VIRGIN BIRTH OF JESUS

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

I read a recent statistic stating that the percentage of Christians believing in the virgin birth of Jesus is dropping. I had to read the article twice for it to really sink in. The most glaring statement was one from a mainline, Christian religious leader who said, "In our church, we don't make a big deal out of these kinds of things. Instead, people want to hear about hope and happiness instead of theological paradoxes."

This past Sunday, I preached a message on the Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ. You can listen to the message on the Gatetree webpage.

It really is an amazing thing to think about the mysterious moment when God became a man. Jesus Christ—God the Son—was born in a manger. He went from the throne of heaven to a feeding trough. He went from the presence of angels to a cave filled with animals. He who is larger than the universe became an embryo. He who sustains the world with a word chose to be dependent upon the nourishment of a young virgin.

Some people have a hard time believing in the Virgin Birth. If you believe the Bible, you have to believe in the Virgin Birth. The Bible teaches that God Almighty was supernaturally conceived in the womb of a virgin (see Matthew 1:23). This makes sense if you think about it. If God had chosen to, He could have sent Jesus to this earth as a fully grown, yet sinless human being. A shaft of light could have come out from heaven with Jesus descending to the ground as an adult man. But if Jesus came to us in that way, who could have related to Him as a person, as a part of the human race? God also could have had Jesus come into the world through two ordinary human beings—but still with a divine nature. But then most of us would have doubted His divinity. That's why the Incarnation makes sense.

This coming Sunday I will preach “The Power of a Name.” If you’re in the neighborhood of Gatetree, we’d be delighted if you would drop in for worship at 10:45 AM. I hope to see you then.