THE CONCEPTION AND MINISTRY
OF JESUS BY THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Son became incarnated and lived a human life in order that God could dispense Himself into His chosen people. When the Son became incarnated to be the embodiment of God, He did so by the Spirit. Both the conception and the ministry of Jesus were by the Holy Spirit. On the one hand, God was incarnated. On the other hand, Jesus was conceived in a virgin’s womb and born by the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:18, 20). When Jesus was thirty years old, He came out to minister, to work for God (Luke 3:23). The Spirit descended upon Him to anoint Him and to empower Him. The Lord Jesus’ ministry for God was also by the Holy Spirit. God became a man that He might dispense Himself into man, and this God is triune—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. God and man became one. On the one hand, He is God, but on the other hand, He is also man. This is one of the most complicating matters in the New Testament. But we have to spend more time to enter into this marvelous mystery of the mingling of God with man for our experience and enjoyment of the Triune God in His dispensing.
The Conception of Jesus
The conception of any person is always by the father with the mother. But the conception of Jesus was not by a human father with a human mother but by the Holy Spirit with a human virgin. The Holy Spirit is God, so in the conception of Jesus both God and man were involved. This was the most extraordinary and special conception in all of history—a conception of God with man. In the human conception, there is only one kind of essence—the human essence. But the conception of Jesus was of the divine essence and the human essence. Jesus was born of two elements—the divine element and the human element. Thus, He possessed two natures—the divine nature and the human nature. He was the complete God and the perfect man, a God-man. In Him God and man joined together and became one.
Up to the time that Jesus was born, there had never been such a person of two essences, elements, and natures to be both God and man. In Jesus you can see both God and man. God and man are not separate but are united, joined, and even mingled in the person of Jesus. God and man became one person—our wonderful Savior, Jesus Christ. Many Christians only realize that a Savior was born to mankind but not that this child born in a manger is a person who is both God and man, having both the divine and human essences, elements, and natures. Isaiah 9:6 tells us that the child born to us is called the mighty God. According to Luke, Jesus went to Jerusalem with His parents when He was twelve years old (2:41-42). When we read this account, we must realize that this twelve-year-old boy was both God and man. His constitution, His composition, was of the divine and human elements.
(The Divine Economy, Chapter 6, by Witness Lee)
