The Virgin Birth—Part 2

The virgin birth of Jesus was important not only because Jesus needed to be pure to be a sacrifice for our sin, but also so that He would, indeed, have the nature of both of His parents. God the Father would give Him His spiritual nature (that of purity and of God), and Mary would give Him His physical nature (that of His body). So Jesus, more than likely, would have looked a lot like Mary, as God is Spirit and as such does not have a physical body.

So the virgin birth is a clue to us that Jesus was different. Yet He was the same as us. As we mentioned yesterday, Hebrews 4:15 tells us that we have a High Priest…

“who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” –Hebrews 4:15 (NIV)

This Jesus, this God/Man, is the only one who could have done it because He came to this earth, born of a virgin, and possessed the nature of God in the physical form of a human. It staggers the mind to think about it too much, but let me share one more thing with you.

Jesus, in His pre-incarnate form, was visible to select individuals throughout the Old Covenant (Testament). He appeared to Abraham, Joshua, and even the three Hebrew Children in the fiery furnace. We are told in Colossians chapter 1 that was the Person of the Trinity that was most involved in the Creation (Genesis 1). We also know that this same Jesus rose again from the dead (Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; and John 20), ascended to heaven (Mark 16:19-20; Luke 24:50-53; and Acts 1:9-12), and is going to come again (Revelation 19:11-18).

This speaks to His eternality. He is able to be in every place at every time because He is eternal. When He was on this earth, He set aside some of His abilities and confined Himself to a physical body that could only be in one place at one time. There were times when He was able to heal at a distance (Matthew 8:5-13), know about someone’s life (John 4:15-19), and even command the wind and waves to obey Him (Luke 8:22-25).

But He was also dependent on His Heavenly Father’s leading. In Mark 1:35-39, we see Jesus’ ministry take a shift from just a community to a larger area. In Luke 6:12-16, we see Jesus choosing those who would be His Apostles after an all-night prayer session (side note: do you think Jesus may have been arguing with God about Judas Iscariot? Me either.). So there was a sense in which Jesus needed to be in constant connection with the Father, just like us.

Now don’t miss what I’m trying to say here. Jesus’ humanity is just as important as His deity. If Jesus were not human, He couldn’t possibly relate to our shortcoming and temptations. If He were not God, then He is a fraud (for He claimed to be God in the flesh). So both must be present for Him to be 100% authentic…and that is exactly why the doctrine of the virgin birth matters.

So don’t fear it…embrace it! And we’ll see you on Sunday!

OH! And…MERRY CHRISTMAS!