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The Archangel Gabriel appears to Mary
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The cosmic event that shakes our world.
Then said Mary unto
the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? Luke 1:34 KJV
[Mary said to the
angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" Luke 1:34 NAS]
Two translations,
the King James Version and the New American Standard, both conveying
the same meaning.
Perhaps this
statement spoken by Mary and recorded by the Apostle Luke is the most
controversial in the New Testament. It seems to be an enigma. Within
this short sentence is a challenge to the rational mind and an
assault to our understanding of time and space.
The man who would
be known first as Jesus and later Lord Christ born to a woman was the
Son of God and the King of the Universe. This man who changed the
course of history for the last two millennia was the product of a
birth by a virgin, a woman who had not had sexual relations. “How
can this be…”?
This human event
that has never been duplicated continues to fascinate the believer
and perplex the atheist. It has taken us over two thousand years of
natural history study to finally glimpse the root of this awesome
occurrence.
In the last half
century the study of human embryos has unwittingly shed light on this
mystery of the Virgin Birth. Modern scientist were perhaps the last
people who would have wanted to help the world understand the
testimony of Mary. More interested in establishing a “Brave New
World” than casting light on an ancient conundrum the idea of
cellular embryology verifying a Christian truth was not in the mind
of the molecular biologist of the XXth Century.
Yet in this field
of study we get a glimpse of a deeper truth that surrounds the Virgin
Birth. In the 1970’s Dr. Patrick Steptoe and Dr. Robert Edwards
introduced the concept of “in vitro fertilization”1 as
a fertility aid2..
Their research lead to
what is now called the In-Vitro Services Industry (IVF) which is a
multi-billion dollar business. Its theory and practices are well
understood and used throughout the globe.
By
studying this process it became obvious to me that the
question asked over two thousand years ago could be answered...in
part. The embryo that would develop
within the womb of Mary was implanted by God. There was no genetic
material from her or her
(soon to be) husband Joseph involved. The event was complete unique.
The blood ties to history were broken. Jesus the Lord Christ was born
of a woman as every other human on Earth but had no hereditary
linkage to anyone except God.
As
this idea developed in me a question was generated. Yes an embryo
from outside the body can be successfully implanted into the lining
of the womb but where did the embryo come from?
After
some further research I found the answer in Luke 1:35,
“And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall
come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee:
therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be
called the Son of God.” There the answer was in plain sight. “The
Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall
overshadow thee...” The embryo was a material manifestation of a
Divine entity delivered through the Holy Ghost of God [the
Highest]
into the uterus of Mary.
That
explained the delivery system but still left the big question open of
how was the Divine Embryo created. Of course I do not pretend to
know the internal process of God. Jacob Boehme tells us about the
continuous process of Creation being
generated around us so I
knew there would be an
indication for us to follow3.
What
I was looking for was in John 1:1-5.
1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God.
2
The same was in the beginning with God.
3
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made
that was made.
4
In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
5
And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it
not.
God
creates material objects out of nothing (darkness) through the
use of His Divine light (supernatural energy).
I
can imagine that even for God the creation of a viable embryo and
implanting it in a human womb was
perhaps a challenge
and that is why it does not seem to happen everyday. Yet in this
case the operation went flawlessly.
1“in
vitro fertilization”
noun, a specialized
technique by which an ovum, especially a human one, is fertilized by
sperm outside the body, with the resulting embryo later implanted in
the uterus for gestation.
3 Jacob
Boehme, Aurora: the Day Spring, 1612, transcribed Wayne Kraus, Online
Edition, 2:77
*Researchers: You may use this essay as a resource. Please credit the source.*
D S Reif
Update: 8/18/21
Summary of the Pistis Sophia, (Of His Own Incarnation) G.R.S. Mead, p 461
"Into Mary, His mother, also He had implanted a power higher than them all, "the body which I bore Of His own Incarnation.in the height," and also another power instead of the soul, and so Jesus was born. It was He Himself who had watched over the birth of His disciples, so that no soul of the world-rulers should be found in them, but one of a higher nature."
This is a description of Christ implanting his own (human) embryo into Mary Theotokos.
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