 |  |
"The angel appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not
to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost"
(Matt. 1: 20).
A parallel on a lower plane is found in Luke's Gospel in the record of the birth and
life of John the Baptist. He was not born of a virgin, he was not sinless, he was not
`from above', but certain features are discoverable between the accounts of the birth of
these two, the Lord and His forerunner, that demand attention. Elizabeth the mother of
John had no miraculous conception, but when she heard Mary's salutation we are told
`the babe leaped in her womb: and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost'
(Luke 1: 41). In absolute contrast, we have seen that before the conception of the Saviour,
the Holy Ghost is said to have come upon his mother. The Saviour, said Gabriel, shall be
called "The Son of the Highest" (Luke 1: 32), whereas of John it was said that he should
be called "The prophet of the Highest" (1: 76). While John and the Saviour differ
essentially as to their birth, identical language is used by Luke of their subsequent
growth. Of John he wrote:
"And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit" (Luke 1: 80),
and of the Saviour he wrote:
"And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit" (Luke 2: 40),
a most evident and intentional parallel. Such a sober statement sets aside all the
apocryphal miracles and precocious sayings of the infant and growing Son of God. The
Spirit that ensured His sinless birth, presided over His growing years, so that at the age
of twelve He astonished the doctors at Jerusalem with His understanding and answers.
Yet even so, it is written:
"He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them . . . . .
and Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man"
(Luke 2: 51, 52).
Nothing more is recorded of the life of Christ until He attained His thirtieth year,
when once again the Holy Ghost intervenes. The particular reason why it is written
"Jesus Himself began to be about thirty years of age" (Luke 3: 23), is discoverable in the
law that pertained to the priesthood. "From thirty years old and upward" (Numb. 4: 3),
is the requirement repeated seven times in this chapter, and this rule was observed in the
days of Solomon for in I Chron. 23: 3, we read:
"Now the Levites were numbered from the age of thirty years and upward."
Here at the next critical period in that spotless Life we find prominence given to the
power and presence of the Holy Spirit. At the age of thirty years He stepped out of the
obscurity of Nazareth into the fierce light of religious criticism and antipathy.
At the river Jordan, the Spirit of God descended upon the Saviour, and at the same
time a Voice was heard from heaven saying: