Have you ever noticed the words ‘Holy Spirit’ and ‘power’ in the Bible? They are actually synonymous terms meaning when you have one you have the other. When the Holy Spirit comes, there is power. How did Mary, the mother of Jesus, become pregnant by herself without following the normal course of nature? By a manifestation of the anointing. The virgin birth is a ‘power’ manifestation by the Holy Spirit. Let’s look further into this anointing and look at it at work in the life of Jesus.

Listen to the Audio

Click to Listen | Right Click to Download | Subscribe in iTunes

Luke 1:26–27 (ESV)
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary.

Luke 1:30–32 (ESV)
30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,

Luke 1:34–35 (ESV)
34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 And 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.

• Notice the words ‘Holy Spirit’ and ‘power’.
• They are synonymous; meaning when you have one you have the other.
• The virgin birth is a ‘power’ manifestation by the Holy Spirit.

DEFINITION: δύναμις/dunamis/power – the word has a wide range of meaning; potential for functioning in some way, power, might, strength, force, capability (Arndt, Danker, and Bauer, 262)

• According to Rick Renner, ‘dunamis’, is the word for dynamic power. This is a strength that always releases sufficient power and possesses the ability to make needed changes.

How Much Power is ‘dunamis’?

• Enough power to get the job done that God intends to be done.
• Dunamis is strength that releases sufficient power to make needed changes.
• The virgin birth is a manifestation of gifts of the Spirit.
• It is a manifestation of working of miracles and special faith.
• Many times these two gifts of the Spirit (1Cor. 12:7-10) work together.
• But the gift of faith was also manifest in Mary.
• The gift of faith is special faith given at a singular moment in time.

Luke 1:38 (ESV)
38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

• Notice that these two phrases in Luke 1:35 are equivalent here.
• The first “The Holy Spirit will come upon you,”
• The second “And the power of the Most High will overshadow you;”
• So when we are referring to the word power, we are referring to the action of the Holy Spirit ‘coming upon’ someone.

Look here at the ministry of Jesus.

Matthew 3:16 (ESV)
16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him;

• This verse indicates that the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus and rested on Him just like He came and rested on Mary.
• There is NO other event in the life of Jesus that we can point to in the scripture, whereby we can say that this is where the power came from.
• The anointing that He received at the Baptism was the source of the miraculous in Jesus life.
• The action of the Holy Spirit coming upon a person produces the miraculous.

When the Holy Spirit Comes upon a Person, There is Power Available.

• Look at all of these verses that speak of the Holy Spirit coming upon people.
• Read them, you will learn about the anointing.

Num. 11:17, 25-26, 29
Num. 24:2
Judg. 3:10
Judg. 6:34
Judg. 11:29
Judg. 14:6
Judg. 14:19
Judg. 15:14
1Sam. 10:6, 10
1Sam. 11:6
1Sam. 16:13-14
1Sam. 19:20-24
2 Kings 2:9
1Chron. 12:18
2Chron. 20:14
Isa. 32:15
Isa. 42:1
Isa. 59:21
Isa. 61:1
Ezek. 11:5
Ezek. 37:1
Matt 3:16
Matt. 12:18
Mk. 1:10
Lk. 2:25
Lk. 3:22
Lk. 4:18
Jn. 1:33
Acts 1:8
Acts 10:44
Acts 11:15
Acts 19:6
1Pet. 4:14

• Here is an Old Testament example of power and the Holy Spirit in the life of Samson.

Judges 14:5–6 (KJV)
5 Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath: and, behold, a young lion roared against him. 6 And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done.

• When the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson, he had an ability, a strength that he didn’t have before.
• We can see the same two words, power and Holy Spirit in Acts 1:8

Acts 1:8 (ESV)
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

• We are supposed to witness with power.
• Let us go further and pick up another word that is synonymous with the words power and Holy Spirit.

Luke 4:14–21 (KJV)
14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. 16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. 17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

So here we add a third descriptor, the word anointing.

• The ‘Holy Spirit coming upon’ is equivalent to power which is also equivalent to anointing.
• So, if you sense the anointing on you that means the Holy Spirit is upon you.
• This verse in Acts now ties these three words together.

Acts 10:38 (KJV)
38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

Functions of the Anointing In Jesus Life

Luke 4:14–21 (KJV)
14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about. 15 And he TAUGHT in their synagogues, being glorified of all.

Function #1: Jesus Taught in the Power of the Spirit.

• Jesus had a tangible sense of the anointing upon Him when He taught.
• If you were transported back in time and you were in the room or on the side of a mountain listening to Him teach, you would have sensed that anointing upon Him.
• Understand that words are containers of the anointing.

2 Peter 1:21 (KJV)
21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

• Which is why today, when you read the gospels, when you read the words of Jesus, you can still sense that same anointing.
• When you act on those anointed words, the ones that can be acted on, the power is released, the ability to make needed changes is unleashed.
• Now, when you read the Bible, understand what you are reading: you are reading the anointed words of men upon whom the Spirit of God came.
• You also, in the same Bible reading the words of men who were not anointed by the Spirit of God, upon whom the power did not come.
• You cannot use the words of Judas, the betrayer, for example and stand upon them and have any divine power or godly ability or strength released.

Why are the words of un-anointed people in the Bible then?

• They are written for your admonition.
• They are written to help you protect the anointing, the power, and the call of God on your life.

2 Timothy 3:16 (KJV)
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

• So the Bible is a combination of anointed words and un-anointed words all of which are inspired.

Episode Resources

You can find a more full treatment of the information on this subject by clicking on the link below.

1. The Anointing in Jesus Life [Post]

Subscription Links

If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe.

Subscribe in iTunes

Subscribe in Stitcher Radio – go to Stitcher Radio

Subscribe in Zune – log in to Zune and search for ‘Light on Life’ in Marketplace.

Light on Life Podcast RSS

Your Feedback

If you have a suggestion for a Bible topic you would like to see taught, or if you have a question, please e-mail me at energized1@outlook.com.

Also, if you enjoyed the message, please rate it on iTunes and write a brief review. This would would help us tremendously to get the Word out! Thank you.

Question: Do you think Americans have a ‘comfortable’ gospel; one that doesn’t require much?

You can leave a comment below.