(I gave this message Sunday December 18, 2016 at Faith Presbyterian Church (EPC) in Pembroke Pines Florida)
The Bible
teaches that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin named Mary. Some reject the
Biblical account of the virgin birth denying that it is historical fact. For
example, they consider it to be a "legendary
development of the early church." In other words, it is a fable rather
than historical event.
Patrick
Campbell, author of The Mythical Jesus and Episcopal Bishop J.
S. Spong suggest that, "...the
virgin birth account [is a]...clearly recognized mythological element in our
faith tradition whose
purpose was not to describe a literal event but to capture the transcendent
dimensions of God in the earthbound words and concepts of first-century human
beings."
In other
words they argue, it is not important that Mary was a virgin. What is important is the
message such a myth conveys to us about God. This explanation often springs from
a naturalistic presupposition that rules out the possibility of anything
supernatural. The virgin birth of Jesus Christ is rejected not because of
insufficient evidence, but because of the belief that miracles are impossible.
When you
rule out miracles, you are making an unwarranted philosophical assumption. The
only way you can rule out the existence of miracles is by proving that there is
no reality outside of the natural world. Ultimately, whether or not your
philosophical presuppositions allow for the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, it
remains the clear teaching of the Scriptures.
Explore
with me what the Bible teaches about the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, and the implications
that follow from it.
First of
all, what do we know about the virgin birth? The virgin birth of Jesus Christ
was prophesied. There are about 60 Old Testament prophecies of the coming
Messiah Jesus Christ written
hundreds of years before His birth. Isaiah's prophesy of the virgin birth was
made about seven hundred years in advance.
"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 ESV)
But God's plan for salvation through Jesus
Christ was put into motion even before that. According
to Ephesians 1:4a, 5a, "...he chose us in him before the foundation of the
world...In love
he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ." (ESV) Back
before time as we know it, in the timelessness of eternity, God had established
His plan of salvation through Jesus Christ that was carried out, as we shall
see, through the virgin birth of the Savior.
But
secondly, the virgin birth of Jesus Christ was explained. As we read earlier in
Luke 1:26-38, it is no wonder that Mary's first spoken response to the angel
was "How can this be...since I am a virgin?" After all It is safe to
assume that if anyone should know whether or not Mary was a virgin, it would be
Mary!
It is
possible that Mary received the angel's reply with mixed feelings, while at the
same time being
relieved that the angel gave her an explanation as to how she would become
pregnant. She might
have pondered, however, how widely this explanation would be accepted. You can
imagine the dilemma Mary found herself in.
Her mind
must have been swirling with unanswered questions. How could she explain it to
her parents? How would she explain it to Joseph to whom she was engaged to be
married? How would she explain this to her neighbors? How many who heard the
story of the angel would believe such an explanation?
She saw
the angel and heard his message. She then faced this dilemma; do I believe the
angel's explanation and act accordingly? There is a sense in which we face that
very same dilemma. Do I believe the angel's explanation and act accordingly? True,
none of us personally saw nor heard the angel as Mary did. But we have the
witness of Luke's gospel that claims to be a
historical account of what she had seen and heard.
The
gospel of Luke was written by Luke the physician. He wrote it to a man by the
name of Theophilus. Listen to what Luke writes at the very beginning of his
gospel account.
"In
as much as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have
been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were
eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed
good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write
an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have
certainty concerning the things you have been taught." (Luke 1:1-4 ESV)
Luke
makes it clear to Theophilus at the outset that he had done his homework. He
had carefully researched the events of which he was writing. The accuracy and
trustworthiness of his
account was of paramount importance to Luke as an author and historian. Luke
was writing to us as well. Today we have the witness of this document. We have
no reason to doubt
the credibility or authenticity of Luke's account of the angel's appearance to
Mary. We have
the same opportunity that presented itself to Mary to believe or not believe the
angel's words and ultimately all the critics down through the ages face the
same question.
