What Reason rejects, Faith accepts—when it has the clear declarations of God—and bows in holy wonder at the work of the Trinity in the preparation of a Saviour for the world.
Mary as a virgin was a “young, unmarried woman who had preserved the purity of her body,” to use Cruden’s phrase. And not only so, but that Mary remained a virgin until after Christ was born is the revealed fact of Scripture, as anyone can prove by reverently examining passages like Matthew 1:8-21, 1:24-25; and Luke 1:27-34. Thereafter she lived in the usual relations of wedlock with Joseph, having children born to her (Mt. 13:56).
As virgin born, Christ had no human father. He is thus the only fatherless Babe the world has ever known. For the historic witness that our Lord was not born in wedlock but of a virgin we can turn to Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:27-34; 2:7; Colossians 1:15-18; Hebrews 1:5-6; and 12:23.
A Predicted Birth
During the four centuries before Christ’s birth, different voices heralded His first advent. In fact, one could preach a very profitable sermon beginning with the first intimation of His coming, far back in Genesis 3:15. Mark the specific language of this first redemption promise, “her seed.”
Further, the great evangelistic promises of Genesis 12:1-13 and 15:18 need Christ for their fulfillment. Also passages like Matthew 1:1-2; John 8:56-58; and Galatians 3:16 prove that Jesus made possible the realization of the Abrahamic covenant.
Limiting Himself to one particular tribe of Israel, we have the wonderful comparison of passages like Genesis 49:10 with Matthew 2:5-6; and Hebrews 7:14 with Revelation 4:4. Then from a tribe we come to a family, and so place 2 Samuel 7:12-13 alongside Matthew 1:1 and Romans 1:3.
As the Son of a virgin, the great Immanuel prophecy of Isaiah 7:14 agrees with Matthew 1:22-23.
Other Old Testament predictions belonging with their New Testament fulfillments can be summarized thus: birthplace, Micah 5:2 with Luke 2:14-15; birth name, Isaiah 7:14 with Matthew 12:23; worship at His birth, Isaiah 60:6 with Matthew 2:11; forerunner, Isaiah 40:3 with Matthew 3:1-3.
Thus by the birth of Christ the hope of holy men and women of old, century after century was realized. They looked and waited for Him, who was the center of their hope, the desire of their souls.
A Miraculous Birth
The birth of our Lord was a creative act of God and not of man. While we often use the word “incarnation” in connection with the birth of our Lord, it is nevertheless a somewhat broad one and covers His entire life on earth. Meaning “to embody in flesh” as used of Christ, it tells us what really happened in Mary’s child.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see!
Hail the incarnate deity!
Christ’s birth was not a natural generation. It was momentous, seeing Mary bore Him as a result of a direct divine creative act.
A Holy Birth
A reverent perusal of passages like Job 15:14, 25:4; Psalm 51:5, 58:3; and John 9:34 impresses our minds with another aspect of our Lord’s wondrous birth. Everything about it breathes the air of holiness. The Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary, and the Angel of the Lord declared that the body about to be formed within her womb was—that holy thing—to be called the Son of God.
Had Christ been born according to the laws of natural procreation, He would have been defiled, for all who are born after the ordinary course of nature have the tincture of sin within. But Christ appeared absolutely sinless—“holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.”
In order to redeem, His substance must be pure and immaculate. Hence the necessity of the virgin, holy birth. Commenting on the birth narratives, Professor Sweet observes, “The narratives exhibit a profound reverence, a chaste and gracious reserve in the presence of a holy mystery, a simplicity, dignity, and self-contained nobility of expression which are the visible marks of truth, if such there are anywhere in human writing.”
Some there are some who become holy after their birth—Christ was holy before His.
“That holy thing which is….” A study of the above passages will prove that Christ was the pre-existent One who brought His holy nature with Him.
A Lowly Birth
A casual glance at the birth genealogies reveals the fact that He who was the highest stooped to the lowest. He who was so holy made Himself of no reputation, as is evidenced by the pedigree of Christ. Tamar, Ruth, Rahab and Bathsheba are mentioned as being in the line from which Jesus came.
And then the circumstances of His birth likewise speak of His lowliness. Mary was a poor maiden. Her Son was born in a stable. Lowly shepherds were the eyewitnesses of the sublime miracle of God becoming Man. They knew that the first Adam was made in the likeness of God. Now they witness God the Son being made in the likeness of man.
Child of humanity, Son of the lowly,
Gift of the Father—unspeakably holy.
Christ came from glory to darkness and danger,
Born in a stable and laid in a manger;
Child of humanity, Son of the lowly,
Gift of the Father—unspeakably holy.
A Royal Birth
Matthew sets out to prove the kingly descent of Him who was “born King of the Jews.” This is why our Lord’s royal or legal descent is traced back to King David. But being “born King” is something more than the establishment of Christ’s earthly claim to the throne of Israel as the successor of David. A prince becomes a king on the death of his royal father. But Jesus was born a King, which means that He was King before His birth. Paul speaks of Him as “the King eternal.” Thus as Christmas comes round again multitudes of loving hearts will join in the carol, “Glory to the newborn King” (see Lk. 2:7, 12-16; Gal. 4:4).
A Beneficial Birth
What a dark world this would have been if Jesus had not come! His birth changed the calendar, and has enriched civilization. But why did He wrap Himself around with the garment of our humanity? Well, here are a few key passages on which to meditate: Proverbs 17:17; Matthew 1:21; Galatians 4:4, 6; 1 Timothy 1:15. Man is born to live; Christ was born to die. It was for His death for sinners that—
“The Ancient of Days became a Babe. He who thundered in heaven cried in a cradle. The mother was younger than the Child she bore! He who girdled the heavens was wrapped in swaddling clothes! The mighty God became a dependent Infant!”
One old writer exclaims, “I can scarce get past His cradle in my wondering to wonder at His cross. The infant Jesus is in some ways a greater marvel than Jesus with the purple robe and the crown of thorn”
Christ was born of a virgin, that we might be born of God. He lay in a manger that we might lie in Paradise. He came down from heaven that He might take us there. By His birth our Lord became the daysman between God and man, with His hand upon both (Job 9:33). As Dr. A. T. Pierson has so finely expressed it:
The daysman betwixt us both, who can lay his hand upon us both, because He is of us both! The way of God to man—the way of man to God; the true Jacob’s ladder between heaven and earth, God above it, to come down—man beneath it, to go up! The God-man is Himself our pledge that as God in Christ became a partaker of the human nature, so man in Christ becomes a partaker of the divine nature. Born of a woman, made like unto Him! The God-man is not only a mystery and a miracle but a prophecy and a promise…They used to say of Mozart that he brought angels down; of Beethoven, that he lifted mortals up. Jesus Christ does both, and here lies the central mystery of the God-man, a mystery which is blessedly revealed to him who by faith has personal experience of His power to save.
And the truth that is uppermost in our mind as we leave the consideration of our holy theme is that it matters little whether Jesus was born in Bethlehem 2000 years ago, if He has not been born again within our hearts by His Holy Spirit:
Mild, He lays His glory by,
Born that man no more may die,
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth.