The Significance of the Virgin Birth #1

Welcome to the Truth Pulpit with Don Green, Founding Pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Hello, I'm Bill Wright. Thanks for joining us as we continue teaching God's people God's Word. Don begins a new message today, so without further delay, let's join him right now in the Truth Pulpit. What I wanted to do today was to kind of inform your understanding about the nature of the virgin birth. You know, we talk about the virgin birth and we kind of take it for granted in our circles, and yet I think that there might be some benefit to us to look at it closely and understand it from a biblical perspective and understand the theological significance of it. What we need to do today and what I think will help us in the coming week is to move beyond those good sentiments about the season and to understand from a biblical and a theological perspective why the virgin birth is so significant and not simply to assume it. I think that that's where we often get into trouble over time in the Christian life, in the Christian church, in Christian circles, is that we just start to assume things without really studying them, without understanding them, and just a general superficial knowledge of an echo of truth that others have defined in the past ultimately isn't enough to carry us.

We need to know this and to understand it for ourselves. And what you find when you study the virgin birth is that it is right at the center of the nature of your redemption, that it is essential for true salvation, that our hope, not only in a general sense for the weak and goodwill among men, but our hope of the forgiveness of our sins, our hope of the realization of eternal life, our hope that Christ has thoroughly dealt with our sin is bound up in the virgin birth in a way that you may not fully appreciate. And so we want to look at this today in a couple of simple ways and almost in an introductory sense, but in a way that I'm confident is going to advance your appreciation of why we celebrate it. When you strip away all of the earthly, secular things that have grown up and have obscured it, at the core of it, at the core, what was the inception of all of it was a recognition and a remembrance of the virgin birth. And it's not surprising that things have risen up to cloud that over because it is so central to redemption.

It's not surprising that Satan and false teachers would do things which would deny it or cover it up and make it seem less important than it is. Today we have the privilege from God's Word in a peaceful, comfortable setting to be able to look and see what it is that our Lord did on our behalf when he came in human flesh. And so we're going to study the virgin birth as we enter the Christmas week, and let's just start with a simple definition.

It's always good to define your terms. One of the best things that ever happened to me in the terms of my teaching was very, very early on in my preaching. I had only preached maybe a half dozen or ten times, and somebody came alongside, an older saint who's now in heaven, said, what you need to do is you need to define your terms when you teach so that it's clear what you're talking about.

And that advice from somebody who was not a preacher at all was very helpful and shaped my preaching going forward, and so I'm grateful for Harry Lowe's influence on me in days gone by. So what we want to do is we want to define our term, the virgin birth, and here's what we're saying. When we talk about the virgin birth, here's what we're saying. The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ was conceived in the womb of his virgin mother Mary by a miraculous work of the Holy Spirit. His conception occurred without the contribution of a human father. Simply stated, Jesus was conceived in the womb of his mother Mary by a miraculous work of the Holy Spirit, apart from the contribution of a human father.

There was never a birth like that of Jesus. God created Adam directly. Eve was a woman taken from man. Since then, every human birth has been the coming together of a man and a woman, or at least in modern days, a male seed with a female contribution. But in Jesus Christ, we see a man being born from a woman alone.

There was no male contribution to his conception. And so we want to understand why that is, and beloved, you will honor Christ more. You will revere him more deeply.

You will honor him more fully when you understand his birth and why it is so important. How does it relate to salvation? That's the thing, is that this is related to your salvation. You should not think about the virgin birth as an isolated event that occurred in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. This was the outworking of God's eternal plan for the fulfillment and the accomplishment of an eternal purpose. And so this is part of an overall plan of God.

And one writer puts its significance this way, stating it in a negative way. If Jesus was simply the illegitimate child of Mary's infidelity, or even if he is the child of Joseph's natural marital union with Mary, he is not God. And if he is not God, his claims to be God are lies. And if his claims are lies, his salvation is a hoax. And if his salvation is a hoax, we are all doomed."

End quote. To take that one step further in a parallel to the way that Paul spoke about the resurrection, if the virgin birth is not true, we are wasting our time here. There is nothing supernatural about Christ at all if he was simply the product of natural human conception.

Because natural human conception leads to a natural human child born in sin with no deity attached to it whatsoever. And so there is massive consequences at stake when we talk about the virgin birth, because, beloved, your eternal salvation hinges on this being true. If Christ is not God in human flesh, if Christ was not born to a virgin, if Christ was simply a mere human through natural conception, he has absolutely no power to save us.

