The Apostles Creed #3

Today as we look at our third lesson in the Apostles Creed, we are going to look at the miraculous conception and birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you remember a few weeks ago, we looked at the statement, “I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, Our Lord...” and how we looked at the person of Jesus Christ as the Savior. Well, if that statement told us of who He is, this new portion of the creed explains what He did to accomplish our salvation. And we will begin exploring that work as we examine the statement, “I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.” So, with that in mind, I want us to look at this passage in three points. First, Christ’s Peculiar Birth. Second, the Presence of the Spirit in Christ’s Life. Third, the Precious Reality of those truths for our own lives.

Now, today we are going to look at several passages of Scripture, but our starting point will be in Luke 1:34-38. It is there that we find the Angel of the Lord telling Mary that she is going to miraculously conceive a baby, the Lord Jesus and how it will come about. It says,

Luke 1:34–38 NKJV

34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” 35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing will be impossible.” 38 Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

A Peculiar Birth

Have you ever had to start over on something? Maybe you’ve been given an assignment in class and so you go home and get started only to get finished and realize that you misunderstood the instructions. Maybe you’ve tried to cook something and you accidentally burnt the food and so you had to start over on dinner. Maybe you’ve had to move and leave behind your friends and now you have to start over meeting new people, building new relationships, finding new places to go, etc. It can be challenging, can’t it? But sometimes when we’re faced with such things we end up looking back and finding ourselves thankful for the challenge because it led us to where we are now.

Well, as we went through our passage in Luke together, I hope you noticed that phrase, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you;..” Highlight that word overshadow in your mind and turn with me back to Genesis 1. In Genesis 1, we find the story of God creating everything and as we read we will find something that will really help us admire this event in Luke 1. Genesis 1:2 says

Genesis 1:2 NKJV

2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Do you all notice anything interesting here that you might tie back to Luke 1? Did you notice that word, “hovering” there? Did you make the connection between the Spirit hovering here and the Spirit overshadowing Mary? If you did, GREAT job because that’s exactly what I want to talk about for a second.

You see, in Genesis 1 we find the story of Creation, but what happens just a few chapters later?..... The fall happens! And what does God promise after the fall? A Deliverer! The first Adam failed. So, when we come to Luke what are we seeing? Well, according to a pastor from the second century named Hippolytus who said, “in the virgins womb the Son of God refashioned the first Adam in Himself.” Or, to put it simply, when we see the Holy Spirit overshadowing Mary, we see a picture of God beginning a new work. He is creating the New Adam, the humanity of the Son of God.

Remember last time we spoke. Jesus is the Son of God. He has always been God, but His humanity didn’t always exist. To put it plainly, God the Son robed Himself in humanity and so became 100% man and was still 100% God. I’m going to give you an illustration from Origen of Alexandria.

If I were to take an iron and put it in a fire until it is red hot and you were to touch it, what would you feel? The heat from the fire right? That’s the same way it is with Jesus. Jesus is fully human, like an iron. But He is also fully God, like the fire. So, to bring this around, what we are seeing here is the beginning of something new. Jesus comes through the womb of a woman, He is fully man. Jesus doesn’t come from the seed of a man, but from God, He is fully God. This is the coming of the Second and Final Adam, the One who will do what the First Adam failed to do.

A Powerful Life

A lot of you guys are almost finished with high school or you’re already in college or working. And some of you are dealing with the question of, “What do I want to do with my life?” And almost all of us would say that we want to do something significant, something great, something impactful with our lives. One man who did that was David Livingstone who was a missionary to Africa in the 1800’s. Livingstone gave everything he had to the continent of Africa, helping to map unknown lands, speaking out boldly against the horrors of slavery witnessed in Africa, and served as a missionary. Livingstone was so devoted to Africa that when he died there, his body was sent to Britain, but his heart was kept and buried in Africa.

We all want that for our lives don’t we? To be devoted to the Lord, to speak up for others, and to be wholly committed to what we desperately care about. Well, as impressive as Mr. Livingstone is, nothing compares to the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. With that said, as we consider His powerful life, I want us to first consider:

The presence of the Spirit in conflict.

Jesus is prophesied, recorded, and even said Himself to have been anointed with the Spirit of God. That is, Jesus Christ, in His humanity, walked by the power of the Holy Spirit. As a matter of fact, if we look in Psalm 140 we will find a psalm concerning the power of the Spirit in His life. Psalm 140:7.

