This is the day when men want to take the miraculous out of religion, God out of Christ, man out of sin, sin out of the world, and God out of heaven. In that context I want to stand 180 degrees at odds with that and re-affirm the historical/Biblical position concerning Jesus.
He is God residing in man’s body. He is perfect God and perfect man. While man may be created in the image of God with some of the characteristics of God; Jesus existed co-eternal, co-equal, face to face with God “in the beginning with God”, and took upon Himself the form of a man for a while.
The only new thing at the birth of Jesus was his body. He had always been alive. That is called incarnation.
Dr Stuart Hackett in his essay on “The Person of Christ”: “…this miraculous incarnation was accomplished historically through the work of the Holy Spirit in such a way that Jesus Christ derived His whole humanity from His mother Mary, entirely apart from the instrumentality of a male parent.”
In this message we want to examine that work of the Holy Spirit known as the virgin birth and its implications on the second birth which every believer experiences at conversion.
1. The Bible is clear on the virgin birth.
Dr’s Lindsell and Woodbridge in A Handbook of Christian Truth : “The miraculous birth of our Lord relates to the authority of the Word of God. The Bible clearly and specifically teaches the Virgin Birth. No serious question should arise with regard to interpretation here. Even the rankest infidel must confess that the Bible itself represents Jesus Christ as having been conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary. If one denies the Bible teaching on this subject he has rejected the authority of the Bible.”
Or to put it differently one may not believe in the virgin birth; but he may not do so saying Scripture does not support it.
Let’s look at the scripture: Matthew 1:18ff sets forth the history of the virgin birth.
In v.18 “…before they came together” again v.18 “…child of the Holy Ghost”
In v.20 “…for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost”
In v. 23 (from Isaiah 7:14) “…a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel…”
2. The virgin birth affirms the deity of Christ and qualifies Him as Saviour of the world.
Mat. 1:23 affirms that the one brought forth by “the” virgin will be known as “God with us.” Note that Immanuel is a characterization not a name
The savior had to be sinless not only in life but in original inherited sin, or else he would be dying for His own sins.
Mendel’s law: “Every individual is the sum total of the characteristics, recessive or dominant, in its two immediate progenitors.” (i.e., nothing in the person that was not present in the parents, and everything which was in the parents is in the offspring.)
Some recessive and some dominant.
So: Man(Mary) plus man (Joseph) = man
If Jesus' mother were deity then: God plus God = God
But man (Mary) plus God (the HS) = God/man.
Dr. Herschel Hobbes: “In order for Jesus to be the Saviour of the world, he had to be virgin-born. He must himself be free from sin, not only actual but inherited sin. And every naturally born man possesses inherited sin. A brief glance at Genesis will substantiate this contention. When Eve sinned, she died, but the race did not die. It was not until Adam sinned that the race died. (1Co 15:22) The transmission of original sin, therefore, was through Adam and, thus through man. In the light of this we may understand God’s promise that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. (Gen 3:15). That prophecy could not be realized, then, until there was born of a virgin a child who was conceived by the Holy Spirit. (Luke 1:35).”
So “seed of woman”, not seed of man; and thus out of the sin line.
**Interesting it is that some struggle with the virgin birth who would not question “the sinless life of Jesus.” Quite honestly living in our kind of world, I find that living a sinless life is not less a spiritual miracle than the virgin birth is a physical miracle.
The virgin birth is the physical bridge of the incarnation.
**Dr. Wayne Ward in one of his sermons tells the story of a conversation with Abou, a Muslim, in the holy land. Having witnessed to the man about Jesus, the man responds in classic fashion: “You call him God….we call him Allah…You believe He sent his prophet Jesus, we believe in his prophet Mohammed.”
Dr. Ward: “No Abou, you’ve misunderstood us Christians. We believe that Allah has come down!”
To which his Muslim friend quietly replied, “Oh, if only it could be true.”
3. The virgin birth makes room for our “New Birth.”
B.H. Carroll, in Commentary on the Four Gospels: “In explanation of the way a virgin can become a mother, Luke’s angel says to Mary, (1:35) “And the angel answered and said unto her, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”
Muslims repel at the thought of God having sexual intercourse with Mary. Rightly so. That is not what Scripture teaches.
Mat 1:20 “…for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.”
One might say, “I don’t understand the mechanics of the Virgin Birth.”
Of course not; there are no mechanics. It is spiritual. I mean it is a supernatural act of the Spirit of God.
It doesn’t help to clinical virgin births in lower forms of life. We are talking miracle here!
The mystery is explainable only in terms of the supernatural….God though the Holy Spirit breaking into the physical realm.
The whole realm of the supernatural is raised in a look at the virgin birth. The Christian faith has at it heart the supernatural. I do not want to be overly dogmatic, but I declare to you that you will never be a Christian, you will never experience the new birth if you cannot believe in the supernatural.
And Oh, how we need the supernatural. Our greatest needs can only thus be met.
In Genesis 1:2…”The spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters”…and creation began.
In Luke 1:35…The Holy Spirit came upon Mary and the Christ was conceived…a new creation was begun.
In Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost the same Holy Spirit came to dwell within believers enabling a a whole new way of life.
That same Holy Spirit broods over us that we might be miraculously born from above, born anew, supernaturally become New Creatures in Christ, sons and daughters of God destined for heaven.
The virgin birth, and the death and resurrection of the virgin born Son opened to us the potential for life anew, and life forever in the presence of our heavenly Father, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So at Christmas we talk of miracles and angels and God loving and giving and the possibility of things new for us…..and take joy in our supernatural salvation. (1251 Words)
