Dear Hope family,

Thought for the Week

Christmas: How did Jesus come?

Luke 1v35 “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the one to be born will be called the Son of God.”

Some things are beyond our understanding. Even now, science does not have all the answers wrapped up for all the physical questions of life. We observe and can make statements, but we cannot answer with certainty exactly how. Likewise when God enacts miracles, we call them miracles because they are beyond scientific explanation.

In the verse above, the angel explains to Mary, “the Holy Spirit will come upon you”, but we get no detail on how the egg is fertilised, what DNA is being used etc.  Joseph also has to take things in faith as the angel separately said to him, “Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”

Isaac Newton wrote a “law of gravity” based on his observation, not a full understanding of how. As we look at Jesus, we see someone like no other, who said that he came from heaven, and who at his death and resurrection was declared by others to be the “Son of God”.

So the evidence of Jesus’ life confirms the statements of the angels. Matthew also sees confirmation in the prophecy of Isaiah 7v14, “’the virgin will be with child .. and they will call him Immanuel’ which means ‘God with us’”.

So, while we cannot explain scientifically, the evidence is there from Old Testament prophecy, the message of the angels, the testimony of Mary, the life of Jesus and the testimony of those around him, Jesus is the Son of God. With God, nothing is impossible.

As the Holy Spirit came upon Mary, may the Holy Spirit give you a certainty in these things.

With love and blessing,

Roland