4-21-2024_A Humble Hannah, an Exalted Horn_1 Samuel 2:1-10 (Mark_Evans)

Now, if you have your Bibles, do make your way to the book of 1 Samuel, as we continue our sermon series through this wonderful beginning of Samuel. And for today, our Scripture reading will be in the first 10 verses of chapter 2, as we look particularly at Hannah's prayer. The first 10 verses of chapter 2. And these are the words of the God who is our rock. And Hannah prayed and said, My heart exalts 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 born seven, but she who has many children is forlorn. The Lord kills and brings to life. He brings down to shale 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. The grass withers and the flower fades. Let us pray. Our gracious God and Heavenly Father, we praise You, for there is none like You. There is no God like our God. You are our rock. You are our refuge. You break the very bows of the mighty, but the feeble put on strength. And so here we are. We humble ourselves before You, and we confess that we can do nothing apart from the life-giving vine who is Jesus Christ. And so we pray You would give us ears to hear. Give us eyes to see, once again, Your very glory in the person of Your Son. And we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. You may be seated. Are you on the right side of history? Are you on the right side of history? Well, you'll probably respond to that question with your own question. Well, what exactly do you mean by, quote, the right side? Because for many, being on the right side of history means simply to embrace the latest ideology, the most recent trend, or the most popular and progressive of ideas. And often underneath that embrace lies the persuasion that history is inevitably moving forward. And all we need to do is hop on that train of progress and make sure that we are not left behind. But God's Word presents a much different view, which is that history is indeed moving forward. In fact, all of history is being summed up in the Lord Jesus Christ. But to be on the right side comes first only by confessing that you are, in fact, on the wrong side, and by way of humbling yourself before the Creator God. And so far, we've seen that truth demonstrated so wonderfully in this humble, barren woman named Hannah. From the outside looking in, you would have never guessed that Hannah is on the right side of history. But our God has brought her from death to life. Our God has worked a kind of resurrection in her womb. And humble Hannah has the eyes to see that this is only the beginning of what God is going to do for her and for His people. Because just remember, from last week, we saw that when Hannah asked God for a son, she was actually asking God for far more than just a son. Hannah was crying out to her God for nothing less than deliverance. Her petition went well beyond just a personal, individual desire to be a mother. No, she was pleading with God to give Israel a Savior. Now if that was at all unclear in chapter 1, it becomes immediately obvious in chapter 2, as we look today at Hannah's response to God giving her that son. Because as we read her prayer, well, let's just put it this way. This news would not go out on a normal birth announcement, right? It would be odd to get a card from Hannah that reads, hey, big news to share with everyone. I had a baby boy. His name is Samuel. He weighs eight pounds, six ounces. Here's a picture of him. Isn't he cute? By the way, the bows of the mighty will now be broken. He had turned the card over. The card says, God will now thunder against our enemies. Right? These statements make no sense if this is just another normal birth. But it's not a normal birth, right? Our God is on the move. It's nearly certain that when Mary prays her Magnificat at the birth of Christ, that Mary has Hannah's prayer in mind. And so as we look today at Hannah's prayer, we're certainly right to imitate her example. But we also need to recognize it for what it is and see it in the overall narrative of Scripture. And so with that, we'll walk through Hannah's song today, three simple parts. We'll look at who God is, secondly, what God does, and lastly, how God does it. So though this is Hannah's song, our main focus is not so much Hannah, but the one who is like none other, right? God our rock, who raises up the lowly and he brings low those on high. So let's jump right in. Verse one, Hannah says, my heart exults in the Lord. Now that is already a massive reversal of fortune. Because remember from last week, Hannah was sad and she had good reason to be sad. Remember her name means favored and she was anything but favored, right? She was barren and her barrenness reflected the overall barrenness of Israel as a whole. On top of that, she's constantly antagonized by her enemy, Penina, enduring years and years of hostility. Yet here she says, my heart, that same sad heart, now exults in the Lord. And it's no stretch to say that this is every Christian's story. This is the church's story. Our God, of course, does not promise us to spare us from sadness, sorrow, and pain. But what God has promised us is that our grief will give way to joy. As the psalmist says, we might weep for a night, but joy comes in the morning. And so this morning, maybe you are sad and downcast. And maybe you look around and like Penina, the world seems to have it all. And you just scrape by. But the church's song is Hannah's song. And the reversal of fortune that our God loves to work, how our God can restore the years that the locusts have eaten. So in Not Just Her Heart, Hannah goes on and says that her horn is exalted in the Lord. In the early days, when we