The Holy Spirit and the Birth of Jesus

Last time —
O.T. Prophetic words that:

• The Spirit would bring about a New Creation
• The Messiah will come in the power of the Spirit

The NT starts with these words:

• Matt 1:1 “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ”
• Greek biblos geneseos = “the book of the beginning” or “the book of genesis.”

Only two places in the Greek OT where this phrase occurs:

• Gen 2:4 “the book of the genesis of the heavens and the earth”
• Gen 5:1–2 “the book of the genesis of Adam”
• The birth of Jesus is a new Genesis!

Matthew describes “genesis” of Christ:

• Matt 1:18, 20 “conceived by” the Holy Spirit
• In the same way as the Holy Spirit was present at the first creation, so he is present at the beginning of the prophesied new creation.

Angel Gabriel announces:

• Matt 1:13–17 fulfillment of Mal. 3:1 – John the Baptist will come in the spirit and power of Elijah to prepare the way for the Lord
• Matt 1:28–37 the coming of the long-promised Son of David, Messiah and Deliverer of Israel
• Matt 2:32 Israel will become a light to the nations

After 400 years…

• Jewish people believed they had been forsaken by the Spirit for 400 years on account of their sin.
• Suddenly all that changes
• The Spirit comes on six different people: John the Baptist, Elizabeth, Zechariah, Jesus, Simeon, and Mary

Elizabeth

• Luke 1:41 is described as being “filled with the Holy Spirit”
• God opposes their culture and gives worth, value, dignity and weight to women!
• She prophesied spontaneously concerning Mary and the child in her womb

Zechariah, Simeon & Mary

• Luke 1:67 Zechariah is “filled with the Holy Spirit” prophesies concerning his son, John the Baptist.
• Luke 2:27 Simeon came to the temple “in the Spirit” who revealed Jesus to him and he prophesied over the baby
• Luke 1:46–55 Mary mother Jesus, began to prophesy

John the Baptist

• Luke 1:15 – extraordinary! John is “filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb”
• No one in the Old Testament ever received the Spirit in the womb

Birth of Jesus

• Luke 1:32–35 The miraculous conception is because the Holy Spirit will come upon her
• The Spirit was the power at work in Genesis
• The Spirit is the power at work in the second Genesis, the miraculous birth of Jesus

New Tabernacle

• The Holy Spirit is said to “overshadow” Mary
• The verb is drawn directly from the the cloud of God’s glory which overshadows the tabernacle —Exod 40:35
• Jesus Christ has become the dwelling place of God on earth.

The Holy Spirit is working an entirely new creation

1. This puts a whole new light on the birth of Jesus
2. We sometimes limit the role of the Holy Spirit to the spiritual gifts.
3. He is God on earth today!

We need to…

Look at our own lives
and not limit the role of the Holy Spirit to a narrow view of the gifts!
He is the creative power of God, moving…

The Holy Spirit

• Empowers the advance of the kingdom
• fuelling evangelism
• maintaining holiness in the body of Christ
• directing believers into holding truths of Scripture
• performing of signs and wonders
• strengthening our hands against the enemy forces
• fortifying us with his greater power.

The Holy Spirit:

• Don’t marginalize him
• Welcome him in to our lives, to our families and to our churches
• We want his continuous presence
• Jesus invites us into his mission to take the gospel to the ends of the earth
• The kingdom will come!