"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." (Luke 1:35)

What amazing words these must have been to Mary, a young woman, when she first heard them. Just minutes before she had probably been engaged in some mundane task of daily life in her mother's home, perhaps grinding flour or baking bread, maybe weaving or spinning wool into yarn. If she was like most young women who are shortly to be married, her mind would have been turned to her future life with Joseph, what their home would be like, the children they would have and the life that they would lead together. Happy images of the future would have filled her thoughts. She would have had her hopes, dreams and expectations--images of how her life would be as the future wife of Joseph.

Suddenly with the appearance of the angel Gabriel, her visions of the future contained a new and dramatically different element. The angel told her that she was highly favored and blessed among women, that the Lord was with her and that she would soon conceive and bring forth a son whose name would be Jesus. This child would be given the throne of Mary's ancient forebear, King David, and reign forever.

Mary voiced the question of how this would take place. She knew the order of natural conception and knew that the angel's message did not fit into this order. In explanation the angel Gabriel told her of the greatest miracle of all time saying, "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."

We are called to believe that miracles do occur. Some people are troubled by the idea of miracles based on their picture of cause and effect in this world. They have accepted that the only causes are natural ones, the laws of physics and so on. For such a person the idea of Jesus being born without a natural father is fantastic beyond belief.

But we are called to believe that miracles have and do occur. There are forces that attack this belief. We have grown up in a culture that has a strong sense of natural order. Science today is capable of explaining so many events that previously were mysteries. It is capable of explaining them by means of fundamental laws of nature. For some this sense of natural law can become so strong that the Lord's active presence within creation vanishes. For some there is no Divine intervention within this system. All is fixed and moves along with changes taking place by mere random accident. But it could be noted that according to natural law most changes result in more chaos, not less chaos. Changes tend toward the break down of a higher order into a lower one.

Think of the example of a person quickly typing out a document on a computer. You would expect that errors would be introduced into the typing. What is the likelihood that the errors would improve the original document? It’s possible, but rather unexpected. But the argument for pure natural evolution is that given enough time and the forces of natural selection life as we now know it has developed. Asserting that human life came about purely by random accidents starting with the genetic code of the most primitive life millions of years ago seems akin to saying that given enough time and enough typed copies a simple child’s nursery rhyme could evolve into a Shakespearean play without any plan or higher thought being involved.

We are called to believe that miracles do occur. However, the Writings for the New Church have taught us that we are not to expect to see the miracles of the Old and New Testaments performed today in the same way they were performed in the time those books were written. We read:

The reason miracles are not done at this day, as before, is that miracles compel, and take away free will in spiritual things; and from being spiritual, they make a person natural. All in the Christian world . . . can become spiritual; and they become spiritual solely from the Lord through the Word; and the faculty for this would perish if they were brought to believe through miracles. (True Christian Religion 501)

Partially based on statements such as this, a person can come to a pattern of thinking that does not believe in the Lord’s ability to affect things for good in a miraculous way even today. A person could believe in God, but still tend to view the progression of his or her life as following laws of a machine-like system. Anything that does not fit into this fixed system is believed to be a miracle that would take away spiritual freedom--the very freedom that the Lord was born into the world to reestablish.

Perhaps, though, it is too easy for us to become too limited in our view. So limited that we block out a sight of the miracles that can occur within our own lives without taking away our spiritual freedom. Perhaps it is too easy for this limited point of view to block out a sense of the Lord's presence, a sense of the Holy Spirit's presence. How does the Lord reach out to touch our lives?

What of Mary's life? The events surrounding the first Christmas were a major intervention within her life. The same is true of her husband to be, Joseph. Both of them could have denied the possibility of a miraculous conception and this state of denial would have been far more damaging than that of Zacharias's. Could the Lord's birth ever have taken place if Mary was not willing to accept the angel's words? Her firstborn was to have a continuing effect throughout her whole life. His presence was not without many events that brought a sense of awe and wonder to both Mary and Joseph. We know of at least one event that showed that raising Jesus was not always easy. At age 12, they spent three anxious days searching for Him, only to find Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of teachers, listening and asking questions.

