Early Birds

Jesus is one of the millions of human beings who had the privilege of being filled with the Holy Spirit early in life. Maybe you also were filled with the Spirit early in life. It’s not common, but there’s a special grace in certain children, maybe one out of every seven?

Your guess is as good as mine. There are no statistics on this (and it surely varies from generation to generation, country to country, place to place, and family to family), but you can see a special something about certain children. There's a glow about them, a spiritual sensitivity, and a tenderness in their hearts. Jesus was one of those children.

But Jesus wasn't the only child who was like that. The Bible states that Moses was a beautiful child. That's not just a comment on baby Moses' physical appearance. It's a comment on the grace that was upon him. So, there's such a thing as a "beautiful child"--a child with the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Maybe you were one of these "beautiful" children. Maybe you weren't. Some people get grace earlier in life. Some people get grace later in life. Others never get it. Some get it and then lose it. Some get more and more of it as life goes on. Those are the great believers. You don't need to be an "early bird" to become a great Christian, you just need to be persistent.

Young Bible Heroes

We know that God lifted up other uniquely anointed children throughout Biblical history: Abel, Noah, Isaac, and Rebecca. These each demonstrated God’s grace early in life. Likewise, Joseph (the beloved son of Jacob), Samuel, David, and Jeremiah were very spiritual youngsters. Here's a picture of Esther:

And let’s not forget Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. By the grace of God they rose to positions of governmental leadership in their youth. To retain God's grace beyond childhood and adolescence is a great accomplishment. Esther did it. They did it. Have you done it?

Or, if you're young now, do you plan on doing it? Do you plan on retaining God's grace or on falling away from him?

Jesus is among the young people who have accomplished this great feat. He conserved the grace of God from childhood, through adolescence, and into young adulthood. It's an amazing feat.

But Jesus wasn't alone. In the New Testament Scriptures we also read about Jesus’ mother Mary, John the Baptist, and Timothy. They were also very spiritual teenagers and each proceeded to adulthood filled with the grace of God. These each received grace early in life and conserved that grace.

Okay, so they did it. But how did they do it? They used the means at their disposal: prayer, fellowship, the study of God's Word, and spiritual activities such as baptism or the breaking of bread. God's favor is not enough. Each one harnessed that grace and "worked out" what God "worked in."

Unspoiled Youth

Again, think about yourself. If you were born with grace, did you conserve it? If you were not born a "beautiful child," did you seek God's grace later in life? If so, did you get it? Are you a "beautiful" person now?

Most of us, if we had the privilege of childhood grace, lost it during adolescence or early adulthood. We went the way of fornication, vanity, vulgarity, vice, theft, or even violence. We chose to associate with sinners and rebels. Rebelliousness is the most common sin of young people.

This sad tendency of youth, the tendency to drift into sin, is why Solomon warned his son to stay away from bad friends. He told him:

My child, if sinners entice you, do not consent.

If they say, 'Come with us! We shall lie in wait for blood;

we shall ambush the innocent without cause.

Like Sheol, we will swallow them alive

and whole, like those who descend to the pit.

We shall find all precious wealth,

we shall fill our houses with booty,

you shall throw your lot in our midst,

there will be one purse for all of us.'

My child, do not walk in their way.

Keep your foot from their paths,

for their feet run to evil,

and they hurry to shed blood (Proverbs 1:10-16; LEB).

From Before the Womb

But here's an amazing fact: The earliest a person can get special grace is not only from the time they are a baby. It’s prior to birth. Yes, even before they are born God will "foreknow" certain people--from before they are born!

And God even puts a special grace on some people even before they are conceived! He does. Maybe you don't think that's fair, but God if God were "fair" we would all be condemned. Instead of fitting in to our definition of "fair," God gives grace to certain people as he pleases--for the glory of his name. God gives grace is a gift, not a right.

