Mary Did You Know.....about the Holy Spirit?

Lately, we have been studying about the Holy Spirit in our meetings and it has been an interesting one. In this process arose a question. Did Mary, the mother of Jesus know about the Holy Spirit? Luke 1:35 states, Luke 1:35 states, "The angel replied, “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 holy; he will be called the Son of God." So the answer is yes, but what are the intricacies of this passage? What does what the angel said mean?

Throughout the scripture, the Holy Spirit is always in a role of sanctification and setting apart things for specific uses. This instance is no different. Notice that the passage states that the Spirit would "overshadow" her. This is the same word used when Jesus states his famous lament over Jerusalem, that He would protect her as a mother hen would protect her chicks (Lk.13:34). From the start when the angel reveals this to her, the Holy Spirit is already at work in this process. Instances where we would say in today's time, "Wow, they were lucky" the scripture shows us that behind the scenes it is the Holy Spirit that moves to protect her. 

• An angel appears to Joseph in a dream to tell him to take Mary as his wife and not to put her away as society of that day would have demanded (Mt.1:20).
• The child would be born "of her" which is a significant statement. It takes a man and a woman to conceive a child, a fact all too prevalent in our society today. Yet, this is NOT the case with Jesus. Ph'p 2 and John 1 both state that Jesus left being in the form of God to take on a human form. Mary was the vessel through whom this would happen. But not as common births would go. Lk.1:34 - even Mary asks how this is going to happen, and once again we are back to vs.35 where we are told it is the Holy Spirit working within her to make this happen. Think about this - the same Holy Spirit that in Genesis moves on the face of the deep to create the worlds that exist even today, is the same Holy Spirit that brings this about in Mary. Jesus was indeed as Paul states in Gal.4:4, "born of a woman" because there was no man involved.

It was for this reason, that Jesus was called by men, “the Son of God” (Is.7:14). We know it is because Jesus left being in the form of God to take on the form of a man, and the Holy Spirit that makes the circumstances for this happen. It would be this instance with Mary, that Jesus would be the fulfillment of scripture as manifested “Emmanuel” or as the translation is, "God with Us." This is a statement of prophesy made more than 500 years before it would happen. The concept that God would leave heaven and come walk among us as humans, which is just what Jesus did (Jn.1:1-14; Ph'p.2). These circumstances, revealed in such a simple sentence indeed make one call out because of them, "God is WONDERFUL IN HIS COUNSEL." Indeed, even if we foo foo creation, one can only look at the circumstances of Jesus' birth and proclaim that "GOD IS MIGHTY!" That this event now 2000 + years ago would make Jesus the "Father of Eternity" for us all. That a small baby if people would just hear his Word, be the Prince of Peace for us all.

And he dreams of hopes unspoken

When the tears of man will cease

And his mother holds him closer

For he is the Prince of peace

"The Prince of Peace," 

by TransSiberian Orchestra

Merry Christmas,

Jim