Aside
from the issue of historical evidence and the credibility of witnesses and
sources, the real issue is uncovered by the last six words of the angel to
Mary, "For nothing is impossible with God." That is ultimately all
Mary needed to hear. Sure, she had seen and heard the angel, but did
he speak the truth?
In her
second response to the angel we see into the heart of Mary, verse 38, "I
am the Lord's servant...May it be to me as you have said." That says it all! That God had spoken settled
it for Mary! Please don't underestimate the faith of this young teenager. If
"faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see"
as the writer to the Hebrews wrote, then she was faced with a great challenge
of her faith.
Today we
are still trying to figure out how God's Holy Spirit impregnated a virgin. It
still remains a mystery after all these years. But for Mary, all that mattered
was that God was in it. It was
God's design. It was God's doing. It was God's will. It was part of God's plan
for the salvation of a nation and the world.
God had
chosen a very unlikely method to make a personal appearance into our world, Intervening
in the life of a young teenage virgin from an obscure village in Palestine. Whether
she grasped the eternal consequence of this event at that very moment or not, there is
a simplicity to her response that instructs each of us living two thousand
years later; a
submissive trust in God's revelation; an acceptance of the explanation given.
A virgin
will be with child because God the Holy Spirit would reach down and touch her
womb implanting
everything necessary for her to give birth to the God Man, the Messiah and
Savior, who would
bring salvation to a lost world.
How do
you respond to God's invitation to be His channel of blessing? What is your
reaction to God's
tap on the shoulder? "Would you serve me over there?" "Would you
be my instrument in so and so's life?" Would you reach that neighbor next
door who is without Christ?" Mary's words, "I am the Lord's servant, may
it be as you have said" should
be the response off each of us when He speaks to us.
How could
Mary respond with such -- almost resignation? There was hesitation at first,
verse 34, Mary asking, "How will this be...since I am a virgin?" But it
was resolved after Gabriel's response, verses 34-35, "The Holy Spirit will
come upon you, and the power of the Most High will
overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God."
Thirdly,
notice that the virgin birth of Jesus was fulfilled. As we read in Matthew 1:18-25
the miracle birth happened just as it had been prophesied. Matthew records the
historical account of the virgin Mary giving birth to a child who was the Son
of God. And notice that Matthew sees this as the fulfillment of Isaiah's
prophecy that we noted earlier. This is significant because of the audience to
whom Matthew wrote.
If you
compare Matthew's introduction to his gospel to that of Luke you see two
different audiences. As we have noted Luke was writing to Theophilus, in all
likely hood a Gentile, while Matthew wrote to a Jewish audience.
So
Matthew begins his account of the life of Jesus with a genealogy. He
demonstrates that Jesus Christ was from the house of David as the prophets had
prophesied. And he narrates the story from the vantage point of Joseph rather
than Mary as he speaks of prophesy being fulfilled.
There are
over 500 specific prophesies in the Old Testament regarding Jesus' birth, life,
death and resurrection, some of them made 2000 years before His birth. It was
prophesied that He would be an ancestor of Abraham; He would be from the tribe
of Judah, specifically from the house of David. Matthew shows the fulfillment of
this in his introductory genealogy. But, there is further significance attached
to the virgin birth of Jesus. It declares to us in unambiguous terms who Jesus
was! It helps us understand that Jesus Christ was both fully God and fully man,
in other words, God incarnate.
Notice
secondly how the virgin birth explains four things about Jesus Christ. First of
all, the virgin birth explains Jesus' pre-existence. The Bible makes the claim that
Jesus Christ existed before His incarnation. In other words, before Jesus was
conceived in the womb of His mother Mary He existed. John's gospel makes this
very clear. Speaking of Jesus Christ he writes, "In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the
beginning." (John 1:1-2 ESV) The Son existed with the Father and the Holy
Spirit in His pre-incarnate state.
The
apostle Paul, explains it in this way "...who, though he was in the form
of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself
nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men." (Philippians 2:6-7 ESV)
The
virgin birth was the means by which God revealed the second person of the
Trinity, the Son of God, to mankind. God became flesh and blood, through the
virgin birth. The virgin birth was the
means by which God could enter our space and time dimension to become one of
us.
