The Word Made Flesh: How to Conceive a Miracle

Those of you who regularly attend our church know that we have been talking about the power of seedtime & harvest and how to bear fruit in our lives. Well, today, I want to tell you about a Christmas miracle that occurred exactly like these things we have been learning. I want to teach you how Mary conceived a miracle and the Word was made flesh in her life.  
 
You know, we all desire to see God’s Word—His promises—manifested in our life. Yes, we desire that His Word be made flesh—that is, real, tangible, etc.—in our lives. As the apostle John said in his first epistle—he was declaring to them the things which he had heard, seen, looked upon, and handled concerning the Word of life. Likewise, we want to experience the truth and not just hear it. Amen?
 
Well, there is a girl who gave birth (i.e. manifested) exactly what we all desire to experience, and her name was Mary. So, I want us today to look at what transpired in this young lady’s life that caused her to conceive her miracle.
 
THE WORD IN THE BEGINNING
John 1:1-14
 
But let’s begin in the first chapter of the Gospel of John, and we will go through the first 14 verses:    
 
Verses 1&2 say, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” 
 
Here, we have an obvious reference to both the account of Genesis 1:1 (i.e. “In the beginning”) and of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, in His preincarnate position as “the Word”—or, the Logos. Now the term “Logos” basically describes “a statement, the expression or transmission of a thought, or a divine revelation or declaration.” The Scriptures are oftentimes what is being referred to when the word “logos” is used in the Word of God, but the fact is that both God’s Word and Jesus are one and the same in that they both reveal and express God’s love, goodness, grace, and truth. 
 
Notice as well that the Word was said to be “before all things” (Compare Colossians 1:17). Likewise, God’s Word is already true, self-existent and eternal. It’s true—the only true reality—whether we see any fruit of it in our lives or not. This is critical to understand because the very source of everything is the Word. So, if we do not esteem the Word, then we can essentially miss our miracle. This is reiterated in the next verse.   
 
Notice that John goes on to say in verse 3— “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”
 
So, in the beginning, we see God making the heavens and the earth with His Word—that is, by speaking into existence all of the things that we see today. This is how God framed the world we live in today, by His Words. And notice that John said that without His Word nothing was made that was made—teaching us that God’s creative power is His Word. So, if we want to see life, light and love created in our life, we cannot have it apart from His Word.  
 
John 1:4-9 goes on to say, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.”
 
Again, we see an obvious reference to the Beginning (i.e. Genesis): First of all, we see that life originated from within Him. Secondly, we see a reference to the very first words God spoke in the beginning— “Let there be light.” Many believe that the literal rendering here is— “Light be!” So, the Lord looked out into the darkness—to the world which was without form and empty—and called forth what this world needed, LIGHT.
 
And, church, this is how God’s children ought to operate as well—calling forth the things we desire to see with our mouths. But someone might say, “Well, I just believe it calling it like I see it.” Well then, that’s exactly the way you will continue to see it. That’s not what God did. He called into existence what He desired to see, which in this case was LIGHT.  
 
Verses 10-13 go on to say, “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
 
Likewise, Jesus was not born on this earth simply of blood, nor by the will of the flesh or the will of man; He was born of God. We see this in the Gospel of Luke when the angel appeared to Mary, explaining to her that this miracle would occur the same way that the original creation occurred—by the Holy Spirit overshadowing her and the Word conceiving in her. (We will get into this in a moment)
 
And finally, in verse 14, John said, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
 
So, here we see again Jesus being described as the Mighty Logos, and John goes on to say He became flesh and dwelt among us. The word used for “dwelt” here literally means that He “tabernacled” among us. So, I see Jesus as being the One that even the Tabernacle itself was a type and shadow of. Glory!
 
But notice that it was this Word—the One who was, is, and evermore shall be the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega, the Life, the Light, the Creator, and the Only True and Living God—it is this One who became flesh and dwelt among us!  
 
