Category Archives: Virgin Birth
Understanding the Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ! Part 3 Getting Paul’s Input!
(Ver 1.2) This is now Part 3 of a series of lessons on the importance of believing in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. I have been attempting to give you some new spiritual Bible perspectives into the identity of the Son that was born to the woman Mary and the importance of us believing that she was a virgin. Too many people today who call themselves, Christians have an opinion that Paul never wrote about the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, so they therefore try to conclude that it did not happen, or was not important or maybe even try to stretch to say that Paul didn’t believe in it at all. All of these are just people who are deceived into believing a lie from the enemy. If you have not read this series from the beginning, I would strongly suggest that you go back and read starting with “Part 1”.
While Paul may not have written directly about the virgin birth, that does certainly does not mean he did not believe in it. Nor does it mean that Paul did not write about the virgin birht indirectly using words that are dependent upon the existence of the virgin birth in order to be viewed as the truth. There are literally too many ways to say something without saying somthing directly to say that Paul never understood that the virgin birth was a basic truth. I personally believe that Paul was sent by God to teach the advanced revelation of other truths found in the Bible. Most of these truths could not possibly be true without the existence of the virgin birth so the virgin birth is implied in the writings while never being directly mentioned. Let’s start by analyzing some verses that speak about Jesus and see what they say about him.
Rom 1:3 Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;
There are at least two implied references to the virgin birth of Jesus in this verse written by Paul. Either people do not know how to read or they just do not know what to look for when searching for scriptures on this subject. To say Paul never wrote anything about the virgin birth is denying the original author of the Bible. God uttered the words, and men wrote them down. God is the author of the entire Bible and He says plenty about the virgin birth. In this verse in Romans 1:3 Jesus Christ is called the Son of God. Doesn’t that imply or mean Jesus didn’t have a natural father? So how did He get here and who was He born from? People obviously see what they want to see in the Bible and ignore what they do not want to see in the Bible. Then this verse tells us that “according to the flesh” Jesus was “made” of the seed of David. To be made something is an implied creative act of God. Anything that God creates He has made. So what does that tell us? That means Jesus didn’t come into the world, the natural way like you and me. What we have is an indirect reference to the virgin birth being revealed to us. We have Jesus who came according to flesh as being the Son of David, but according to Spirit, He was the Son of God. How can this be if it was not from a virgin birth? This represents the physical and spiritual union of God and the woman Mary and the result was a man named Jesus Christ.
Rom 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
Anytime Paul writes about Jesus Christ being the Son of God, He is inferring the existence of the virgin birth. Anytime Paul writes that God came in the flesh, he infers the virgin birth. Jesus Christ, who was God, took on the likeness of sinful flesh in order to condemn sin in the flesh. We again see a clear reference to God’s union with the woman Mary to produce the physical man Jesus Christ. It is interesting to think that the Bible says “God is not a man that He should lie, nor the Son of Man that He should repent”. But, yet God becomes a man and a Son of Man. That is a perplexing mystery that causes vast numbers of Jewish people to reject Jesus Christ. You see when Jesus was on the earth in the flesh, He came to John the Baptist and told him to baptize Him. Why did Jesus do this? John was baptizing people for the remissions of sins, yet Jesus had not committed any sins. John tells Jesus in the 3rd chapter of Matthew that he needed to be baptized of Jesus and Jesus tells him do this to me to satisfy all righteousness. Jesus who was God in the flesh, was baptized of John for the “repentance of sin” (Mat 3:11). After John baptized Jesus, the Bible says that the Holy Spirit descended from heaven in the form of a dove and God spoke out of heaven in a thundering voice and said “This is my son, in who I am well pleased”. So why didn’t God do this before Jesus was baptized by John? I think that is a really good question. Perhaps you can read some of my other blogs and get some clues to what happened, but for now let’s continue with the virgin birth:
1Ti 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
You see again that Paul writes a simple statement that God was “manifested” in the flesh. If this is not a clear reference to the virgin birth, then what is it? How did God come to be here in the flesh? The term “manifested” again refers to being “made” in the flesh. So how do you make babies? How does a Spirit being make babies? It is certainly not the same way that you do it. We know that God is a Spirit. We also know God is omnipotent. So how would omnipotent God become a man legally on this planet? I believe that He gets a virgin woman to agree with the plan and to believe that she will have His son. Isn’t it funny how Mary’s response to the angel of God was “Be unto me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). Mary obviously believed it would happen to her even before it happened to her. That sounds a lot like someone with faith, someone who believed, and someone in partnership with God. Because Mary believed the words of God, she received the word and He became flesh inside of her.
