Conceived from Holy Spirit

Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:34-35

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.
And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

The Bible is God’s autobiography so we should not think it strange that much of what is revealed is beyond our perception—we have a limited view of what is possible or what is normal because that is all we have experienced. We have a tendency to limit reality to what we have seen and exclude that outside our experience as improbable or even impossible. So, place yourself in the experience of the young girl of a small village in northern Judea about 1,000 years after the founding of the Kingdom of Israel. Life is progressing along normal lines until you have an angelic messenger deliver an unsettling message from God. While you are God-fearing, devout and chaste, this is something that is rare in the experience of Israel and it is happening to you. You are pledged to be married to Joseph a young carpenter but there has been no promiscuous contact for he is an honorable man also following the laws of God. Into this setting comes something beyond comprehension:

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.1

Not only are you to be pregnant, but not by the way you have heard of from other women—you are to be ‘with child from the Holy Spirit’! While you don’t understand the ‘how’ you do believe what God has told you. When you explain this message to you betrothed, he also has no understanding of how such could be and intends to break off the betrothal quietly and cease to be part of your future. Then the same angelic messenger visits him with confirmation and a little more clarity on God’s way:

But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”.2

Not only is this not a normal conception but the reason for God’s intervention into normalcy is also divinely inspired—‘his name will be called Jesus for He will save His people from their sins.’ There is nothing in human experience to explain this even though it had been prophesied by Isaiah hundreds of years earlier,

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).3

While Matthew is the first record, Luke the physician gives a fuller explanation of God’s participation:

And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.4

‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you,’ ‘the power of the Most High will overshadow you’ such that the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God!

While the genealogies give us the earthly parental lineages, Matthew and Luke give us the Father/mother links. Jesus is born of God the Holy Spirit and as such is not only God the Son but also the Son of God.

Yeah God! Thank you, LORD, for entering into our world in a most recognizable form, a baby. Unexpected, but very welcome.

FOOTNOTES & LINKS:
 1 Matthew 1:18-19 (ESV) Blue Letter Bible
 2 Matthew 1:20-21 (ESV) Blue Letter Bible
 3 Matthew 1:22 (ESV) Blue Letter Bible
 4 Luke 1:34-35 (ESV) Blue Letter Bible
KEY TEXT: Matthew 1:18-25 (ESV) - Blue Letter Bible
All Scripture references from the Blue Letter Bible, ESV
at https://www.blueletterbible.org
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version
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