“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
Isaiah 7:14
God provides a second prophecy of Christmas – the first coming of the Messiah. In Genesis God told us the Messiah would come as a man. That miracle astounds us – the greater would become the lesser. While we can understand some benefits (we can see God and He would not terrify us) yet we wonder how another man can help us. Men are separated from God by our sin so what value is a man?
In His second prophet God tells us the Messiah will come as man but this man will be unlike any man we have ever known. Genesis 3 told us He would be the seed of a woman. Isaiah 7 tells us what that means. A second miracle will occur – He will be born of a virgin. This verse is attacked by skeptics for two major reason. First, since they deny God and His ability to do miracles they say this violates the laws of biology and could never happen. Second they make the argument that the word Isaiah uses “almah” means young woman, not virgin. This word is used seven times in the Old Testament. None of theses uses verifies the word means virgin but they also do not deny it. So are the skeptics right?
What can we learn? There are two important insights into this verse. First is the understanding of Jewish scholars. Three centuries before the birth of Christ a panel of Hebrew scholars and Jewish rabbis began the process of translating the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek called the Septuagint. These translators used the precise Greek word for virgin, “parthenos,” instead of the Greek word for “young woman.” Their clear understanding was God’s sign was a miracle of the virgin birth of this child. If that is all we had it would bring clarity but not assurance about the virgin birth. As a result and second, God gives us full clarity of His meaning. Matthew writes of the birth of Christ by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and quotes Isaiah 7:14. Writing in Greek he uses the specific word for virgin indicating that the seed of the woman referred to in Genesis 3 means that a young girl would give birth to the Messiah without the seed of a man – she would be a virgin. Third, Luke tells us of Mary’s question confirming her virginity “But how can this happen? I am a virgin” (Luke 1:34). The angel
Gabriel tells her “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you…” (Luke 1:35).
Why is this important? The Apostle Paul tells us in Galatians 5 that Jesus was born of a woman. This verifies the truth in the Genesis 3 prophecy. Then in Romans 5. Paul tells us how Jesus is different than Adam. He was not an ordinary human descended from Adam. If He was He would be under the curse and the sin that comes from Adam to all men. The miracle of the virgin birth means the Messiah did not inherit a sin nature and therefore, if He lived, as a man, a sinless life, could satisfy God’s requirement for perfection. Since He, as God, could do that He would be able to pay for the sin of all mankind.
When we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus, we confess He was born of a virgin, To deny that truth is to deny His perfection and therefore His ability to pay for our sin.