God used the miracle of the virgin birth to impart His own nature to
Christ, and that fact gives the birth of Christ a spiritual
significance that sets it apart from every other birth. Because the
child born of Mary has the divine nature, it can truly be said that He
is “The Son of the Highest, // The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father”
(Luke 1:32, Isaiah 9:6). The Bible also identifies Him as “Jehovah Our
Righteousness,” while telling us that His “goings forth have been from
of old, from everlasting,” and that He is “God… manifest in the flesh
// God our Savior, and Lord.” [1Timothy 1:1 and 3:16, Micah 5:2,
Jeremiah 23:6.]
Because of His miraculous birth, Jesus was born
without sin. Unlike us, his nature is not “Deceitful above all things,
and desperately wicked” (Jeremiah 17:9). On the contrary, the Bible
tells us that He is “The image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15).
At the same time, the words, “who can bring a clean thing out of an
unclean? Not one,” make it clear that if Christ had not been born of a
virgin we would have no reason to believe that He was sinless, and,
therefore, no reason to believe that He triumphed over sin (Job 14:4).
For that reason, the truth of Christ’s virgin birth
is of fundamental importance to all that we believe. In fact, it is not
too much to say that the Christian church is founded on the truth of
Christ’s virgin birth. After all, the Bible tells us that it is founded
on the knowledge that Christ is “the Messiah, the Son of the living
God,” and it is only because of the virgin birth that He is the “Son of
the living God” (Matthew 16:16-18, John 6:69). Furthermore, no mere man
could have taken our sins upon himself, and no mere man could have
given himself as ransom for the sins of the entire world (1Timothy
2:6). No sinful man could even pay for his own sins, much less the sins
of anyone else.
Since it was only Christ’s human nature that grew in
a womb and was born as a son, the title Son properly belongs to His
human nature. Nevertheless, the Bible uses the word Son in reference to
the His deity in order to make it clear that there is only one Christ,
not two (one human and one divine). At the same time, because Christ
humbled Himself during His sojourn on earth, He did not always avail
Himself of the divine power and knowledge that were at His disposal
(Philippians 2:8, Matthew 26:53, Mark 13:32). However, that time of
humility ended at His death, and since the resurrection what is true of
His divinity is true of His entire person, to the point that it can
truly be said that “all power is given unto” Him “in heaven and in
earth” (Matthew 28:18).
The Athanasian Creed states the facts of Christ’s incarnation thus:
At this point, let me share an insight into the
virgin birth that came to me from an unexpected source.
Some years ago, I was asked this question. “If God
can do anything, can He make a stone that is too big for Him to lift?”
As I pondered that question and prayed for the answer, this thought
came to me. Since stones are only hard for finite beings to move, God
would first need to become a finite being, subject to the laws of
gravity and inertia before He could make a stone too big for Him to
lift. However, He would also need to remain God while becoming a finite
being, otherwise it would not be God who was unable to lift the stone.
That being the case, He could become a finite being by being born of a
virgin. Through the virgin birth, He could take upon Himself the nature
of man while retaining the divine nature. As a man he would be unable
to lift the stone, but as God nothing would be impossible for Him.
That answer helped me to understand why it was
necessary for Christ to come into the world. God loves us so much that
He was willing to take our sins upon Himself and die in our place.
However, as God, it is impossible for Him to be guilty of sin or to
die. Therefore, in order to take our guilt and punishment upon Himself,
He became man — born of a virgin, born under the law. As man, He was
able to take our sins upon Himself and die in our place. Yet as God, He
was able to remain perfectly sinless and could, therefore, triumph over
sin, death, and the devil.
As the seed of David, Christ is the rightful heir to
the throne of David. In fact, all who trust in Him are the citizens of
His heavenly kingdom (Luke 17:21). However, because the truth of His
miraculous birth is fundamental to the truth of His deity, as well as
the entire salvation message, those who deny the truth of His virgin
birth are attacking the Christian faith, and thus attacking Christ’s
kingdom. You should not receive them into your home, or bid them God
speed, for those who bid them God speed become partakers in their evil
deeds (2John 10).