He has no position to save us. And so this is crucial to understanding our salvation and its truth is vital to Christian redemption. And so what we want to do today is we just want to look at two basic approaches to the virgin birth. We're going to look at the biblical statements on the virgin birth and see that this is what the Bible teaches, that Christ was born of a virgin. And then we're going to take a little bit of time to briefly discuss the significance of the virgin birth. Why was it that Christ had to be born of a virgin?

Why was it? What did that accomplish? What did it do that is directly tied for the salvation that you enjoy to be brought into reality? That's what we're going to see, the statements and then the significance. Let's start with the statements of the virgin birth. Open to the book of Matthew.

We'll start there. Starting with the Gospel of Matthew chapter 1, beginning in verse 18, where it says, Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. Notice, before they came together, before their marital union had been consummated, she was already with child by the Holy Spirit. Verse 19, And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man, and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.

Why? He didn't understand. He didn't know. His wife was pregnant.

How was he supposed to understand what had happened? And there was angelic intervention in verse 20. When he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

He came from the Holy Spirit, not through a sinful act by your betrothed. Verse 21, She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. And all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet. Verse 23, Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which translated means God with us. And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son.

And he called his name Jesus. So here in Matthew, you see a clear assertion that before Mary and her husband had come together, she was already with child. She was a virgin, it says in verse 23, quoting from a prophecy from Isaiah chapter 7 verse 14. She was a virgin and was with child. And in verse 25, Joseph kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son. And so Scripture makes this abundantly clear. Here in Matthew, building on the famous prophecy from Isaiah that said in 714, Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call his name Immanuel. 700 years later, that birth took place, and Matthew connects it as a fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy. Now, a little brief technical word here that won't detain us. In Isaiah, scholars quibble over the technical meaning of the Hebrew word that is translated as virgin there.

They say that it's really more a word that's a general reference to a young woman, not a technical term for a virgin. Well, we won't let that distract us here. We don't need to answer all of those technical scholarly issues because we can understand them in light of the way that Scripture interprets that prophecy when Jesus is born. Scripture and the unfolding and the progress of Revelation leaves no doubt. And then frankly, I don't think there's any doubt about what Isaiah intended, but we're just addressing the brief things that come up in these discussions. We ask the question, what are the biblical statements about Jesus' birth?

What does Scripture say about his birth regardless of scholarly discussions about one word in the book of Isaiah? Well, Matthew here in verse 18 describes Mary with the Greek word parthenos. And one Bible dictionary, every Bible lexicon that I looked at, it says virgin, virgin, virgin in defining that.

And one dictionary gives it this little bit of an expansion. It says that parthenos stresses the fact that the one described has never engaged in sexual intercourse. In other words, what's significant about this is that the New Testament Greek word that is used does not carry any ambiguity about it. This is the word that is used in Matthew 25 to describe the ten virgins. It's the word that's used in 1 Corinthians 7 in Paul's teaching on marriage when he's talking about virgins as opposed to widows, for example. And so Matthew takes this precise word and says, the mother of Jesus was a virgin at the time of his conception and was until the time of his birth.

There was no question to be had about it. Now, in the Gospel of Luke, turn over to Luke chapter 1, we see further clarification, further biblical statements about this. And it's important, as we're talking about important theological issues like the virgin birth, to understand where it is in Scripture that these things come from.

That this isn't something that's just dogmatically asserted based on the authority of a preacher or based on the authority of church tradition. No, we go to our authority, the Scripture, and see what Scripture says about it. Is Scripture clear on such a vital matter? And the answer is yes, Scripture is absolutely clear. Look at Luke chapter 1 beginning in verse 26. Luke chapter 1 verse 26. Luke uses that same Greek word, parthenos, in his description that we're going to see over the next few minutes.

Verse 26, now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. He says it twice in this introductory overview statement of it. It says twice she's a virgin so that you can't miss it.

There is no quibbling, there is no qualification about it. Scripture states it dogmatically. She was a virgin who had not known a man at the time that Jesus was conceived. And what does a virgin hear from the angel that comes? Verse 30, as the angel comes to her and speaks. Luke chapter 1 verse 30. The angel said to her, do not be afraid Mary, for you have found favor with God, and behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall name him Jesus.

He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will have no end. Stunning pronouncement that comes to Mary. Mary, fear not, Mary congratulations, Mary favored one, you have been chosen by God to give birth to Messiah.

