The Virgin Birth

I. Scripture is clear about the Relationship of Mary and Joseph.

A. God wants us to know how Christ was conceived. “on this wise”, “This is how it happened”.

1. Everything about Jesus is important. His existence before He came into the world (John 1:1), His conception and birth, His life, His death, His burial, His resurrection, His ascension. There is nothing insignificant about Jesus. We ought to see, study and savor everything that Scripture tells us about Him.

2. The birth of Jesus tells us a lot about Him. “birth” in verse 18 is same word as “generation” in 1:1. God is about to give us the genealogy of Jesus on His Father’s side.1:1 takes us back to Abraham, 1:18 takes us back to eternity.

3. Satan has tried to cast doubt on this truth. John 8:41 the religious leaders accused Jesus of being born of fornication. Liberal theologians and unbelievers cast doubt upon the virgin birth as well. We need to understand that God deems the circumstances of Christ conception important, therefore we should as well.

B. Mary and Joseph were espoused to be married.

1. Betrothal was the common way for Jews to marry. This was a contract made between two families arranging marriage of their children. When the contract was finalized the couple was considered legally married. There was a 6-12 month waiting period before the actual ceremony took place. Essentially this was to prove the faithfulness of the couple. Pregnancy would be tough to hide for this long.

2. Joseph (or his family) would have to pay Mary’s father. The payment was up to the father, so the amount varied. This money was for several reasons: 1) to cover expenses for the wedding. Wedding celebrations lasted 7 days and could be extravagant and expensive. 2) It served as a type of life insurance for the wife. Father’s often would save this money in case something happened to the husband. The wife would then be given the money to provide for her needs. 3) It restrained divorces- who could afford to keep giving goods and money away?

3. We have every reason to believe these two were in love. This method is looked down upon in our culture. We see it as “forced marriage”. But it was not forced. Today we seem to leave marriage to “fate and feelings”. With the divorce rate at over 50% our method doesn’t seem to be working so well. A good father would have his daughter’s best interest in mind. He would betroth her to a man she was interested in and that was adequate in character.

C. Before the ceremony took place Joseph discovered Mary was pregnant.

1. I think she told him privately. I’m not sure how many people knew that Mary was pregnant, but the circle was small. This must have devastated Joseph. Joseph did not immediately believe what Mary said. It’s implied that she told him about her encounter with the angel.

2. There is a crisis of belief for Joseph. We’ll look at that in a moment. Who knows if the two had already had their first fight or if this led to it? We don’t give Joseph enough credit. This is a hard pill to swallow. But I think I see the love of Joseph and Mary here. Obviously they were in love. I’m sure Joseph had plans for the two, and that would include children, but not in this way.

II. Scripture is clear about the integrity of Mary.

A. Joseph doubted her integrity.

1. I think this is normal. Now he knew that he had not been with Mary. He believed her to be a virtuous woman. But obviously “someone” had been with Mary. He wasn’t buying the whole angel thing. So he wondered if she was as virtuous as he thought she was. He had determined to divorce her in some way. He wasn’t going to go through with the ceremony.

2. Joseph was a just man. That means he was righteous. He lived his convictions. He had been true to her. Mary was not the only virgin in the picture. The justice of God would call for a woman like Mary to be stoned along with the fellow she committed adultery with (Deut. 20:7). It was a just thing for him to call the wedding off as well. But the righteousness of Joseph was tempered with grace. That is seen in that he did not immediately put her away. He probably would have, had God not intervened. But it would not be an easy thing for him. He was just, he believed in righteous living.

3. Joseph was a merciful man. Look at verse 19. He was not willing to make her a public example. He did not want to hurt Mary. Not only did he not want her stoned, he didn’t want her to be a public example either. By Jesus day the Jews had greatly watered down the Law. Rather than stone adulterers, other options were developed. One was the public example. This consisted of taking the woman to court, revealing the evidence of her infidelity and having her openly shamed in the community. This would not kill her but her reputation and the reputation of her family as well. There was another option as well. You could have a very private hearing in front of a few people and be given a bill of divorcement. In this case it was not even mandated that the reason for the divorce be written on the bill. That was the option Joseph was considering. Joseph loved Mary, but he doubted her integrity.

B. The Lord erases all doubt from Joseph’s mind.

1. The Lord saw the pain Joseph felt. Look at verse 20 “while he thought on these things’. Joseph couldn’t get this off of his mind. He continued to wonder how Mary could do such a thing to him. And he was debating on just how he was going to go through with the divorce. We can be sure there was some serious spiritual warfare going on, fiery darts of the devil. But Joseph was suffering from a broken heart and surely the Lord saw that. Sometimes thinking causes more pain than anything else.

