The Unique Birth of Jesus Christ

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Sheila and I don't allow our children to watch much television because there's so many other possible things to do but, occasionally, they'll turn on the TV. And recently, I was sitting in the dining room or in the breakfast area, rather, listening to what my children were watching. And one program that we had allowed them to watch went off and another came on and it was a program that's a popular kid's program. But in the midst of that, as I was doing some paperwork and had one ear sort of tuned to what they were listening to, as parents are wont to do, I was shocked by what I heard. But I was even more shocked when I quizzed my kids to make sure that I'd understood what they had learned. On this popular television program for children, the character (the lead character) was trying to decipher where Christ came from as he contemplated Christmas. And in the mouth of the smartest kid in school, the writers had put words something like this, "The truth is, no one really knows where Jesus came from. He was probably just adopted."

The birth of Christ has always been the center of much of Satan's attacks on Christianity. Since the birth of Christ, there have been many theories as to how He came to be in Mary's womb. I'll never forget my first visit to Fuller Seminary shortly after arriving in California 16 years ago. We walked into the bookstore and featured in the bookstore at Fuller Seminary was a book that was new at the time that put forth the theory that Jesus was the product of an illicit relationship between Mary and a Roman soldier. In the end, when you think about the birth of Christ there are only three possibilities. Either Jesus was illegitimate, he was the product of Mary and Joseph and still in some sense was illegitimate or, thirdly, he was virgin born. Everywhere, Scripture denies that Jesus was illegitimate and that He was the offspring of Mary and Joseph. And, instead, it asserts that he was in fact virgin born.

I read this morning for us Luke, his account of the birth of Christ. It's by far the most popular. But this morning, I want us to examine Matthew's account which focuses on the birth of Christ not from Mary's perspective but from Joseph's. Matthew's purpose in writing his gospel was to present Christ as king. And the essence of being a king is succession; to be followed by one's son and by his son after that. And to be rightly called the king means that you were in the line of royal kings; you have a right to the throne. So, since Matthew is presenting Christ as king, he begins by presenting Christ's genealogy. He must show that Christ falls in the line of kings. After establishing Jesus' pedigree, that is that he descended from David and before that from Abraham, next Matthew records for us the events that actually surrounded the birth of Christ. And it was a most unusual event. It was the world's unique birth.

You follow along as I read Matthew 1:18 and following. "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. And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But 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. She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.' Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: '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."

As Matthew describes the nature of Christ's birth, he identifies five specific characteristics of Christ's birth for us this morning: five specific characteristics of the birth of Christ. The first one is found in verse 18 and it's that Christ birth was a supernatural birth, a supernatural birth. "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." Scripture doesn't tell us how old Mary and Joseph were, but most men of the time married before they were 20. Most young girls were betrothed shortly after puberty, around 13 or 14. It's possible that Mary was older (in her late teens) but not likely. She was probably 13 or 14 years of age. Usually, families arranged their children's marriages. And a first century marriage consisted of two parts; a Jewish marriage had two parts to it. The first was the betrothal period. It was often referred to as the kiddushin. It was more serious than our engagement. The couple didn't live together, and they were to remain sexually pure, but they were bound together by a contractual agreement. During the kiddushin, if a man died the woman was considered a widow. The kiddushin could only be ended by divorce. And it was during this betrothal period that the man was considered to be the husband of the woman and the wife was considered to be a wife to the man. Any form of sexual sin was considered adultery and the guilty party could be stoned, according to Deuteronomy 22. That was the first part: the kiddushin. The second part of the Jewish marriage was called the huppah. This part consisted of a man's going with a lot of fanfare to his wife's home and bringing her back to his home to live. It was usually accompanied by a great parade and the arrival of the bride of the husband's home. We have a little bit of insight into that in the parable of the virgins in Matthew 25. It was also accompanied by feasting, sometimes lasting as long as seven days. Imagine, Fathers, if you had to pay for seven days of feasting for your married daughter. It was also accompanied by the consummation of the marriage.