Gal 4:23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
Those that claim Paul never wrote about the virgin birth are clearly ignorant and foolish. This verse in Galatians compares two sons born of Abraham. The first is called him that is “born after the flesh” and the other one is called “the promised son”. As you recall Abraham was given the slave woman Hagar to have a child by his wife because Sarah was barren and he did. That is called the child after the flesh. This son however never received the blessing of the firstborn since Sarah miraculously conceived the promised child. While this was not a virgin birth by any stretch of the imagination, it was clearly a miraculous birth for a 90 year old woman to give birth to a son. So what is God saying to us? I believe that God is giving us a prophetic view of the virgin birth. You see Isaac was born in a supernatural way and this is a type of the birth of Christ who was born in a supernatural way. These were just types and shadows of another son that was promised. Jesus Christ’s birth was also prophesied to be a miraculous conception by the type of Sarah and Abraham having the son Isaac. However, Jesus’ birth is a much greater miracle than that of Isaac.
Heb 5:5 So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee.
Again we see Paul writing to the Hebrews and he says a prophetic quote from God “Thou art my Son, today have I begotten thee”. The Greek word that is translated as “begotten”, means to “procreate as of the Father“. What does the term “procreate” mean? To procreate means to bring forth offspring or children. It can also mean to “conceive”, to be “born” or “to give birth”. Anyone with any brains at all can figure out what he is talking about. If God is the Father and Mary is the natural mother, then how did God get this woman pregnant? It wasn’t the natural way. We have already seen very specific scripture that the Holy Ghost caused this to happen and that Mary was a young girl that had never known a man. So it is very clear to me that Paul believed in the virgin birth and thought it was a critical piece of information to learn. In other words it was a foundational part of his theology and his belief system.
Heb 1:5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?
What we have is another witness to the fact that Jesus Christ is “begotten” by God. Never had God done anything like this before and never will he do this again, this is what took Satan by surprise. Satan did not know what to do with this man, Jesus. According to Jesus’ parable Satan thought this was the heir so they had to kill him (Mat 21:38). However, Jesus came into the earth to die and that is what defeated Satan. What you need to do is realize that anytime the Bible calls Jesus the Son of God that is indirectly calling him the one that was born of a virgin. Anytime you read about God coming to the earth in the flesh you are reading about a virgin birth.
Heb 13:20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
In the first lesson in this series I talked about the resurrection of Jesus being different than other people who were raised from the dead. I asked you to think about why the resurrection of Jesus was so important to our beliefs and our salvation. I showed in Romans 10:9 that it says that if you believe that God raised Jesus from the dead and called him your Lord you would be saved. This verse in Hebrews again refers to Jesus being raised from the dead and this is in conjunction with the “blood” of the everlasting covenant of God. So where did Jesus get His blood? You might recall in another blog I talked about the blood of a baby being a union of the father and the mother’s blood type. So why is this important? What made Jesus’ blood an acceptable payment for our sin and the foundational basis of an everlasting covenant? Obviously Jesus’ blood was not the exact same as our blood, but yet at the same time it was. So we have another paradox, and a mystery of Biblical proportions. If Jesus blood was just like our blood then God could have picked anyone to pay the price for our sins. You should really think about the blood of Jesus for a long time, because it is very important and very significant to your salvation. You need to figure out why the blood of Jesus was sufficient to pay for your sins and why your blood is not sufficient payment for your sins. I’ll give you some clues and more information on this subject later.
