The Spirit in Birth
Well, yesterday was Pentecost, a very special day in the life of the church, celebrating the coming of the Holy Spirit on the early disciples, and the reality that every believer can and must be filled with the Holy Spirit too.
The Supernatural Origins of Christ
This week I want to look at how the Holy Spirit was active in the life of Jesus. The outline for this week comes from a sermon by Croft M. Pence, an old preacher who points out, first of all, that the Spirit was active at Christ's birth, and in fact even before His birth, because He was conceived by the Spirit.
We read it in Matthew 1, where Joseph finds out that his wife is pregnant and wants to quietly divorce her, but an angel appears to him and in verse 20 says: "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."
And so, in a very supernatural way, Jesus is of God—an amazing truth that fulfilled the prophecies in the Old Testament, like Isaiah 7:14, which said that “the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son.”
Recognizing God's Spirit in Our Lives
And so, give thanks today that we serve a God who is not small, but who miraculously brought His own Son into this world, and that God's Spirit was here on earth to make it happen.
But consider how, in your own life, your birth was a work of the Spirit. You may not have been a result of immaculate conception, but the Spirit was still there when you were born. Every time somebody is born, it is a work of the Spirit in a sense, wouldn't you agree? It is a work of God to bring life into a human being. The breath of life for every creature comes from God.
And the wonderful thing is, this is true even before we know it to be true. God's grace is at work in us even before we know it. The theological term is prevenient grace—grace that goes ahead of us before we're aware of it.
Experiencing God's Prevenient Grace
Think back on the earliest parts of your life for a moment. Give thanks today that God was there, and without you even knowing it, He was giving you strength and sustaining you, and working in your heart to draw you near to Him.
The Holy Spirit was active in Christ's life from the very beginning, and oh what a wonder—it's the same for you and me.
