Read this fascinating Christmas article from Book 4, which examines theological details and answers compelling questions about the birth of Jesus.
Did Jesus have the presence of the Holy Spirit with Him during the thirty years He lived before He began His ministry?
Every Christian scholar would answer, yes. Then why did He not make known who He was during that time? Why did He not preach the kingdom of God and heal the sick? These are questions that biblical scholars may have many and varied answers, or no answer at all.
The first and most important thing to say about Jesus is that on earth He was God incarnate. Not only that, He was part of the triune godhead, and had been the eternal Word (logos) for eternity past. So, theologically, the eternal Word became the eternal Son of God when He was conceived in the womb of Mary. The Apostle John makes this clear:
“In the beginning was the Word (Gr. logos), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God” John 1:1,2).
The first clue to answer the ridiculous question is made clear to us by the inspired words in Matthew 1:18,20, and Luke 1:30,31,35, concerning Jesus’ conception:
“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together (in sexual union), she was found with child of the Holy Spirit” (emphasis mine).
“But while he (Joseph) thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived (Lit. begotten) in her is of the Holy Spirit” (emphasis mine).
The only way a true virgin could conceive would be by supernatural input from outside her being, which these scriptures from Matthew make clear. Now consider the scripture from Luke:
“Then the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus…Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” 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’ ” (emphases mine).
Truly, the only way this child could have been born was by supernatural means. In other words, according to Scripture, the divine act of the Holy Spirit coming upon Mary in a very intimate way.
What about the chromosome issue? Some of you may not know what I am referring to, but science has something important to tell us on this subject of the virgin birth of Jesus. We should not trust all information generated from AI (artificial intelligence, far from it), but in this case AI has it right:
“Humans typically have 23 pairs of chromosomes in each cell, totaling to 46 chromosomes in total; with 22 pairs being autosomes (non-sex chromosomes) and the last pair being sex chromosomes (XX for females, XY for males)
(google.com/search?q=chromosomes+, accessed 11/24/2024).
Therefore, Mary supplied 23 chromosomes, and the Holy Spirit supplied 23 chromosomes making up the 46 required. How does this relate to our subject? Jesus was born as a human male with XY chromosomes. Where did these XY chromosomes come from? The Bible has the correct answer—from the Holy Spirit of God. So, of course, Jesus had the presence of the Holy Spirit continuing in His being from past eternity to the very second of His conception.
This relates to what biblical theologians have always claimed, that Jesus was fully God, and fully man. But of course, we know that He humbled Himself to become a man, and gave His life for all men on the cross to provide salvation for all who would believe.
Here are some other evidences of the special supernatural nature revealed in the life of Jesus. We have the incident of an angel’s announcement to the shepherds near Bethlehem. The angel said:
“Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10,11, emphasis mine).
“Christ the Lord” is a huge statement to make. Spoken by an angel who inhabits the heavenly realm, he knew that Jesus was God in eternity, and now God in human flesh. And in referring directly to Jesus all the angels praised God by saying:
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men” (Luke 2:14).
We should notice that after this it says of Mary, “But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.” The next incident concerns a man called Simeon. When Joseph and Mary brought the young child Jesus to the Temple to fulfill Jewish law we read:
“And it had been revealed to him (Simeon) by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. So he came by the Spirit into the temple” (Luke 2:26,27) [obviously a divine appointment], emphases mine. He said:
“Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation” (Luke 2:29,30, emphasis mine).
How could a young child be recognized as one who would “…bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel” (Luke 2:32), unless it was supernaturally revealed by the Holy Spirit? Let us note here also, that “…Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken of Him” (Luke 2:33).
Then we read of a lady who was recognized as a prophetess by the name of Anna. A godly woman of whom it is said, “who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. And coming in that instant [another divine appointment] she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem” (Luke 2:37,38, emphasis mine).
This godly lady puts most of us, if not all of us, to shame because of her faithful prayer life—praying “night and day.” The important revelation she had received about this young child was the fact that she recognized Him as the source of redemption. So, later we read from the writings of the Apostle Paul, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13). We should be full of praise for Jesus who was willing to come as a child to identify with us in all ways—except that He was holy, and we were not.