Paul writes a considerable amount of scriptures about the blood of Jesus Christ and its value and power. What makes the blood of Jesus Christ so special? In order to understand this it comes back to the virgin birth? That is the only difference between my blood and Jesus’ blood. His natural father was the Holy Spirit and mine was not. My father’s lineage goes directly back to Adam and Eve and there lies the problem with my bloodline and yours.
1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
Why, is Jesus Christ called the “Last Adam”? To me that was a really interesting thing to discover and to study. What we see is a direct comparison of two men. The first Adam is called a living soul and the “Last Adam” a quickening Spirit. One is said to be physical and natural man and the other is inversely spiritual by nature.
1Co 15:47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
As you read through this chapter you find that natural things always came first in the world and then spiritual things came later. This is a pattern for us to understand how God created this world. We were first born naturally, and then we were born again spiritually. Did you notice what Paul wrote in 1 Cor 15:47? He said the second Adam came from heaven! Uh Oh? We have another clear, but indirect reference to the virgin birth. God says that the body of the first man came from the earth. But, the body of the second man was born here, but came from heaven. We again see an implied reference to God coming in the flesh. This is the Lord of Glory being made a man.
1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
We can see that through Jesus, the Last Adam, He causes all men to have the ability to live. This is in direct contrast to the first Adam who caused all men born on this planet to die. So was Jesus Christ born a man on this planet? If you understand the Bible you know that He was. That means He had to die like everyone else that was descended from Adam. Realizing that Jesus Christ who was God in the flesh came to the earth to die is a basic part of theology that you must embrace in order to understand who Jesus was and why he came to the earth. What we have seen is two individuals, both are called a man, both are called Adam and both were made originally by God. The first Adam was a natural man whose body was formed from the dust of the ground. The last Adam came by the word of God through a virgin woman.
Now I want to talk about the Blood of Jesus Christ and give you some more insight and understanding on how it was able to satisfy the payment for our sins. Paul writes about the blood of Christ in numerous verses. You can read some of them in Romans 5:9, Ephesians 1:7, Ephesians 2:13, and Colossians 1:14. By reading these verses you find out what Jesus bought with His blood. There are many things that were resolved, there were many things purchased, there were many things that were forgiven, and there many things that were accomplished through the blood of Jesus Christ. All of these verses tell us clearly that Jesus’ blood was something of great value, something that would cover the cost of the vast expanse of the sin of all humanity. It also indicates that His blood was more valuable than our blood. Therefore we have reached again a full circle that states Jesus Christ must have been born of a virgin to make Him different than you and I. So what makes the Blood of Christ more valuable than ours? Let’s briefly examine the Bible and find out:
Gen 9:4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
So what makes this flesh uneatable according to God’s commandment to Noah? It is the blood! The Blood of the flesh is said to be the Life of the flesh. Isn’t that interesting? Do you remember what Jesus told us? Jesus said “I am the Life” (John 14:6). Could Jesus have been referring to His blood?
Lev 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.
You see we have another confirmation written in the Law of Moses that says the life of the flesh is the blood. So we then see God giving us another key piece of information. The payment of sin comes from the shedding of blood. It is the blood that will provide atonement for us. The Hebrew word translated as “Atonement” is an interesting word that means “to cover”. It can also mean “to forgive”, “to show mercy”, “to reconcile”, and “to cleanse”. These are all the works of God and what He has accomplished in Jesus Christ through His blood.