In addition to the way in which Jesus' birth and life intervened in Joseph and Mary's life, think of the way His presence affected the disciples. Many of them were happily going about their daily jobs when they were called to leave all behind and follow Him. While this intervention sometimes involved something of the miraculous, it also involved an element of free will. Just as Joseph and Mary could have resisted the words of the angel announcing that the Lord would be born, so also the disciples could have heard the Lord call them to follow and shook their heads and returned to their work. There were many, many others who were influenced in this same way. Many others who heard the Lord's words calling to them and had their lives profoundly influenced by what He said.

The Lord comes to each of us in our lives many times each day. While we may not have anything occur in our lives that an objective observer would call miraculous, it is not true that our lives will follow some pre-established route, set by our inborn nature and directed by compelling experience of the natural world. The Lord's first birth represents the way in which He comes in any age to anyone who will receive Him. Just as the words of the angel Gabriel would have been a dramatic intervention within the happy normalcy of the future that Mary would have envisioned, so also the Lord can come to us announcing the conception of a future for us that is far different from the one our natural mind would envision. The Lord comes to us offering and promising a far different set of reactions to daily events from the ones we presently have--a different perspective, a far greater patience in some areas and a stronger resolve and commitment in others. He comes to us bringing light to areas of thoughts that we had resigned ourselves to being in deep darkness and bringing warmth to much that we might otherwise have done from need or duty.

The angel Gabriel was sent to a virgin, whose name was Mary. Ancient prophecies had promised that the Messiah would be born as the child of a young woman. Several hundred years after this prophecy was given, a Greek version of the Old Testament called the Septuagint, introduced a new element of the miraculous by using a word in this prophecy that was not the general one for a young woman, but rather the distinctive Greek term for "virgin." When the angel appeared to Joseph in a dream, the gospel of Matthew records that he quoted this prophecy according to the way it is presented in the Septuagint. The Writings for the New Church make it quite clear that this seemingly added idea is correct and even essential in our understanding of the Lord's advent.

There are two distinct reasons for the importance of a belief in the virgin birth. One reason has to do with the essential need for Jesus to be born with a natural mother but without a natural father if He was going to become our Savior and Redeemer. It was crucial for the work of Jesus that He not derive from His birth any of the internal evils that are passed on through the soul provided by the natural father in any natural conception. His soul and life came directly from the infinite God. His developing mind and life were the ever more perfect manifestation in human form of the Father and creator, our Lord and God. But it was important that He take on a natural mind at first empty of any experience and knowledge as you and I were born with. It was important that He take on the hereditary inclinations to evil that birth to a natural mother brought to His life.

The second reason for believing in the virgin birth exists because of the representation of the term virgin and what this says about how the Lord comes to us in our lives. We are told that a virgin represents someone who willing to have his or her life affected by truth. In this story, Mary represents a state of mind in each of our lives that is not controlled by self interest nor committed to a determined course of action. It is a state of mind that is open to new possibilities.

The Lord comes to us to each of us bringing the promise of a new conception of life just as the angel Gabriel came to the virgin Mary. He comes promising a rebirth or regeneration of life that is radically different from the one we come by naturally. It is not to the hustle and bustle of established life that He appears, but rather to those states of mind that, like the virgin Mary, look forward to something new and different and most importantly are willing to receive the conception of this new life. The life that comes to us naturally, apart from any presence of the Lord, is like a child conceived of a human father and mother. Without the Lord's presence, this life cannot have any other basis than self-interest and worldly concern. Experience may teach us to broaden this self-interest and to temper these concerns, but apart from the Lord's advent within our lives they will never rise above this level. The Lord is born within each of our lives within the states of mind that are willing to be affected by what the Word teaches--by the states of mind that are willing to rise above the prompting of our natural inclinations to be self-serving and natural in our interests, thoughts and actions. He is born within the states of mind that are willing to turn outward to recognize and serve the needs of those around us. He is born within the states of mind that are willing to recognize that natural things exist to serve the needs of mankind and creation as a whole and have their proper uses as well as their abuses.

