A. His Ministry concerning the Saviour, Our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit was with Jesus throughout His whole Life from conception to Ascension.
1 He was Begotten by the Holy Spirit The Virgin Conceives by His Overshadowing.
[begotten : Past Participle of the verb to beget. To bring (a child) into existence by the process of reproduction.] So the Lord Jesus was produced, engendered, or generated by the Holy Spirit.
Luk 1:34 And Mary said unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
Luk 1:35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: wherefore also that which is to be born shall be called holy, the Son of God.
Comment: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee - This conception shall take place suddenly, and the Holy Spirit himself shall be the grand operator. The power, δυναμις, the miracle-working power, of the Most High shall overshadow thee, to accomplish this purpose, and to protect thee from danger. As there is a plain allusion to the Spirit of God brooding over the face of the waters, to render them prolific, Gen_1:2, I am the more firmly established in the opinion advanced on Mat_1:20, that the rudiments of the human nature of Christ was a real creation in the womb of the virgin, by the energy of the Spirit of God.
Therefore also that holy thing (or person) - shall be called the Son of God - We may plainly perceive here, that the angel does not give the appellation of Son of God to the Divine nature of Christ; but to that holy person or thing, το ἁγιον, which was to be born of the virgin, by the energy of the Holy Spirit.
Matthew Henry: V. The further information given her, upon her enquiry concerning the birth of this prince.
1. It is a just enquiry which she makes: “How shall this be? Luk_1:34. How can I now presently conceive a child” (for so the angel meant) “when I know not a man; must it therefore be otherwise than by ordinary generation? If so, let me now how?” She knew that the Messiah must be born of a virgin; and, if she must be his mother, she desires to know how. This was not the language of her distrust, or any doubt of what the angel said, but of a desire to be further instructed.
2. It is a satisfactory answer that is given to it, Luk_1:35. (1.) She shall conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost, whose proper work and office is to sanctify, and therefore to sanctify the virgin for this purpose. The Holy Ghost is called the power of the Highest. Doth she ask how this shall be? This is enough to help her over all the difficulty there appears in it; a divine power will undertake it, not the power of an angel employed in it, as in other works of wonder, but the power of the Holy Ghost Himself.
(2.) She must ask no questions concerning the way and manner how it shall be wrought; for the Holy Ghost, as the power of the Highest, shall overshadow her, as the cloud covered the tabernacle when the glory of God took possession of it, to conceal it from those that would too curiously observe the motions of it, and pry into the mystery of it. The formation of every babe in the womb, and the entrance of the spirit of life into it, is a mystery in nature; none knows the way of the Spirit, nor how the bones are formed in the womb of her that is with child, Ecc_11:5. We were made in secret, Psa_139:15, Psa_139:16. Much more was the formation of the child Jesus a mystery; without controversy, great was the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh, 1Ti_3:16. It is a new thing created in the earth (Jer_31:22), concerning which we must not covet to be wise above what is written.
(3.) The child she shall conceive is a holy thing, and therefore must not be conceived by ordinary generation, because he must not share in the common corruption and pollution of the human nature. He is spoken of emphatically, That Holy Thing, such as never was; and he shall be called the Son of God, as the Son of the Father by eternal generation, as an indication of which he shall now be formed by the Holy Ghost in the present conception. His human nature must be so produced, as it was fit that should be which was to be taken into union with the divine nature.
The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee - This conception shall take place suddenly, and the Holy Spirit himself shall be the grand operator. The power, δυναμις, the miracle-working power, of the Most High shall overshadow thee, to accomplish this purpose, and to protect thee from danger. As there is a plain allusion to the Spirit of God brooding over the face of the waters, to render them prolific, Gen_1:2, I am the more firmly established in the opinion advanced on Mat_1:20, that the rudiments of the human nature of Christ was a real creation in the womb of the virgin, by the energy of the Spirit of God.A.Clark
Application:
Mary will put herself at the Disposal of the Holy Spirit. He overshadowed her and so she willingly fulfilled the plan of God. Are you will to make yourself although you do no know the consequences in detail. He is waiting to overshadow your life and do wonderful things through you.2 His Anointing by the Holy Spirit at His Baptism.
Mat 3:16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway from the water: and lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon him;
Mat 3:17 and lo, a voice out of the heavens, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Luk 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, Because he anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor: He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovering of sight to the blind, To set at liberty them that are bruised,
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| Jesus preaching in the Synagogue at Nazareth |
Luk 4:19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.
Act 10:38 even Jesus of Nazareth, how that God anointed him with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
Heb 1:8 but of the Son he says, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; And the sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.
Heb 1:9 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; Therefore God, thy God, has anointed thee With the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
Heb 1:10 And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the works of thy hands
3. The Saviour was sealed by the Holy Spirit.
Joh 6:27 Work not for the meat which perisheth, but for the meat which abideth unto eternal life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him the Father, even God, hath sealed.