Psalm 140:7 NKJV

7 O God the Lord, the strength of my salvation, You have covered my head in the day of battle.

Now, I want you to highlight that word, “Covered” because that’s the same word used about the Spirit overshadowing Mary. I believe that this passage in Psalm 140, is referring to the Holy Spirit strengthening the Lord Jesus in His humanity throughout all the struggles He had throughout His life. The betrayals of His closest friends, the people who hated Him and used Him, the beatings, the crucifixion. Jesus was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, but He stood fast. I personally believe this passage may be most clearly referring to the wilderness temptation of the Lord in Luke 4 where the Holy Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness where He fasts and prays for 40 days and overcomes the temptations of Satan. Nonetheless, in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ we see the presence of the Spirit.

Second, I want us to notice:

The particular glory of the Lord Jesus

In Luke 9:28-36 we find the story of Jesus on the mount of Transfiguration where Jesus allows His glory to be seen by His inner circle of disciples. The text says,

Luke 9:28–36 NKJV

28 Now it came to pass, about eight days after these sayings, that He took Peter, John, and James and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 As He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening. 30 And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and spoke of His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32 But Peter and those with him were heavy with sleep; and when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men who stood with Him. 33 Then it happened, as they were parting from Him, that Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. 34 While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were fearful as they entered the cloud. 35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!” 36 When the voice had ceased, Jesus was found alone. But they kept quiet, and told no one in those days any of the things they had seen.

So, while these disciples are witnessing this, verse 34 says, “a cloud came and overshadowed them’ and they were fearful as they entered the cloud...” This is in reference to the glorious presence of God. To His fearful, marvelous, awe producing glory. This event is where Jesus is clearly showing His disciples that Jesus is the One who the whole Bible speaks of and He is the one who speaks for God, because He is God Himself.

Third, we will find:

The Resurrection Power of the Spirit

Jesus has come, He has lived a perfect life and died upon the cross and now He lays in a tomb. But, as you and I know, that’s not the end of the story because Jesus rises from the dead and sits at the right hand of God the Father. Well, in Romans 8:11 we read of the fact that it was the Holy Spirit who raised Christ from the dead.

Romans 8:11 NKJV

11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

And when Jesus ascends into Heaven, He fulfills His promise from John 14:6 which says,

John 14:16 NKJV

16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—

He fulfills this in Acts 2:2 at Pentecost where the Church is gathered and the Spirit of God comes upon His people. It says,

Acts 2:2 ESV

2 And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.

Now, you might be wondering why I’m giving you all of this information, and the reason is because I want you to see the glory of Christ. I want you to see Him as your only hope and I want you to see Him as glorious. In Jesus, our hopes are revived, in Jesus we see the most powerful story ever told, in Jesus there is salvation and hope. And so, as we consider these truths we can now bring this around and ask ourselves, “What does this all mean for me?” And we will consider that in our last point:

A Precious Reality

What does this all mean for you and me?

Because Jesus is the God-Man, I have a sinless mediator.

A mediator is a go-between, they reconcile differences, they bring peace for both parties. And what does it mean that Jesus the God-Man is our sinless mediator? It means He presents us before God, so that we don’t have to face God’s wrath because He took it all for us. Hebrews 7:26

Hebrews 7:26 NKJV

26 For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens;

Jesus was like none other, He is holy and righteous and in Him our hope is found and through Him we are at peace with God. God is not mad at His children, we are His because of Jesus!

What does this mean for you? It means that you have a lively, loving, and good relationship with God as one of His own. And how might this play out in our lives? Well, Matthew 5:9 comes to mind.

Matthew 5:9 ESV

9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Because Jesus is the God-Man, I have a great sympathizer

Hebrews 4:15 ESV

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

What does it mean for us that Jesus is the God-Man, it means that He can sympathize with us. Jesus was forsaken, Jesus was misunderstood, Jesus was betrayed, Jesus wept at the death of a friend, Jesus faced hunger and was exhausted, Jesus was beaten. Jesus can sympathize with you, He knows what you are going through and He is there for us, His people and He represents us to His Father.

How does this look in our daily lives??

In His birth, we are reminded of the miracle of our new birth.