Luke 1:34-38
34 ‘How will this be,’ Mary asked the angel, ‘since I am a virgin?’
35 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. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.’
38 ‘I am the Lord’s servant,’ Mary answered. ‘May your word to me be fulfilled.’ Then the angel left her.
Here’s another one of the Old Testament references – the Holy Spirit overshadowing Mary sounds an awful lot like the opening two verses of the Bible:
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (Genesis 1:1-2)
Is Luke cleverly saying that in Jesus is the beginning of a new creation, or a recreation. Is this the start of our being born again of John 3:3 or the new heaven and earth of Revelation 21:1? Does this hope for renewal all trace its way back to God’s Spirit acting at this moment?
Heavenly Father, thank you for the birth of Jesus, the first spark of a wave of the new life of your Kingdom. Spirit, through our faith in Christ, work your renewing power in us this Advent!
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