The Holy Spirit and the Astounding Miracle of the Incarnation
Author: Frank G. Tunstall
"The Holy Spirit will come upon 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 1:35-36; John 1:).
King David is the prophet who foretold the Heavenly Father has a Son (Psalm 2:7). A thousand
years after David’s prophecy, the process is both astounding and mind boggling that brought
about the birth of God’s Son and moved Him in flesh and blood into the neighborhood of
human need (John 1:14, 29, 36, MSG). The angel Gabriel told Mary, possibly a 14-year-old
teenager, “The Holy Spirit will come upon 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; Isaiah 7:14;
Matthew 1:23). To make the incarnation happen, it was the job description of the Holy Spirit to
serve as the power source. This included, of course, sending an angel to Joseph, who was
engaged to marry Mary. The angel’s mission was to tell Joseph not to be afraid to take Mary as
his wife because her pregnancy was of God.
The Holy Spirit and DNA
The incarnation of Jesus is defined as God becoming a man, in all particulars a human being in
the long line of Adam, sin only excepted. Without question it is one of the profoundest miracles
of all time.
The modern discovery of DNA arguably illustrates how it might have happened. Joseph had “no
union with [Mary] until after she gave birth” to Baby Jesus (Matthew 1:5, 18, 20). Mary
conceived because of this “overshadowing” that Luke described. It refers back to the Holy Spirit
hovering over the waters in the creation (Genesis 1:2). In contemporary language it can be
pictured as the genetic structure – the DNA supplied by a father in conception. In Baby Jesus’
case, Mary was a virgin. This meant the father’s contribution to Jesus’ DNA had to be created
for Baby Jesus to come into the world both as truly a human being and as God’s sinless Son.
Johannes Kepler (1571 – 1630), was a German scientist, astronomer, mathematician,
and a trained Lutheran theologian. He understood his work as thinking the thoughts of
God after Him.
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is the term that describes the billions of microscopic-size
molecules that hold in their nuclei the instructions an infant must have to develop
fully, live healthily, and reproduce. In this sense, DNA is the discovery of the building
blocks of life. These directives are found inside every human molecule, and are
handed down from parents to children. A full set of genes, known as the genome,
includes some 3.2 billion base pairs of DNA. Said another way, the DNA formed by the
union of a man’s and a woman’s cells contains the commands for a lifetime of orderly
growth for their children. If Kepler were living today, he would surely revel thinking
about DNA, imagining the thoughts of God after Him.
For Baby Jesus to come into the world as truly a man, a human being, it was in the job
description of the Holy Spirit, using this DNA illustration, to create miraculously His genetic
system. Then Baby Jesus could be born without sin, grow up, and move into the neighborhood
of Adam’s seed as one of us, sin only excepted. God alone could do it!
As you ponder the grand miracle and mystery of the incarnation of Jesus, let yourself
consider the sovereign dominion of the Holy Spirit that was required to make it all
happen. When you have absorbed the miraculous power and divine genius God
revealed in the incarnation, you will have no trouble believing all the other miracles in
the Bible. Yes, Gabriel had it right: “Nothing is impossible with God.”
A person cannot be a Christian without believing in miracles, and the birth of Jesus lives to this
day as one of the greatest miracles in human history.
When the angel Gabriel made the announcement to Mary, she sought more information, giving
Gabriel a lesson in Biology 101: “How will this be since I am a virgin?” (Isaiah 7:14). Gabriel
responded with his own lesson in Theology 101: “Nothing is impossible with God!” (Luke 1:34-
38).
What an Ahh! moment. Like Mary, we too are to release our impossibilities to the Lord.
We can only begin to imagine the power and divine genius required to conceive a child without
a sexual union.
Baby Jesus was truly Mary’s flesh-and-blood baby. He was also King David’s greater Son. At the
same time, He was God’s sinless Son. We honor Jesus as having two natures in one Person, God
and Man, with both natures blended so perfectly that the Lord did not have a split personality.
