Jesus – Born of a Virgin
The incarnation of Jesus is the greatest fact of all time and the foundation of the Christian faith. For apart from the virgin birth, there could be no true incarnation, and without the incarnation and virgin birth the Bible becomes simply a legend. The Virgin birth was essential for the following reasons:
First – The virgin birth was a miracle for people to believe.
Rejecting all supernatural things, modern Bible critics commonly reject the idea of the virgin birth as without merit for the secular mind. But the Lord gave the prediction in the Old Testament seven hundred years earlier about the coming of the Messiah: “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). Jesus’s birth was an exact fulfillment of that prophecy.
“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law” (Galatians 4:4). God brought His Son into the world, having prepared for Him a body (Hebrews 10:5), through the virgin Mary who got conceived by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:23).
Thus, God used supernatural signs and miracles to build the faith of His children (Deuteronomy 10:21; John 21:25; Mark 16:17-20). In fact, the entire plan of salvation was a miracle, or a “mystery” from Jesus birth to His Resurrection and Ascension (Romans 16:25; Ephesians 1:9; 3:9; Colossians 1:27; 2:2; Revelation 10:7).
Firstly, it is a mystery that the holy God could love fallen men (John 3:16; Romans 5:8). And second, it was a mystery that infinite wisdom could devise a plan whereby mercy might be united with justice (Psalms 85:10) so as to fulfill the just claims of God’s law and at the same time redeem the sinner from its penalty (John 3:16; Romans 6:23).
It is a miracle that man, who is naturally hostile to God (Romans 8:7), can have peace with Him (Romans 5:1). It is a miracle that Jesus can deliver man from the bondage death (Romans 7:24; 8:1, 2), and empower him to live a perfect life in harmony with the divine character (Romans 8:3, 4). It is a miracle that a man can be converted (John 3:3–9), that an imperfect man (Rom. 3:23) can be changed (Romans 12:2) by the grace of Christ into a perfect man (Matthew 5:48) and become a son of God (1 John 3:1–3).
The virgin birth, the perfect life, the vicarious death, the glorious resurrection of Jesus, are all mysteries to the human mind. The Christian religion has great mysteries of the plan of salvation, for God’s redeeming love is itself the greatest of all mysteries.
Second – The virgin birth was the means by which the incarnation was accomplished.
The New Testament, stressed the incarnation and the union of divinity with humanity as the great central fact in the birth of Jesus. For the incarnation was the means by which Jesus became a man. God the Son always existed (John 8:58, 10:30). But at the appointed time, God the Son took on a human body (John 1:14) and came down to earth. Thus, in the flesh, Jesus Christ was fully God (John 1:1-3) and fully man (v. 14), yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15).
The concept of the deity of Jesus Christ is consistent with the virgin birth. And the apostle Paul wrote, “who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:6–8 also Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:1–9; etc.).
In His service,
BibleAsk Team
