The Virgin Birth

Isaiah 7:10-14

One of the fundamental doctrines of faith in Christianity is that of the Virgin Birth.  What is the virgin birth? That is the doctrine that Jesus was conceived and born by His mother Mary through the power of the Holy Spirit without a human father, while she remained a virgin.  In our Scripture for today, the prophet Isaiah spoke God’s prophecy that such an event would surround the birth of the coming Messiah.

At the time of this Scripture passage, Ahaz was the king of Judah, the southern kingdom of the Jewish people.  The northern kingdom of Israel, along with Syria, were threatening Ahaz, and despite Isaiah’s word from God that these enemies would not succeed in conquering, he was fearful.  To encourage King Ahaz’s faith God told him to ask for a sign. Ahaz, with insincere humility, said he would not ask for a sign (vs. 10-12). Isaiah, after hearing Ahaz’s refusal to ask a sign, spoke to the whole faithless house of David.  God was weary with them (vs. 13). God then chose His own sign for the Jewish people (vs. 14). It is here that we have the prophecy of the virgin birth.

As stated earlier, the virgin birth is a fundamental doctrine in the Christian faith.  Some people may wonder why it would be important to believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, that He had no earthly, human father.  The purpose of Jesus coming to earth was to be the sacrifice for the sins of the world. He was to be the sacrificial Lamb of God. Just as lambs that were brought to the Temple to be sacrificed in the Old Testament had to be without any flaws, so the Lamb of God had to be absolutely perfect in order to atone for our sins.  Every descendant of Adam, which includes everyone ever born, carries with them the taint of original sin, passed down from Adam after the fall. Original sin is passed down from father to child. Because Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, and not through any natural act (Luke 1:26-38), He does not have the same sin nature as everyone else.  Because Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, He does not carry the taint of original sin. That is why Jesus was able to take all of our sins and atone for them on the cross.

Some people also argue that the word “virgin” in verse 14 does not mean a virgin as we would think of one today.  They argue that the Hebrew word in the text “almah” could just as easily be translated as a “young maiden”. The word “almah” occurs seven times in the Old Testament.  In every instance the term implies a young girl of child-bearing age, who is a virgin. The event that Isaiah described was said to be a “sign”, so it had to be something quite extraordinary.  There is nothing extraordinary about a young maiden conceiving and bearing a child.  That would not be a sign. In Biblical times until just a few hundred years ago, women were eligible to be married as soon as they were able to bear children.  So a young girl bearing a child was a common, everyday occurrence. That would not be a special sign from God, as that happens hundreds, thousands of times every day.

When Jewish scholars translated the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek in the mid-3rd century BC, (known as the Septuagint translation), they translated the Hebrew word “almah” into the Greek word “parthenos”, which would only, ever mean a virgin, a woman who has never had any sexual relations with a man.  These were Jewish scholars who translated the Septuagint several hundred years before Jesus was born, so they had no bias either way, yet they used the word “parthenos”.

We can also believe that Mary was a virgin when she conceived the Lord Jesus by the reaction of her betrothed, Joseph.  We can know that the child was not his, that they hadn’t gotten together before their wedding, because when Joseph heard that Mary was pregnant, he was going to end the betrothal.  He knew the child wasn’t his. Neither did Mary ever protest that she had been forcibly assaulted by a Roman soldier or anyone else. Some groups have put forth both explanations, but they don’t stand up.

As we celebrate the birth of Jesus, our Savior, in just a few days, let us celebrate the divine sign that God gave to all of mankind, when the Virgin conceived, and bore a son, who is Immanuel, “God with us”.  God Himself came to dwell among us and save us from our sins.