In verse 18, the word Matthew uses tells us that Mary and Joseph were in the period of the kiddushin, the betrothal. And Matthew adds it was "before they came together". That's a Jewish euphemism for the fact that they had not [been] involved in any sexual relations. But at some point, during this kiddushin, this betrothal period that could last as long as 12 months, at some point, something remarkable happened. The Scripture says, in verse 18, "she was found to be with child by (or literally out of) the Holy Spirit". The miracle of the virgin birth could really better be called the miracle of the virgin conception. It's true that Mary was still a virgin when she gave birth to Christ - verse 25 tells us that. But the actual birth of Christ was the same as any other human birth. Mary carried Jesus in her womb for nine months and then, while they were in Bethlehem for the census, Jesus was born in the way that every other naturally born child is born. What was unique about Mary's child was the supernatural conception. No human father was involved. The Bible does not teach the immaculate conception, that is, that Mary was born without original sin. In fact, in her Magnificat, you remember, she says...she refers to God as "God my Savior". Perfect people don't need a savior. Instead of the immaculate conception, the Bible teaches a virgin conception. The humanity of Christ was produced in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the supernatural activity of the Holy Spirit. But be very clear, and I need to speak frankly here because of the influence of Greek mythology, no physical relationship of any kind, natural or supernatural, took place. The virgin birth was a special miracle produced by the work of the Holy Spirit. The Bible speaks with one voice that the coming Messiah would be born of a virgin. Isaiah 7:14 says, "...a virgin will be with child..." Matthew 1:16 says, "...by [out of] whom [referring to Mary and it uses the feminine in the original language, out of whom is out of Mary] Jesus was born." Verse 18 of Matthew 1: "...before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit." Notice verse 20 of Matthew 1: "for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit". Verse 22 and verses 22 and 23 that is: Jesus' birth was the fulfillment of what Isaiah had prophesied that a virgin would be with child. If you turn to the account in Luke, Luke 1:27 says that an angel came to a virgin and the virgin's name was Mary. Verse 34 of Luke 1: "How can this be [Mary says], since I am a virgin?" Verse 35 of Luke 1: "The angel answered 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.'" When you get later in Christ's life, as you approach the genealogy of Luke, in Luke 3:23, Jesus is called the one who was "as [it] was supposed, the son of Joseph." Paul refers to it in Galatians 4:4. He says Christ was sent forth, that is commissioned, and he was "born of a woman". Literally the Greek text of Galatians 4 says he became "out of a woman".

Christ's humanity was real. Since He had no human father, His humanity is to be made of the substance of Mary. But since she was sinful, the Holy Spirit had to so act upon Mary so that that humanity, which was formed in her, would be sinless and absolutely pure. And that's why the text says the Holy Spirit came upon her, worked a miracle in her womb, so that that humanity that would be produced would be absolutely sinless and pure without the original sin that you and I are each born with. The miracle of producing the sinless humanity of Christ in the womb of Mary is no great feat for God. Remember God produced Adam's sinless humanity from the dirt of the ground. As J. Gresham Machen said in his excellent defense of the truth of the virgin birth, "It is perfectly clear that the New Testament teaches the virgin birth of Christ. About that there can be no matter of doubt. There is no serious question as to the interpretation of the Bible at this point. It was a supernatural conception and birth."