Heb 10:4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
So we have another mystery given to us. Clearly in the O.T. God implemented a series of laws that showed the people how to make sacrifices of animals for the sins of the people. However, we discover that God would later say that the blood of bulls and goats would never take away our sins. So why did God do this? What we have is another natural pattern that establishes a spiritual N.T. reality in Jesus Christ. Did you notice this verse didn’t say anything about a lamb? Jesus Christ is called the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29)! I’ll wrap this blog up with one more verse about the blood of Jesus Christ:
Heb 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
We have another paradox being presented to us. How can God offer Himself as a sacrifice to Himself? This is some really deep stuff, isn’t it? Maybe we can talk about that in another blog, but for now let’s keep going. If you recall from my last blog, there were three that agreed in the earth. These were the Spirit, the water and the blood. The blood represents the life of the flesh. The Bible also tells us that the body is dead without the spirit (James 2:26). We are now beginning to understand a little bit how the blood of Jesus could satisfy the price of our sin. The man Jesus Christ born of a virgin was God in the flesh. The omnipotent God gave His life, His eternal Spirit and His blood as payment for our sin. As Jesus hung on the cross and bled I am convinced that He was smiling on the inside. He knew what was being accomplished, He knew what was being purchased, and He knew the end result for all of His pain and suffering.
Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
So if anybody ever tells you that Paul didn’t believe in the virgin birth, tell them to go and read those letters again. Maybe you can help them now by telling them what to look for. God Bless!
Understanding the Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ! Part 2
(Ver 1.1) This is now Part 2 of a series of Bible lessons on the importance of believing in the virgin birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Many people who call themselves Christians like to try to convince you that they are believers, however they have been deceived into believing a lie from Satan. These are those that pretend that it is not important to believe in the Virgin Birth and they like to make you think that it doesn’t matter to your salvation either. I believe I showed using the Bible how wrong they are in the first part of this lesson. If you have no virgin birth, you have no basis for your salvation, you have no confidence in your savior then you are standing on very shaky ground. These types of people are called the spirit of “Anti-Christ”, those who are controlled by spiritual beings that are not from God and who do not represent God. They teach that God has not come into the world in the flesh and thus they nullify the salvation that was freely given to them. If you have not read the first part of this series you should go back now and start with “Part 1“. Today I want to talk about some other aspects of the virgin birth and give you some new perspectives to think about. So let’s go back to Matthew and look at what God says to us about the virgin birth:
Mat 1:20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
Joseph the future husband of Mary is said to have had a dream where an angel from God appears to him. In this dream the angel informs him that is OK to take this woman as his wife, because the child that is inside of her is from the Holy Ghost. This is the key reason for why it is important to believe in the virgin birth. The son that will be born of this natural woman, Mary will be the Son of God. So the child was a result of a union between God’s seed and Mary’s human egg. The resulting DNA would be unlike any man, except for Adam. You have to think and ask questions when you study the Bible. Where did Adam get his DNA? Where did Adam get his blood? Where did Adam get his spirit? All of these had to originate from God. So was Adam a son of God? Was Adam an older brother of Jesus? I believe according to the genealogy of Jesus in Luke, both of these are true. The DNA of Jesus Christ had to be a combination of His natural father and mother, Adam and Eve and his heavenly Father God. Jesus Christ was uniquely God and man in perfect unison. The Blood of Jesus was a result of the union between God and Mary. This is why God could promise David that one of his son’s would sit on his throne forever. Jesus Christ was the Son of Adam, the Son of Abraham, the Son of David, and the Son of God all at the same time. We know from scripture that being born of a virgin is God’s legal entrance into the world in a physical form. God could not legally come into the world and pay for our sins any other way according to the Bible. This is what Jesus taught us:
Joh 10:1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
In this verse in John, Jesus is discussing the world and the legal entrances into the world. The world is described as a symbolic sheepfold. According to Jesus the only legal way into the world is to enter through the door/gate. If you have never studied the Bible on the subject of gates, you should. You see this word for door also means a gate. You see if you build a fence around your house to keep stuff in or to keep stuff out of your yard, you always build into the fence gates that allows you to come and go easily. That is a basic concept that God created and man just uses. The subject of gates is a complex subject and one that covers many aspects that appear to be related, but yet are very different. Jesus said “I am the door”, meaning He was the way to God, but this is not the same door that he is talking about in John 10:1. The legal entrance into this world is being born here of a woman. You see a physical woman’s body has a legal portal entry point into the world that we live in. This natural gate is a two way gate, both an entrance and exit. People’s mouths are also called gates in the Bible. The mouth can allow food in and also speak words out, so it is also a two way gate of the human body. Other orifices of the body are only one way gates. Only expelling things or only taking things in. If you never studied about gates, you should you might be surprised at what you learn from God. Being born in the world gives you rights to salvation. Jesus told us that “You must be born again”. Meaning you must be born first naturally, and then born again spiritually if you want salvation. Jesus being born of a woman gave God certain rights to provide salvation to all of humanity.