Our preparation for the celebration of Christmas, more than any other event of the season, tends to turn people outward to others. It is a time that can help us to recognize the community of caring people that we live in. And it is a time that can remind us that many are in need--there are many people who can use our help. This help may be a matter of providing food, clothing and shelter for those have not been able to or have not yet come to be provident enough to provide them for themselves. It can be a matter of giving a hand to someone who could use some help with a job, sharing some burden with them. Christmas is a time when we give gifts that symbolize and love and friendship for others. The most lasting gifts are those that we give when we recognize the spiritual needs of others—when we recognize that, by our words and actions, we can help the Lord bring loving warmth to another person's life. We, by our words and actions, can bring the light of greater understanding to another person's life. We have the capability of helping others receive far greater blessings in life than they might otherwise. Our preparation for and celebration of Christmas can remind us of how a truly Christian life is one of wisely giving and of serving. The state of mind that receives this reminder is the one imaged by the virgin, Mary.

The Lord comes to each of us in our lives, just as the angel Gabriel came to Mary. He comes telling of events that can take place, if we are willing, which far exceed anything we might picture ourselves. He promises us a new life, born within our own, but not taking its source from us. He promises the presence of the Holy Spirit within this new life. He comes with a miraculous intervention in the natural course of events. The words of the angel Gabriel to Mary are also words to us with the promise of a new life that will profoundly affect what we care about, think and do each day throughout the year. These words are the promise of a new life for each of us.

After the close of this service you are invited to take the sacrament of the Holy Supper. This act of worship represents our desire to receive the Lord’s gifts of love and wisdom within our lives, represented by our eating of the bread and drinking of the wine. There is a powerful reminder of the words of the angel Gabriel in The True Christian Religion description of this sacrament

...the Holy Supper for those who approach it worthily is a kind of guarantee and seal put on their adoption as sons of God ... the Lord is then present and introduces into heaven those who are born of Him, that is, who are regenerated. (True Christian Religion 728)

As the angel Gabriel said to Mary, so the Lord would say to us, "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."

(რეკომენდაციები: Arcana Coelestia 1573 [1-8]; Isaiah 7:1-15; Luke 1:26-38)

6000. 'And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night' means obscure revelation. This is clear from the meaning of 'God spoke in visions' as revelation. For revelations were made either by means of dreams, or by night visions, or by daytime visions, or by utterances made within a person, or by utterances made outside him by angels who had become visible, as well as by utterances made outside by angels who had not become visible. Various kinds of revelation are meant in the Word by all these. 'A vision of the night' means revelation that is obscure, since 'night' means obscurity, 1712, 2514, and in the spiritual sense obscurity implies that truth is not visible. In the Word 'night' also means falsity due to evil; for people who because of evil are subject to falsity dwell in the obscurity of night, which is why all in hell are said to be in night. Those in hell do, it is true, have an inferior kind of light, for they see one another; but that light is like the light emitted by a coal fire, which is turned into darkness and pitch darkness when heavenly light flows in. This is why the inhabitants of hell are said to be in night and are called angels of the night and darkness, whereas the inhabitants of heaven are called angels of the day and light.

[2] The meaning of 'the night' as obscurity and also falsity may be seen in addition from the following places in the Word: In John,

Jesus said, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day he does not stumble. But if anyone walks in the night he stumbles, because the light is not in him. John 11:9-10.

'Twelve hours' stands for all states of truth. 'Walking in the day' stands for living in the truth, and 'walking in the night' for living in falsity.

[3] In the same gospel,

I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; night is coming when nobody will be able to work. John 9:4.

'Day' stands for truth coming from good, and 'night' for falsity coming from evil. The first period of the Church is what is meant by 'day', for at this time truth is entertained by people because they are governed by good. But the final period of the Church is what is meant by 'night', for at that time no truth at all is entertained by its members, because they are not governed by good; and when someone is not governed by good, that is, by charity towards the neighbour, then even if told perfect truths he does not entertain them. In this situation there is no perception at all of what truth is, because the light of truth falls on matters of a bodily and worldly nature, to which alone such people give their attention and which alone they love and consider to have any reality. It does not fall on things of a heavenly nature because they are considered to be of little or no value at all compared with other things. Consequently the light of truth is swallowed up by and snuffed out in what is a mass of thick darkness, like sunlight falling on an object that is black. This is what is meant by 'night is coming when nobody will be able to work'; and the situation is like this at the present day.

[4] In Matthew,

While the bridegroom was tarrying all the virgins were drowsy and went to sleep. But at midnight there was a shout, Behold, the bridegroom is coming. Matthew 25:5-7.