Secondly, Matthew tells us, not only was it a supernatural birth, but it was a scandalous birth. Notice verse 19: "And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But 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.'" You see, Mary was betrothed to Joseph when the angel appeared to her. And the betrothal usually lasted for a period of 12 months or less. So, it must have been a very short time after the angel came to her that she found out that she was pregnant. Now we're not told how Joseph found out about Mary's condition, but we can assume that one day Mary asked to speak with Joseph, and she delivered to him the shocking news of the angel's visit and that a child was growing inside of her. Like most first century Jewish people, Joseph was faithful to his spouse during this betrothal period, and he expected the same of her. So, it's hard to imagine the shock when Joseph heard the news. Obviously, he knew the child wasn't his. And he didn't really know Mary that well at this point. The Jewish records tell us that during the betrothal period it was very uncommon for the couple to spend time alone. But growing up in a small village of Nazareth, certainly he and his family knew of Mary and they knew of the virtue of her character, her reputation in the community. I'm sure he was confused because what Mary was telling him seemed so out of character for the girl that he knew her to be. But her explanation was too incredible to believe. An angel had appeared to her, and had told her that she was going to conceive a child by the Holy Spirit, that no man would be involved, that you would as a virgin bear a child? Remember. Put yourself in Joseph's place. For 400 years God hadn't spoken. And for 700 years, God hadn't stepped into His world and performed a miracle. And suddenly, this 13- or 14-year-old girl to whom he's betrothed says that's exactly what God has done. Imagine yourself in Joseph's shoes. What would you think if the person you were betrothed to was pregnant and you knew the child wasn't yours? And this situation was made even more difficult by the fact that the text tells us Joseph was a righteous man, that is, he was an Old Testament believer who was committed to obeying the law of God. I'm sure once the shock left Joseph and numbness set in - 'This can't be happening. I've been anticipating my wedding day for a long time and now a woman to whom I'm betrothed to be married tells me she's pregnant. And she compounds that by lying about some heavenly visitation.'

Then as anyone would, Joseph began to think about his options. And he only had three. The first was to marry her but this just wasn't done in the 1st century. In fact, Roman law actually treated a husband who failed to divorce his unfaithful wife as a panderer who was simply exploiting his wife as a prostitute. The Jewish Mishnah forbade the man in this situation to marry the woman. And besides, if he married her, it would be a sort of tacit admission that he was the child's father, forever tainting his reputation. His second option was to disgrace her; that's the word of the text there in verse 19. The same word is used in Colossians 2:15 where it says Christ made a display or made a public spectacle of the powers of Satan that He defeated at the cross. It refers to Joseph making a public accusation against Mary in a court of law. Such a public proceeding would publicly shame him and his family. Matthew tells us, though, it wasn't Joseph thinking about himself when he decided not to disgrace Mary or to take her to court. Listen to what Matthew says in verse 19. He didn't do that because he didn't want to make a public spectacle of her. You see, Mary's premarital pregnancy had forever ruined her chances at future marriage in that culture. And Joseph was concerned about her. We would suspect that Joseph was a good man from the very fact that God chose him to be the earthly father of His only Son. But here we see it demonstrated beautifully. We see his heart. Even though Mary has just broken his heart, humiliated him, ruined his life, he's concerned about her. You see, in Moses' day, if it had been proven that she had been unfaithful during the betrothal period, she would have been put to death. But in the first century, these would have been the results if she had been found publicly unfaithful. The court would have allowed Joseph to impound Mary's dowry, that is, the assets she brought into the marriage and, perhaps, even permitted Joseph to recoup the bride price if he had paid one at the beginning of the betrothal. And she would be publicly shamed.

Well, our culture has come a long way from expecting that young people, who aren't married, keep themselves pure. That should be the expectation of all of God's people. Young person, if you're in Christ, that's God's expectation of you. God takes this so seriously that when He was Israel's king anyone who committed sexual sin outside the bounds of marriage was to be put to death, stoned to death. Listen to me young people. If the person you're dating tells you that if you really love him or her, you'll become involved in some way sexually. You can be sure of two things. One, that person doesn't really love you. They're merely seeking their own interests. And, secondly, that person is not a righteous person as Joseph was.

So, he can marry her or he could disgrace her, that is, he could bring her to the courts and make it clear to everyone that she had broken the promise that she had made beginning of the betrothal period; possibly getting some of her assets and his money from the bride price back. Or, thirdly, in verse 19 we learned that his only other choice was to send her away secretly. The Greek word translated "send away" is the same word that Christ uses in Matthew 5 and Matthew 19 when he discusses divorce. Joseph is considering privately divorcing Mary. That's his only option left. And thanks to the influence of the Roman culture and a sort of loose interpretation of Deuteronomy 24, men of that day could easily divorce their wives without really stipulating a reason. Or if there were a reason, it would be the most inconsequential one. According to Rabbi Judah of that time, a man simply needed in the presence of two witnesses to give his wife a document that said, "Let this be from me your writ of divorce, and letter of dismissal, and deed of liberation that you may marry whatever man you want." Signed, sealed, it's done! And that's what Matthew tells us Joseph exactly decides to do - to privately divorce Mary and be done with this relationship. Now, at this point, Mary couldn't defend herself. I mean, think about it. What can Mary say to Joseph that will convince him of her innocence? And so, the Lord steps end to defend her, and He sends an angel in verse 20. And he speaks to Joseph in a dream, and this is what he said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife..." That phrase "to take Mary as your wife" describes the second part of the Jewish wedding when the man actually came to his wife's-to-be house and took her back with fanfare to his own to live. What the angel is saying is, 'Joseph, proceed with finalizing the marriage. Take the second step that's part of becoming man and wife in this culture.'

