Do You Believe In The Virgin Birth?

Do You Believe In The Virgin Birth?

 

Good Morning Friends,

 

New Testament scripture says that the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and call His name Emmanuel, which means with us the God. But there are those in the church today who want us to think that it is not necessary to believe in the virgin birth. The Hebrew word from Isaiah they say, could just as easily mean young woman. And that is true, but the full understanding of the word would then be, a young woman of marriageable age. Regardless, Matthew is clear that this woman is the woman. The meaning is emphatic, leading us away from any other mother than the virgin Mary, and any other god than the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The young woman of Isaiah who would bear a son called Immanuel, God with us, was prophetic regardless not ultimately in King Ahaz’s queen bearing the good King Hezekiah, nor in the larger sense of Zion bearing the remnant, but in the stream of holy history of Mary bearing Jesus the Savior. Still, Do You Believe In The Virgin Birth?

 

Scripture: A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear; but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist, and faithfulness the belt around his loins. The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.

 

Isaiah 11:1-10 (NRSV)

 

At that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” Then turning to the disciples, Jesus said to them privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”

 

Luke 10:21-24 (NRSV)

 

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.

 

Isaiah 7:14 (NRSV)

 

“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.”

 

Matthew 1:23 (NRSV)

 

Message: The drama of today’s question is more important than we may at first realize, especially this time of year, for culture will certainly raise the question again before December 25 claiming the belief in the virgin birth to be intellectual dimness on the part of Christians. Some will say that belief in the virgin birth is optional for it is taught in only two of the four Gospels. But if that is the standard then all sorts of other items would have to be cheapened and the Gospel of Luke on this subject would be thrown out. The problem is that if we disregard God’s miraculous entrance into humanity in the flesh we also somehow discount Jesus’ exit from earth in the miracle of the resurrection and ascension. The meaning is important but so also is the history. If we deny the virgin birth we in a way deny Jesus as the Christ. For if Jesus is not all man and all God our belief system falls apart. And if Jesus was fathered by an earthly man, the question becomes which man and the risk of beginning to believe that Jesus was just another human in the long list of humans unfolds. The thing is that the virgin birth explains how Christ could be both God and man. Without it we surrender the authority of scripture and undermine Christ’s nature as the incarnation of God. What we believe and how we think matters. Friends, God does things because they are necessary or because they are fitting. As I meditate on this topic this morning, it seems that God may have done it another way though I am not clear as to what that way would have been, and so, the virgin birth may not be necessary for Christ’s divinity but it sure seems to be the best way, in fact the perfect way to bring about the incarnation and to set the stage for us to be born again.

 

Pray we realize that the Virgin Birth was not a spectacle or medical oddity but a miracle. Pray we realize that the virgin birth is not now nor has ever been irrelevant. Pray we realize that the story of Christ is not only reserved for Christians and that it may well be likely that more Muslims believe in the virgin birth than those claiming to be Christians. Pray
the Spirit of the LORD be a source of God’s thoughts in us. Pray the Spirit of Wisdom enable us to think God’s thoughts after Him. Pray the Spirit of Understanding helps us to understand His thoughts. Pray the Spirit of Counsel helps us choose the right course for godliness. Pray the Spirit of Strength empowers us to do God’s will in our lives. Pray the Spirit of Knowledge sees God’s thoughts manifested in our lives. Pray the Spirit of the Fear of the LORD prompts in us a reverent walking in His way. Pray for all those confused people claiming to be Christian, yet not believing.

 

Blessings,

 

John Lawson