Secondly,
the virgin birth explains His humanity. How
could God who is Spirit become a man? He chose to
do it through the virgin birth. That is another reason the virgin birth is so significance
to us. It is the means God chose to become one of us, sharing in our humanity while
at the same time remaining God. That is what incarnation means, to be in the
flesh. God was incarnate, became a man with flesh and blood through the virgin
birth. Matthew quotes the prophecy from Isaiah that we noted earlier, writing, "They
shall call his name 'Immanuel (which
means, God with us)." (Matthew 1:23 ESV)
The
Apostle Paul writes, "He [that is God] was manifested in the flesh..."
(1 Timothy 3:16 ESV) The incarnation was indispensable to God's plan of
salvation. If Jesus had not become a human being, He could not have died on the
cross in our place. He had to become one of us before He could die for us. This
is at the very core of the Gospel. Jesus could not have died a substitutionary
death on the cross without the incarnation.
The efficacy
of the cross hinged on Jesus' identification with man's humanity through His
incarnation. Without incarnation there is no means of justification. C. S.
Lewis has written, "The
Son of God became a man so that men could become the sons of God." (ESV)
Hebrews
10:10, "...we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of
Jesus Christ once for
all." As Pastor Maurice Irvin said, "A measure of His sufficiency as
Savior rests upon the reality of His humanity." ("Alliance Life",
pg. 8 , 12-14-94)
The author
of Hebrews has written, "Since therefore the children share in flesh and
blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he
might destroy the one who has the power of death that is the devil, and deliver
all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For
surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore
he had to be made like his brother in every respect, so that he might become a
merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for
the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is
able to help those who are being tempted." (Hebrews 2:14-18 ESV)
Max
Lucado, in his book God Came Near,
writes, "Let him be as human as he intended to be. Let him
into the mire and muck of our world. For only if we let him in can he pull us
out."
How
serious is the denial of Jesus' incarnation? Pastor Rusty Lee Thomas writes, "The
denial of the incarnation is what actually constitutes the dreadful designation
the Bible calls Anti-Christ. Any
person, religion or philosophy that denies Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is
Anti-Christ."
1 John
4:2-3, "...every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the
flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from
God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now
is in the world already." (ESV)
But the
humanity of Jesus Christ was also necessary that He might both sympathize with us
and intercede for us. "Since we have a great high priest who has passed
through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For
we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weakness, but
one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us
then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive
mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:14-16 ESV)
Jesus can
sympathize with us because he shared in our humanity. He understands what it is
like to be tempted. He understands our struggles as human beings. This was
possible because He was born of a virgin becoming a man with flesh and blood
like ours. And as our high priest, he can intercede on our behalf as one who
identifies with out weaknesses.
Thirdly,
note the virgin birth explains Jesus' sinless nature. As we just read in Hebrews
4:15 Jesus was one "...who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet
without sin." John refers to Him as "Jesus
Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1 ESV)
Peter declared, "He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his
mouth." (1 Peter 1:22 ESV)
If Jesus
had committed even one sin, He could not have died a substitutionary death for
our sin. But as the angel told Joseph, as was read earlier, "...that which is conceived in her is
from the Holy Spirit. She shall bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for
he will save his people from their sins." (Matthew 1:20b-21 ESV)
Lastly, the
virgin birth explains His Deity. As we read earlier, "The Holy Spirit will
come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, therefore
the child will be called holy-- the Son of God." (Luke 1:35, ESV) Therein
lies the secret of Isaiah calling Him Immanuel, "God
with us" (Matthew 1:23) There is no
other explanation to God becoming man. It is a mystery difficult to explain but
clearly spoken of in the Scriptures.
Jesus'
own testimony, John 10:30, "I and the Father are one." (ESV) John
chapter 14:9, "Whoever
has seen me has seen the Father. " and verse 11, "Believe me that I
am in the Father and the Father is in me."