The prophet Jeremiah was one of these chosen few. Jeremiah was among the people who are "foreknown" by God. The Bible says that God knew Jeremiah before Jeremiah was born. Here are God's specific words to the boy Jeremiah:

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart (Jeremiah 1:5).

On a much deeper level and a much grander scale, Jesus also was known by God before he was formed in the womb. That’s why the Bible tells us about Jesus:

He was foreknown before the foundation of the World (1 Peter 1:20; NASB).

We already examined the passages that demonstrate that Jesus appeared numerous times in the Old Testament and was called Yahweh (the LORD) or the Angel of Yahweh (the Angel of the LORD). If you reflect on those passages, you will be forced to draw the conclusion that God knew Jesus before he was conceived. Certainly you can affirm that!

How profoundly did God know Jesus prior to conception? Think about it: God knew Jeremiah before Jeremiah was in his mother’s womb, but God knew Jesus before the foundation of the World! Do you see the difference? There's a big difference.

And God didn’t only know Jesus—God loved him. We know that because Jesus prayed to the Father with these revealing words:

… you loved me before the foundation of the World (John 17:24; NASB).

Baby John and Baby Jesus

So, is the point of the Bible to demonstrate that Jesus came to us with an advantage? Does the Bible teach that Jesus was far greater than any other human being at birth? No. Absolutely not. That's not the point.

Did the baby Jesus have more grace or anointing of the Holy Spirit than any other child who preceded him? You will be surprised to hear that the Bible does not say that. Rather, the Bible tells us that John the Baptist had the filling [the fullness!] of the Holy Spirit's anointing at birth, but says no such thing about Jesus.

The Scriptures tell us that John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit while inside his mother’s womb.

… he [John] will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born (Luke 2:15).

God worked in John’s life as early as possible. That’s great. But why doesn’t the Bible say the same thing about Jesus? Why doesn’t the Bible say that Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit before he was born?

Should we take the silence of the Bible to mean that John had more grace at birth than Jesus? Or should we just suppose that the baby Jesus was filled with the Spirit from the womb? Well, we shouldn't do either. We simply don't know.

The fact that the Holy Spirit performed a miracle so that Jesus would be conceived in Mary's womb does not mean that Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit when he was in the womb.

What does the Bible say about the baby Jesus? Wise men want to know.

Simon and Ana saw Jesus in the Temple when he was just 8 days old and they praised God for him—but that means that God gave them a revelation that Jesus was the Messiah. It does not mean that the baby had a special appearance. In fact, the baby Jesus did not have a special appearance.

If the baby Jesus had a special appearance (like a halo on his head), a lot more people than Simon and Ana would have been making a fuss over him. The fact is that there was nothing particularly special about baby Jesus when he was 8 days old.

The Beginning and the End

The Bible makes no mention of Jesus’ filling with the Holy Spirit until Jesus was a full-grown man. Why not? It's so that no one be permitted to declare (with any Biblical authority) that Jesus had the fullness of the Holy Spirit as a baby. And that's because neither Jesus nor you or I need to be filled with the Holy Spirit from our mother's womb.

What difference would it make regarding our salvation what level of grace the baby Jesus had? Did the baby save us? Let's say hypothetically that Jesus wasn’t filled with the Spirit as a baby--would that make John better than Jesus? No. Greatness must be measured at the end of a man’s life, not at the beginning.

Jesus’ final accomplishments far surpassed those of John the Baptist:

• Jesus finished his life trusting in God.

  • John finished his life doubting God.

• Jesus has been resurrected already.

  • John will be resurrected later.

• Jesus will rule in the Kingdom government.

  • John will be less than the least in that government.

Now, let's bring it home. Let's talk about you. What will your accomplishments look like at the end of your life? Regardless of how you started, regardless of the direction you took during your childhood, adolescence, or early adulthood, God is offering you the fullness of his Spirit now.

Just like Jesus, it doesn't matter how you started. You won't be judged on how much grace you had at the beginning of your life. You need God to fill you with his Spirit now, and you need to end your life with that fullness. Make that your goal!