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The Holy Spirit in Jesus’ Incarnation

Frank Tunstall, D.Min.

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So, the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35-36; John 1).

King David is the prophet who foretold the Heavenly Father has a Son (Psalm 2:7). A thousand years after David’s prophecy, the process is both fascinating and mind boggling that brought about the birth of God’s Son and moved Him in flesh and blood into the neighborhood of human need (John 1:14, 29, 36, MSG). The angel Gabriel told Mary, possibly a 15-year-old teenager, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So, the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35; Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23). To make the incarnation happen, it was the job description of the Holy Spirit to serve as the power source. This included, of course, sending an angel to Joseph, who was engaged to marry Mary. The angel’s mission was to tell Joseph not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife, because her pregnancy was of God.

The Holy Spirit and DNA

The incarnation of Jesus, defined as God becoming a man, a human being, without question is one of the greatest miracles of all time. The modern discovery of DNA arguably illustrates how it might have happened. Joseph had “no union with [Mary] until after she gave birth” to Baby Jesus (Matthew 1:5, 18, 20). Mary conceived because of the overshadowing Luke described. In contemporary language it can be pictured as the genetic structure – the DNA supplied by a father in conception. Mary was a virgin. This meant the Father’s contribution to Jesus’ DNA had to be created for Baby Jesus to come into the world both as truly a human being and as God’s Son.

Johannes Kepler (1571 – 1630), was a German scientist, astronomer, mathematician, and a trained Lutheran theologian. He understood his work as thinking the thoughts of God after Him. If Kepler were living today, he would surely revel thinking about DNA as imagining the thoughts of God after Him.  

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is the term that describes the billions of microscopic-size molecules that hold in their nuclei the instructions an infant must have to develop fully, live healthily, and reproduce. In this sense, DNA is the discovery of the building blocks of life. These directives are found inside every human molecule and are handed down from parents to children. A full set of genes, known as the genome, includes some 3.2 billion base pairs of DNA. Said another way, the DNA formed by the union of a man’s and a woman’s cells contains the commands for a lifetime of growth for their children.

For Baby Jesus to come into the world as truly a man, it was in the job description of the Holy Spirit, using this DNA illustration, to create miraculously His genetic system that was identical with Adam’s before the Fall. It meant Baby Jesus could be born without sin, grow up, and move into the neighborhood of Adam’s seed as one of us, the God-Man, sin only excepted.

God alone could do it!

As you ponder the grand miracle and mystery of the incarnation of Jesus, let yourself consider the sovereign dominion of the Holy Spirit that was required to make it all happen. When you have absorbed the miraculous power and divine genius God revealed in the incarnation, you will have no trouble believing all the other miracles in the Bible. Yes, Gabriel had it right: “Nothing is impossible with God.”

A person cannot be a Christian without believing in miracles, and the birth of Jesus lives to this day as one of the greatest miracles in human history.

When the angel Gabriel made the announcement to Mary, she sought more information, giving Gabriel a lesson in Biology 101: “How will this be since I am a virgin?” (Isaiah 7:14). Gabriel responded with his own lesson in Theology 101: “Nothing is impossible with God!” (Luke 1:34-38).

What an Ahh! moment.

Like Mary, we too are to release our impossibilities to the Lord. We can only begin to imagine the power and divine genius required to conceive a child without a sexual union.

Baby Jesus was truly Mary’s flesh-and-blood baby. He was also King David’s greater Son. At the same time, He was God’s sinless Son. We honor Jesus as having two natures in one Person, God and Man, with both natures blended perfectly so that the Lord did not have a split personality. He is the God-Man and the last Adam. Never again will there be a need for another “Adam.” Jesus’ death and resurrection settled that. This understanding gives fresh meaning to Paul’s teaching that Jesus Christ is the last Adam, a life-giving Spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45).

At the great rapture of the church, however, the redeemed will rise from their graves having glorified bodies like Jesus manifested at His resurrection as the firstfruits of them that slept (1 Corinthians 15:20; 1 Thessalonians 4:17, KJV). This body will be immortal and incorruptible.

Modern science using DNA has opened the door to consider the what or the building blocks of lifebut not the who, the divine genius who created DNA and makes it work (Colossians 1:15-20; Hebrews 1:3). This process has populated the birth of billions of babies, generation after generation, millennium after millennium, amid all ethnicities and peoples around the world. Understanding this illustrates the divine genius behind God’s creation. But this understanding of what God did, great as it is, remains a far cry from being able in fact to create it.

Only God!

The implications are far reaching. God created Adam, then Eve, making each of them compatible as male and female. When Eve gave birth to baby Cain, their first-born child, she knew nothing about DNA. But she understood enough to give God the honor. “With the help of the Lord,” she said, “I have brought forth a man” (Genesis 4:1).

Every mother and dad should understand the births of their children as gifts from God.

Without question, the incarnation of Jesus is one of what I believe to be the six greatest miracles of all time. [The others are the creation, the death of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, the ascension of Jesus, and the gift of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost.]

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2 comments

  • Dewayne Klepper

    Dr. Tunstall, excellent article! This is a concept that I have thought on a lot. I agree with you that this truly is one of the greatest miracles in the Bible or anywhere else. It makes one almost lose their breath. We serve and know a truly great God! That He is so great, and yet He knows and cares about us is mind-boggling. We are blessed beyond measure.Thank you!

    • Frank Tunstall

      Thanks, Dewayne for writing. You are a special brother in my life. My BabyDoll eats well periodically. I tried a new technique this morning. “BabyDoll,” I told her, “I can do a lot of things for you, but one thing I can’t do – I can’t eat for you.” It seemed to stick! Special greetings to Marlene.

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