“Therefore, the
Lord Himself shall give you a sign, Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a
son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” –Isaiah 7:14 (ESV).
Belief in the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus
Christ is a central doctrine of the Christian faith. Often called the “immaculate conception,” it
refers to the miraculous conception of Jesus Christ without a human
father. The child of Almighty God,
conceived of the Holy Spirit, the birth of Jesus by Mary was God’s way of
bringing His Son into the world for His own special purpose, to save the people
from sin. Immanuel—meaning ‘God with
us,’ means that God came in human flesh, apart from the normal procedure of
human generation, because He existed before Mary, the virgin who bore Him.
When Matthew writes of the
fulfillment of this prophecy, he places emphasis upon the name, Immanuel, as
Isaiah had done when he wrote his prophetic words about the coming birth. But Matthew tells of how Mary was betrothed
to Joseph, and before their marriage was consummated, she was found to be with
child by the Holy Spirit. What to do in
the situation was revealed to Joseph by an angel of the Lord in a dream. He was assured that it was the will of God
for him to marry Mary and to name the son she would bear Immanuel—God with
us. (See Matthew 1:18-23).
Knowing the prophecy of the
coming of Messiah, many Hebrew young ladies wondered if they would be the one
to bear this special person from the Lord.
Why was it important that the Lord come as a baby, by virgin birth? God took His abode among men in the person of
Jesus Christ, born of a virgin. In order
to become the propitiation for sins, Jesus had to be the perfect sacrifice—born
not in the usual manner but of a virgin, He lived a life in complete obedience
to God’s will, and His atonement then was a perfect, unblemished
sacrifice. John 3:16 tells of the reason
for His birth: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
(KJV). Bert Dominy writes of Christ’s
coming into the world: “Christ, the last
Adam, represents a new race of people.
These are the people who have been saved from sin. Where Adam failed, Christ succeeded. Those who belong to Christ through faith
belong to the new humanity He created” (Holman
Bible Dictionary. Nashville: Broadman, 1991, p. 130).
Prayer. God, because nothing is impossible with You,
Jesus Christ, Immanuel, God with us, came into the world. He went about His work, setting an example
with every deed, teaching and action of how You want us to live. But He did what no one else could do. He laid down his life for mankind as a
sacrifice for sin. Anyone who puts
his/her own name at “whosoever” in John 3:16 and believes in Christ can know
Your forgiveness and restoration. Praise be to God! Amen.
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