Holy Spirit, Holy Child

Holy Spirit, Holy Child

The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
Luke 1v35
The Bible often highlights the role of the Spirit in Christ’s life, and this verse in Luke is one such instance.

Holy Humanity
Only holy humanity can save sinful humanity. We need a holy Jesus. It is clear to all that the divinity of Jesus was holy. Divinity is always holy. But humanity is not even usually holy. Aside from Jesus, Adam & Eve were the only ones to experience sinless holiness, and that didn’t last long. But what was born of Mary was ‘that holy thing’. It had to be holy. His humanity must be holy or all is lost. This is because:

Without holiness in his human nature he would have tainted his Person
God the Son became a man: body & soul. But he never stopped being God. He did not switch from God to man and then back to God again (John 3:13). He was, and is, just the one Person, but he has two natures. So if his human nature were not holy, he would not be a holy person, despite his divine nature. It is that serious!
It is essential to his own Person that his humanity is holy.

Without holiness in his humanity we could not be saved
It is also essential to our redemption. We need righteousness. We have none. We are in desperate need of holiness. Without it no one will see God. God’s inherent righteousness will not do. It would not fit us, like David with Saul’s armour. We need human righteousness. So we are assured of this from the very start: he is holy.

But why is his humanity holy, when ours isn’t?

Holy Creator
Mary was the mother of Jesus. But she was clearly not responsible for forming his humanity. She was passive. The work was of the Spirit and the language reminds us of Genesis & Creation: The Spirit overshadowed her, as when he hovered over the waters of the deep. He formed a spotless nature for Christ from the substance of Mary, as he had formed a perfect body for Adam from the dust of the earth.

But the Spirit did NOT create God the Son, just the human nature of God the Son. Note the ‘also’ in the verse: divine nature already held title to ‘the Son of God’. What is amazing here is that it becomes true of humanity!

The Spirit perfectly created a humanity for his Fellow. It was so prefect that the Person of Jesus Christ could sing the psalms with us, and really feel the meaning in the words: fearfully & wonderfully made I am. Ps 139.

Christ praised God for the humanity he was given. So let us revel in the perfect creation of the body prepared for him because without that sinless, holy creation in the womb of Mary we cannot be saved. Lift up your voice in praise of God who ordered it so! Marvel at the detail and skill of the Spirit who caused it to be so.

Holy verdict
The verse ends by telling us that Mary’s Child will be ‘called the Son of God’. This identifies Mary’s son with the Old Testament promises.

Isa 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

This title hangs like a mantle around his human neck forever – God’s Son. Even in glory he will never relinquish this crown – that he is the Son of God incarnate.

Weekly Sermon

Friday, 6 November 2009