In Matthew’s gospel account is the rather mysterious mention of wise men, (or, magoi) coming to Jerusalem from a region east of the Holy Land. Tradition says three wise men, but we don’t know if this is the fact. They claimed to have knowledge of someone who would be born as “King of the Jews,” and also claimed that a special star in the heavens had given them the knowledge of this information. When they discovered that Bethlehem was to be where this person would be born, they went there as the star appeared and led them. We read:
“And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: Gold, frankincense, and myrrh” (Matthew 2:11, emphasis mine).
Since the wise men worshiped the approximately two-year-old Jesus, it is a confirmation that they believed Him to be divine. You can read the rest of this incident in Matthew chapter two.
The next incident showing the presence of the Holy Spirit in Jesus was when He was twelve years old. Joseph and Mary had been to Jerusalem in order to attend the Feast of the Passover. Somehow, in the milieu of the large crowds attending, they began their journey home, thinking that Jesus was present in their group. But they suddenly realized that He was not with them. We can only guess how this could have happened. But after returning to Jerusalem, they finally found Jesus conversing with teachers in the temple. He was “…both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers” (Luke 2:46,47).
How could a twelve-year-old boy have anything to say to professors of theology? As most Jewish young boys, He would have been exposed to the Old Testament scriptures, and most likely memorized large portions. This is how Jesus answered His earthly parents when they found Him.
He said:
“Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49, emphasis mine).
Jesus was not referring to Joseph, His legally recognized father, but to the Father of fathers, the One He taught us to pray to with the words, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed by Your name” (Matthew 6:9). Note once again these words about Mary. “…his mother kept all these things in her heart” (Luke 2:51). She would surely have remembered the words of the angel Gabriel, the words from the angel conveyed to her by the shepherds, and the words of Simeon and Anna.
Now we have a gap of eighteen years without any scriptural accounts of the life of Jesus. What was He doing? We know He had the Holy Spirit’s presence in Him. As far as we know He was fulfilling the duty of the oldest child by helping to support the family by working. In Matthew 13:54-56 we read concerning Jesus as He carried out His earthly ministry with interesting and significant insight into His early family:
“…Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where did this man get all these things?”
Jesus had a very busy family life with at least six siblings. This is only my thought which others have also had, that Jesus made sure His earthly family was secure with their material needs met before He followed the leading of the Holy Spirit to begin His ministry.
Next, we look at an extremely important event in the life of Jesus. He went to be baptized by John the Baptist. We read:
“When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, ‘You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased” (Luke 3:21,22).
We learn from Scripture that Jesus had the presence of the Holy Spirit in Him on earth from the time He was conceived. So, what was the purpose and reason for this extra experience He had when He was baptized? Obviously, it was a needed part of God’s plan for Him as He went about fulfilling His calling as the Son of God. The first thing Jesus experienced after being baptized was a battle with Satan. But because He was filled with the Holy Spirit’s power He was able to gain the victory. As He continued His ministry He explained it this way:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has appointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord…Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:18,19,21, emphasis mine).
Following the example of Jesus’ life, for us this means that there must be a difference to having the presence of the Holy Spirit in one’s experience, compared to having the Spirit upon us individually. In other words, we should see the increase from presence to power in our lives.
This was my own personal experience as I learned what was missing in my life as a young man. I was saved, or as I believe is more scriptural to say, I started my spiritual journey of salvation at the age of thirteen. I knew the Lord was with me, for I could see that He helped me to avoid some of the problems of youth—including smoking. I began to be faithful in reading the Bible through my teenage years, and prayed. But looking back on those years, I know that I could have been more faithful as a young Christian. The world still had an attraction to me, and I failed many times to be the Christian I should have been.
After seven years until I was about twenty, the Lord by His grace put me in a place where I learned from the Bible that Christians can be filled with the Holy Spirit, and minister with His powerful presence and gifts. I had never heard this taught during my teenage church years. I sought the Lord through much prayer and experienced a marvelous encounter with the Holy Spirit in 1960, which dramatically changed and improved the direction of my life.
So, my challenge to myself and those of you who have read this far, is to examine ourselves and see if we have not only the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, but also the power and gifts that He can give us as He chooses. Jesus promised spiritual power to His disciples as they obeyed Him and waited for that glorious Day of Pentecost.
The Book of Acts then gave proof of the Holy Spirit’s power as they started ministering and spreading the Gospel as Jesus had commanded them. Amazingly, the whole Roman Empire was changed because of their witness. Your world and mine can be impacted through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in us. Let us pray and seek for all that God has for us.
God bless you, Rod Butterworth
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