The World’s Most Unusual Birth - Part B

He's the perfect solution. You see, as a man, he's the perfect representative of us.

As God, he's the perfect sacrifice for us, because he was sinless and he took all of our sin upon himself, even though he himself committed none. Today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Pastor Skip examines why Jesus, born from the world's most impossible pregnancy, is the perfect solution to the world's seemingly impossible problems. We're glad you've tuned in today. Connect with Skip is all about helping listeners like you strengthen your walk with God. And we'd like to invite you to connect others like you to the life-changing power of the gospel with a gift to help keep these teachings you love on the air all around the world. Your support is vital to keep this broadcast going for you and growing to reach many others as we expand into more major US cities this year. Just call 800-922-1888. That's 800-922-1888. Or visit connectwithskip.com slash donate.

That's connectwithskip.com slash donate. Thank you. Great. We're going to be in Matthew 1 today as we go to Skip for his teaching. Please notice that Matthew quotes an Old Testament passage. He's quoting the prophet Isaiah, a prophet who wrote and predicted about the Messiah 700 years before Jesus was born. And so I want you to turn back to Isaiah 7 since you've already read Matthew 1. Go back to Isaiah chapter 7 and I'm going to begin in verse 10. Moreover, the Lord spoke to Ahaz saying, ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God.

Ask it either in the depth or in the height above. But Ahaz said, I will not ask nor will I test the Lord. He sounds so spiritual. Then he said, this is Isaiah the prophet, hear now, O house of David, hear now, O house of David, is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel. When Isaiah spoke these words, looming on the political horizon, dark threatening clouds were there.

Let me explain. There were two kings north of Ahaz. You see Ahaz mentioned in our text, he was the king of Judah in Jerusalem. And you know that by this time the nation of Israel was split north and south.

Israel in the north, Judah in the south, 10 tribes, 2 tribes. So during this time when Isaiah is prophesying, the king of Israel by the name of Pekah and the king of Damascus in Syria by the name of Rezin formed a coalition to fight against another king further up north, a superpower looming called Assyria. The Assyrians were about to take over the world. So these two kings, Pekah and Rezin, formed a coalition to fight against him. They tried to talk King Ahaz down south into joining the coalition.

He would have nothing to do with it. So those two kings, Pekah and Rezin, threatened King Ahaz in Jerusalem. Okay, you're not going to help us? We're going to come and attack you. So Ahaz does an end run. He gives money, a bribe, to the king of Assyria that the two kings are trying to fight against, form a coalition. He sends money to him and says, would you please attack those two kings before they attack me? So in walks Isaiah the prophet. And Isaiah the prophet says, just want you to know God is going to protect you and Judah. He's going to keep you safe.

Nothing's going to happen. He's going to protect you from those two kings. Then Isaiah said, okay, now ask God for a sign.

And Ahaz sounds very spiritual. He goes, I'm not going to test the Lord. Well, what he really meant is I'm not going to trust the Lord because he has already shown that he doesn't trust God by trying to hire out mercenaries to kill his enemies instead of trusting the Lord to do it.

So Isaiah said, okay, fine. I'm going to give you a sign. God's going to give you a sign.

The word you is in the plural, not just you personally, but y'all a sign. I'm giving the whole house of God a sign. I'm giving the whole house of David. God's going to give the whole house of David a sign. And he predicts the virgin birth. Now, whenever you see the word or hear the word sign in the Bible, it's a pretty special thing that's going to happen. A sign is the disruption in the natural flow of things.

It is a supernatural event. Example, the Red Sea parting, that's a sign. A fire falling from heaven and consuming Elijah's sacrifices, that's a sign. A miraculous physical healing, that's a sign. Well, what's this sign?

Look what it says. The virgin shall conceive. Now, that's quite a sign, right? That's a supernatural event. That's a sign.

That's a mega sign. When the ultrasound shows a virgin girl who has never had any physical relationships with a man suddenly pregnant, that's a sign of something. The Lord's going to give you a sign, a virgin birth. Now, over the years, I have heard people say, well, you know, virgin births are more common than you think. And that's my response, just what yours was, that kind of little chuckle.

Oh, really? See, yeah, there is a scientific process known as parthenogenesis. And what that is is that creatures can be conceived without fertilization.