Colossians
1:15, "He is the image of the invisible God..." verse 19 "For in
him all the fullness of God is
pleased to dwell." Hebrews 1:3, "He is the radiance of the glory of
God and the exact imprint of his nature."
The
virgin birth explains Jesus Christ's pre-existence, His humanity, His sinless
nature and his Deity. To what end? Jesus Christ became a man to save us from the
penalty of our sin. Paul put it this way, "By sending his own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order
that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk
not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." (Romans 8:3
ESV)
Let me
close with this illustration. In his book, The
Lotus and the Cross, Ravi Zacharias creates an imaginary conversation
between Jesus and Buddha.as they take a ride on a boat. In that conversation he
also includes a young woman named Priya.
In the
prologue of his book, Ravi states that Priya's character was based on a
newspaper report he read while on a visit to Asia. At the age of seventeen, Priya
left her parents and village and moved to the city to find work. By the age of
twenty three she was working as a full-time prostitute; had given birth to an
illegitimate child; and contracted AIDS but continued her trade putting her
clients at risk. She attempted suicide several times, and according to the news
account was finally successful having poisoned herself and set her house on
fire. Before beginning the imaginary conversation between Jesus, Buddha and
Priya, Ravi asks this question, "What,
Lord Jesus, would you have said to Priya, had she brought her decrepit body and
aching heart to you?"
In that
conversation between Jesus and Buddha among other things, Jesus contrasts what
He can offer Priya with what Buddha can offer her. As you can imagine the
contrast is significant. Towards
the end of the conversation Priya realizes that her salvation lies beyond
herself. Listen to some of the closing dialogue between Jesus and Priya as the
book comes to an end. It
captures the significance of Jesus coming into our world through the virgin
birth as we have noted this morning.
Priya: So
… I cannot bring salvation to myself?
Jesus:
No, Priya. Salvation is from above.
Priya:
May I … may I ask about myself, here? What then happens to all the evil that I
lived with in the past, if I cannot do anything about it?
Jesus: I
have paid for it, Priya. I have paid for it. Old things can pass away and I can
make all things new. I took the evil and suffering of this world. I bore it on
my body. I carried your heartaches and your sorrows so that you can remove the
weight of wrong and put it on my shoulders. I came into the world to bear those
very sins. You may be like a lotus seedling still
submerged under the water; someone else may be a full-grown plant. It makes no difference.
The Cross is for everyone who thirsts for forgiveness and for eternal life. A
child can come to me, as can the most learned. There is only one way….
Priya: So
you’re telling me that as I place my trust in you, I can go back to my room
knowing that I’ve been completely forgiven?
Jesus:
I’m telling you more than that. Though this body of yours will die, you will
rise again and live forever, because I rose from the dead and offer eternal
life to everyone who believes in me…."
In his Epilogue
Ravi continues, 'Jesus Christ came to give us a life of fullness, not
detachment, a life
that will be eternal, not impermanent. His name is Jesus, the Scriptures say, because
He saves us from our sins. His name is also Emmanuel — God with us. He is
called Wonderful Counselor, Almighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of
Peace.
Priya
died feeling orphaned by this world — she needed a Father. She died overwhelmed
with questions — He is the Wonderful Counselor. She died distraught — He is the
Prince of Peace. She died
alone — He is Emmanuel, God with us. He promised never to leave us or forsake
us. Jesus is
who Priya needed. In that sense, He was very much in that boat and is not far
from any of us. That each one of us can know Him is not a stretch of the
imagination."
In this
Christmas season, there is no question I can ask you, more important than this
-- do you know the Jesus Priya never knew? If not, today you can respond while
there is still time. The Gospel would call you to repent of your sin and
believe in the Jesus of Christmas and follow Him.
It was
because God became one of us through the virgin birth, that Paul could write
the Romans, "God shows his love for us in that while we were still
sinners, Christ died for us."
(Romans 8:8 ESV)
© James P McGarvey, All
Rights Reserved