And then the angel confirms to Mary what, no doubt, or confirms, rather, to Joseph what no doubt Mary had already told him. The child who has been conceived in her is literally out of the Holy Spirit. Don't miss Matthew's point in this text. From the very beginning, the birth of Jesus Christ was scandalous even to Joseph. His only solution was to divorce her privately and send her away. But Jesus' enemies later throw up this situation into His face. Listen to what they say in John 8:41: "You are doing..." Rather, Jesus says to them, "You are doing the deeds of your father." And they respond, "We were not born of fornication..." The clear implication is that Jesus was. Word had spread that Joseph took Mary as his wife while she was pregnant.

I've often wondered why God sent His Son into the world in such a way that there could be this sort of cloud of suspicion hanging over Him; that it would be potentially scandalous. I mean, God could have done it some other way. He could have done it so that no one would have ever suspected anything, but that Jesus was from God, sent into the world. Why did He choose to do it this way through a virgin conception? Well, we can't be sure, but I wonder if it might be the same reason that Jesus chose to speak in parables - so that unbelieving people would not be forced to believe by the sheer weight of evidence but could, instead, manifest their sinful hearts by choosing to ignore it or dismiss it as illegitimate. By leaving the question of Christ's ancestry open, it allows man to follow his own sinful heart and disregard God's revelation of Himself in His Word and in His Son. It was a supernatural birth, but Matthew tells us it was also a scandalous birth.

Thirdly, he tells us it was a Savior's birth, a Savior's birth. Verse 21: "She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." The Angel continues by telling Joseph that Mary is not only going to have a baby but she's going to have a baby boy. And Mary and Joseph aren't going to have the option of naming him. Rather, they're given the name from God. The child is to be named Jesus. As you know, the name Jesus is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew Joshua are Yeshua. It means, "Yahweh saves" or "Yahweh is salvation". The angel is saying that God has designed this whole situation and sent this boy to accomplish salvation. You remember, even as we've read this morning, the angel said to the shepherds on the fields outside of Bethlehem, "for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

In Scripture, the words save and salvation are used to depict rescue or deliverance and it's a rescue from a broad range of evils that Scripture represents. For example, it's often used of rescuing someone from physical danger. Paul uses this word group about 50 times in his letters, but almost exclusively, he uses it to refer to spiritual deliverance or rescue. It's a general term that refers to everything God does to bring the sinner into proper relationship with Him - deliverance, rescue. But the question is: rescued from what? Saved from what? Well, the Scripture depicts several things that Christ rescues us from. For example, in Matthew 18:11 we're told that we're rescued from being lost: "Come..." "I've come", Christ says, "to save that which was lost"; to rescue that which was lost. In 1 Peter 1:18 we're told that Christ came to save us a rescue us from a futile way of living. "You were redeemed", Peter says, "from your futile way of life". You were saved, rescued, from a futile way of living. Colossians 1:13 - we were rescued or delivered from the rule of Satan. Paul says Christ rescued us from the domain, literally, the authority of darkness. And in Romans 5:9 we're told that we were rescued from the wrath of God. We shall be saved or rescued from the wrath of God through Jesus Christ. And the angel speaks to Joseph, here in Matthew 1, he adds another facet of what this child will save us from. He says, "from their sins". Verse 21: "...you shall call his name Jesus, for He will rescue his people from their sins." He's a savior - saving us from what? Saving us from being lost from a futile way of living, from the rule of Satan, and from the wrath of God, and ultimately from our sins - from the penalty that our sins deserve which is the wrath of God. This was prophesied of the one who would come.

