Begotten, not made

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“The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come on 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 NIV).
 
Before the trek of time began, which saw the heavens unfold and earth acquire its form[1]; the eternal Son, through the Spirit, did determine that limitation which, as Christ, he would, in time, assume[2].  Thus, foreordained of the Father and through the Spirit, the Son so fashioned and ordered the material realm[3] to this very purpose; that, at the time appointed, he would enter the terrene sphere of his own formation, to redeem it from the corruption of sin, under whose power it was destined to fall[4].

When our beloved Saviour, through the eternal Spirit, comes into the world, he takes to himself the flesh of Adam[5], whose body and coessential spirit, once the apex and crown of that expansive and delightful creation, is of itself, by that one man’s sin[6], become both gaol and gaoler, sin’s slavish servant[7], the cold custodian of man’s ruin.  Of this flesh, so foully fallen, the Holy Spirit prepares a body of mortal habitation[8], which body the eternal Son will take to himself, who alone can confront and reverse the sinful course.

And it comes to pass that a chaste and comely maiden, the chosen daughter of Zion[9], cloaked in the innocence of youth and the childlike obedience of her faith, submits to God’s design for her[10] and the Holy Spirit moves over this virgin territory, to quicken the substance which he takes from fallen man, to support, empower and sanctify.  It is to this human soul, thus anointed of the Spirit, that the eternal Son, at the behest of the Father, humbles himself[11].
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Here, in the womb of Mary, do two natures conjoin, the divine and the human.  So, the Holy One who proceeds from Heaven, whom the Father in his mercy sends, to be born of sinful flesh[12], shall be called the Christ, Son of God and Son of Man[13].  By this incarnation is man’s face turned back to God, in loving obedience of the Son, who, in corporeal life, will so effect the Father’s will to this end.

[1] Genesis 1:1; [2] 1 Peter 1:20; [3] John 1:3; [4] Romans 8:20; [5] John 1:14; [6] Romans 5:12; [7] Romans 7:14; [8] Hebrews 10:5; [9] Luke 1:28; Matthew 1:23; Isaiah 7:14; [10] Luke 1:38; [11] Philippians 2:7; [12] Romans 8:3; [13] Matthew 16:16; John 3:13; Mark 14:62; Luke 1:35

​Richard Dempsey
Cambridgeshire, England - info@grace-lines.net