For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. Psalm 139:13
Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese, clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews? Job 10:10-11
Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me.” Hebrews 10:5
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” Luke 1:35
The marvels of the incarnation began from the moment Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit inside Mary’s womb. The miraculous part was that twenty-three of the chromosomes necessary for his physical body to begin—the part ordinarily contributed by the father—were supplied by the Holy Spirit directly. Then the process of growth that unfolded must have been the same as a normal human baby, just as later it would be said that “Jesus grew in stature…” (Luke 2:52)
"Step by step the Spirit knit Jesus together inside Mary’s womb, always knowing the purpose that that wondrous little body was being formed to accomplish."
Those who study embryonic development can tell us the stages. At four weeks, the cluster of cells is about the size of a poppy seed. By the end of week five, the baby has a heart that beats 110 times per minute. By week six, blood cells start to develop and circulation begins… the origin of the very substance that Jesus would shed on the cross for our sins. By week seven, bones begin to form… the bones that God would protect on the cross. By the end of week eight, all the major organs and body systems are developing. Hands and feet start to form… the hands that would touch lepers and heal them, the feet that would walk on water. By the end of the second month, Jesus’ forming body would have been almost one inch long. By week ten, the ears have begun to form, the ears that would listen to the cries of blind Bartimaeus for healing. By the end of week twelve, all of Jesus’ organs, limbs, bones and muscles were present. The Word was becoming flesh, a body God was preparing for him.
Step by step the Spirit knit Jesus together inside Mary’s womb, always knowing the purpose that that wondrous little body was being formed to accomplish. Jesus’ body would be the means by which the glory of God would most perfectly be displayed in this world of sin and death. Jesus’ body would extend God’s saving grace to suffering sinners. And Jesus’ body would ultimately bring an end to the animal sacrificial system forever, the last bloody sacrifice God would ever accept. Through all these microscopic steps the Spirit knit Jesus’ body together, just like every other human body he ever formed. But infinitely differently in its outcome!
