly. Because then he gets the glory. He gets the glory.
We read about this in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 26. Paul writing to the Corinthians, he says, "Consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards." That's kind of a funny thing to say to people. Consider this, church: Most of you aren't very smart. Just consider that. You didn't go to Oxford, you didn't go to Yale, you didn't go to Harvard. When I bring in speakers who do, you look at them and say, what is this guy talking about? I bring Joe Boot to talk to you, and you all just, what is this guy saying? If that's not an affirmation that we're not wise, according to earthly standards, I don't know what is. Look, we're not the best educated. That's what Paul's saying to them. If it fits for you, you can say, thank you, Jesus, I take that. "Not many of you were powerful," Paul's writing to the Corinthians. You don't have a lot of earthly power. When you walk into a room, nobody stands up, nobody notices. "Not many of you were of noble birth." We don't come from prestigious bloodlines. Maybe you do. I don't know. I know I certainly don't. He says, consider this. Think about this. These are worldly standards. These are things that the world glories in. Where did you go? Who do you know? What's your natural bloodline? These are the ways of men. These are the things that men take pride in. He says, not many of you were from that sort of background. Verse 27, "But God chose..." God chose you. "God chose what is foolish in the world." Why? "To shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are." Why did God do it this way? "So that no human might boast in the presence of God." Why did God choose you? Because you were so messed up. He could get the glory out of you. So that any good, any fruit that comes from your life, everybody knows, it had nothing to do with them. That has to be God. That has to be God.
The kingdom of God is a great reversal of the natural order. What the world thinks will bring about victory, God is using the opposite to establish his kingdom in the earth. Are you uneducated? That's okay. God can still use you. Are you from a poor background? It's okay. God can still use you. Do you have a bloodline that is more complicated than X, Y, and Z? God can still use you, and God delights to use you. God loves to use people like that, so that he can get the glory in our lives.
Is this the first thing that God does? Am I still on the first thing? I don't know what I'm on. Okay. Look at something else God does in verse 9. "He will guard the feet of his faithful ones." He will guard the feet of his faithful ones. Some of us have alarms at home. We set the alarm when we leave the house, we set the alarm when we go to bed at night. It makes us feel good that we have somebody watching out for us. How much better to know that God himself is the one who's guarding us? God himself is the one who is guarding the feet of his faithful ones. This is what God does for his people. He guards us. He protects us. He keeps us. He ultimately is guarding our hearts against the assault of Satan. Remember, Satan comes and he asks Jesus, he says, "I want to sift Peter as wheat." That means I want to shake this guy until almost nothing is left. And I'm sure Peter was thinking when Jesus told him this, "And you told him no, right? Jesus? You told him you weren't going to let him sift me as wheat. That's what you told him, right?" But what does Jesus say to Peter? He says, "Peter, I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail." I would be thinking, "Oh, could you just tell him no?" But the truth is, that what he told Peter should have brought Peter so much comfort. In the days in which Peter was preaching the gospel and being persecuted, days in which Peter was being thrown in jail and beaten for his witness: Jesus prayed for me. Jesus is interceding for me. Jesus is upholding me right now. He is the one who is the guarantee, the author, and the perfecter of my faith. Amen. This doesn't rely on me and my ability and my natural strength. God is the one who protects the faithful, who guards the feet of his faithful ones. He's the one who guards our hearts against the attacks of the enemy. This is good news for us.
Verse 9, he says not only does God guard the faithful, but "the wicked shall be cut off in darkness. For not by might shall man prevail." No matter how strong you are, you cannot stop God or his sovereign plan. "The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces," it says in verse 10. Those who oppose God and oppose his plan and oppose his work and actively work to stop and to thwart and to undermine the advancement of his kingdom in the world, they will be shattered like pottery. They will be broken to pieces. This means broken beyond repair. God is the sovereign actor in history. His plan and purpose is what will prevail. He will guard his faithful ones, the wicked will be cut off. No one can oppose him. History truly is His story. God is writing his story across the pages of history.
And ultimately, at the very end, we will all stand before him, as it says, the Lord will judge, not just this kingdom that we're in, the kingdom of Israel as Hannah singing this song, but the Lord will judge the ends of the earth. He will judge the ends of the earth. And Paul tells us this in Acts 17:31, that God will judge the ends of the earth because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed. And of this, he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. We will all stand before Christ one day. Are you ready to stand before him today? We're not promised tomorrow. We have to be ready to meet the Lord today. We could be ushered into his presence at any moment. He could return at any moment. No man knows when he is coming. And when we are in his presence, we will stand before him, and he is the judge. And we will either be found clothed in the righteousness of Christ that comes through faith in his finished work on the cross, or we will be found clothed in our sins, which are as filthy rags. He is the judge.
And finally, she concludes by saying, "He will give strength to his king and exalt the power of his anointed." This is looking forward to Christ. This is looking forward to the true Messiah, the true anointed one, the Christ, the King of all kings. That God will raise his exalted and seat him at his right hand as we know exactly that that is what God has done in Christ. In Acts chapter 2, verse 30, Peter, preaching on the day of Pentecost, says this, speaking of David and the Psalms that he wrote, he says, "Being therefore a prophet and knowing that God had sworn an oath to him, to David, that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, that David foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ"—that's Jesus—"that he was not abandoned to Hades." He's not still dead. "Nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus, God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, 'The Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.'"
So Peter concludes that reflection on the Psalms and everything that David had written. And he says this: "Let all the house of Israel, therefore, know for certain that God has made him"—that's Jesus—"both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified." Listen, Jesus is exalted. He is at the right hand of God. He is expanding his kingdom. His kingdom began through his death and resurrection and ascension, and he right now is building his kingdom in the earth today, and he is sitting at the right hand of the Father until all of his enemies are put under his feet. We can either be a part of his kingdom, or we can oppose his kingdom, but there is no in the middle. And what happens for those a part of his kingdom? His faithful ones, he guards, and he protects. Those who oppose him are crushed. This is the reality of the kingdom of God. This is what the Lord does, and this is who the Lord is.
Our Response
Which brings me to my concluding third and final point today, which is our response. And our response is worship. And she began with this in her song. And so in verse one, she began by saying, "My heart exults in the Lord. My strength is exalted in the Lord. I rejoice in your salvation." Our response to who God is, who the Lord is, our response to what he has done is to worship him, to exalt him, to magnify him, to glorify him. To live our lives, not for our own name, but for the glory of his name. That he would be exalted in our lives.
Can you sing this with Hannah this morning, that my heart exults in the Lord? And I live to worship him, to exalt him, to magnify him, not just on Sunday, but on Monday through Saturday, that he is the one who has our heart. He is the one who has our affection. He is the one we are living for. He is the one we are laboring for. Not to build a name for ourselves, but to build a name for Christ in the earth. I pray that that is what you are living for. I pray that it is to Christ that you have devoted all of your life and all of your heart. Let our lives be devoted to the Lord, the anointed King, to the one who alone is holy, holy, holy. Let our lives be completely devoted to the one who is sovereign over all. The one who protects the faithful and destroys the wicked. The perfect judge who judges in perfect righteousness, a judge who is not swayed by political pressures, a judge who is not swayed by the changing tides of culture, a judge who cannot be bribed or cannot be blackmailed, but the one who is the perfect judge of all history, let us live our lives in complete surrender and total adoration to Christ, who is the King of kings and Lord of lords. Amen.