Unprecedented! “Unprecedented" is the word elected as the People's Choice 2020 Word of the Year.
"Unprecedented" beat out "pandemic" by a small margin, according to John Kelly, senior research editor at Dictionary.com, and is defined by the site as "without previous instance; never before known or experienced; unexampled or unparalleled.”
As Christmas 2020 approaches I think we all will experience this Christmas a little differently, as unprecedented. With the pandemic and all fatalities, the economic blow of lost jobs and closed businesses and the other crises our country had gone through this year, maybe we are taking a more sobering look at Christmas, a more reflective and less materialistic view. This Christmas is less the Currier and Ives picture that we imagine and more the stark reality that is life. In the Bible, the Christmas story, from ancient prophecy to Bethlehem’s fulfillment took place in the stark reality of their times but always brought hope of something better.
The times were difficult and dangerous. Israel, consisting of the the Northern tribes had allied themselves with King Rezin of Aram and they marched against Judah and Jerusalem and King Ahaz. As it reads;
“Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it.”
In other words they wanted to destroy Judah and the House of David. Now King Ahaz was not a good king. In 2 Kgs 16:2-3 it reads;
“Unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God. 3 He followed the ways of the kings of Israel and even sacrificed his son in the fire, engaging in the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.”
Later, Ahaz would desecrate the Temple by building a pagan altar in it and selling off the gold to placate the King of Assyria. In spite of the King’s wickedness, God sends the prophet Isaiah with this word to Ahaz about the threatening armies;
“ Yet this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘It will not take place, it will not happen,”
He goes on say that within 65 years all of your enemies will be completely destroyed, adding;
“If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.’”
Through the prophet, the Lord continues;
“Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, 11 “Ask the Lord your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.”
12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test.”
13 Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you[c] a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”
Now Ahaz and all the people as v.2 described;
“his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.”
The king did not have confidence in the prophets words. But God calls upon Ahaz to ask for a sign, any sign, as deep as hell or as high as heaven, any sign at all, that would prove the prophet’s words. Ahaz refuses. Now it may sound humble to say, “I will not test the Lord” but when God directs you to ask for a sign, to refuse is disobedience. Perhaps Ahaz refused because he had taken the gold from the Temple and bought the help of the Assyrians to come and help.
This is why the Prophet responds in anger.
Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also?
Then Isaiah delivers this marvelous prophecy, one we always turn to at Christmas time.
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”
What an unprecedented sign! A Virgin birth! Of course Isaiah is looking into the future and speaking of the birth of Christ.
Now many people deny the Virgin birth and view it as an impossibility invented to promote Christ and Christianity.
One such person is Rabbi Marc Gellman of the “God Squad.” This is a syndicated column originally with Monsignor Tom Hartman, who has passed, and Rabbi Gellman, who continues the column. For the most part the Rabbi writes in a gracious style often offering grandfatherly type encouragement. However, his theology is squarely in the liberal camp and he does not believe in miracles, unless they suit him. This is common with those who hold liberal theology, they become the judge of Scripture. They will preface their comments with, “The God I serve would never do this or that.” Or, write off Scripture as being written by primitive, uneducated peoples who wove stories together to keep people entertained.
In one of his columns Rabbi Gellman wrote against belief in the Virgin Birth of Christ. In it he claims that Christians have mis-translated Isa.7:14. He points out that the Hebrew word, almah, which we translate as ‘Virgin’ should be translated as “young maiden.” He claims that if Isaiah meant virgin, he could have used another Hebrew word, bethula,’ which means virgin. So he concludes that Christianity’s entire foundation is wrongly based on a simple mistaken translation. Now this would mean very little were it not for the influence Rabbi Gellman has in the public arena. The ‘God Squad’ did have a TV show and the column appears in many newspapers. So many people are exposed to this erroneous and shallow argument but accept it because it’s in print! So let’s briefly consider some arguments in favor of the Virgin birth.
First, I find that it goes against reason to think that in more than 2000 years of Church history, no Christian scholar, out of all of the greatest minds the church has produced, and with all the various translations of the Bible, somehow everyone overlooked something so simple as a definition of the Hebrew word. This argument is simplistic.
Second, when the Rabbi claims the Hebrew word, almah, means ‘young maiden’ he is correct. But what he fails to inform us abut is that ‘young maiden’ is often a ‘virgin’ at the same time and the words are used interchangeably in Scripture. In Gen.24:16 we read of Rebekah;
The girl was very beautiful, a virgin (bethula); no man had laid with her…
Then down in v.43, when Abraham’s servant is recounting the experience he says;
“See, I am standing beside the spring; if a maiden (Almah) comes out to draw water, and I say to her…Before I finished praying in my heart, Rebekah came out.”
