By Mark S. Disbrow
An invisible God, yet fully existent and sovereign, sent a spirit, and angel named Gabriel, from an invisible place to a visible place to a physical human to communicate this message: that this virgin would conceive and give birth to the Son of God.
Some say about this Christ-child, “Jesus was just a man, only, and that He simply had some good teachings.” This completely ignores His supernatural birth as told in the Bible in the Gospel of Luke in Chapters One and Two. To claim Jesus was ‘only a man’ and ‘not God’ is to completely ignore His birth. Joseph said he didn’t do it. There was no secret human male lover. And yet, the mother Mary certainly testified to the fact that she was impregnated by the Spirit and not Joseph. Just as the angel (a spirit) Gabriel told Mary.
This miraculous conception is the only one of its kind. Back in Genesis 6, we see where other sons of God procreated with daughters of men. Except these angels came in the physical and they themselves were created beings, created by Almighty God. Without a woman. The result being a spirit, not a physical man — as Jesus was.
The virgin conception of Jesus Christ was the powerful work of the Holy Spirit. This was not a divine/human conjugal mating with the resultant offspring being neither God nor man, neither real spirit nor real flesh. Rather this is a special work in which a human life was conceived in Mary’s womb without the presence of the male sperm.
This action of the Spirit shouldn’t surprise us. The Holy Spirit was involved in the original creation of the world and in its ongoing sustenance. It is not at all amazing that He can create this human embryo within Mary starting with only her ovum. It would, conversely, be surprising if He could not do this. God’s creative acts do not require preexisting matter to create. God created everything out of nothing.
Shortly after Mary’s conversation with the angel Gabriel, there was a meeting of Mary with her cousin Elizabeth. In this meeting, the baby in Elizabeth’s womb stirred at the presence the baby in Mary’s womb. Elizabeth proclaimed that the long awaited Messiah was present in Mary’s womb! The first gender-reveal. No ultrasound needed.
We see in this unique way of God speaking to man (whom He created) through this Christ-child, a birth story which could not be genuinely disputed, faked, or replicated. This Christ-child was both God and man. He wasn’t an angel-spirit. And he lived a human’s life in the flesh and blood. This is the same Word that helped create everything — even the young girl who would give birth to Him 4000 years later!
Come, let us adore Him.
A classic, small, intimate Christmas Eve service in a ‘sheep barn’ in the countryside. A Christmas Eve Candlelight Service will be held Tuesday, December 24 from 6-7pm. Amazing Grace Community Church, 77 Navajo Circle, Aspen Springs (6 miles West of City Market). For more information, call (970) 444-2111.
Mark S. Disbrow is pastor of Amazing Grace Community Church.