It's common among various species of lower animals, including many insects. For example, honeybees, unfertilized eggs will naturally develop into drone bees. Silkworms can reproduce parthenogenically. In recent years, they've discovered that frogs and rabbits have been reproduced by parthenogenesis. And so they will say, well, see, these two are virgin births, so it's not so unique.

Well, that didn't help. It certainly does not explain Jesus Christ, and here's why. Parthenogenesis as a reproductive entity or event can only reproduce genetically identical beings. Frogs, for example, may be stimulated to reproduce, but they will always be female frogs, never male frogs. In other words, the offspring will be genetically identical to the mother that laid the eggs.

So even way back in the 1940s, a group of scientists under the head of Dr. Gregory Pincus proved that if Mary had conceived parthenogenically, she would have had a daughter and not a son. But the sign would be that the virgin will conceive and bear a son, a male child. And I think the very first hint of the virgin birth is all the way back in the book of Genesis. I think it's the first messianic prophecy, Genesis chapter 3, where it says, the seed of the woman will come. Well, the seed of the woman, and there will be a birth, and then that person, that child will crush the head of Satan.

You remember the prophecy. What's wrong with that phrase, seed of the woman? Seed doesn't come from the woman. It comes from a man. You have to have a virgin birth for that to occur.

If that is the meaning of the text, and it's unfolded for us as the angel says, the Holy Spirit will come upon her and she will bear a son, and you will call his name Jesus. So this is not parthenogenesis, folks. If anything, this is pneuma genesis. This is spirit-breathed. This is spirit-controlled.

This is a one-time miraculous event. Now that passage, Isaiah 7-14, quoted in Matthew chapter 1, that has been controversial, not only in scientific circles, but also in theological circles. And that is because the one born, once that virgin gives birth to that child, it's going to have a name or a designation. It's going to be known as something.

Immanuel, which means God with us. So, as you might expect, modern Jewish scholars deny the virgin birth and deny that Isaiah chapter 7 has anything at all to do with the messianic prophecy whatsoever. Because I told you last week, they think when the Messiah comes, he's just going to be a human being. He's not going to be God, not going to be born of a virgin, etc.

So they deny that. Here's my question. If you look at Isaiah 7 and you have to say, okay, if this isn't the Messiah, then who is it?

You will be hard-pressed to get a cogent answer to that question. So if this isn't the Messiah, who is it? Because if you're going to ascribe this to any human being at all, it sounds ridiculous. A virgin's going to conceive and bear a son, and you're going to call him God with us. Oh, that must just be a king.

That just must be some guy. It's also ridiculous sounding to ascribe this to angels because angels aren't conceived in wombs. Now, you may not be surprised, especially after last week's study, to learn that earlier Jewish sources go way back hundreds of years, thousands of years, ascribed Isaiah chapter 7 as a messianic prediction. The rabbis believe that is a prediction of the Messiah. So when you go closer back to when it was originally given, the consensus among Jewish scholars is that it is indeed messianic in meaning. In fact, what the ancient rabbis did was tie Isaiah chapter 7 together with Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6 and 7.

You know this one. As soon as I say it, you know it. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders, and his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, upon the throne of David to order it and to establish it.

From this time forth, even forever more, the Lord of hosts will perform this. They tied Isaiah 7 and Isaiah 9 together. Do you remember last week I told you about those Jewish sources that are commentaries and traditions and translations? I mentioned their names, the Targum, the Talmud, the Mishnah, the Midrash, the Gemara, all that.

I've said you've heard me say that through the years. I've quoted those. Well, the Targum of Isaiah, the Midrash, and the Babylonian Talmud, ancient Jewish sources, all of them ascribe a messianic meaning to Isaiah chapter 7 and Isaiah chapter 9. Also, there was a set of books, 18 books, 18 psalms, called the Psalter of Solomon, from the first century BC, so between 50 and 100 years before Jesus Christ was born. This book was written, and they cited the Isaiah passages that I'm mentioning to you and that we're reading.

They cited them, and they said this. Here's the quote. He is the king who reigns in the house of David. He is the son of David who comes at the time known to God only, to reign over Israel. He is Christ the Lord.

He is pure from sin. He will bring his people the blessing of restoration and judge the nations who will be subjects to his rule and behold his own glory, end quote. That's what Jewish sources before Christ was born said those prophecies mean.

