“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14 ESV — a prophecy given roughly about 750 years before the birth of the Christ-child)
In this Series of 2 Parts, I will aim to glean some lessons from the phenomenal advent of Christ. None before Him were born to a Virgin and none after. So why did Christ come into this World in such a miraculous way? Firstly…
Pure atonement…
Our Heavenly Father, who completely unveiled the Blessed Redemption plan on Good Friday (Hey, meditation on Christmas without bringing Good Friday into the picture is like trying to ride a bicycle on a single tire!) was communicating through various symbolic means (SeeLev 1:3-4) and also distinct prophecies, such asIsa 53:6) about what would eventually transpire on the Cross of Calvary one day.
One symbolic act was the instruction given time and time again in the Pentateuch concerning the sacrifice of a blemish-less animal–I reiterate, a blemish-less animal! “You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep in which is a blemish, any defect whatever, for that is an abomination to the Lord your God.” (Deut. 17:1 ESV, See alsoLev. 1:3-4,Lev. 8:22)–for the atonement of sins. As divinely foreordained spotless, sinless atoning sacrifice for the sins of mankind (Rev 13:8/1 Peter 1:19), Jesus had to be sinless right from His conception onwards. Hence the Virgin birth!
Perfect Arbitrator…
“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus…” (1 Tim 2:5 ESV)
One basic requirement for being an arbitrator is that he should be acceptable to both disputing parties. The “dispute” between the Almighty and menkind began as it were from “the Fall” in the Garden of Eden (SeeGen 3). Enter the Arbitrator on that first Christmas, who would commence that work whilst still donning the human vesture (SeeJohn 17).
Being conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit as a Holy Son of the Holy God, He would represent the interests, so to speak of God before men. By the same token, being born through Mary as a Son of Man, He would be the empathetic representative of fallible and fragile man before God: “For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” (Heb 2:18 ESV).
No virgin birth, and it follows that there would be no role for the Saviour to play as the perfect arbitrator. Boy…It is a scary proposition!
Yet another amazing aspect of the our Saviour’s miraculous birth is that it, in a way, is a precedent to the miraculous spiritual re-birth of all God’s children when they accept God’s Son as their Saviour. Consider this amazing Scripture portion: “…to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12-13ESV).
Prayer: Father, we in awe glorify Your Holy Name for the miraculous birth of our Lord and Saviour Jesus. We praise and thank Thee that because of that miraculous birth, we who believe in Him are also miraculously reborn. Amen and Amen.
Suresh Manoharan
An unworthy servant
J and SM Ministries
(To access the entire “Why the Phenomenal Advent?” mini-series, please click here.)