Pr Emmanuel Joshua
There are a number of reasons that make the virgin birth of Jesus important. For starters, this will be discussed from Isaiah 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.”
Pure seed
The Hebrew word “almah” that is translated “virgin” in Isaiah 7 also carries the meaning of innocence, young, green and untouched.
Because Jesus was coming as a pure seed, it was important that the vessel would have to be a clean one.
She became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Holy meaning sacred, blameless, set apart. “Immanu El” (God became one of us, Matthew 1:23).
A new nature was to be planted in the soil of humanity. Immanuel is a term used for this new creation, life coming down out of Heaven. Immanuel is the partnership of Heaven and Earth, God and humanity.
Matthew 1:18: “Now, the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as His mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.”
True son of God
In the Jewish culture, the engagement (espoused) was a prenuptial contract (ketubah), which was entered into before witnesses that gave legal rights over the girl to the bridegroom.
This agreement could only be nullified by going through the formal divorce process.
Since the girl still lived with her family, sexual relations were prohibited until after the second event of the public marriage ceremony.
This engagement period was usually entered into when the girl turned 13.
Mary was just a teenager when she gave birth to Jesus. Since she became pregnant before any man could touch her, no man could, therefore, claim that they fathered Jesus Christ.
This also helped to avoid any confusion. Had Mary been married, maybe with a few children and then given birth to the Messiah, probably no one would be sure that Christ is indeed the Son of God as opposed to being the son of Joseph.
Also, God respects marriage; He could not just come between the husband and wife to possess Mary’s body for nine months so that the couple would not merge (1Corinthians 7:3-6).
It was, therefore, important that the conception happened during the engagement period, before the second event of the public marriage.
God in human form
Psalms 115:16: “The Heavens belong to our God; they are His alone, but He has given us the Earth and put us in charge”.
The only way God would come in the Earth to bring back man into His destiny was by taking on the human form.
God would have to come through the womb of a woman, just like every other human being did.
The virgin birth, therefore, would be the beginning of God becoming flesh and dwelling among us (John 1:14).
This virgin birth qualified Him to be 100 per cent human just like us.
God’s renewal
The virgin birth was able to introduce to the human race another ‘Adam’, just like the first Adam. They were both formed by God and started the human experience in purity without sin.
However, where the first Adam failed and condemned man into the bondage of sin, Jesus was victorious and gave humanity the opportunity to start all over.
Without the virgin birth, this would not have been possible. 1 Corinthians 15: 48 “The first one, made from dust, has a race of people just like him, who are also made from dust. The One sent from Heaven has a race of heavenly people who are just like Him. Once we carried the likeness of the man of dust, but now let us carry the likeness of the man of Heaven”.
Romans 5:17 “Death once held us in its grip, and by the blunder of one man, death reigned as king over humanity.
“But now, how much more are we held in the grip of grace and continue reigning as kings in life, enjoying our regal freedom through the gift of perfect righteousness in the one and only Jesus, the Messiah!”
We know that the virgin birth was supernatural in that it was announced centuries earlier, then announced again by Angel Gabriel when the conception was about to happen.
And God continued to speak to Joseph in dreams regarding the decision not to divorce Mary. There is a lot we could share, but I believe what we have seen is enough to show the significance of the virgin birth of Jesus.
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