'Midnight' too stands for the final period of the old Church when no faith at all exists because no charity at all does so, and also for the first period of the new Church. In Luke,

I tell you, in that night there will be two upon one bed; one will be taken, the other left. Luke 17:34.

'Night' in the same way here stands for the final period of the old Church, and the first of the new.

[5] In Matthew,

Jesus said to the disciples, All of you will be made to stumble [by sinning] against Me this night. And to Peter, This night, before the cock crows, you will deny Me three times. Matthew 26:31, 34.

The Lord allowed Himself to be arrested at night, and this was a sign that Divine Truth dwelt for them in the obscurity of night and that falsity springing from evil existed in place of it. Peter's denial of the Lord three times that night also represented the final period of the Church when the truth of faith is indeed taught, but no one believes it. This final period is 'night' because at this time people utterly deny the Lord in their hearts. For like the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve apostles represented all the aspects of faith, 577, 2089, 2129 (end), 2130 (end), 3272, 3354, 3488, 3858, 3913, 3926, 3939, 4060; and Peter represented the faith of the Church, see Preface to Genesis 18, also Preface to Genesis 22, as well as 3750, 4738. So it was that the Lord said to Peter that he would deny Him three times that night, and to the disciples, 'All of you will be made to stumble [by sinning] against Me this night'.

[6] In Isaiah,

One was calling to me from Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, Morning comes, and also the night.

This refers to the Coming of the Lord, which is 'morning'. That Coming took place when spiritual truth existed no longer on earth, which is 'the night'.

[7] In Zechariah,

There will be one day, which is known to Jehovah, not day nor night, because around evening time there will be light. It will happen, that on that day living waters will go out from Jerusalem. And Jehovah will be King over all the earth; on that day there will be one Jehovah, and His name one. Zechariah 14:7-9.

This too refers to the Lord, and also to a new Church. The prophecy that Jehovah, who will be King, will be one and that His name will be one refers to the Lord's Divine Human, which will be one with the Divine Himself, called the Father. Prior to the Lord's Coming the Divine Human was Jehovah in the heavens; for it was by His passing through the heavens that He presented Himself as a Divine Person before the eyes of many on earth. In those times the Divine Human was not so much one with the Divine Himself, called the Father, as when the Lord had made the Divine Human within Himself completely one with the Father. Prior to His Coming the two were seemingly distinct and separate, as is evident from Genesis 19:24, where it says that Jehovah rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from ¹ Jehovah out of heaven, 2447. A day when it will be 'not day nor night' is the time when the Lord was born, for then it was 'evening', that is, when representatives in the Church came to an end. 'Light around evening time' is Divine Truth which is to appear then.

[8] In Isaiah,

Surely at night Ar has been laid waste, Moab has been cut off; surely at night Kir of Moab has been laid waste. Isaiah 15:1.

'Moab' stands for natural good, and in the contrary sense for adulterated good, 2468; in this text a laying waste of that good is referred to. Acts of laying waste are said to happen at night because they are occasions when truth is rendered obscure and falsity enters in. In Jeremiah,

The great city will weep bitterly in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks. Lamentations 1:2.

This refers to a desolation of truth, 'night' standing for falsity.

[9] In David,

You will not be afraid of the terror of the night, of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the death that lays waste at noonday. Psalms 91:5-6.

'The terror of the night' stands for falsities arising from evil that come from hell. 'The arrow that flies by day' stands for falsity that is taught openly and is destructive of good. 'The death that lays waste at noonday' is evil that is openly practised in life and is destructive of good. In John,

The gates of the holy Jerusalem will not be shut by day, for there is no night there. Revelation 21:25.

There will be no night there, nor do they need a lamp or light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. Revelation 22:5.

'There will be no night there' stands for no falsity there. In Daniel,

Daniel said, I saw in my vision when it was night. After this also I saw in visions of the night. Daniel 7:2, 7.

'Visions of the night' also stands for obscure revelation; for that chapter in Daniel describes four beasts and their horns, and gives many details belonging to revelation that was obscure. Something similar is involved with the different coloured horses that Zechariah saw at night, Zechariah 1:8 and following verses.

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