Born of a Virgin

One of the mysteries of Christmas is what we call the “virgin birth.” Jesus was born of Mary but not of Joseph. The Bible proclaims this in Matthew 1:23, “‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’--which means, ‘God with us.’” Joseph later became the adopted and legal father of Jesus but he was not his biological father. This is strange. We wonder: how was it, then, that a virgin became pregnant? The Bible again provides the answer in Luke 1:35, “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.” The child born outside the inn was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary – a puzzling miracle! But so what? Does any of this matter? I thought Christmas was about giving and sacrifice, so what does this extraordinary conception have to do with it? Well, this miracle is God’s wonderful gift to us and tremendous sacrifice for us! Without it, Christmas would be nothing. The child Jesus grew up, of course, to be a man. Being a child of his mother Mary, He was in every way human. Jesus is one with us! But being a child of his heavenly Father, He was in every way also God! Jesus is one with God! The gift here is that is that God sent His precious and eternal Son to be born a human through Mary. Jesus is uniquely God-with-us! God entered the human race and joined us in our human plight. All the weaknesses we feel, He felt. All the temptations we face, He faced. All the corruption of this world we cry over, He cried over. All the suffering we endure, He endured – and yet He did it all without ever sinning! Being both human and divine, Jesus could experience human life in all its fragility and yet never break a commandment of God. Thought it was a great struggle, His divine nature gave Him the power to resist sin. He faced sin, He faced evil, He even faced the devil himself and yet He never caved in. He never did the easy thing like we do but He did the hard thing by loving His God and loving His neighbour perfectly.

And at the end He died a sinner’s death on the cross. That’s the great sacrificial gift that began at Christ’s birth! As the God-Man, Jesus was appointed substitute for us. He took our place on the cross of shame and God accepted His death instead of ours. Christmas is so special and wonderful because through the virgin birth Jesus could and did become our Saviour! Our guilt is taken away and we have peace with God! We need only trust in Him and follow Him with all our hearts.

Come, celebrate Christmas this year by worshiping Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He gave you His all - now give Him your all!