Luke 1:41(b): “…and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.”
Observation: Mary had learned from angel Gabriel that she who had never known a man sexually was to have a baby. Right away she left Nazareth for the home of her elderly cousin Elizabeth who had been childless until visited by the same angel six months previous. Elizabeth’s spiritual condition was superb; Luke 1:6 says that she and her husband were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. Imagine that! A long life lived as an ardent pursuer of God is rewarded by, first of all His supreme compliment of a blameless life, and secondly by at long last being privileged to bear a son destined to become the forerunner of the very Son of God.
So Elizabeth had walked for decades attuned to God’s voice; His ways were familiar to her, making her a perfect vessel to carry the baby John. So it was a reasonable progression for her to be filled with the Spirit when Mary approached.
Application: This Spirit that filled Elizabeth came loaded with gifts, as He does even today, one of which was the gift of prophecy. Elizabeth immediately knew by the Spirit things that flesh could never have imagined. “How has it happened that the mother of my Lord has come to me (v 43)?” And “blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken of her by the Lord (v 45).” Mother of my Lord? Fulfillment of what the Lord had spoken? This supernatural knowledge of such things came over Elizabeth instantly with the filling of the Holy Spirit. There was nothing tentative about her, no inclination to first check things out through quiet conversation with her younger cousin. Rather, “she cried out with a loud voice, “Blessed among women are you and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” (v. 42)
There it was: truth laid out for all the world to hear. Prophecy easily tested. And here was her internal confirmation: the forerunner baby in her womb declared his first proclamation of the Savior by leaping for joy.
Here is what I know about me: When I came to Christ I too was filled with the same Holy Spirit as Elizabeth. And He came, and comes daily, equipped with an undiminished complement of supernatural gifts. Unlike Elizabeth, though, His expressions through me have often been made with far less exuberance and confidence than through her. I all too often put a governor on His desired expressions through me, throttling the Spirit’s ability to use me. Fear of man, reluctance to live beyond my carefully nurtured comfort zone…how much of the spirit-life have I missed by being unwilling to cry out with an Elizabeth-like confidence?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, you have filled me with the same Spirit Elizabeth knew, but I too often choose to remain in my comfortable nest, risking little, rather than venturing boldly into realms of the Spirit you invite me to. Forgive me for such faintheartedness, Lord. Fill me afresh today, and give me Elizabeth’s boldness. In Jesus’ name, Amen.