But how did this miracle happen? How was the Word made flesh? In answering these questions, I believe we will find the answer of how God’s Word is manifested in our lives. 
 
MARY’S MIRACLE
Luke 1:26-38
 
We’ve looked at these verses in John one, that echo the verses in Genesis one. So, let’s go over to Luke chapter one, and see how Mary conceived the Word—the Light of the world—in her life:
 
Verses 26-28 tell us: “Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, ‘Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!’”
 
Notice that the first word Gabriel spoke to Mary was “Rejoice.” Church, rejoicing is such a significant part to conceiving a miracle in our lives because, as you have probably heard me say before, our attitude determines our altitude. If we are downcast, depressed and discouraged, our hearts are not the fertile ground they need to be to have strength to conceive seed.
 
Now we have an interesting parallel here: Do you remember how Hebrews 11:11 said, “By faith Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised”?
 
Now we know from studying the account in Genesis chapter 18 when this happened that Sarah was far from being full of faith when she initially heard the Lord’s messengers say that she would conceive and bear a child. We are told she actually laughed. Now we do not know if this was the kind of laugh that scoffed at the Word of the Lord or not. I personally do not believe it was. I believe it was more of a laugh that was saying, “Are you serious? Really?”—certainly not a laugh of “What a joke!” There is big difference in that. And the reason I believe this is because after Isaac was born, Sarah named her son, Isaac, meaning “laughter” and said, “God has made me laugh, and all who hear will laugh with me.” (Genesis 21:6). So, Sarah actually rejoiced in the promise of the Lord that she would bear her own child.
 
And guess what that did? Her rejoicing was the key to receiving the strength to conceive seed, for as Nehemiah 8:10 says, “The joy of the Lord is our strength.” Amen! So, by first telling Mary to “Rejoice,” the Lord was positioning her to receive the strength to conceive His Word! Amen!   
 
Do you remember what the Lord prophesied in Isaiah 54, immediately after giving us the great redemptive chapter of Isaiah 53? He says in verse 1— “Sing, O barren, You who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you who have not labored with child! For more are the children of the desolate than of the married woman, says the Lord.” We see again here that the key to the barren bearing children is found in this word “Rejoice!”
 
So, I believe we are seeing a pattern here: In order for us to receive the strength to conceive God’s Word, our attitude must be that of joy. We have to be excited at His Word. We must get thrilled with His Word. We must have a heart filled with praise, thanksgiving and worship for what the Lord has promised us. This is where the strength will come in us for the supernatural conception of our miracle! Amen!
 
And we know that Mary did this because later on in this chapter, Mary indeed did sing and rejoice in God her Savior (see Luke 1:46-55).
 
But that’s not all Gabriel greeted her with— He also called her “highly favored one” and told her both that “God was with her” and she was “blessed among women.” Let’s quickly look at what exactly we should be rejoicing in:
 
In Luke 11:27-28, we have an account of Jesus teaching, “and it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!”
 
Now we know that this woman was referring to Mary, the one who bore and nursed Jesus. She was evidently overwhelmed at the miracle she had seen of Jesus casting out the mute spirit and then hearing the words of wisdom that proceeded from His mouth. So, she apparently could not contain her excitement anymore and interrupted Jesus’ teaching with this exclamation.
 
Now do you think that she might have been speaking out of what she could relate to? She, obviously being a woman, was probably thinking—“Wow! Whoever the lady is who had the privilege of giving birth to this Man was super blessed! What an honor to carry and nurse this prophet that God has sent to us!”
 
But we still do this today! We look at the Mary’s, the John the Baptist’s, the Peter, James, John’s, etc., and think that these people were more blessed than us because they got to be a part of the Word being made flesh and walking among us. 
 
But notice what Jesus responded to this woman’s statement with: He said, “More than that, (STOP!)”
 
More than what? More than the virgin Mary, who was favored and chosen by God to mother our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Wow! So what Jesus was saying here is that as blessed as Mary was and is to be chosen to be the mother of our Messiah, there are those out there who are more blessed than even her!
 
