Messiah: Born of a Virgin

“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. NKJV). “Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: ‘Behold a virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us.’ “ (Matthew 1:22-23. NKJV).

Messiah – born of a virgin! How important is this truth? We cannot put a weight to it, but can know that it was God’s way of entering finite life with His “only begotten son.” The prophecy was made in Isaiah when King Ahaz of Judah was about to make an alliance with Assyrian kings which was displeasing to the Lord. Ahaz refused to ask the Lord for a sign, as he should have. But God gave a sign anyway: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” It would seem that the child would be born shortly so He could grow up to defend the nation of Israel at a crucial time. Again, God had other plans in mind. It would be over 700 years before a virgin would conceive of the Holy Spirit and bear a son who would free His people—not from an aggressive enemy in war—but from the curse of sin.

Our Catholic friends have a term for the virgin birth: ‘immaculate conception.’ That which was conceived in Mary was not by human means of intercourse, for Mary had not known a man. She was chosen and ordained by God to be the mother of the Son of God. For centuries, as the word of the anticipated virgin birth was spread from generation to generation, each young Jewish maiden as she matured to the time in her life when she became a “virgin,”(that is, from the Hebrew word ‘alma’—meaning girl or young woman of child-bearing age) wondered if she would be the one selected for the mission of bearing God’s chosen child. It is noteworthy that when the New Testament writers, Matthew and Luke, recorded Mary’s conception, they used the Greek term parthenos which means a young woman of child-bearing and marriageable age, but one who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. Knowing what we know of human biology and the formation of a fetus, the conception of Jesus without a human father seems impossible. But as God told Mary when she questioned the message she heard from the angel: “Nothing is impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37). “The virgin birth was God’s chosen way to become incarnate; the invisible, spiritual God became human.” (Clair M. Crissey. Comments on “Matthew,” in The Disciple’s Study Bible. Nashville: Holman. c1988. p. 1170). We must take the virgin birth on faith. We cannot explain it. It is a marvelous miracle showing the exception to the natural order of conception. We accept the truth of the Holy Spirit’s action and Mary’s willingness to be ‘the handmaiden of the Lord.’ God kept His promise and sent us the Savior. Amen!

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Friday, December 24, 2010