Category Archives: Christmas

Must we believe the Virgin Birth?

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While most everyone is excited about celebrating Christmas, I fear that very fewer actually believe in the Virgin Birth of the Son of God the Son as proclaimed in the Bible. It was the prophet Isaiah predicted this, and the Gospel of Matthew made clear the connection to Jesus – who was conceived in Mary before she was wed to Joseph (Mt. 1:18) — 

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isa. 7:14)

“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). (Mt. 1:23)

Luke reported in his Gospel that Mary was a virgin, and recorded her own testimony to that fact (Luke 1:27, 34). New Testament doctrine goes on to explain how Jesus is the divine Son of God (not the son of human man), as well as a sinless Savior (without the sin inherited from Adam). The Virgin Birth is not merely part of the Christmas story — it is a vital doctrine woven into the very fabric of biblical truth about our Savior.

Dr Al Mohler, in a recent article on the Virgin Birth, engages NYT writer, Nicholas Kristof, and others who challenge the credibility of the Virgin Birth. Some key paragraphs — 

Even if the Virgin Birth was taught by only one biblical passage, that would be sufficient to obligate all Christians to the belief. We have no right to weigh the relative truthfulness of biblical teachings by their repetition in Scripture. We cannot claim to believe that the Bible is the Word of God and then turn around and cast suspicion on its teaching.

Millard Erickson states this well: “If we do not hold to the virgin birth despite the fact that the Bible asserts it, then we have compromised the authority of the Bible and there is in principle no reason why we should hold to its other teachings. Thus, rejecting the virgin birth has implications reaching far beyond the doctrine itself.”

Implications, indeed. If Jesus was not born of a virgin, who was His father? There is no answer that will leave the Gospel intact. The Virgin Birth explains how Christ could be both God and man, how He was without sin, and that the entire work of salvation is God’s gracious act. If Jesus was not born of a virgin, He had a human father. If Jesus was not born of a virgin, the Bible teaches a lie.

Carl F. H. Henry, the dean of evangelical theologians, argues that the Virgin Birth is the “essential, historical indication of the Incarnation, bearing not only an analogy to the divine and human natures of the Incarnate, but also bringing out the nature, purpose, and bearing of this work of God to salvation.” Well said, and well believed.

READ THE WHOLE MOHLER ARTICLE HERE.

May we all be steadfast with the truth, and share Mohler’s conclusion:

This much we know: All those who find salvation will be saved by the atoning work of Jesus the Christ — the virgin-born Savior. Anything less than this is just not Christianity, whatever it may call itself. A true Christian will not deny the Virgin Birth.

Powerful, post-Christmas pondering

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I hope you have 3 minutes to read something profound — which perfectly fits this present post-Christmas “downtime”…

Hopeful Post-Christmas Melancholy
(Author: Jon Bloom, at DesiringGod.org blog)

Each year Christmas night finds members of my family feeling some melancholy. After weeks of anticipation, the Christmas celebrations have flashed by us and are suddenly gone. And we’re left standing, watching the Christmas taillights and music fade into the night.

But it’s possible that this moment of melancholy may be the best teaching moment of the whole season. Because as long as the beautiful gifts remain unopened around the tree and the events are still ahead of us, they can appear to be the hope we are waiting for. But when the tree is empty and events are past, we realize we are longing for a lasting hope.

So last night, as Pam and I tucked our kids into bed, we talked about a few things with them:

Gifts and events can’t fill the soul. God gives us such things to enjoy. They are expressions of his generosity as well as ours, but gifts and celebrations themselves are not designed to satisfy. They’re designed to point us to the Giver. Gifts are like sunbeams. We are not meant to love sunbeams but the Sun.

Putting our hope in gifts will leave us empty. Many people live their lives looking for the right sunbeam to make them happy. But if we depend on anything in the world to satisfy our soul’s deepest desire, it will eventually leave us with that post-Christmas soul-ache. We will ask, “Is that all?” because we know deep down that’s not all there is. We are designed to treasure a Person, not his things.

It is more blessed to give than receive. What kind of happiness this Christmas felt richer, getting the presents that you wanted or making someone else happy with something that you gave to them? Receiving is a blessing, but Jesus is right—giving is a greater blessing. A greedy soul lives in a small, lonely world. A generous soul lives in a wide world of love.

It’s just like God to let the glitter and flash of the celebrations (even in his honor) to pass and then to come to us in the quiet, even melancholic void they leave. Because often that’s when we are most likely to understand the hope he intends for us to have at Christmas.

Amen. pdb