Now this is not an attempt to diminish or take away from her, for Mary was a blessed woman to be handpicked to be a handmaiden for the Lord, but this is an attempt to raise your value and make you to realize how these saints of old are not more blessed than you and I are today.
 
So, who is it that Jesus said is more blessed than even Mary? He goes on to say, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it!”
 
Now we’ve been talking for over a month now about the importance of the Word of God in our lives. We have been seeing how having the Word sown in our hearts is what produces kingdom results in our life. Well here, we see this reinforced because Jesus is essentially saying that those who apply this kingdom principle into their lives (i.e. hearing the Word and keeping it) are the ones who are blessed all the more. Amen!
 
So, since Jesus is the Word of God, we can see what Jesus was alluding to: If hearing and keeping the Word of God is like it being sown into our hearts, then Jesus was basically saying that those who hear the Word and keep it are doing the same thing that Mary did.
 
You see, she physically carried the Word of God, Jesus Christ, in her womb, but those who hear and keep the Word are carrying the Word of God, Jesus Christ, in their hearts spiritually. Glory to God! Therefore, every one of us who have received the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God, into our hearts are doing spiritually what Mary did physically—we are carrying Christ in us, the hope of glory! (Colossians 1:27)
 
Therefore, we can be confident that just as Gabriel declared to the virgin Mary that she was “highly favored,” that she was “blessed among women,” and that “God was with her,” we can rejoice in the truth that we too carry the same blessedness and favor that she did and that we carry God in us. It doesn’t matter what our experiences were or what our situation is; we are blessed and highly favored because God is with us! Amen! 
 
Now this greeting provoked something in Mary. Verse 29 says, “But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was.” 
 
And this is exactly how many of God’s people react when they hear God’s messengers telling them that about the good news of Christ. They cannot “conceive” how God highly favors them, how God is with them, and how He would bless them. But again, the key to conceiving the miracle is in rejoicing in the gospel before we see the manifestation. We must get happy and believe in our hearts the good news of all that Christ is in us and all that we are in Him no matter what our experiences say to us. Hallelujah!
 
Then the angel said to her in verses 30-33: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God...” So, Gabriel encouraged her not to be afraid, and there is a specific reason for this: It is because fear stunts our faith. In short, he was saying to her— “Don’t fear because you’ve found favor.” Church, I’ll tell you—When you discover the favor you have with God, fear will be a distant memory.
 
And in verse 31 Gabriel continues to say, “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
 
So, what Gabriel was essentially explaining to Mary was that the Word was going to conceive in her. The same WORD that created everything we see today will be the same WORD that will create this miracle in us. Glory! 
 
And notice Mary’s response to this news and then Gabriel’s reply: “Then Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I do not know a man?’ And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” 
 
Does this sound familiar? This is exactly what was happening in Genesis chapter one when God spoke light into existence—the Holy Spirit was hovering over the face of the waters. What this shows us is that while the Word has its part in the miracle working process, the Holy Spirit has His part. He is the One who performs the Word—the power of God that brings into manifestation the Word spoken. Amen! Thank God for the Holy Spirit! The Spirit and the Word agree! 
 
Then notice what Gabriel goes on to say in verses 36-37: “Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.”
 
Amen! Nothing is impossible with God! And as Jesus told us elsewhere, all things are possible to them that believe His Word—which is exactly what Mary did in the next verse: “Then Mary said, ‘Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.’ And the angel departed from her.”
 
So, if you are barren and have a need to conceive a miracle in your life today—desiring fruit—then your key is taking God’s Word and speaking it over the barrenness in your life, calling forth the fruit you desire, and letting the Holy Spirit do the work of bringing that miracle to pass. When you take God at His Word and essentially say, “Behold, the servant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word!” this is how you too can conceive the Word and see it made flesh—that is, manifested and birthed in your life. Amen.