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 The
Lord Jesus was born of a virgin mother. The message that the angel
Gabriel gave to Mary about the birth was simply that she would "conceive
in her womb, and bring forth a son"
(Luke 1:31).
It was a thing unheard of before, and has never been repeated, that
a virgin should conceive and bear a Son.
The miracle
would be accomplished by the Holy Spirit coming on Mary, and as a
result the
holy One to be born would be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35).
When a person is born there is the creation of a new personality,
but this was not the case with the birth of Jesus. He already
existed and what happened at the “virgin birth” was that He entered
a new form of existence, of becoming a man, whilst still retaining
Deity. Only a miracle could bring that about. Paul writes,
Great is the
mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh
(1
Tim 3:16). The
virgin birth was the fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecy,
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His
name Immanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us
(Isa
7:14; Mat 1:23).
Mary was a
virgin before the Lord Jesus Christ was conceived, and she was a
virgin after He was born, and remained so until the commencement of
normal marital relationships. This is stated in
Mat 1:24-25.
The eternal
Word of God, being "made
flesh",
came into His own creation. He took upon Himself that which He had
not had before, to be able to feel, see, hear, and sense as Man, but
without sin, through a perfectly-holy prepared body and nervous
system, and yet never ceasing to be the eternal Word. God did indeed
appear in human form.
Even more
amazing than the story of the Virgin Birth is the truth behind it.
The Bible prophecies that culminate in this miracle go back to the
earliest days of human history. The first promise in the Bible is
God speaking to Satan in Eden. God said, "I
will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and
her Seed; He shall bruise (crush) your head, and you shall bruise
(crush) His heel"
(Gen
3:15).
Paul in
Gal 4:4
helps us to understand the significance of this promise as it
relates to Mary, "when
the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, being out of
a woman, born under the law".
He was born of a woman, but was uniquely the Seed of a woman, rather
than the Seed of a man, truly virgin born.
As a man down here He lived in total dependence upon God and
delighted to do His will. The word of
Psa 22:10
describe this relationship, “Upon
Thee was I cast from birth, Thou hast been my God from my mother's
womb".
He had
to partake of flesh and blood in order to die. He must be truly man
to be:
1. The Seed of
the woman,
Gen 3:15;
Gal 4:4.
2. The Seed of
Abraham to inherit the promises,
Gal 3:16,
and
3. The Son of
David to claim the throne of David,
2 Sam 7:12.
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