Biblically, Christ Jesus’ virgin birth and His atonement on
the Cross are necessarily intertwined and by no means should be theologically
unraveled. Why?
WHY A VIRGIN BIRTH?
ROMANS 5:12
Therefore, just as through one man sin
entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men,
because all sinned—
Sin is passed down from one generation to the next, that is
to say, the sin nature (ROM 7:14-25; 8:7-8; EPH 2:3; PSA 51:5). Joseph,
the husband of Mary was a sinner like the rest of us. If he was the biological
father of Jesus, then He would have inherited the sin nature from him and would
be disqualified as an appropriate atonal sacrifice for the sins of the world.
Yet because His Father was GOD (the Father), He inherited in His humanity, a
sinless, innocent nature, just like the First Adam prior to the Fall (1 PET
1:19).
ISAIAH 7:14 prophecies: "the virgin (Hebrew: almah) shall conceive and bear a son, Immanuel," a key verse connecting Old Testament prophecy to Jesus' birth in the New Testament (MATT 1:23). The debate centers on almah, meaning "young woman" or "maiden," not always "virgin" (Hebrew: betulah), but Christians see fulfilled prophecy, while others see a contemporary sign for King Ahaz, arguing Matthew used the Septuagint's parthenos (virgin) translation.
A BIG SIGN!
The Prophecy in ISAIAH 7:14
"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign.
Behold, the virgin (almah) shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his
name Immanuel".
Context: The prophet Isaiah told King Ahaz of Judah that
God would provide a sign against invading forces. In this chapter, Ahaz
was freaking out because of the overwhelming armies marching to take out
Israel. The LORD wanted to reassure the king, so He sent His prophet with a
“blank check” for a sign:
ISAIAH 7:11
"Ask a sign for yourself from the
LORD your God; ask it either in the depth or in the height above." In
other words, “the sky’s the limit” – ask for any sign, no miracle is too great.
But Ahaz taxes GOD’s patience with feigned piety, so GOD turned from the king
and decided He would decide on an appropriate sign, and that given to the
nation of Israel. What sort of sign would it be? The parting of the great sea
like He did in the days of Moses? Causing the sun and moon to stop in their
tracks as in the war fought by Joshua? Whatever GOD had planned, it was going
to require Him “rolling up His sleeves” figuratively speaking of course, as He
was prepared to “go the limit”: “…ask it either in the depth or in the height
above.”
The Hebrew word used here is almah. Almah can mean a young woman of marriageable
age, as well as a virgin. The context determines which definition applies.
The more specific word for virgin (betulah) but that is not the word used here in
Isaiah’s prophecy.
Other Old Testament uses of almah (GENESIS 24:43, EXODUS 2:8)
refer to young women or maidens, but not always virgins.
CHRISTIAN INTERPRETATION (Virgin Birth)
Those liberal scholars and progressives discount the
miraculous, so they focus on that aspect of “almah” that means maiden. So this
miraculous sign that was supposed to so “wow” Ahaz and Israel in demonstrating
GOD’s power and ability to protect Israel from it’s enemies would be “a young
maiden will have a child”?? Young maidens have been having children since Eve.
No biggie!
But a virgin birth? Not only would that be a powerful
miracle, but it would also provide a child not born from sinful man, i.e., the
Son of GOD!
What’s interesting is that almah is actually more
descriptive of Mary than betulah would have been. A woman could be a virgin but
also be “an old hag”, but Mary was both! A virgin who also happened to be a
young maiden (possibly as young as fifteen years of age!)!
Matthew's Citation: Matthew quotes ISAIAH 7:14 IN MATTHEW 1:23,
using the Greek parthenos, which
means "virgin".
Fulfillment: Christians view this as a prophecy fulfilled
by Jesus' birth to Mary, emphasizing the miraculous, unique nature of the
event.
Deeper Meaning: Some believe God intended a "fuller
sense" (pleroma) of prophecy, where the original sign (a young
woman) pointed to a greater fulfillment (a virgin birth). These are often
referred to as a dual prophecy: there is an immediate fulfillment in the
lifetime of those who hear the prophecy (“near fulfillment”) and a fulfillment
destined for a far future time (in this case, seven hundred years after Isaiah,
in the days of Joseph, Mary and the epic event at Bethlehem, the city of David!
For More on this, see The CRUSADE THAT IS CHRISTMAS!
And O HOLY NIGHT – A CHRISTMASMESSAGE
ALSO! Watch this awesome presentation by the late Dr. Chuck Missler in this video:
The Christmas Story - Part 1 - Chuck Missler
And here is the link to Part 2 (both parts are approximately 1 hour long)!
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