Incarnation and the Spirit

Matthew 1:18, 20

“This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit… 20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.’”

The Holy Spirit has been involved with Jesus from the beginning. They were together at the Creation (see May 11), and the Holy Spirit was the active power of God to come upon Mary to conceive her precious child, Jesus.

Why is the virgin birth important to the Christian faith? Jesus Christ, God’s Son, had to be free from the sinful nature passed on to all other human beings by Adam. Because Jesus was born of a woman, he was a human being; but as the Son of God, Jesus was born without any trace of human sin. Jesus is both fully human, and fully divine.1

The only way for Jesus to be born sinless was for Him to be conceived by the Holy Spirit. There were no iniquities passed to Him in the bloodline of a natural father. Knowing this, we will want to cooperate with the Holy Spirit’s process of sanctifying us to make us more holy.

TODAY’S CHALLENGE:

Thank your Heavenly Father for the supernatural conception and birth of Jesus. Ask Him to help you more fully understand and appreciate the significance of Jesus being both human and Divine.

Dive Deeper: Study Matthew 1:18-24; Luke 1:26-38.

1 Life Application Study Bible, published by Zondervan.