Why Was Jesus Born of a Virgin?

This is our Understanding the Scripture segment, we are in the gospel of Matthew chapter 1.Dave, last week we got to verse 21, but I’m going to back up just a little bit.We talked about Joseph, who, again, being the one who Mary was espoused to, finds that she’s with child, and now he’s got some problems here.How is he going to deal with it?But what we mentioned last week was—well, I’ll read verse 20.“But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife:for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.” This is the virgin birth.

Dave:

It’s interesting, Tom, “he appeared in a dream.”Now, it says, the “angel of the Lord.”When we find that title, “angel of the Lord,” throughout the Old Testament, this is Jesus himself, in a pre-incarnation appearance.Now, He’s not appearing consciously to Joseph, but in a dream, that’s interesting.Now how does Joseph know that this is not just a dream, not just wishful thinking?Well, there had to be something, I mean, that the conviction of the Holy Spirit, he realizes that this is true and he has misjudged Mary.I mean, he knew Mary very well, she’s not the kind of a woman who would be having an affair, and, well, anyway, he knows that this is the truth.

Tom:

Now Dave, we mentioned this last week, but I’d like to go over it again: how important is it?It says right here in verse 20, “for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.”So this is virgin birth.How important is it for Christians to believe in that?

Dave:

Absolutely essential, because otherwise, is Jesus the product of some unfaithfulness on the part of Mary?It couldn’t be Joseph because he’s not aware of it.Now, we’ve got a lot of problems if you begin to go down that road.But Jesus is God, He will not cease to be God, but He must be fully man.So, the Scriptures, we mentioned last week, it is quoted in Hebrews, “A body hast thou prepared me, quoted from the Psalms.So, as we, I think we mentioned it last week as well.The Catholics call Mary the “mother of God.”Now that was a discussion that was had in the early church—well, it was in, around 315 I think, something like that.

Tom:

I think the term was, Theodocus—God bearer.

Dave:

Right, but that’s not what it’s supposed to be, and in fact, the theologians, as I understand it, at the Council of Trent did not accept that.It was forced upon them by the popular pressure, the popular vote of the people.So, anyway, Jesus is God and man.If He were just an ordinary man He could not redeem us.He had to be infinite to pay the penalty for the sins of the entire world.Furthermore, He had to be sinless, He had to be pure and holy, and no ordinary man could aspire to that.

Tom:

Let’s pick up with verse 21:“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins.”

Dave:

So this is all told to Joseph in a dream.

Tom:
“Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shalt bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”

Dave:

Now Tom, as you know, maybe not all of our listeners know this, but this verse has come under a lot of criticism by the skeptics:What do you mean a virgin?Now what right does Matthew have to put that in there when in Isaiah:7:14Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
See All..., it says, a young woman.Well, the Hebrew word used there is Alma.It doesn’t mean just a young woman; it means a young unmarried woman who must be a virgin.If she was not a virgin she would be stoned.So, of course she was a virgin, although there might have been another word for that, this is sufficient.A young unmarried woman will be found with child. That’s a scandal unless it is exactly as the angel reveals it to Joseph.

Tom:

Dave, there’s another interesting thing about this.When we are talking about the EmergingChurch, and “ancient-future faith,” supposedly you need to understand the context of the society that you are looking at.So you have to go back to the 2^nd century and really understand their thinking and how they dealt with things.Well, this is so contrary to that because God is, through the Holy Spirit, is giving Mary a child.All right, but this is scandalous, as you said.Certainly, God wasn’t aware of the customs, or the social context of this, and so on.You see how ridiculous that is?God does what He does, and forget about, certainly the social context, and so on.

Dave:

Well, that was why He let Joseph know the truth that she had not been unfaithful, but that what was conceived in her was of the Holy Spirit.And I would hope that Joseph knew his Scriptures well enough to know, wait a minute! This is a fulfillment of Isaiah:7:14Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
See All....

Tom:

Verse 24:“Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son:and he called his name Jesus.”

Dave:

They have a plain declaration again that this is a virgin birth.

Tom:

Right.

Dave:

Joseph had no sex with Mary until she brought forth her first born.

Tom:

Now Dave, that’s not what I was taught growing up Roman Catholic, that Mary was not only without sin, but she was a perpetual virgin.This seems to contradict that.

Dave:

It certainly does—until she had brought forth her first born.We talked about that recently, last week, and we said we would come back to it.Now it very clearly stated, her first born!Now, you wouldn’t say that unless there were other children who followed.See, if the Catholic Church is right, why doesn’t it say she continued to be a virgin, this was her only child; she brought forth her only child.The Bible uses that terminology—God so loved the world He gave his only begotten Son, this is God’s only begotten Son.But according to the Bible it is not Mary’s only son, this is not her only begotten son.So, there were brothers and sisters who followed, and we have the names of some of them.In fact, it tells us of some of them who didn’t believe in Jesus.They were going up to the feast and, this is John 7, they say, we’re going up to the feast, and Jesus says, no, I’m waiting a while, I’m not going up.Well, if you want people to believe on you, show yourself openly they say, because neither did His brethren believe in Him.

Tom:

But then, I guess after the crucifixion two of them at least, came to believe, and this would be Jude and James.

Dave:

Tom, if you had a computer—we do have a computer, a lot of computers around here—you’ve got the most powerful computers in the world, you’ve got the most brilliant men together, and we’re going to add another book to the Bible.We have to say some significant, it can’t be just repetition but it’s got to fit in with all of these prophecies, all of the history that has gone before.Tom, you couldn’t do it on computers.And I just love the Bible for that reason along with many others.Wow, how it all is interwoven, and you cannot escape it, this is written by God!

Tom:

So, that takes us to the end of chapter 1, and Dave, next week, the Lord willing, we’ll pick up with chapter 2, verse 1.