Born of a Virgin

The birth of Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies of a Messiah entering the world, as He came not to destroy it but to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). Fully man and fully God, the Son of Man came to earth as a baby. If that is not unbelievable enough—that Jesus our Savior would come first as a child—He was also born of a virgin as promised in the book of Isaiah.

In this passage, the king of Syria and the king of Israel’s son sought to make war against Jerusalem and the line of Judah, but they ultimately failed in their efforts.

Judah could not be destroyed, for Jesus was to come through this messianic line as the Son of Man and Savior to all nations. Through the prophet Isaiah, the Lord spoke to King Ahaz of Judah and gave him a sign, reassuring him that the tribe of Judah could not be broken, for through the line of David, a Messiah would enter the world and be born of a virgin.

It is in the New Testament accounts that we see the fulfillment of God’s word through Isaiah:

“'She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.' All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 'The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel' (which means 'God with us')."
- Matthew 1:21-23

When the angel appeared to Mary, the mother of Jesus, he proclaimed that Christ "will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end." (Lu. 1:32-33). This miracle of Jesus’s birth only happened because of the power of God (Lu. 1:35).

So what does this fulfillment of Scripture mean; for God to reveal His plan of redemption in Isaiah and for it to be manifested years later through a Savior born of a virgin?

God chose us in Christ from the beginning of time (Ephesians 1:4), demonstrated here through His revelation to Ahaz that redemption would come into the world through His Son Jesus (Lu. 2:11). Jesus is called Immanuel, translated as “God with us,” which signifies Jesus as God incarnate. This is an important distinction because it reveals that Jesus is no ordinary man but is, in fact, the promised Messiah, God Himself, who brings salvation to the world and continually resides with those who believe in Him:

“For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.’”
- 2 Corinthians 6:16

Christmas marks the celebration of Jesus’ birth, who miraculously entered the world as a child through the virgin Mary. But God’s redemption does not end with the birth of our Savior; it points to something grander: the salvation of humanity through Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, when Jesus defeated death and the sins of the world, declaring that it was finally finished (John 19:28-30). No longer are we in bondage to sins under the Law, but we are able to walk in the freedom of His righteousness in the light of Jesus’ salvation.

For Christ came into the world, holy and blameless, to die for us even though we are undeserving (Romans 6:23). By faith in Him, we are saved, and it is through His grace alone that we are able to count ourselves dead to sin and alive in Christ (Rom. 6:11).