The Virgin Birth Explained
Why was Jesus born of a virgin? Was it necessary? Back before I was saved and before I began to study the Bible, I assumed that Jesus was born to a virgin because God was using it as a sign to show that Jesus was the Messiah. While that isn’t entirely incorrect, there is another reason that it had to happen that way. As a matter of fact, if Jesus had not been born to a virgin, God would not have been His Father. And if God had not been His Father, then none of us would be saved today.
Let’s go back to Genesis to get the whole picture. God put Adam and Eve on the earth and gave them dominion over it. He expected them to watch over and rule the earth. Adam disobeyed God and gave that authority over to the devil, giving him rulership over the earth. When he did that, Adam left the kingdom of God and became subject to the devil. His identity was changed too. He went from being God’s son to being the son of satan. And because every creature produces after its own kind, Adam’s offspring were automatically born into the kingdom of darkness as children of the devil. That is why you and I have to be born again to move our citizenship to the Kingdom of God and become His children.
The payment for sin is death, but the gift that God freely gives is everlasting life found in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 (God’s Word Translation, GW)
What does this have to do with the virgin birth? I’m getting to that. According to the book of Romans, the only payment for sin is death. In other words, someone or something must pay for sin with its life. In the Old Testament, God set up the system of animal sacrifices to pay the penalty for man’s sin. However the result was just a temporary covering of the sin because an animal is not the equal of a man, so its sacrifice was not sufficient to totally pay for the sins of man. In order to pay the sin debt of man, the blood of a human had to be shed. And it had to be a perfect, sinless human. The animal sacrifices had to be done with animals that were without flaw, and so the sacrifice of a man to pay the sin debt once and for all also had to be by someone without flaw- sinless. But where was mankind going to find a sinless person? After all, every single person born in the bloodline of Adam was born into sin, because, scientifically speaking, the father determines the blood attributes of the baby. So, any person born with a human father was in the lineage of Adam and could not serve as the sinless, perfect sacrifice.
Ah, now it begins to make sense, doesn’t it? If Jesus had been born through an earthly father, He would have been tainted by sin. He would not have been qualified to shed His blood for the sins of the world, because it would have been the blood of a sinful man, which could not pay the price. And so, our Heavenly Father, in His amazing wisdom and miraculous power sent the Holy Spirit to place His seed in Mary’s womb and bypass the cursed bloodline of Adam.
Jesus was born as a sinless human being. His bloodline is pure since God is His Father. And when we receive Him as our Savior, we leave the bloodline of Adam and become part of the family of God. So, the miracle of the virgin birth served as a sign, but it also made sure that the sins of the world were completely and totally paid for.
Now in the sixth month [of Elizabeth’s pregnancy] the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, a descendant of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, the angel said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was greatly perplexed at what he said, and kept carefully considering what kind of greeting this was. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Listen carefully: you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and eminent 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 (Israel) forever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin and have no intimacy with any man?” Then the angel replied to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you [like a cloud]; for that reason the holy (pure, sinless) Child shall be called the Son of God. And listen, 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 with God nothing [is or ever] shall be impossible.” Then Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel left her. Luke 1:26-38 (Amplified Bible, AMP)
Praise God for the pure, sinless blood of the Lamb of God! Praise God for the miracle of the virgin birth.