Let’s go back to the dream of Joseph and the first chapter of Matthew where it tells us about the birth of Jesus Christ. In this dream the angel tells Joseph that the words of God must be fulfilled. These words were spoken through the prophet Isaiah and we looked at these words in the first lesson on this subject. So Joseph took hold of the words spoken to him by the angel in the dream and decided to take Mary to be his wife. Then it tells us this about their relationship:
Mat 1:25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.
I do not know any husbands who do not have sex with their wives. But, clearly this is what this verse is saying. However, it does not say he never had sex with Mary, it only says not until after Jesus was born. Why is that important? I asked myself that question and had a difficult time coming up with an answer. Once you are pregnant, you cannot get pregnant again, no matter how many times you have sex. This is just a basic fact on human biology that you might already know. You see when God includes something in the Bible it is important, even though it is not mentioned again directly. I really do not want to get graphic here, but I believe it is important to understand. A woman as a virgin has a piece of skin that at least partially covers the opening to her vagina. There is no medical purpose for this piece of skin, but yet it is mentioned in the Bible a few times as evidence that a woman was a virgin when she was on her honeymoon. You can see that the bed sheets are presented as proof to her virginity. This small covering piece of skin is designed by God to produce blood when broken or torn during intercourse. Why did God do this? Everything that God does, has a purpose and a reason for existing. I believe that this is a natural pattern for a spiritual reality. The breaking of the female skin and the shedding of blood is representative of a covenant act between a husband and a wife. This is the foundation of a blood covenant relationship between two individuals. But, what would happen to this small piece of skin during the birth of a child if it was present? I believe that the same thing would have happened as if her husband would have had sex with her the first time, it would be torn and bled. Let us see what the Bible says about the birth of Jesus and see if this is in fact what happened:
1Jn 5:5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
As you can see God is talking about the virgin birth. God then says that those who overcome the world are those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God. So did God think it was not important to believe in the virgin birth? Obviously not! You can clearly see that those who do not overcome the world are stated as being those who do not believe in the virgin birth. Uh Oh? I think some people have a real problem to think about.
1Jn 5:6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.
So what does the Bible say about the virgin birth? Again you have to use your brain, just a little bit to see what God is saying. When a woman has a baby, and it comes time to deliver, she experiences something that is popularly called “her water breaking”. This results in a mess and this is a normal part of every child born on this planet. The water breaking is just another natural thing that God has designed to teach us something that we should see. Did you notice what God said in this verse? God says that Jesus did not come with just a water breaking mess, but Jesus came with the evidence of a virgin birth and that was the shedding of her blood. Notice NOT Jesus’ blood, I said her blood. Jesus when being birthed naturally would have broken the hymen of Mary and thus caused her blood to flow. Why is this important to include in the Bible? Obviously many people think that it is not important, however there it is.
1Jn 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
Now why does God always change the subject? Or did He? God tells us that there exists three in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are all One! What we have is the trinity being described to us in very specific terms. We can conclude that since the context of this verse is preceded with verses about the virgin birth of Christ that we are going to learn some new information about this. Then we see this statement being made:
1Jn 5:8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
So we have a new mystery being presented to us, one that is certainly difficult to relate to. Humans are described as being triune beings also but really we are just talking about Jesus and the virgin birth in a new light. The Spirit in this verse is the Holy Spirit which impregnated the natural woman Mary. The water is the natural birth process every human experiences in entering into this world. But the blood is only present for Jesus, the son of God born of a virgin. So we have God, the father, God the Word, and God the Holy Ghost coming into the world in the body of a man named Jesus, born of a virgin woman named Mary.