Turn for a moment to Isaiah 53, a favorite passage for many of us in the Old Testament. Isaiah 53. We were told that the coming Servant of Yahweh would be a savior. He would be one who would deliver us from sins. Notice verse 4 of Isaiah 53: "Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all [all who will ever believe] to fall on Him." Did you notice that this salvation, this rescue that the child is going to make, this rescue operation is accomplished by substitution, that is, Christ substituting in the place of sinners; Christ receiving the wrath of God in the place of those who will accept Him. The birth of Jesus Christ was a Savior's birth.

Matthews next point is that it was Scriptural birth. It was a scriptural birth. Notice verse 22: "Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: '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.'" Matthew picks up where the heavenly messenger left off, and Matthew writes this: "all this [that is everything the angel described, this entire set of circumstances, all] took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet [Isaiah]." And then he quotes Isaiah 7:14. So the birth of Christ what's the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy in Chapter 7 verse 14 of his book.

Turn there with me for a moment. Let me give you the context of the prophecy in Isaiah 7:14. A man by the name of Ahaz was king of Judah. He was an incredibly wicked man. He had filled Jerusalem with idols. In fact, he had reinstituted the worship of Molech where children were offered in human sacrifice. In fact, he himself had burned his own son in sacrifice to Molech, a wicked godless man. During his reign two kings, a man by the name of Rezin of Syria and Pekah of Israel (that is the northern 10 tribes), decide to attack Judah and replace Ahaz with a puppet king. So, Ahaz - his solution was to form a secret alliance with Assyria. He essentially sold Judah out to the Assyrians. He even gave them some of the gold and silver from the temple to keep them appeased and to keep them as his ally. So, God sends Isaiah to confront Ahaz and to tell him that not because of his alliance with Assyria but because of God's future plans for Israel, Judah would not be taken by these two kings. That's the context of Isaiah 7. Notice verse 10: "Then the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying, 'Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God; make it deep as Sheol or high as heaven.'" But Ahaz being the godless man that he was won't obey this direct command from God and he said, "'I will not ask [and then he makes it sound pious], nor will I test the Lord!'" Then Isaiah said, "Listen now, O house of David! Is it too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God as well?" You won't ask for a sign Ahaz? Now Isaiah is speaking to all the people: "Therefore the Lord Himself will give [all of] you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel."

Some translators and liberal commentators have argued that the Hebrew word translated virgin in this passage means young woman. I won't spend a lot of time here but let me give you several reasons why virgin is a valid translation of this Hebrew word. First of all, the Hebrew word itself almah occurs seven times in the Old Testament. It never refers to a married woman or to a woman who is clearly not a virgin. Secondly, the context of the prophecy makes it have to mean virgin. I mean imagine for a moment God comes to Ahaz and He says, "Okay, I want you to ask for a sign; make it as deep as Sheol, make it as high as heaven." And Ahaz, "Oh no! I'm not going to ask for a sign." And so, the Lords says, "Alright, you won't ask for one? I'll give you one: a young woman will conceive..." That's ridiculous! It's not a sign - happens every day! A third reason that it has to mean virgin is Isaiah 9:6, which goes on to talk about this child, makes it clear that this will not be a normal child. He'll be the mighty God, the Father of eternity. Another reason is that when the Septuagint translators (the Greek translators of the Hebrew Old Testament more than 100 years before the birth of Christ) translated this verse, they chose a Greek word that always and only means virgin. And when the New Testament authors, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, cite this passage they use a Greek word that always and only means virgin.