But something happened. Jesus came, was born of a virgin in Bethlehem. The early church ascribed a virgin birth to Jesus. As soon as that happened, the rabbis eventually began an argument, a common argument that is still prevalent today.

Here's the argument. They'll say, well, in the original Hebrew language when it says behold a virgin shall conceive, the word in Hebrew for virgin is the word alma. That's the Hebrew word alma. And alma doesn't just mean a virgin. Sometimes it just means a young girl, a young girl.

And so that's how they translate it. It's not predicting a virgin will conceive. It just says a young girl will conceive. Now here's my question. How is that a sign?

I mean, how ridiculous does this sound? Here is a sign from God. A young girl is going to get pregnant and have a son. That happened 353,000 times yesterday. That's how many kids are born per day.

Half of those were boys or thereabouts. That is no great monumental sign like the parting of the Red Sea. And it doesn't solve the problem that this son will be called God with us. Well, let me tell you how we are helped. We are helped with a translation of the Bible called the Septuagint. Anybody here ever heard of the Septuagint version? Raise your hand. Okay.

Good. The Septuagint version, for those who don't know, is a translation into the Greek language from the Hebrew language. It's a very famous translation.

It occurred 280 BC. In 280 BC, the Jews realized that most people are speaking Greek, not Hebrew anymore, so we need to translate the scriptures, the Old Testament, we would call them, into the Greek language so people can understand the meaning of it. Well, when they came to the Isaiah 14 passage, or the Isaiah 7 14 passage, a virgin shall conceive, the word they chose to translate the word alma, virgin or young girl, into the Greek language, they chose the word parthenos, the parthenos. And that is a Greek word that can only strictly refer to a virgin girl.

Not a young woman, a virgin. Now, what does that tell us? It shows us how scholars best understood, way back then, the meaning of the Hebrew text. So a modern scholar could say, well, it doesn't mean virgin, it means just a young woman, but the Septuagint translators would beg to differ with you.

It means only a virgin girl. And why am I going through this? Because I want you to see that clearly what is predicted here is a miraculous sign, a supernatural birth, and that's how it was understood. So a savior is promised, the son is predicted, and now I want to cover a third, a solution is provided.

Remember, I said toward the beginning of this study that God said He's going to save His people from their sin through Jesus, and how is He going to do that? And my answer is the virgin birth. The virgin birth is required.

Why? Because only in the virgin birth do you have a child who is both human and divine. He's human in that He is born through the womb of Mary. He's divine in that He is conceived by the Holy Spirit, so He is a son who is born, but He is Emmanuel, God with us.

He is both. That's the meaning of Isaiah 9. Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and His name will be mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, the one who is going to come to rule.

Why am I doing a whole sermon on this? Why did I focus on the virgin birth? Well, did I focus on the virgin birth?

Well, that's part of the series against all odds, number one, but number two, here's why it's so important. If Jesus was not born of a virgin, that is, if Jesus Christ were born like every other human being, then He's not God. And if He's not God, then all of His claims are lies because He kept claiming to be God. Even His enemies said, you are constantly making yourself God. So if He's not born of a virgin, He's not God. If He's not God, His claims are false. If His claims are false, then guess what?

Your salvation is a hoax because the Scriptures say it will be the virgin born Son of God who will come and die and rise again. And so it is absolutely essential. And let me just say, because He is born of a virgin, He's the perfect solution. You see, as a man, He's the perfect representative of us. As God, He's the perfect sacrifice for us because He was sinless and He took all of our sin upon Himself even though He Himself committed none. He's the perfect representative of us being human. He's the perfect sacrifice for us being God.

So think of it this way. Jesus on the cross, hand stretched out because of crucifixion. With one hand, He could take the hand of the Father. With the other hand, He could take the hand of humanity and bring God and man together finally, being reconciled over His own blood. So the virgin birth provides the solution to our sin dilemma, our sin problem. But something else. Did you know that the virgin birth provides the solution to a sovereignty problem? You're going, what? What are you talking about?

A sovereignty problem? What does that mean? Did you know that the Lion of David, the dynasty of King David, was cursed? A curse was placed on it by God?