He is the God-Man and the last Adam. Never again will there be a need for another ‘Adam.’
Jesus’ death and resurrection settled that. This understanding gives fresh meaning to Paul’s
teaching that Jesus Christ is the last Adam, a life-giving Spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45).
At the great rapture of the church, however, the redeemed will rise from their graves having
glorified bodies like Jesus manifested at His resurrection as the firstfruits of them that slept (1
Corinthians 15:20; 1 Thessalonians 4:17, KJV). This body will be immortal and incorruptible and
will not be patterned after Adam.
Modern science using DNA has opened the door to consider the what or the building blocks of
life – but not the who, the divine genius who created DNA and makes it work (Colossians 1:15-
20; Hebrews 1:3). This process has been true in the birth of billions of babies, generation after
generation, millennium after millennium, amid all ethnicities and peoples around the world.
Understanding this illustrates the astounding genius behind God’s creation. But this
understanding of DNA, what God did, great as it is remains a far cry from being able in fact to
create it.
Only God!
Indeed, if it were possible to get the world’s top 100 scientists into the world’s best equipped
lab and give them the assignment to create the building blocks of life that are compressed into
each of a person’s invisible billions of cell nuclei, they would surely be like Nebuchadnezzar’s
wise men: “What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods,
and they do not live among men(Daniel 2:11).
Only God – the Babylonian wise men were partly right. They were also very wrong. Not gods,
but the one God, Jehovah, existing in a Trinity. He held the power and divine genius to
accomplish the incarnation of Jesus. The Holy Spirit, the third person in the Trinity, was the
power that made it happen.
The implications are far reaching. God created Adam, then Eve, making each of them
compatible as male and female. When Eve gave birth to baby Cain, their first-born child, Eve
understood enough to give God the honor. “With the help of the Lord,” she said, “I have
brought forth a man” (Genesis 4:1).
Every mother and dad should see the births of their children as gifts from God.
Without question, the incarnation of Jesus is one of the most remarkable miracles of all time.
Author: Frank G. Tunstall
"The Holy Spirit will come upon 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 1:35-36; John 1:).
King David is the prophet who foretold the Heavenly Father has a Son (Psalm 2:7). A thousand
years after David’s prophecy, the process is both astounding and mind boggling that brought
about the birth of God’s Son and moved Him in flesh and blood into the neighborhood of
human need (John 1:14, 29, 36, MSG). The angel Gabriel told Mary, possibly a 14-year-old
teenager, “The Holy Spirit will come upon 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; Isaiah 7:14;
Matthew 1:23). To make the incarnation happen, it was the job description of the Holy Spirit to
serve as the power source. This included, of course, sending an angel to Joseph, who was
engaged to marry Mary. The angel’s mission was to tell Joseph not to be afraid to take Mary as
his wife because her pregnancy was of God.
The Holy Spirit and DNA
The incarnation of Jesus is defined as God becoming a man, in all particulars a human being in
the long line of Adam, sin only excepted. Without question it is one of the profoundest miracles
of all time.
The modern discovery of DNA arguably illustrates how it might have happened. Joseph had “no
union with [Mary] until after she gave birth” to Baby Jesus (Matthew 1:5, 18, 20). Mary
conceived because of this “overshadowing” that Luke described. It refers back to the Holy Spirit
hovering over the waters in the creation (Genesis 1:2). In contemporary language it can be
pictured as the genetic structure – the DNA supplied by a father in conception. In Baby Jesus’
case, Mary was a virgin. This meant the father’s contribution to Jesus’ DNA had to be created
for Baby Jesus to come into the world both as truly a human being and as God’s sinless Son.
Johannes Kepler (1571 – 1630), was a German scientist, astronomer, mathematician,
and a trained Lutheran theologian. He understood his work as thinking the thoughts of
God after Him.
