December 12th, 2024
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
When we consider the greatness of Christ's birth, we should simultaneously be reminded of the work of all three persons of the trinity. The Christmas drama is not necessarily a story of a father granting to us a son, it is also the fact this is all accomplished by the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. And so, in order for us to drink deep the wonder of Christ's coming, we must equally praise each person of the Holy trinity, thanking God for this glorious gift of salvation. Our passage today shows us how we might begin to do so.
In Luke's account, Mary asks the angel a simple question. It was not a question motivated by doubt or a lack of faith. On the contrary, it was a question posed with sincere curiosity from a young teenage girl. "How can I become pregnant with a child while I am yet still a virgin", is really what Mary was articulating. Like any one of us, we too might wonder how something unnatural and seemingly impossible would be accomplished. While Mary was asking with the purity of heart and mind, she likely had no clue how incredible her inquiry was. Because what followed her question was one of the most important verses not only to the Christmas saga but to the entire foundation of the Christian faith. The announcement confirmed to everyone that the Holy child of Israel would be supernaturally born into the earth by the Holy Spirit of God.
Have you ever wondered what makes Jesus so different than every other man? Have you ever been told that Jesus is simply just an ordinary carpenter from Nazareth and nothing more? This one passage shatters that entire perspective. It proves to us that God did the miraculous and He achieved the impossible. His one and only son was not conceived by any natural means, nor was He created or manufactured at some point in time. Rather, The Father incarnated the son into the human world through the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. Mary then, was simply the vessel by which the Holy Spirit would bring forth Jesus Christ, the eternal king, into the world.
This is what causes our minds to be filled with awestruck and wonder, because Christ comes to us unlike any other human being to ever exist. We have to really consider this incredible event. It is one thing for a child to be born normally and then become filled with the Spirit at some point in his life. We would call this person anointed by God or sent by God or even a prophet of some sort. However, this is dramatically far from what is articulated in the Christmas birth. The Holy Spirit isn't coming upon a human after they are born, in this story the Spirit is the one taking the King of Heaven and placing Him in the womb of Mary. In doing so, the Holy one to be born would be encapsulated in total humanity while retaining the perfection of divine deity (Colossians 2:9). Jesus would be the God who became a man or the man that was in every essence God (1 Timothy 2:5).
This Christmas we ought to celebrate the three in one and one in three. That it was the power of God's Holy Spirit that initiated the birth of our saviour, Jesus Christ. If not for the power of God's Spirit, we might not have received a human redeemer to take on the sins of the world. We must be ever so thankful today that the Holy trinity of God saw it fit to love us in such a way. That all three persons would enact a glorious plan of salvation and redemption. A Father who sent His only begotten son to purchase unto Himself an unworthy people. And not only does He give you the gift of His son Jesus Christ, but He also provides in full the outpouring of His Holy Spirit. The same power that endowed the Lord Jesus, and raised Him from the dead is living within you right now (Romans 8:11).
If the Father never sent us Christ, we would have never received the Holy Spirit in our hearts. When was the last time you thanked God for the filling of His Spirit? There is no Christian life to be lived if it is not set aflame by this Holy Spirit of God. Take a few moments this Christmas season and be grateful to the Lord for the gift of His Spirit. Beyond all other gifts, this by far is ultimately more precious. Be consumed by His power and submit wholly unto His leadership. And just as Paul prayed, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all (2 Corinthians 13:14).