Him hath God the Father sealed - To seal is to confirm or approve as ours. This is done when we set our seal to a compact, or deed, or testament, by which we ratify it as our act. So God the Father, by the miracles which had been performed by Jesus, had shown that he had sent him, that he approved his doctrines, and ratified his works. The miracles were to his doctrine what a seal is to a written instrument. See the notes at Joh_3:33.Barnes Notes.
4. The Saviour was led by the Holy Spirit.
Mat 4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Luke says Luk_4:1 that Jesus was “full of the Holy Spirit;” and it was by his influence, therefore, that he went into the desert to be tempted. It was not done by presumption on the part of Jesus, nor was it for a mere display of his power in resisting temptation; but it was evidently that it might be seen that his holiness was such that he could not be seduced from allegiance to God. When the first Adam was created he was subjected to the temptation of the devil, and he fell and involved the race in ruin: it was not improper that the second Adam - the Redeemer of the race - should be subjected to temptation, in order that it might be seen that there was no power that could alienate him from God; that there was a kind and a degree of holiness which no art or power could estrange from allegiance. Mark Mar_1:12 says that this occurred “immediately” after his baptism; that is, in his case, as not infrequently happens, the great temptation followed immediately the remarkable manifestation of the divine approbation and favor. Barnes Notes
5. The Saviour was Empowered by the Spirit.
Mat 12:28 But if I by the Spirit of God cast out devils, then is the kingdom of God come upon you.
During his earthly ministry, Jesus Christ touched and transformed countless lives. The four Gospels record 37 miracles of Jesus, only a small portion of the multitudes of people who were made whole by our Savior. The closing verse of John's Gospel says, "Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written." (John 21:25, NIV)
| One of the ten Lepers gives thanks. |
6. The Saviour was filled with the Holy Spirit.
Joh 3:34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for he giveth not the Spirit by measure.
Luk 4:1 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness
Willmington says, “The words ‘filled’ and ‘full’, refer simply to control. Thus the Saviour was totally controlled by the Holy Spirit
7. He offered Himself at Calvary through the Holy Spirit.
Heb 9:14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish unto God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Who through the eternal Spirit - This expression is understood two ways:
1. Of the Holy Ghost himself. As Christ’s miraculous conception was by the Holy Spirit, and he wrought all his miracles by the Spirit of God, so his death or final offering was made through or by the eternal Spirit; and by that Spirit he was raised from the dead, 1Pe_3:18. Indeed, through the whole of his life be was justified by the Spirit; and we find that in this great work of human redemption, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were continually employed: therefore the words may be understood of the Holy Spirit properly.
2. Of the eternal Logos or Deity which dwelt in the man Christ Jesus, through the energy of which the offering of his humanity became an infinitely meritorious victim; therefore the Deity of Christ is here intended.A.Clark
8. He was raised from the dead by the Holy Spirit.
Rom 1:4 who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of Holiness, by the resurrection of the dead; even Jesus Christ our Lord,
Expositor’s Bible Commentary “And now, of this blessed Son of David, we hear further:-who was designated to be Son of God; literally, "defined as Son of God," betokened to be such by "infallible proof." Never for an hour had he ceased to be, in fact, Son of God. To the man healed of birth-blindness He had said, (Joh_9:35) "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" But there was an hour when He became openly and so to speak officially what He always is naturally; somewhat as a born king is "made" king by coronation. Historical act then affirmed independent fact, and as it were gathered it into a point for use.
This affirmation took place in power, according to the Spirit of Holiness, as a result of resurrection from the dead. "Sown in weakness," Jesus was indeed "raised in" majestic, tranquil "power." Without an effort He stepped from out of the depth of death, from under the load of sin. It was no flickering life, crucified but not quite killed, creeping back in a convalescence mis-called resurrection; it was the rising of the sun. That it was indeed daylight, and not day dream, was shown not only in His mastery of matter, but in the transfiguration of His followers. No moral change was ever at once more complete and more perfectly healthful than what His return wrought in that large and various group, when they learnt to Say, "We have seen the Lord." The man who wrote this Epistle had "seen Him last of all". (1Co_15:8) That was indeed a sight "in power," and working a transfiguration.
John Gill: “according to the Spirit of holiness; which may be understood of the Holy Spirit, the third person in the Trinity, who is holy in himself, and the author of holiness in the saints; and who is the declarer of Christ's sonship, partly by bearing a testimony to it in the word, and in the hearts of believers, and chiefly by being concerned in the resurrection of the body of Christ from the dead; or else by the Spirit of holiness may be meant the divine nature of Christ, which, as it is holy, so by it Christ offered himself to God, and by it was quickened, or made alive, when he had been put to death in the flesh; and which must be a clear and strong proof of his being truly the Son of God.
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