Did you know that? God cursed the Lion of David. I want you to see it for yourself. This is in Jeremiah chapter 22 verse 30 concerning the royal line and one of the kings at the time named Jeconiah of the royal line of David. This is what Jeremiah 22 30 says, and we'll put it up for you. Record this man as if childless.

A man who will not prosper in his lifetime, for none of his offspring will prosper. None will sit on the throne of David or rule in Judah any more. The throne of David or rule in Judah any more.

By the way, that is true. That happened after Jeconiah. None of his offspring sat on the throne. His uncle took over and the line died out. The Lion of David died out. So now we have a problem. How is the Messiah going to come through the lineage of David if that line ends?

Well, I'm glad you asked. Because that's why we have two genealogies in the New Testament. People ask, why do you have two genealogies? They're different. They are different because they're of different people. One is the genealogy of Mary, the other is the genealogy of Joseph. Both are traced back to King David. But they have different lines back to King David, different people back to King David.

Different people back to King David. So Joseph is a descendant of Jeconiah in the royal line and the rest of royalty, including Solomon, all the way back to David. But Jesus is not the physical son of Joseph. He was adopted by Joseph. Joseph had nothing to do with his birth. But because of the relationship in that family, Joseph gave Jesus the legal right to the throne, the royal throne, through Solomon, Jeconiah, all the way back to David, even though the lineage was cursed. But Mary's genealogy traces back all the way to David, bypassing Solomon and Jeconiah, through the son called Nathan, one of the other sons of David.

Why is that important? Because the virgin birth is the only thing that can solve that problem. God can give a curse to the lineage of David because of the disobedience of Jeconiah, but then get around his own curse by a virgin birth. So that you have Jesus born, he has the right to the throne legally, dynastically, but he escapes the curse physically. A virgin birth. All of that to say this. What happened 2,000 years ago at Bethlehem was against all odds. It was absolutely supernatural and staged so intricately. But it was all part of God's plan to provide a savior to save you to save you and you and you and you and you and me from our sin. It's marvelous to me. I mean, when I think of this and I think of all that God went through, so to speak, the intricacy of the plan to stage the giving of the son who would fulfill the prophecy and get around a curse and the genealogy and the virgin birth.

Why? That's how much he loves you to give you a savior who would save you and I from sin. Two men were having a conversation. One of them was considering the claims of Christ. The other was the Christian witnessing to him. The man considering put his head down, scratched his head. He goes, you know, I'm just not sure I can pay the price of becoming a Christian.

That's what he said. I don't know if I can pay the price of becoming a Christian. And his friend said, well, have you ever considered what it will cost you not to? If God went through all of that to get a hold of you, for you to say no to him, that's a pretty serious no.

That's a pretty serious refusal. But God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever would believe in him would not perish but have everlasting life. That concludes today's message from Skip Heitzig's series Against All Odds.

Find the full message as well as books, booklets and full teaching series at connectwithskip.com. Right now we want to share about a resource that will equip you to answer the toughest questions about your Christian faith. Josh McDowell has written books that rank among the best-selling Christian works of all time. Now with his son, Sean, Josh has released Evidence for Jesus. God gave us our mind and our heart to work in unity.

To what? To glorify him. The Bible, I call it fact, fiction or fallacy. I want to answer two questions about the Bible.

This is what I struggle with as a non-believer. One, is what we have written down the same as what was written down 2,000 years ago or has it been changed? Second, was what was written down true? In Evidence for Jesus, Josh and Sean McDowell have adapted and updated the Evidence for Jesus section from their classic apologetics book Evidence that demands a verdict into a concise readable and accessible resource for those seeking answers about Jesus. This powerful new resource is our thanks for your gift of $50 or more to support the broadcast ministry of Connect with Skip Heitzig.

Josh and Sean McDowell make a powerful team. If you have questions about Jesus or know someone who does, this book is perfect. So get your copy of Evidence for Jesus today when you give a gift of $50 or more. Evidence for Jesus is our thanks for helping us expand the reach of the teachings on Connect with Skip.

Give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer or call 800-922-1888. Join us again tomorrow as Pastor Skip brings a lesson about some unlikely visitors from afar who came to worship the Christ child. These Magi, these Persian king makers have traveled hundreds of miles to not only find the King of the Jews, but to worship Him. Make a connection, make a connection at the foot of the crossing. Cast all burdens on His word. Make a connection, connection. Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.