Lord’s Day 14 · The Incarnation
Conceived by the Holy Spirit Reformed Confessions 8 min May 10, 2025
Taught by
Mark ten Haaf Providence Canadian Reformed Church, Edmonton, Alberta Read along About Transcript
Q35 What does it mean that he “was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary”?
That the eternal Son of God, who is and remains true and eternal God, took to himself, through the working of the Holy Spirit, from the flesh and blood of the virgin Mary, a true human nature so that he might also become David’s true descendant, like his brothers in all things except for sin.
Q36 How does the holy conception and birth of Christ benefit you?
He is our mediator and, in God’s sight, he covers with his innocence and perfect holiness my sin, in which I was conceived.
A growing library of films on the historic Reformed creeds and confessions. The Heidelberg Catechism is complete: all fifty-two Lord’s Days, taught by pastors from across the Reformed churches.
Rev. Mark ten Haaf is Pastor at Providence Canadian Reformed Church in Edmonton, Alberta. He serves there alongside his wife, Stephanie, and their 6 children.
Free to watch, share and show in your church. Made by Faith to Film with the support of churches and believers.
0:00 Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 14. 0:13 What does it mean that he was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary? 0:20 "The eternal Son of God, who is and remains true and eternal God, took to himself, through the working of the Holy Spirit, from the flesh and blood of the Virgin Mary, a true human 0:32 nature, so that he might also become David's true descendant, like his brothers in all things, except for sin. How does the holy conception and birth of Christ benefit you? He is our 0:45 mediator and in God's sight he covers with his innocence and perfect holiness my sin in which I was conceived." So this article of of the Apostles Creed, he was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of 1:00 the Virgin Mary, how often on Sundays do we really think about the richness that is embedded in these, you know, two very small lines of the Apostles Creed. First 1:11 of all, we're reminded with this article that the one we're talking about here is eternal God himself. And that's remarkable. The one who came onto the scene some 2,000 years ago, this Jesus of 1:30 Nazareth, didn't have his beginning there. He is the eternal Son of God who always has been. 1:39 He, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, he is co-eternal, co-almighty, co-equal in glory and majesty. 1:49 This is the one that we're talking about. 1:52 In Philippians chapter 2, the Apostle Paul is encouraged the church in Philippi to put aside selfish ambition, to stop only thinking about themselves, and instead to have a mind like Christ. And he teaches them 2:15 what that meant for Christ, that the Son of God, even though he is is co-equal in glory and majesty and everything else with the Father and the Holy Spirit, he didn't cling to that. 2:28 Instead, he was willing to let go of it from being born as a completely helpless little baby all the way to the point of death on the cross. 2:37 It's there that he He suffered, he was crucified, he was put to death for our sins. 2:43 That's what he was willing to do. 2:45 We're also reminded here that this holy conception and birth of Jesus Christ, this is something that is a beautiful fulfillment of these promises that were given to David. 2:59 years before. We read there that he is also the true seed of David. And that's a really important thing. In 2 Samuel chapter 7, God comes to David and he gives 3:14 David these amazing promises about his family, about his royal line, that there will never fail to be son of David on the throne for the people of God. And his great 3:28 descendant, he's speaking about the Messiah, the Son of God, Jesus Christ, he's the one whose kingdom is going to be established forever and ever. And it's here, it's in this 3:39 this holy conception and birth of Christ that this promise to David is fulfilled. 3:45 Through Jesus' natural mother, Mary, he receives his true flesh and blood, and through his adoptive father, Joseph, Jesus is the heir to the throne 3:59 of David as well. Mary is a descendant of David and Joseph is also a descendant of David. He's also like his brothers in every respect yet without sin. If we go 4:12 all the way back to the very beginning, Genesis chapter 1, it's this wonderful state of affairs where where Adam is created 4:19 in the image and likeness of God. And that means that he was created in perfect righteousness and in perfect holiness. Well, you fast forward just a few pages and you get to Genesis chapter 5, 4:33 and we read there that Adam has a son in his own image, in his own likeness, But the problem is that Adam at that time has lost his perfect righteousness and his perfect holiness. 4:46 So his son is conceived and born in sin. He's unrighteous and unholy. 4:52 And if Jesus would have had a human father, well then he would have received that at his birth. 4:59 along with the rest of us. 5:02 But Jesus remained in the perfect image and likeness of his Heavenly Father since he was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. 5:13 And it's in that really wonderful truth that we see all of the wonderful benefits that are then confessed in the next question and answer in question and answer 36. 5:24 That this perfectly righteous, perfectly holy God-man, that he is our mediator. 5:33 Now why is that? Why is that such a wonderful thing? Well we have to remember this whole horrible problem that we see raised in Lord’s Day 6. 5:45 If we go all the way back to Lord’s Day 6, we're reminded that we are conceived and born in sin. 5:51 Every single day we sin more and more against God. 5:54 As hard as we try to get out from under that enormous debt of sin we only make it worse every single day. But God has allowed for a mediator to be 6:08 the one that takes care of that debt of sin that stands between us and God. In Lord’s Day 6, there are three qualifications that such a mediator 6:19 would have to have. Number one, he has to be a true man. And the reason for that is because the same nature that has sinned has to be the one to pay for sin. Number 6:31 two, he has to be a righteous man because one who is himself a sinner cannot pay for others. But third, he also has has to be true God. 6:41 And that's so that he would be able to bear the enormous weight of the wrath of God against sin. 6:49 And no human being could bear that weight. 6:53 So this Jesus Christ, who was born in such a unique way, He is everything that the fallen world, that fallen humanity needs and was waiting for. 7:09 And he's this amazing fulfillment of the promises and prophecies about this great king from the line of David who establish his kingdom forever and who would restore all of creation to a state 7:25 of glory. And all of that comes to the surface when we stand up together and we confess. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. Our salvation and our life depends on it. 7:39 Thank you. Made automatically from the audio, so a word here or there may be wrong. Tap any line to play from there.
Study Lord’s Day 14 at reformedconfessions.org The full text, Scripture proofs, study questions and quizzes. 
Now playing3 min
Now playing8 min
Now playing10 min
Now playing9 min
Now playing13 min
Now playing8 min
Now playing8 min
Now playing9 min
Now playing9 min
Now playing9 min
Now playing6 min
Now playing9 min
Now playing8 min
Now playing6 min
Now playing11 min
Now playing8 min