“Therefore also that holy thing that will be born to you shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).
That was the King James Version. Let me be quick to say all other Bible translations, translate the phrase “Holy thing,” either “Holy One” or “Holy Child.” Clearly, Luke is not suggesting Jesus was a “thing.” He was a child, a boy, the precious only begotten Son of God.
Yet I was taken by surprise when reading through a devotional book by E. Stanley Jones, to find that after 47 years of reading the Bible, had missed the word “thing” in Luke 1:35 when referring to Jesus.
We’ve settled the issue of the proper and intended understanding of this verse, yet it’s still true that the entire “thing” of the incarnation; when “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” was indeed a “Thing.” It was a “God Thing.” There may be some fine theological words like “hypostatic union” that attempt to describe this wonderful mystery, but most of us are content to gaze into these marvelous diorama of the Christmas story and declare, “This is a beautiful and holy God thing.”
It was a holy thing for God to intervene in our hopeless, sinful bondage by giving His only begotten Son.
It was a holy thing to place that Son, in embryonic form, in the womb of a humble and favored young Jewish maiden. The stable was a holy thing. The manger was a holy thing.
And the holiest thing of all jut might be the offer God extends to us to step into His holy presence through His grace afforded, extended through that “Holy Thing that is called the Son of God.” Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts.
