The virgin birth of Jesus is the central theme of the Christmas story and illustrates the wonder of the Christ child who experienced physical birth like you and me. He was born the sinless, perfect Son of God whose very beginning on earth was the result of an implanting of a godly seed from God the Father into a human woman, Mary.
Why is the virgin birth so important?
Let’s look to Romans 8:8 for our answer. It reads: “So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (NKJV).
Jesus was not born into the flesh as we were and this guaranteed that He would never lose His godly authority and that He would remain One with the Father (John 10:30). He was not born into sin and He knew no sin (II Corinthians 5:21).
No other person who has ever lived can claim what Jesus could claim because we all must, as King David wrote in Psalm 51:5, state, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.”
The wondrous fact of Jesus’s godly heritage identifies His standing as the God-Man — from the moment of His conception throughout His life on earth.
While you and I love Jesus for who He is, the fact is that many continue to discount His miraculous virgin birth.
A few years ago, members of the infamous Jesus Seminar not only stated that the virgin birth was fictitious, but so too was the resurrection of Jesus and more than 80 percent of His New Testament miracles. In 2002, Bishop Joseph Sprague of the United Methodist Church got big headlines by discounting the virgin birth, the miracles of Jesus and the resurrection.
My friend Dr. Albert Mohler said, “The great quest of liberal theology has been to invent a Jesus who is stripped of all supernatural power, deity and authority.”
And that is tragically true.
You see, these deceits occur because Satan hates Jesus and he wants to turn people away from their only hope of salvation. While these negative voices fade away, new naysayers will arise … but God’s Holy Word will remain as a beacon of Truth.
As I have noted, our culture seems to be growing more antagonistic toward the things we hold dear, including Jesus’ virgin birth and His resurrection. I want to again state that, no matter how hostile the world becomes toward the Gospel, we must remain true to Christ and all that the Bible teaches as Truth!
We cannot water down any part of the Bible because if any part of it is untrue, none of it is worth believing. It is our job to point people to the saving Truth of God’s Word and to show them that Jesus is divine — the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
Sadly, many do not even know who Jesus is.
We must proclaim that Christmas is not just a cute little story about a baby. The virgin birth is the seminal event of the ages and it reveals Jesus leaving the splendors of heaven to live among us so that He could ultimately conquer the tomb and provide salvation to all who will believe.
As we close out this year, we have been meeting with pastors and pastoral students in several locales as we continue to focus on making disciples all over our nation. I am so excited about all that is going on!
I sincerely thank you for partnering with us in this effort to reach people for Christ. And thank you for taking a stand for God’s truth in our increasingly secularist society. I pray that you will experience the significance of Christmas in wonderful, amazing ways this year.
Your friend in Christ,
Jonathan Falwell