Mary and the Conception of Jesus
The Bible tells us that Mary was a virgin when she conceived Jesus and that it was “through the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:18). This was to fulfill one of the prophecies that pointed to the coming of the Messiah, “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).
There are a few more details in Luke 1:35, “And the angel answered 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.” It was by the agency of the Holy Spirit that “the Word was made flesh” (John 1:14), and that the Son of Mary could be called the “Son of God” (Luke 1:35).
To try to elaborate beyond what is revealed in the Bible would be to speculate, therefore, the following will be speculation: God miraculously used Mary’s egg to bring forth Jesus so that He could enter into the world as a human. He had to experience all things that human’s experience, starting with birth, in order to become our true brother and take on and understand our infirmities (Matthew 8:17).
Jesus is like us in every respect except for sin (Hebrews 2:17; 4:15). He was born of a woman (Luke 2:7), grew up (Luke 2:40, 52), got weary (John 4:6), thirsty (John 19:28), and hungry (Matthew 4:2). He became physically weak (Matthew 4:11; Luke 23:26) and died (Luke 23:46). And He resurrected from death with a real human body (Luke 24:39; John 20:20, 27).
The Bible tells us that God created the world in seven days which is difficult for our finite human brains to fully understand. In like manner, so is the miracle of Christ’s birth. There are some things we should be content to take in faith until we go to heaven when such details and current mysteries may be revealed.
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In His service,
BibleAsk Team