were discussing what to name this particular church, now obviously named Cornerstone, someone said, with all seriousness, can we name it the Horn of Salvation Church? Admittedly, that is not a common name. But no less biblical, because the concept of horn in Scripture denotes strength and power. You can think of a war horn summoning troops to battle, the horn of an ox symbolizing strength, the altar which had anointed horns on it. Conversely, the psalmist says that the horns of the wicked will be cut off. And so for humble Hannah, her horn has now been raised up by the provision of Samuel. We are right to look at Samuel as God's direct gift to His people. The man who is going to make straight the way of the Lord for a crooked and perverse generation. And so just like the women at the tomb who were the first witnesses to the risen Christ, Hannah is among the first of her day to understand what God is actually up to. And so she makes this bold claim in verse 2. She says, my mouth derides or opens wide against my enemies. Now some historical context is helpful here. For Hannah, such enemies would of course include Penina, her mocking rival. But at this time in redemptive history, the enemies of God are embodied in the Philistines. The book of Samuel occurs during Philistine oppression. Kids, you probably remember that Goliath was a Philistine. But with the gift of Samuel, Hannah says, no, now my mouth can deride my enemies. Now there's a nasty rumor circulating about the New Testament, that the New Testament would come along and correct Hannah here. Hannah, don't you know you're supposed to love your enemies, which means you cannot and should not pray like this. Meek and mild Jesus would not accept this. But we need to see that is manifestly not true. For instance, every time we pray, thy kingdom come. At the very same time, we are praying that the kingdom of God would be destroyed. That is what we are asking God to do. After all, the kingdom of God is not going to come, set up shop next to the kingdom of Satan and play nice. No, the kingdom of God comes by destroying the kingdom of Satan. And to make it more real, we have our own versions of course today of Peninas and Philistines. We see it in many of our political and cultural elites who are outwardly and openly hostile towards Christianity and trying to stamp out the kingdom of God. But we have in our arsenal Hannah's prayer that our God would break the bows of the wicked, which comes about in only two ways, either repentance and conversion, or secondly, God's judgment. And we are right to pray unto both ends to our sovereign God. And Hannah shows us that very disposition because the full verse is, my mouth derides my enemies because I rejoice in your salvation. Now where do you suppose she got that idea from? Well, this is the pattern of God's salvation. Hannah knows well the story of Exodus, for example. The very same waters that opened up and saved Israel were the very same waters that closed up and destroyed Egypt. Her prayer is not unlike the song of Moses that praised God as the man of war, the divine warrior who tossed chariot and horse into the sea. And by doing so, he redeemed Israel. And that reality is not only not reduced, but intensified in the Lord Jesus, that the gospel is the very aroma of life to those who are being saved. It's the very aroma of death to those who are perishing. Well, this sober truth leads her to praise God simply for who He is. Verse two, she says, there is none holy like the Lord. There is none besides you. There is no rock like our God. As we just sang, we worship the thrice holy God before whom even the mighty angels have to cover their eyes in His presence. And Israel must remember who their rock is when they go to war with the Philistines because you can be sure the Philistines have their own so-called gods. You'll get to meet some of them, gods like Dagon, this fish god, for instance. But the question will be, does Israel know it in her heart? There is no God like our God. This is not like two football teams facing off with each other and we'll just see who the better team is. No, there is no rock like Him. And we face the very same challenge today. Our culture has its many gods. I think one theologian said it well. And he said, culture is just religion externalized. Culture is just man's religion put on outward display. And so in our day, we have our gods of personal freedom and autonomy, gods of entitlement and equality, gods of sexual liberation and on and on. This zeitgeist that only seems to be gaining strength. But the church's great treasure is this secure, firm, confident confession. There is no rock like our God. And as New Covenant believers, we get to see how that rock is Jesus Christ Himself. God's chosen cornerstone, a stone of stumbling and rock of offense to the unbeliever and to the believer, the cornerstone in whom we will never be put to shame. And Hannah has eyes to see this. And so she puts the proud on notice in verse 3. She says, talk no more so very proudly. Don't let arrogance come from your mouth. We'll soon meet the proud Goliath. You can imagine her saying to proud Penina, Penina, stop your boasting. You don't even realize what you are doing. Because one of the most basic truths of Scripture is that our God opposes the proud. And proud is often rightly labeled the origin of all sins. The man grows proud to his own destruction. And what makes pride particularly dangerous is just how blinding it is. Right? The problem with the babbling proud man is that he cannot see his own pride. It often takes a Nathan to come along and say, you are that man. Well Hannah does give us a great proactive