Christmas Theology

Old Testament Prediction

Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.””

Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.”

Theme Fulfilled:

What do these men all have in common?

Isaac

Jacob & Esau

Joseph and Benjamin

Samuel

Samson

John the Baptist

Their mothers were barren

Sarah - Genesis 18:11–13 “Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’”

Rebekah - Genesis 25:21 “Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived.”

Rachel - Genesis 29:31 “When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved, He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.”

Hannah - 1 Samuel 1:5 “But to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, although the Lord had closed her womb.”

Samson’s mother is unnamed - Judges 13:2 “Now there was a certain man from Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife was barren and had no children.”

Elizabeth - Luke 1:7 “But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both well advanced in years.”

It was said of all these women that they couldn’t have children, but they did. We might conclude from a human perspective that it was highly improbable that they would bear children. The reason why Mary becomes the pinnacle of this biblical theme is that it was not just improbable that she would get pregnant it was humanly impossible in her current state. There is not way to explain it away outside of Divine interference.

New Testament Fulfillment

Matthew 1:23 ““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 makes very clear that the birth of Jesus is the fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.”

You can’t reject Matthew or Isaiah if you don’t believe that Isaiah 7 is prophetic about Jesus then you must also reject the authenticity of Matthew’s account of Jesus’ birth.

Luke 1:27–38 “to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.” “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.” Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.”

This text is important because it clearly shows that Luke and the other passages do not just mean “young woman” it means a literal virgin.

There is no other way to take it.

John 8:41 “You do the deeds of your father.” Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.””

This text seems to imply that the rumor surrounding Mary and Joseph was that they had been immoral prior to their marriage.

Why would they think anything different?

It would be quite the burden for Mary and Joseph to bear.

Galatians 4:4 “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,”

Throughout the Scriptures there is a focus that Jesus was born of a woman’s seed or born of a woman.

It doesn’t really prove anything since all of were born from a woman.

Divine Purpose

Integrity of the Scriptures

For genuine believers, “because the Bible says so” is a legitimate argument.

If you believe in the inspiration, infallibility, inerrancy and authority of the Scriptures you must believe in the virgin birth.

Proof of Divine Involvement

Generally speaking virgins don’t get pregnant.

There are many miracles in Scripture where the main point of the miracle is just to prove that God controlled the outcome.

Supports the Preexistence of Christ

John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

While John does not mention the virgin birth we have to correlate the preexistence that he teaches with the virgin birth that is clearly taught elsewhere.

The virgin birth is the method through which the preexistent Christ became human.

Displays the Grace of God

The incarnation of Christ through the virgin birth was an act of grace.

There was nothing super spiritual about Mary that qualified her for this role, it was grace.

Displays the Uniqueness of Christ