LEARNING DAILY

Isaiah 7:14, Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.

Matthew 1:23, “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

Isaiah’s prophecy was spoken by an angel in a dream to Joseph. Dr. Ed Newton, Lead Pastor at Community Bible Church asked this question in his message this weekend, “Is the virgin birth important?” His answer, “Absolutely!” I am going to try to explain why he answered his own question in this way in this page of the blog.

To understand the need for a virgin birth one must understand man’s need for a Savior. Sin entered the world through Adam when he disobeyed God’s command to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Romans 5:12, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all have sinned –“. This is the “bad news”! No one was born a Christian because all are born into sin because Adam ate an apple (Dr. Newton). Every single person is born a sinner; one who needs a Savior. If the verse from Romans is read again, notice that death follows sin. Sin always leads to death. As I understand death here, it means eternal separation from God. All die. What needs to be considered is where one will spend eternity – with God or without Him. “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.” (Isaiah 5:18). That verse was on the listener Guide.

But there is good news! Pastor Newton mentioned the “we can’t have good news without the bad news first”. What is the good news? The Savior, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ was born of a virgin: “the sin of Adam was not passed on to Jesus” (from the Listener Guide). No earthly father was involved in His conception so the sin of Adam was not passed on to Jesus.  That is important because only One who was without sin could die on a cross for all of the rest of us who were born into sin through Adam. Paul wrote in Romans 7:24-25, “O wretched man that I am! Who can deliver me from this body of death? I thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Let me ask the question again. Is the virgin birth important? Absolutely! “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.” Adam’s disobedience of God’s command not to eat from a specific tree led to the introduction of sin and death into the world.  By contrast the one act of righteousness by the Lord Jesus Christ, His death on a cross, led to the opportunity for “whosoever would believe in Him” by faith would be saved. Jesus, born of a virgin, without sin, is the only person who hung on the cross, taking God’s wrath for you and me.

Understanding this should help each of us who have accepted His salvation and walk the narrow way in His guidance and grace better understand the necessity of being born of a virgin. What a gift God has given to mankind. “Immanuel”. “God with us”. The perfect gift of the Father sent to be with us and to save people from their sins. May this precious gift be the center of Christmas this year for all who believe.