“That Child to be born of Mary … was of right to be called the ‘Son of the Highest.’ In His nature would be combined the powers of Godhood with the capacity and possibilities of mortality; and this through the ordinary operation of the fundamental law of heredity, declared of God, demonstrated by science, and admitted by philosophy, that living beings shall propagate—after their kind. The Child Jesus was to inherit the physical, mental, and spiritual traits, tendencies, and powers that characterized His parents—one immortal and glorified—God, the other human—woman” (Jesus the Christ, 3rd ed. [1916], 81).
“Elder Talmage also taught that through Jesus’s mortal mother, Mary, He inherited the ability to ‘lay down His life voluntarily.’ But from His Heavenly Father, Jesus inherited the ability to endure suffering during His atoning sacrifice ‘such as no other being who has lived on earth might even conceive as possible’ (Jesus the Christ, 613). Since this suffering would be ‘more than man can suffer, except it be unto death’ (Mosiah 3:7), only a Being with power over death could endure it” (New Testament Student Manual [Church Educational System manual, 2014], 141).
“If teachers were wise in speaking of [the conception of Jesus Christ] about which the Lord has said but very little, they would rest their discussion on this subject with merely the words which are recorded on this subject in Luke 1:34–35. …
“Let the Lord rest His case with this declaration and wait until He sees fit to tell us more” (The Teachings of Harold B. Lee, ed. Clyde J. Williams [1996], 14).
Luke’s Greek rendering of Mary’s words reflects the strength of her decision. She did not reluctantly submit but resolutely accepted her role in the plan of salvation, as if to say, “Absolutely yes. I will be the Lord’s servant as you have said.” (For additional insight into Mary’s response, see the section for Luke 1:38 in the New Testament Student Manual [Church Educational System manual, 2014], 142.)
Zacharias and Elisabeth were both descendants of Aaron, from whose lineage came all priests and high priests of Israel. John was therefore a natural heir of the Aaronic Priesthood and its leadership. The Prophet Joseph Smith taught, “John was a priest after his father, and held the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood” (in History of the Church, 5:257).