These 3 Bear Witness in Heaven
God the Father = God the Word = God the Holy Ghost
These 3 Bear Witness in the Earth
Spirit = Water = Blood
So what is God telling us about the virgin birth? God is saying we have 3 witnesses in heaven and 3 witnesses in the earth that the virgin birth happened just like He said it did. A witness is someone who testifies in a court of law to what they have seen. Because Jesus was born of a virgin, He came into the world with witnesses that prove His works. However, you still have an opportunity to not believe it and remain a spiritually blind man. . In my next blog we will review verses about how God used Paul to write about the virgin birth of Jesus Christ in indirect terminology.
If you would like to continue reading in this series you may go to “Part 3“.
Why is Believing in the Virgin Birth Essential to Being a Christian? Part 1
(Ver 1.3) This is Part 1 in a series of Bible lessons on Understanding the subject of the “Virgin Birth” and why it is important and necessary to believe in it to be a Christian. This subject is a potentially explosive and very controversial topic among some Christians and churches. We have many Christians, who fully embrace the virgin birth of Jesus, then we have some who are indifferent to its importance and finally we have others who flatly deny that it ever happened. So can you be a real Christian and not believe in the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ? I read one blogger who thought that you could and in a way I agree with a lot of what he said. However, why is it important from a Bible defense standpoint, to believe in the virgin conception and the birth of son from a woman who has not “known” a man? To me I can say, it is because if there was no virgin birth, then there was no payment for human sin and therefore no salvation, no redemption and we will all die and go to hell with no hope. You see if Jesus was not born of a virgin, then who is He? Or I guess I should say who was He? If He was just another human man, a descendant of Adam like me then I’m in some real big trouble. If you believe that He was just a man like you, then you are also in some major trouble. If Jesus was a man born exactly like every other man on the planet, that would put Him on the same level as a “Confucius”, a “Mohammed”, an “Aristotle”, a”Caesar”, an “Alexander the Great”, an “Ivan the Terrible” or whoever else that you would care to name. You see if you do not believe in the virgin birth, who then is your savior? What makes your savior different than Islam? What is your salvation based or built upon foundationally? To who or what have you placed your confidence in when you die and leave this world? If it is not in anything that God has personally done, and God’s Word, then you are lost in your deception.
Isa 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
If Jesus Christ is not born of a virgin human woman, then He is not God in the flesh as this verse declared. If He was born of a literal virgin human woman without the involvment of a human father, then it is impossible for Him to be anything, but God in the flesh as the Bible teaches in many verses. I know that with modern technology, using test tube babies and in vitro-fertilization methods, it is very possible today for a woman to get pregnant without a man’s direct involvement. However, this was not the case nearly 2000 years ago when it was certainly not possible to get pregnant, except by the natural way that God had created created. If a natural human man was not involved, then God personally must have done something to intervene and circumvent the course of nature to cause the situation that Mary is said to be in in Matthew and Luke. In this verse in Isaiah God prophesies that a “virgin” would conceive. Now a virgin conception is not news, because that use to happen all of the time when she lost her virginity with her husband. But, a virgin woman with her hymen intact giving birth to a child, this had never happened before Jesus came along and entered into the world. The primary relevance from this verse is that there is no natural man mentioned in this future prophesied event in Isaiah other than the son being born. There is however, the direct mention of a spiritual being and that is God. God tells us that He will give us a sign. Signs are something that you are intimately familiar with if learn to drive a car. A sign gives us instructions, knowledge; information, guidance, direction and these are all applicable to God’s message in this prophecy. Do you see how essential the virgin birth is said to be? If you do not have this information or maybe you missed it, or maybe you ignored it, then you are missing an important “Sign” from God on the roadway of life. You have absolutely no foundation for being saved, because you do not know who you believe in or why.
