Is the virgin birth necessary?
Luke 1: 26 - 38 11/15/06
The birth of a baby is nothing unusual. But the Bible says when Jesus was born He was born of a virgin. Now there has never been a birth like that before. I know that you have heard me say this before; Jesus is the only baby ever born that had an earthly mother but no earthly father. He had a heavenly Father but no heavenly mother. He’s the only baby ever born who was older than his mother and the same age as his father. When Jesus was born the Bible says that God was born. The creator became a child.
There are some truths in the Bible which are what I call fundamentals. A fundamental is something which is absolutely basic and essential. There are certain fundamentals to the faith. Have you ever heard the word fundamentalist? I have heard it many times because I have been called a fundamentalist. Now there are two ways to use the word fundamentalist. There is fundamentalist with a capital F. And then there is fundamentalist with a little f. Now most of the time when I have been called a fundamentalist, they say I am narrow minded in my theology. And I suppose that I am. I believe there are some fundamentals of the Christian faith which are absolutely essential. If you take anyone of them away, then you don’t have Christianity. For instance, the substitution atonement of Jesus on the cross for our sins. Substitutionary means that He took my place. The death of Jesus on the cross for the sins of the world is fundamental to the faith. If you take that away you don’t have Christianity. Another fundamental of the faith is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. If you take it away then you don’t have Christianity.
Now there are some good solid reasons why I believe that these are the fundamentals of faith. And the reason is because the Bible says it is true. In the Bible we find THE RECORDS OF THE VIRGIN BIRTH. Let’s look at some of these recordings. In your lap you have the Old Testament and the New Testament. In the Old Testament there are some scriptures that predicted that Jesus would be born of a virgin. In Genesis 3, we find the first prediction in the Bible that relates to the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 15 God is talking to Satan, and He says, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise His heel.” Note the terminology, her seed. You don’t find that in the Bible unless it is talking about the virgin birth of Jesus. In the Bible, it talks about the man’s seed not the woman’s.
Now it is possible to make too much of the virgin birth. Our Catholic friends have a doctrine that they call the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. They say that Mary was a virgin when she conceived the Lord Jesus and that she remained a virgin and then one day ascended into heaven without committing sin herself. That makes too much of Mary. The angel told Mary that she was blessed among women not above women.
It’s possible to make too much of the virgin birth of Jesus but on the other hand it is possible to make too little of the virgin birth of Jesus. Some say it doesn’t matter whether Jesus was born of a virgin or not. It makes all the difference in the world. If you take the virgin birth out of Christianity then you do not have Christianity. The virgin birth is one of those fundamental to the faith.
Last time on Wednesday night when we were able to look into this deeper walk with our Lord Jesus, we talked about the mathematical probabilities of prophecies being fulfilled in the Old Testament. What do you think the mathematical possibility of the virgin birth is? The probabilities are off the chart and yet in Isaiah 7, verse 14 this prediction is made. “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel.” Immanuel means God with us.
Last Sunday night we looked in Isaiah chapter 9 verse six and 7. Those verses read “for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.” Two things are said. For unto us a child is born means that he is going to have an earthly nature. But it says also unto us a son is given. To say a son is given means that He already existed. On the earth to child is born. From heaven a son is given.
Now when we move to the account found in Luke, we find one who knows something about birth. Luke was a doctor and what he had not seen himself, he writes what has been given him from credible individuals. I believe that Luke interviewed eyewitnesses and I am sure that Mary was an eyewitness to the birth of Jesus. I just believe that Luke interviewed Mary and said tell me all about the birth of our Lord. He knew something about it from reading the Old Testament but now an eyewitness; one who was there.
We not only see the records of the virgin birth but also we see THE REACTION TO THE VIRGIN BIRTH.
I think it was Joyce talking about a movie that must be out or coming out where it shows Mary being treated as an outcast among her people. We talked about that for a little while and we don’t see in the Bible much about how that Mary was treated because of her obedience to God. I do know there is usually a burden to bear if you serve the Lord because the devils crowd will see to that. I believe that she was somewhat of an outcast and she must have been looked upon as a lady with fewer morals than was expected of the day.
There is a reason that I believe Mary was treated badly and looked down upon is because of a Scripture that we find in John 8:41. What you find there is that Jesus is getting the upper hand in a conversation He is having with His enemies. Like all of the devils crowd, when they saw that He was getting the upper in a discussion, they attacked Him. Look at what they say in this verse. Jesus said you do the works of your father. Then they say unto Him, we be not born of fornication. They were saying we were not born of fornication and you were. They attacked the character of Jesus’ mother Mary.
Down through the years the virgin birth has been attacked by the devils crowd. Some say it is only mentioned in John and Matthew. Well, how many times does God have to say it before it is true? But actually they are wrong because many places we find in the New Testament that give testimony to the virgin birth of Jesus.
Now the last point in our study tonight is THE REASONS FOR THE VIRGIN BIRTH.
The virgin birth is essential for the two natures of Jesus. When Jesus was born of course we know that God became a baby. The virgin birth was necessary for Jesus to be sinless. Even thought He was tempted in every area as we are, He passed the entire test and died not because of His sin but through His death, He paid for our sins.
Now you do know that we were born in sin don’t you? Paul made reference to our sinful nature when he writes, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world.” That means that we were born with a sinful nature and that is the reason we act like we do. Why do you act like you do? It is because your father acted like that. Why did your father act like he did? It was because his dad acted like he did and on down to Adam. In other words folks, we were born wrong the first tie and that is the reason we need a new birth.
In order to have a deeper walk with our Lord, we need to understand who we are and when we understand what we are, we love the Lord even more for seeing in us something worth saving.