remedy to pride, however, in verse 3. That the Lord, our Lord, is a God of knowledge. And by Him actions are weighed. Simply put, God knows our inmost thoughts and secrets. He knows the very intentions of the heart. He knows our motives. And He weighs them in His perfect balance. And so while we might fool and flatter ourselves, God knows us better than we even know ourselves. And thus every mouth will be silenced and the whole world accountable to God. And what the only proper reaction to that would be, would be to greatly humble us before our God. Because another most basic truth of Scripture is that our God gives grace to the humble. When did you last humble yourself before the Lord? Note that is something to be done. As in we come before our God and actively lower ourselves before His majesty. He increases and we decrease. And humble Hannah has showed us how. There is none like our God. There is no rock like Him. That is who our God is. And from that flows next what our God does. And you can simplify this second section as simply that of God opposing the proud and exalting the lowly. You see that right away in verse 4. The bows of the mighty are broken. I remember once I was venturing out on a bow hunting trip. Made the long drive all the way out to the land. Then I walked the land. Then I found the perfect spot to set up shop. Then I looked down to arm the bow and I looked down only to find that the arrow rest had broken off. The arrow rest is the one thing that holds the arrow in place. The bow is completely useless at that point. You might as well throw the arrow at the animal. I just let out this audible groan there in the field. Walked back to my truck and drove home entirely defeated. Well that is what our God has done and shall do to the proud in their delusions of victory. And of course at this time the bow was not just for sport but was a chief weapon of war. That word for mighty there can mean vigorous, manly, hero, a champion. And God loves to orchestrate it that just as the bow string of pride is pulled back to fire, it snaps suddenly in utter defeat. The very moment that Satan thought he had won at Calvary was actually his undoing. But there's even more than that going on here. You see the power dynamic shifting and its strength is removed from the strong but not only that, the verse says that the feeble bind on strength. As Isaiah said, the weak shall become strong. As the Lord Jesus said, the meek shall inherit the earth. As Paul said, God's power is made perfect in your weakness. This is why we are to always be boasting in our weakness. That's a message that the proud man will never accept. That's a message that the world apart from the grace of God will always reject. Because it comes to man and it proclaims to him that there is not one single thing that you can rightly boast in. In fact, your boasting will only put you to shame. Instead, humble yourself before the Lord. Kiss the son and he will exalt you. If you're here this morning and you're not a Christian, this is the call of the gospel. To humble yourself before the Lord. That's your pride, your sin to say, I am blind, I am lost, I am ruined and just see what our God does. To the dead, he makes them alive in Jesus Christ. What he did for Hannah, just a small picture of what he does for every single Christian going from death to resurrection life. That is to be Hannah's and Israel's great confidence moving forward. But did you notice that she uses past tense verbs? It's not that God will break the bows of the mighty. No, Hannah says he has broken the bows of the mighty. It's already done. They are disarmed. Now that's interesting because we haven't even had a single skirmish, not one battle with the Philistines. How then can Hannah make this audacious claim that their bows are already broken? It's because she knows the battle belongs to the Lord. It's no different than the very same claim that we make today. Christ is risen. He is already victorious. He is already disarmed the powers and principalities and put them to open shame. God is not hoping in us to secure his victory. We are hoping in God who has already secured his victory through his Christ. Then you see not only this inversion of strength, you see an inversion of provision. Verse 5, those who were full hired themselves out for bread. Those who were hungry are no longer hungry. So you see, those who had far more than their daily bread, now they have to scramble to get food. We'll see next week how this is fulfilled in the house of Eli. You remember how Eli had grown fat off of eating the Lord's sacrifices. And soon his house will have to scramble just to get a morsel of bread, whereas Hannah has gone from fasting to feasting. It is just as the Lord Jesus said, blessed are those who hunger for righteousness, they shall be satisfied. And so if you're here this morning and empty, that is God's promise to you. You shall be satisfied and full. And not just our stomachs and our souls, but even the next generation. Hannah proclaims next, the barren has born seven, but she who has many children is forlorn. Now we don't need to take that literally. Hannah actually goes on to have six children, not seven children. But again, that's the point. This was never about just Hannah. She gives us the big picture, as seven is God's number of completion and fulfillment. And in light of God's covenant to Abraham, that all makes perfect sense, doesn't it? There's Abraham with his barren wife, and God says, go look up at those stars. Try and count them if you can. And that'll give you a rough idea as to your descendants. It's all foreshadowing how God will bring forth his seven children in