So Rebekah is referred to in v.16 as a virgin and as a maiden in v.43. But she was literally a virgin in both references. And the fact is that to refer to one a a ‘young maiden’ in Hebrew implied one was an unmarried virgin.
Third, another thing about the verse that supports the meaning ‘Virgin.’ “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”
Isaiah uses the article THE in ‘The Virgin’ to draw attention to this virgin as unique.
Fourth, Through the prophet Isaiah, God challenges King Ahaz to ask for a sign. He asks him to ask for something remarkable, “whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.” God basically gives the king a blank check and says just ask. So God is prepared to offer a sign of wonder, but the king refuses in disobedience. So God Himself gives the sign. Now, if it was just that a young maiden that would marry and have a child, that would be very normal and not at all remarkable or reaching to the deepest depths to highest heights. But, should a virgin give birth, NOW, that’s a sign of wonder, unheard of before or since! Do I dare say, “Unprecedented!”
Fifth, and this one seals the debate. Both Matthew and Luke call Mary a virgin and apply Isa.7:14 to her. Since all of Scripture, both Old and New Testaments are inspired by God and true and without error, Matthew and Luke recording of the virgin birth is accepted as, well, gospel truth! Mary refers to herself as a virgin. In Lk.1:34 Mary responds to the angel’s announcement that she will conceive;
“And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be since I am a virgin?”
Then we read;
“The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on 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.”
Now that is Unprecedented! But we should not be surprised because that’s the way God works. “With God nothing is impossible!” Those who have been in the Habakkuk study now know the verse in which God tells the Prophet;
“For I am going to do something in your days
that you would not believe, even if you were told.”
We should not be surprised that Christ’s entrance into this world should be “unprecedented.” The only other place this verse is quoted, has to do with Christ leaving this world and applies to the resurrection, another “unprecedented” event!
So, with all due respect to Rabbi Gellman, there are a number of good reasons to believe the Virgin birth that go beyond and answer the simplistic mis-translation objection.
The Prophet continues and claims, they “will call him Immanuel.” In many cultures, and this was especially true of the Hebrew culture, names are more than just personal identities. The would also indicate what one would BE, SHOW or ACCOMPLISH. This is the case with Jesus. What He would be would be “unprecedented”- God with us!
This is exactly what the New Testament declares. John’s gospel opens with that grand proclamation about Christ as the “Word:”
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”
The WORD was God and became flesh. And God became flesh and entered our world for a reason, as Paul states in 1 Tim.1:15;
“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-of whom I am the worst.”
This is also why the Virgin birth is so significant and in fact essential to our salvation. Scripture declares that Adam was our head and representative. When he failed and sinned he plunged the whole race, every individual that ever lived into sin and death. As Paul wrote;
“For as in Adam all die…”
We all inherit Adam’s nature and because of that we are sinners by nature and choice. But Christ comes as the second or last Adam. He is the head of a new creation, a new people with a new nature because Christ did not come under Adam’s headship, since he was born of the virgin Mary. Jesus does not inherit Adam’s sinful nature. By faith we partake of Christ’s nature and as Paul notes;
“so in Christ all will be made alive.”
For Christ to come into the world to save sinners, the virgin birth was necessary for him to stand outside of the fatal sin which infected the race of Adam. What the first Adam failed to do, be perfectly obedient, the Last Adam, Jesus, accomplished. This same Jesus came as Immanuel, God with us, to bring salvation for His people.
He was sent out of the great love the Father had for those people.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son…”
And He gave His Son for our sakes, while we were yet sinners and enemies! What magnitude of love, Unprecedented love!
The salvation that Christ brings is offered to all sincerely, but only the elect, those born of God, by grace will believe.
“He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
Those who believed, “He gave the right to become children of God”
By God’s grace, through faith, we have received “Adoption” Rom.8:15
“The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption…”
Unprecedented!
Christ did not come to merely act out business. He came to restore relationships. This is why elsewhere Isaiah says;
“Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given…”
This is personal, it is “unto us.” Believer, Christ had you in mind when He came as “Immanuel,” God with us.
As Martin Luther said in one of his Christmas sermons,
“Of what benefit would it be to me if Christ had been born a thousand times, and it would daily be sung into my ears in a most lovely manner, if I were never to hear that he was born for me and was to be my very own?”
Born for me! God with me!
In the words of the Samuel Francis hymn;
“O the deep, deep love of Jesus, Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!”
AND ALSO, SAY IT WITH ME-UNPRECEDENTED!