So, a virgin will bear a son and they will call His name Immanuel. Matthew translates this for us. It comes from two Greek words: "El" which is a word for God (in fact, Isaiah uses it exclusively to refer to the one true God) and "Immanu". "Immanu" means "with us". Immanu-el: God with us. Up to this point in the Matthew account, we haven't been told the true nature of this boy in Mary's womb. But now, it's made clear to us. He's none other than God Himself, God with us. But notice, it's more than God, it's God with us; with us in the sense that He's becoming one of us. You see bound up in that expression, in that name Immanuel, is the incredible mystery of the incarnation; that by the power of the third member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, the second member of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, add's human nature to His divine nature and lives among us. God became one of us. He lived among us and He dealt with our deepest need, rescuing us from the penalty that our sins deserve - the wrath of God. And Matthew says all this took place in perfect fulfillment of God's promise through Isaiah. The birth of Christ was a scriptural birth.

That brings us to the final characteristic of Christ's birth. It was a sovereign's birth, a sovereign's birth. Notice verse 24: "And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and [he] took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus." Notice that Joseph did exactly what the Lord had commanded him, what the angel commanded him. He took the next step and formally took Mary from her home to his. What amazing faith and trust! As unbelievable as the story may seem, that his wife to be is a virgin although she's pregnant, he accepts God's assurance of that, and he obeys. He obeys in spite of the personal shame that it will bring on him. Remember, throughout his life there will be the assumption that, during the betrothal period, he got Mary pregnant. But he takes her as his wife. According to verse 25, "he kept her a virgin". Literally, he did not know her or have sexual relations with her until she gave birth to Christ. The reason is clear. Isaiah had said that a virgin would conceive and that, as a virgin, she would bear or give birth to a son. I want you to notice the implication here is exactly the opposite of the Catholic doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary. It says she was a virgin until the child was born. In fact, in Mark 6:3 we learned that after Christ, Mary and Joseph had at least six other children. He had four brothers who were named in Mark 6:3 - James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas - and it also refers to sisters (plural). So, we know he had at least two sisters. So, Jesus grew up in a family of at least seven children, and probably more. So, as a virgin, Mary gave birth to a son and Matthew says that Joseph called his name Jesus, just as the angel had commanded. You see by naming him, by naming him Jesus, Joseph was officially claiming this boy as his son. He was accepting him as his own. The point of these verses is to explain how Jesus, who was not Joseph's son by natural generation, came to be his legal son and therefore in the royal line of David through Joseph. This is how Jesus, the son of Mary, came to be a genuine heir of David's throne and Israel's rightful king, through the man who was as it was supposed his father.

Now let me ask you as we've gone through this text together: why is the virgin birth or virgin conception important? Why should this matter? Well, J. Gresham Machen mentions several terrible negative ramifications if Christ had not been supernaturally conceived. Let me give you a couple of them. First, the Bible is in error and ceases to be trustworthy in the rest of its teaching, including what it teaches about salvation. The Bible clearly teaches, as we've seen this morning, that Jesus was born of a virgin. If that's not true, then nothing else here can be trusted. Secondly, if Jesus wasn't born of a virgin, then it's impossible to understand the person of Christ and the nature of the incarnation. Thirdly, if Jesus was conceived like other men, then he was received by natural, excuse me, then he received, by natural generation, original sin just as you and I have. That means that he was not acceptable to God as a sacrifice. That means the gospel is a cruel joke and Christianity is absolutely worthless. But the primary positive effect of the virgin conception was this: it was the means God used to unite the preexistent, second person of the Trinity, with a human nature. In the virgin conception, the second person of the Trinity allowed our human nature to be united to His divine nature in one inseparable divine person, the Son of God. And so, He became eternally Immanuel - God, but God with us.

Let's pray together.

Father, where do we begin to thank You for such amazing condescension or such amazing grace? We thank You for Christ. We thank You for Your love in sending Him. We thank You for His willingness to become one of us, except without sin. Lord I pray that, as we celebrate this season, we would rejoice in the miracle that You wrought in the womb of Mary to produce a sinless humanity and may we also rejoice in the fact that God has become one of us and lived among us. And Father, this morning, if there's someone who's gathered with us for worship, perhaps a regular part of our church or perhaps visiting with us, but who's never really bowed the knee to Jesus Christ, who's never acknowledged Him to be Savior - could be the one who would rescue them from their sins, from Your wrath. Lord I pray that, even this morning, they would bow the knee, confess Jesus as Lord, accept Him as Lord and Savior. We pray this in Jesus' name, Amen!