the seat of Abraham, who is Jesus Christ. As Revelation says, of every tribe and tongue and nation, there is a number that cannot even be numbered. As a church, for us, we must have eyes to see that this is not who God once was in times past. This is who our God is today, right now. How many revivals have there been that were preceded by barrenness? And so if we are currently standing in a fallow field that's just full of dirt clods as far as the eye could see, our response should be, my God is Lord of the harvest. He has his seven children on the horizon. So if you need more persuasion, if you say, well, that's too hard even for God, we go to verse 6. The Lord also kills, and he brings to life. He brings down to shell, and he raises up. That is the very truth that sustained Abraham. As Romans says, he believed in the one who gives life to the dead, the God who calls into existence the things that are not. Now that said, we sometimes have a better grasp on the big-ticket items like resurrection, and yet are agnostic on the so-called smaller details of life. But verse 7 drills down and says this, the Lord also makes poor and makes rich. He brings low, and he exalts. We see God's sovereignty extends even to economic outcomes. From Rousseau to Karl Marx to today, there are many unbelieving ideologies that want to play God and eliminate all inequality, all income disparities such that everything is equal and poverty is eliminated. In other words, to claim a power that belongs solely to God. Because our God has woven inequality into the fabric of life. As much as God is the God of equality, and he is, he is also the God of inequality. He makes poor, he makes rich, he brings low, he exalts. And always in accordance with his divine plan, his divine wisdom, on his divine timing. And we see that with Hannah, she's going from the lowest of lows to now the highest of highs. And so verse 8, she sings out, God raises up the poor from the dust. He lifts the needy from the ash heap, and he makes them sit with princes with a seat of honor. I'm sure you agree, where you sit is of no small importance. That's true in life, that's true in scripture. Alright, let's say you're going to a concert, or a sporting event, your question at some point will be, but do we have good seats? Right, are we in the nosebleeds, or are we center court? And to be given a seat of honor is a big deal. That Christ instructs us, don't be greedy, don't ask for the best seat, you sit there and wait until you are called up to the seat of honor. Because in Christ, we have the best seat of all. As Ephesians says, we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places. Spiritually, that is true right now, today, for every believer. And even more merciful, we see that God has brought us there from the ashes, from a pile of garbage. Not to be too graphic, but literally, verse 8 would say a dunghill. God has brought us from the lowest of lows, and he says, here is your throne with my risen Christ. And that's well within God's power, because verse 8 also says he has given the whole world a seat. It says, for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and on them he has set the world. This is why the doctrine of creation is not just some abstract throwaway concept. Right, if God creates the pillars of the universe, how much more can God make the church his pillar and his buttress of the truth? And so this is what our God does. He poses the proud, he gives grace to the humble. When was it you last humbled yourself before the Lord? So we've seen who God is, we've seen what he does. Thirdly, let's see how God goes about this. And you can see at the end of verse 10 that his answer comes through a king. And just remember the note of futility that judges ended with. There was no king in Israel, and everyone did what was right in their own eyes. But now, God is on the move to provide a king. And we get to see two things that king is going to do. Firstly, he guards. Verse 9, he will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off. That, of course, does not mean that God only guards our feet. But when we fall, our feet are the first thing to go, right? When we stumble and slip, it's our feet that fail us. And so as the psalmist says, he will not let your foot be moved. God places our feet on terra firma, solid rock, but not so for the wicked who stumble. And one reason is because their trust is so misplaced. Verse 9, for not by might shall a man prevail. And when you see these words on a page, you're almost dumbfounded. You know, how could anyone be so foolish, so blind, so dumb as to ponder even for a second, should I trust in the God who sets the world on its very pillars? Or option two, maybe I'll put my trust in man who perpetually loses his car keys. And, of course, if you know your Old Testament, this is one of Israel's perennial temptations. She falls into putting her trust in the strength of man, in war horses, in chariots, in wanting to be like the other nations. And, of course, if you know the human heart, if you know your own heart, this is one of our perennial temptations, that we put our trust in the might of man, man's ingenuity, man's ability, his resources, his riches, even man's self-righteousness. And so we must always be renewing our minds that our God alone is the one who keeps us. Remember from 1 John, to those born again comes the promise that the evil one cannot even touch us. That is how much our God guards us. Secondly, not only will his king guard, he also vanquishes her adversaries. Verse 10, the adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces. Psalm 2, famously declares how the Lord's Messiah will shatter