The Hebrew name of the virgin’s son is said to be “Immanuel”, which when looked up, means “God With Us”. This was God in the form of a man. Now we are beginning to understand how a virgin birth is even possible 2000 years ago. However, important this information is, you would think that God would give us many verses that speak to this fact in the Bible. However, I have found that God is not that way. God does not give you overwhelming evidence to anything in the Bible, in order to let you choose what you want to believe in. If God wrote the Bible with clear evidence, you would be forced into believing the truth and that is not how God works by design.
Mat 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
God repeats the prophecy of Isaiah in this verse in Matthew and this is one of the only two times it is directly mentioned in the Bible. The name “Immanuel” in the O.T. is said to be “Emmanuel” in the Greek N.T., but it is the same Hebrew word and as you can see it means “God With Us”. Fortunately for us correct interpretation of the Bible only requires two witnesses to establish any truth. So just because there is only two direct witnesses to this truth does not diminish the importance of the information given to us. There are many ignorant teachers on the internet who like to say, Paul never said anything about a virgin birth, so therefore it is not important. People can be so spiritually blind sometimes. Just because Paul did not say anything directly, does not mean he did not write anything about it indirectly. Maybe I’ll talk more about that later. But, for now let’s continue on with the importance of knowing about the virgin birth.
1Jn 4:3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
Ask yourself this question, why is it so important for Satan to try to deceive people into not believing in a virgin birth? Have you ever thought about that? Obviously Satan is hard at work at attempting to get people not to believe in a virgin birth. Satan uses people who say they are Christians, but yet deny the virgin birth and thus they deny God came in the flesh and according to the Bible, this is the spirit of “anti-Christ”. Did you notice what John wrote in this verse of scripture? God tells us that the spirit of anti-Christ will deny that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. Isn’t this the debate that is raging on the internet? Has Jesus Christ been born of a virgin woman? Who is this Jesus Christ? According to the Bible Jesus Christ was God in the flesh. You see Satan is denying that God came in person to the earth. This is directly related to the subject of Christians believing in the virgin birth. Do you understand this? You see if this verse says what I think it does, you cannot be a Christian and not believe in the virgin birth. Otherwise God says you are a part of the “anti-Christ” and that makes you by default as none of His. Now are you beginning to see the importance of believing in the virgin birth?
2Jn 1:7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
Again we see that God says there are those in the earth that are debating the deity of Jesus Christ and these are those that have the spirit of “anti-Christ”. In other words they are being used by Satan to deceive others into believing a lie. What benefit does Satan derive from you not believing in the virgin birth? What advantage does Satan possess when you don’t believe that God has come to the earth in the flesh? Satan gains you as his possession for eternity, and that is not a good place to end up. You do not have salvation, if you do not have a virgin birth. If you think you do, you are going to have to explain what you base your faith on.
Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Let me give you one indirect reference to the virgin birth that is related to the salvation of every Christian. In this verse God says that if you believe that God raised Jesus from the dead and confess Him as your Lord you will be saved. What makes the resurrection of Jesus from the dead different than say the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead (John 11:43)? Didn’t God raise Lazarus from the dead after being in the grave for 4 days? Heck, Jesus was only in the grave for three days, it would seem Lazarus was a greater miracle and sign for us to believe in. What makes Jesus different than Lazarus and why aren’t we saved, if we believe that God raised Lazarus from the dead. Most people just don’t think when they read the Bible, I guess? I hope you are beginning to understand the importance of the virgin birth, at least a little bit. You see the only difference between Jesus and Lazarus is one of them was born of a virgin. One of them was God and one of them was not. Guess who that was? You see if you don’t know or your don’t believe it happened; you have no confidence in your salvation or your Savior. There were multiple people raised from the dead in the Gospels. Why don’t any of them save us? The major difference was that none of them were God. They all died again and were buried. But, Jesus is living in heaven seated at the right hand of majesty forever alive. So next time you meet someone who does not believe in the virgin birth, ask them who saved them?
If you would like to continue reading in this series of lessons about “Understanding the Virgin Birth” please continue with “Part 2“.
The Agapegeek Blog 