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is the term that describes the billions of microscopic-size
molecules that hold in their nuclei the instructions an infant must have to develop
fully, live healthily, and reproduce. In this sense, DNA is the discovery of the building
blocks of life. These directives are found inside every human molecule, and are
handed down from parents to children. A full set of genes, known as the genome,
includes some 3.2 billion base pairs of DNA. Said another way, the DNA formed by the
union of a man’s and a woman’s cells contains the commands for a lifetime of orderly
growth for their children. If Kepler were living today, he would surely revel thinking
about DNA, imagining the thoughts of God after Him.
For Baby Jesus to come into the world as truly a man, a human being, it was in the job
description of the Holy Spirit, using this DNA illustration, to create miraculously His genetic
system. Then Baby Jesus could be born without sin, grow up, and move into the neighborhood
of Adam’s seed as one of us, sin only excepted. God alone could do it!
As you ponder the grand miracle and mystery of the incarnation of Jesus, let yourself
consider the sovereign dominion of the Holy Spirit that was required to make it all
happen. When you have absorbed the miraculous power and divine genius God
revealed in the incarnation, you will have no trouble believing all the other miracles in
the Bible. Yes, Gabriel had it right: “Nothing is impossible with God.”
A person cannot be a Christian without believing in miracles, and the birth of Jesus lives to this
day as one of the greatest miracles in human history.
When the angel Gabriel made the announcement to Mary, she sought more information, giving
Gabriel a lesson in Biology 101: “How will this be since I am a virgin?” (Isaiah 7:14). Gabriel
responded with his own lesson in Theology 101: “Nothing is impossible with God!” (Luke 1:34-
38).
What an Ahh! moment. Like Mary, we too are to release our impossibilities to the Lord.
We can only begin to imagine the power and divine genius required to conceive a child without
a sexual union.
Baby Jesus was truly Mary’s flesh-and-blood baby. He was also King David’s greater Son. At the
same time, He was God’s sinless Son. We honor Jesus as having two natures in one Person, God
and Man, with both natures blended so perfectly that the Lord did not have a split personality.
He is the God-Man and the last Adam. Never again will there be a need for another ‘Adam.’
Jesus’ death and resurrection settled that. This understanding gives fresh meaning to Paul’s
teaching that Jesus Christ is the last Adam, a life-giving Spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45).
At the great rapture of the church, however, the redeemed will rise from their graves having
glorified bodies like Jesus manifested at His resurrection as the firstfruits of them that slept (1
Corinthians 15:20; 1 Thessalonians 4:17, KJV). This body will be immortal and incorruptible and
will not be patterned after Adam.
Modern science using DNA has opened the door to consider the what or the building blocks of
life – but not the who, the divine genius who created DNA and makes it work (Colossians 1:15-
20; Hebrews 1:3). This process has been true in the birth of billions of babies, generation after
generation, millennium after millennium, amid all ethnicities and peoples around the world.
Understanding this illustrates the astounding genius behind God’s creation. But this
understanding of DNA, what God did, great as it is remains a far cry from being able in fact to
create it.
Only God!
Indeed, if it were possible to get the world’s top 100 scientists into the world’s best equipped
lab and give them the assignment to create the building blocks of life that are compressed into
each of a person’s invisible billions of cell nuclei, they would surely be like Nebuchadnezzar’s
wise men: “What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods,
and they do not live among men(Daniel 2:11).
Only God – the Babylonian wise men were partly right. They were also very wrong. Not gods,
but the one God, Jehovah, existing in a Trinity. He held the power and divine genius to
accomplish the incarnation of Jesus. The Holy Spirit, the third person in the Trinity, was the
power that made it happen.
The implications are far reaching. God created Adam, then Eve, making each of them
compatible as male and female. When Eve gave birth to baby Cain, their first-born child, Eve
understood enough to give God the honor. “With the help of the Lord,” she said, “I have
brought forth a man” (Genesis 4:1).
Every mother and dad should see the births of their children as gifts from God.
Without question, the incarnation of Jesus is one of the most remarkable miracles of all time.