the enemies like a potter's vessel. Kids, kids, just imagine a very delicate piece of pottery, maybe a dish, a cup, a vase. In fact, ask your parents if you can do this later today, okay? Just imagine you get this very delicate piece of pottery, and then a rod of iron comes smashing down on that piece of pottery. How difficult will it be for that rod to smash that pottery? Well, kids, that gives you just a small picture as to the level of power that God has given to his Christ, that the nations are just a drop in the bucket to him. And yet what makes the story of Samuel so awesome, so humbling, is that the level of that abundant power flowed through a humble, barren vessel named Hannah. It flowed through a humble, lowly virgin named Mary. Why does our God do this? Just so that our trust would never be placed in man, but in the God who is our rock and like none other. Well, the final line of verse 10, we do see finally how God will do this through his king. It reads thus, the Lord will judge the ends of the earth and how? He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed. Now it's interesting that at this time, remember in history, Israel has no king. And so many a liberal scholar has come along and has said, well, clearly, these cannot be the words of Hannah. You know, some editor would have had to come along later and then add these words back into the text because there's just no way that Hannah could have known that a king is on the horizon. And, of course, to that you could just say, well, why stop there, right? There's no way that a barren woman suddenly becomes pregnant. There is no way that the blind receives sight or that the deaf hear. There's no way that bodies of water like the Red Sea just magically divide into two. And come to think of it, dead people have a peculiar way of remaining dead. They certainly do not rise again from the dead. I trust you see, these are the mumblings of unbelief. No, Hannah knew what the Virgin Mary knew, that God is giving his people the Lord's anointed. That word anointed, the Hebrew word mashia, is just our word for Messiah. And so we are pointed forward to the Lord's anointed, the Christ whom God has not just exalted but highly exalted, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion. Today we've got our concepts like power of attorney, right, where you can designate. I cede over to this person to execute everything on my behalf. Well, that is the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and the unlimited dominion that is given to him upon his exaltation. As Corinthians says, he must reign until he's put all enemies under his feet. And humble Hannah has the eyes to see that exalted horn on the horizon because she humbled herself before the Lord. Well, as we close, let's store up in our hearts three uses of Hannah's awesome, humble prayer. Firstly, most obviously, pray like this. Pray like this. We have seen that the ordained means that God brings about his kingdom is through the humble prayers of his lowly people. It could not be clearer from this text that our God is going to oppose the proud, destroy his enemies, bring his kingdom all through the means of a nobody named Hannah and through nobodies like us so that all the glory goes to his anointed king. Only we have the advantage to pray, thy kingdom come, to the risen king that Hannah could only hope to see one day. So pray like this. Secondly, sing like this. A question you might have for Hannah. Hannah, is this a prayer or is this a song? I suspect Hannah would say yes. And let's not romanticize this song. Recall, this song comes after years and years of heartache, disappointment, and harassment from her enemies. And only then does she burst into song. And I trust it's the same for us, that many of us here might be mocked and marginalized. Our churches might seem barren. You might come into the house of the Lord with heartache and discouragement and sadness. But friends, the Lord our God always puts a new song into our mouth and upon our lips. And we get to sing the songs of God's victory to praise his name and to encourage and build up one another. So pray like this. Sing like this. Thirdly, let us live like this. Francis Schaeffer once told a story when he was traveling the world and he was going through customs check. And the customs officer asked him the standard question. Francis, do you have any weapons on you? And Schaeffer said no. But the customs officer saw that Schaeffer actually had a Bible in his bag. And the customs officer had the spiritual presence of mind to say, but isn't that a weapon? Indeed, he spoke better than many Christians do. Right. This is our weapon. As we just read from 2 Corinthians, the weapons of our warfare are not of flesh, but have divine power, not man's power, divine power to destroy strongholds and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of ours. And what joy is ours? Friends, if you are in Christ, then you are on the right side of history. For the Lord God has exalted the horn of his anointed one. Let us pray. Our gracious God and heavenly Father, we do praise you for you have raised up the horn of your anointed one, that your son has come and done all the work that you have given him to do, that you have highly exalted him and you have bestowed upon him the name above every name. And so we do pray, Father, help us to be humble as was your servant Hannah. Help us to know it in our hearts. There is no God like our God. There is no rock like our rock and help us in to go forward with courage and faithfulness to live and so proclaim the gospel of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. And we ask it in his name. Amen.