Why is the Virgin birth so important

1. "Why is the Virgin Birth so important?" – 24th December 2016
“Shewill givebirth to a son, andyou are to give him the name Jesus,because he will save his people
from their sins.” (Matthew1:21).
Of the billionsof humanswhohave livedthroughouthistory,onlyone personenteredthe worldinthis
way. Jesuswasborn of a virgin.Thisisa unique glory. There isonlyone mediatorbetweenGodand
man as we readin 1 Timothy2:5, “Forthere is one Godand one mediatorbetween God andmankind,
the man ChristJesus…” Similarly thereisonlyone humanwhowasvirginborn.Jesus’distinctivebirth
isn’ta mythor merelyarandomfact fromthe Gospels.Itisa special honorconferredonlyonthe Sonof
God. Andit isfull of significanceforknowingthe personof Jesusandthe Godwhohas revealedhimself
inhim…andthe onlyway we can have redemptionfromourinherentsinfulness.
Matthewand Luke wrote the authoritative accounts withregardtothe birth of Jesus.Neitherwaslikely
to be gullible inthe least.Matthewwasaformertax-collector.Luke wasa doctor.True—medicine has
come a longwayin twentycenturies,butitisn’tarecentdiscoverythatvirginsdon’thave babies.From
the verybeginningof Jesus’humanlife,hiseternal Fathersethimapartas exceptional.The Gospel
writersdidn’tconcocta myth.Luke evenconsultedwithJesus’mother2
whoconfirmedthatJesus’birth
was supernatural. Inhismasterful work ThePerson of Christ,DonaldMacleodwrites:The virginbirthis
postedonguard at the door of the mysteryof Christmas;andnone of us mustthinkof hurryingpastit.It
standson the thresholdof the NewTestament,blatantlysupernatural,defyingourrationalism,
informingusthatall that follows belongstothe same orderas itself andthatif we finditoffensivethere
isno pointinproceedingfurther.
Thisvirginbirthmay seemtosome intoday’scontext,tobe blatantlysupernatural anddefyingour
rationalismand,sadly,afavorite targetof liberal attack.Critical scholarshave hada fielddaywiththe
virginbirth—oratleasttriedto.As theological institutionsdriftedleftinthe twentiethcentury,mocking
a literal virginbirthwasinvogue.But throughall that the virginbirthsurvivedthe myopichubrisof
modernism. Inarecentsurvey itwas foundthat79% of Americansbelieve inthe virginbirth,andeven
more surprisingly,27%of self-proclaimednon-Christiansbelievedinsame.
Therefore asChristiansitisimportantforusto know the significance of the virginbirth.Tobeginwith,it
highlightsthe supernatural.Onone endof Jesus’life lieshissupernatural conceptionandbirth;onthe
other,hissupernatural resurrectionandhisascensiontoGod’srighthand.Jesus’authenticitywas
attestedtoby the supernatural working…Godhimself. Secondly,the virginbirthshowsthathumanity
needsredeemingthatitcan’tbringabout foritself.The factthat the humanrace couldn’tproduce its
ownredeemerimpliesthatitssinandguiltare profoundandthat itssaviormustcome fromoutside.
Thirdly,inthe virginbirth,God’sinitiative isondisplay.The angel didn’taskMaryabout herwillingness.
He announced, “Behold,youwill conceiveinyour womb andbear a son,and youshall call his name
Jesus” (Luke 1:31). God didn’taskMary for permission.He acted—gentlybutdecisively—tosave his
people fromtheirsins aswe learnfrom Matthew 1:21, “She will give birthto a son, andyou are to give
himthe name Jesus,because he will save his peoplefrom their sins.”
The bible tellsus inLuke 1 of the backgroundto the virginBirthof Jesus aswe can read from Luke 1: 26 -
35: “
In the sixth monthof Elizabeth’s pregnancy,Godsent the angel Gabriel toNazareth, a town in
Galilee,27
toa virginpledged to be married to a man namedJoseph,a descendant ofDavid. The
virgin’snamewas Mary. 28
The angel went to her and said,“Greetings,youwho are highlyfavored!
The Lord iswith you.”29
Marywasgreatly troubledat his wordsand wondered what kindof greeting

2. this mightbe. 30
But the angel saidto her, “Do not be afraid,Mary; youhave foundfavor withGod.
31
Youwill conceive andgive birth to a son,and you are to call him Jesus. 32
He will be great andwill be
calledthe Sonof the Most High. The Lord Godwill givehim the throne of hisfather David, 33
and he
will reign over Jacob’sdescendantsforever; hiskingdomwill never end.” 34
“Howwill thisbe,” Mary
asked the angel,“sinceI ama virgin?”35
Theangel answered,“TheHoly Spirit will come on you,and
the power of the MostHigh will overshadowyou. Sothe holyone to be bornwill be called theSon of
God.”
Whene read of thisoccurrence as reportedin Matthew 1, we can learnthat the angel encourages
Josephtonot fearmarryingMary as we can learnfrom Matthew 1 :18 -21, “This ishow the birth of
Jesus the Messiahcame about: His mother Mary waspledged to be married to Joseph,but before they
came together, she was foundto be pregnant throughthe Holy Spirit. 19
BecauseJoseph her husband
was faithful tothe law, andyet didnot want to expose her to publicdisgrace,he hadin mindto
divorce her quietly.20
But after he hadconsideredthis, an angel of the Lord appeared to himin a
dream and said,“Josephsonof David,do not be afraidto take Mary home as your wife,because what
is conceivedin her is from the Holy Spirit. 21
She will give birthto a son, andyou are to givehim the
name Jesus,because he will save his peoplefrom their sins.”
From these passages,itiscertainlyclearthatJesus’birthwasthe resultof the HolySpiritworkingwithin
Mary’s body.The immaterial –the Spiritandthe material whichis Mary’swombwere bothinvolved.
Mary, of course,couldnotimpregnate herself,andinthatsense she wassimplya“vessel.”OnlyGod
couldperformthe miracle of the Incarnation. However,denyingaphysical connectionbetweenMary
and JesuswouldimplythatJesuswasnottrulyhuman.Scripture teachesthatJesuswasfullyhuman,
witha physical bodylike ours.ThisHe receivedfromMary.
At the same time,JesuswasfullyGod,withaneternal,sinlessnature:“TheWordbecamefleshand
made hisdwellingamongus. Wehave seen hisglory, the gloryof the one and onlySon,who came
from the Father, full ofgrace andtruth.” (John1:14). Jesuswasnotborn insin; thatis,He had no sin
nature as statedin Hebrews 7:26, “Sucha highpriest truly meets our need—onewho is holy,
blameless,pure, set apart fromsinners, exaltedabove the heavens.” It wouldseemthatthe sinnature
inhuman beingsare passeddown fromgenerationtogeneration aswe can readfrom Romans 5:12,
“Therefore, justas sin entered the worldthrough one man,and deaththrough sin,andin this way
death came to all people, becauseall sinned.”.The VirginBirthcircumventedthe transmissionof the
sinnature and allowedthe eternal Godtobecome aperfectman.