It’s a rotten feeling when it happens, but sometimes it does. You get so focused on one child that you miss the other one. It’s not that you completely forget; rather, one child may be more extroverted or demand more attention at times. And then we turn around and with a little sadness coupled with joy embrace the other again.

In a way, this can happen to us in the life of Christ. We can become so enamored with Jesus’ glory, words, miracles, and work—which is only proper—that we miss the Father and the Spirit’s work in His life. This was brought to my attention in The Bond of Love by David McKay. I had never really contemplated the work of the Spirit in the human life of Jesus. Nevertheless, it was an enriching experience, for I discovered that “The Spirit’s role could not have been more important.”¹

To be the Mediator we needed and to do all that was required to secure redemption, the human Jesus needed the Holy Spirit.² When the Son of God set aside His glory to enter into His manhood, it was the Holy Spirit that conceived Him. Luke states (1:34–35), “³⁴And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” ³⁵And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.” Matthew declares (1:18), “[S]he was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.” McKay writes, “Thus, we conclude that ‘the Holy Spirit was the former of Christ’s human nature.’”³ How awesome is the Spirit’s power to enable the Word to becomes flesh and dwell among us!

The Spirit was also active in the consciousness of Christ from the first moment He could think. “George Smeaton notes: the soul of Christ, from the first moment of conscious existence, was filled with actual communications of the Spirit for such exercises of trust, and love, and holy affections as were necessary in the experience of Him who came as the second Adam.”⁴ The Spirit of Yahweh rested on Jesus giving Him wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and the fear of Yahweh (Isaiah 11:2).

The Spirit was active in the growth of Jesus. As “Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man [Luke 2:52],” it was the Spirit with Him every step of the way. McKay writes, “By the power of the Spirit, He was enabled to obey His Father’s will perfectly (His ‘active’ obedience) and was prepared for His atoning death (His ‘passive’ obedience).”⁵ McKay concludes, “All that was required of the Mediator by the covenant of Redemption was rendered by the enabling of the Spirit.”⁶

This would indicate that Jesus, in His human nature, was instructed as to His uniqueness, role, and mission as God’s Messiah. The Spirit would have, it seems, been “instrumental in leading the human mind of the Messiah to a full self-understanding. He must, for example, have led Jesus to a realization of the application to Himself of various Old Testament prophecies such as the Isaiah 61 passage which He quoted in Nazareth.”⁷

The Holy Spriit, while with Jesus from conception, was given a fresh at His baptism to signify Him publicly as God’s Messiah who is endowed with the Spirit for the work of redemption ministry. Peter states (Acts 10:38) that, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.” Thus, the Spirit was the enablement for Jesus’ miracles in the gospel accounts. Furthermore, Jesus offered Himself as our atoning sacrifice through the work of the eternal Spirit (Hebrews 9:14). McKay says, “By the sustaining ministry of the Holy Spirit, however, Christ was enabled to offer a perfect sacrifice.”⁸

To top it all off, the Holy Spirit was involved in the resurrection of Jesus. Paul states (Rom. 8:11), “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”

Thus, when we read the life of Jesus, we cannot help but notice, thank, and praise the work of the Holy Spirit. The Trinitarian work of our God shines in the life of Jesus. This is good news, not only for our redemption, but also for our current lives of faith. The same Spirit that empowered Jesus empowers us to live the Christian life. What power and empowerment the Lord has given us through faith in Jesus Christ. The Spirit seals us, gifts us to serve Jesus, convicts, fills us, and more.

Let us praise the Lord for the good and gracious gift of the Holy Spirit in our Christian lives as exemplified in the life of Jesus Messiah.