The promised one that the nation of Israel has been awaiting for centuries, you will give birth to him. Mary is astonished. This had to be overwhelming and you know look, you and I would in her shoes would have been also, an angel comes makes an announcement like this and you know, and then you're left to respond to it.

It's a stunning moment in redemptive history. And Mary is astonished, she responds to it in a very appropriate way that vindicates the testimony about her virginity. This is an idea that's outside the realm of nature what he had just said to her. Look at verse 34, she says it simply and profoundly. Mary said to the angel, how can this be since I am a virgin? Here not using the word parthenos, rather using a statement that literally means, I do not know a man. I have not known a man sexually and I will not know a man sexually.

I do not engage in sexual relations and I have not engaged. How is it that I am going to give birth to anything? Let alone to the Messiah. The angel responds to her and this is very crucial for pivoting into the significance of the virgin birth in just a moment. Verse 35, the angel answers her question and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you and for that reason the holy child shall be called the Son of God. Or the child to be born will be called holy is another way to understand the grammatical structure there that's reflected in your ESV for those of you that use that. The child will be holy. He will be sanctified. He will be set apart because of the work of the Holy Spirit on you. Verse 36, and behold even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month.

For nothing will be impossible with God. There are the biblical statements. Galatians 4, 4 is sometimes cited as well that Christ was born of a woman. Perhaps that's more a statement of his humanity than of the virgin birth, but the biblical statements in two of the four gospels are clear. John and Mark don't cover this aspect of Christ's life because it had already been covered elsewhere in the Scriptures and so we have independent witnesses from Matthew and Luke both testifying to the reality of the virgin birth. Scripture says on the basis of two or three witnesses a fact is established.

That's what we have here. Scripture has spoken and describes Mary as one who had not engaged in sexual relations and yet she was found to be with child. Now, what are we to make of that? Having considered the statements of the virgin birth, what's the significance of the virgin birth?

Why does this matter? And that brings it into the realm of our understanding of spiritual truth, our understanding of salvation. It brings us into the understanding of how you can be reconciled to a holy God. You who were born into sin, you who are guilty by being a descendant of Adam, you who are guilty of sin in your own conduct, your words, your thoughts, utterly ruined before a holy God.

How is it that you can be reconciled to Him? How is it that you can know that your eternal life is real and that Christ truly has the power to save you that He says that He does? Stated differently, what is it that distinguishes true biblical salvation from a mere system of ethics of trying to work your way to God and just from human power obeying human rules and hoping to present God something that is acceptable to Him at the end and hoping, with your fingers crossed, that you've been good enough? What distinguishes the certainty of our eternal hope, the certainty of Christian salvation from that? What is it that makes us different? What distinguishes true Christianity from a natural imposter? Well, the significance of the virgin birth helps us to understand that.

That's point number two. We've seen the statements from Matthew 1, Isaiah 7, and Luke chapter 1 that give us the basis for understanding the reality of the virgin birth. Now we want to look at the significance of the virgin birth, and here we're going to highlight three aspects of it. And some of this is just so essential for some of you in particular, I know, to understand, because Christianity isn't clear in your mind, and you're just trying hard to be a good person. And you know that Jesus fits in there somewhere and the cross fits in somewhere, but somehow it is still anchored in your mind that your salvation depends on your efforts, and you're finding that you fall a little bit short and you say, I'm just going to try harder then.

Well, understanding the virgin birth gives you a way out of that mistaken notion of what it means to be a Christian. My friend, I want to let you know of a special ministry that we have at thetruthpulpit.com that's very near to my heart. We have a ministry to those who are in prison, and in the nature of life, sometimes we have loved ones that go astray and find themselves behind bars and spending significant time in incarceration. Well, we have a ministry to them. We send them transcripts of messages that I've preached from the pulpit of Truth Community Church. We do it on a weekly basis.

They get mail every week. If you have a loved one in prison that you would like to have us reach out to in that way, do me a favor. Go to our website, thetruthpulpit.com. That's thetruthpulpit.com. Click on the link that says about, and you'll see a drop down menu that will take you to our prison ministry. You can fill out the form and we'll be happy to respond and join in with you in ministering to that one who is outside the normal course of society. So that's thetruthpulpit.com, the about link for our prison ministry.

That will do it for today. We'll see you next time on The Truth Pulpit. That's Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Thank you so much for listening to The Truth Pulpit. Join us next time for more as we continue teaching God's people God's word.