2. The Lord spoke to Joseph through an angel. Somehow Joseph managed to get to sleep. When he did, the Lord sent an angel to him in a dream. It must have been a very real experience, matching what Mary had told him had happened to her. Notice what the angels says first :”Fear not to take unto thee”. It won’t hurt your integrity, you’ll still be just. It won’t hurt your marriage; she will be a good wife. God will not look down upon you. This is the woman for you. Take her!

3. Joseph was convinced. That she conceived of the Holy Ghost, that the child was the Savior of the world, and that Mary was who he thought` she was. Joseph took her as his wife. He must have been relieved. He would cleave to his wife despite the suspicion and speculation of others.

C. The integrity of Mary is important. She is not to be revered or worshipped, but her integrity is important.

1. An insight from Mary. Virginity is a beautiful thing to God. Our culture has made it an ugly, an odd thing. To God it is beautiful. He calls the church his chaste bride, without spot or blemish (Eph. 5:27).

2. There are those that doubt the Virgin conception. Liberal theologians that think it is just a myth made up and it doesn’t matter if Jesus was born of a virgin or not. Worldly people think it’s kind of cool that Mary was pregnant out of wedlock because that relates her to young girls that are pregnant without being married. Maybe they have the next “jesus’ in them!

3. The integrity of Mary is very important. If Mary was not a virgin then think about the ramifications: She was sexually immoral, she was a liar. She duped Joseph into marrying her, told people her son was the Son of God and helped him start a worldwide ministry. She used a lie to exalt herself and hers son, which initially resulted in the deaths of many people, namely her own son. If Mary was not a virgin then she was certainly not the noble woman Scripture paints her to be. She is a manipulator and power hungry woman that used others for her own profit. This is one of the reasons we must believe in the virgin birth. The integrity of the gospel rests upon it.

III. Scripture is clear About the Importance of the Virgin Birth.

A. The Old Testament Scriptures declare it.

1. It was the first messianic promise in Scripture. Genesis 3:15 calls the Messiah the “seed of a woman”. Scripture in every other place assigns “seed” to the male. The Messiah would come from the seed of a woman. She would bring forth a Savior that would receive temporary suffering from the serpent but ultimately would bruise the head of the serpent. The woman spoken of in Genesis 3:15 is Mary and her seed is Christ.

2. Isaiah gave a prophecy of the virgin birth. Isaiah 7:14 “behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel”. Matthew gives us the New Testament commentary on this verse in 22-23. Mary is the virgin Isaiah spoke of and Jesus is Immanuel!

3. The virgin birth is important because it validates Scripture. If the Savior was not born of a virgin then the Scripture cannot be trusted.

B. Being the Savior demands it. In other words, Christ could not be the Savior without the virgin birth. This is more than a sweet story. There are serious Theological issues involved, even at stake here.

1. The eternality of Christ. If both a man and a woman were involved in Jesus birth then the child would be a new creation. It would be a being that did not exist before the moment of conception. Scripture teaches that Jesus is eternal. He has no beginning or no end. He did not come into being by virtue of his conception in Mary’s womb. Jesus took upon Himself the form of that baby and was placed in the womb of Mary. His conception was not the result of a man and a woman which would have brought forth a being that had not existed before. To deny the virgin birth is to deny the eternality of Christ, and His deity.

2. The sinlessness of Christ. Scripture teaches that sin entered the world through Adam (Rom. 5:12). In Adam, Scripture teaches, we all die. Sin is imputed to us through our father. However, Christ did not have an earthly father; therefore the sin nature was not passed to Him. He was perfectly sinless, as Adam was created by God and had God only as His Father, so was the second Adam, Christ. Christ lived a perfect life afterwards, however, which distinguished Him from Adam. His righteous life is imputed to those that place their faith in Him.

3. The Deity of Christ. Christ had an earthly mother which means that he is human. But he had a heavenly Father which means He is Divine. Colossians 2:9 says that “in Him dwelleth all of the fullness of the godhead bodily”. God Himself was poured into the body of that baby within Mary’s womb. Christ could not be Divine without the Virgin birth.

C. God deserves the glory.

1. The virgin birth reveals God’s grace. It shows that God is the One that initiates salvation. God did not wait until someone virtuous enough to be the savior came along. That would have been impossible. God came to us. Jesus is Immanuel. God’s love motivated Him to become a Man and our sin bearer.

2. The virgin birth shows that man cannot accomplish his own salvation. A mere man or woman could not pay the price of sin. We could not bear the weight of the judgment. We could not be worthy enough to be named as Savior. No matter how moral, knowledgeable, strong we become we could not produce a Savior that could save us from our sins. God had to come to us.

3. The virgin birth removes any possibility that man could get credit for salvation. We did not send an Ambassador to God, he sent one to us. We did not send a Peacemaker to God, he sent one to us. We did not send a Lamb to God, he sent one to us.

The virgin birth is more than a part of the gospel. The gospel hinges on it. If we deny it we deny the Scripture, the integrity of Mary and the Savior.