The Spirit Of Christmas
Luke 1:26-38
And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, 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. And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.
Thought For Today:
When we look at the Christmas Story, many fail to understand the picture that is being painted here with Mary. What was going on here? How was Mary going to conceive without knowing a man? We all understand that it takes a man and a woman to give birth to a child. The angel Gabriel told Mary, "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." John said, " Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:1-2). What makes you a son of God? The Holy Ghost. "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Romans 8:9). You can only be called a son of God by the Spirit of God. This is why Jesus, in His humanity, was called the Son of God. He's never called God the son because He was God. The Spirit of God did this miraculous birth. Jesus told the woman at the well, "God is a Spirit..." (John 4:24). And John wrote, "For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one" (1 John 5:7). Notice, they are one, there is no division here. The word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us (John 1:14). Jesus was the Father in creation (Colossians 1:16), He is the Son in Redemption (Galatians 4:5; Titus 2:14), and He is the Holy Ghost in operation ( Luke 12:12; John 14:26; Acts 2:1-4; Acts 4:8; Acts 8; Acts 9; Acts 10; Acts 16; Acts 22). Mary knew what it felt like to be filled with the Holy Ghost and to birth a Son of God. This is why she didn't hesitate to go to the upper room and wait with the disciples for the Day of Pentecost (Acts 1:14): she wanted to be filled again with God's Spirit and birth more sons of God. And we, too, are filled with God's Spirit for one purpose, to birth sons of God so those sons can birth more sons of God. Remember, Mary had to have the seed planted inside her to conceive. The seed is the Word of God (Luke 8; 1 John 5:7). Don't be confused with the natural, as it has a spiritual application.
