Commentary On Jesus: The Jewish Messiah: Born A Virgin?

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulders, and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgement and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this.”  (Isaiah 9:6-7).

Jesus the Messiah was born like all of humanity, from the womb of a woman. He was carried for nine months as all babies are carried since Eve carried Cain. Except the difference being that the young girl  was Mary of Nazareth and she was still very much a virgin. Isaiah again proclaimed the words of the Lord God of Israel, “Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14). It must have sounded like a strange pronouncement to his hearer’s that a virgin would bring forth a son; a young girl yes, but not a virgin. Today we have way too many people quit comfortable at simply doing just that with Scripture’s clear message of the birth of the Messiah. The Prophet Isaiah was very clear and too the point of this selection of statements and who this child, this son, would be. He was be born a special and certainly unusual way. He was be born of a woman but not by a man; He would be without the taint of human nature’s problem of sin. That would be the point of the prophecy of Isaiah, this child was not of humanity but with have humanity as His covering. He would be God in flesh; read Isaiah 9:6-7 and tell me who meets the qualifications of those titles. Too many people are way too happy to simple not question why the translators changed virgin to young woman. Any young woman can have a child, but a young woman who is still a virgin is someone of special calling by God for a very special reason. If Jesus was simply born of a young woman then He was born also with a sinful nature and with a fallen nature. He is no longer God in flesh, He is simply another human born into this world. If Jesus wasn’t born of a virgin then He was not God, cannot sacrifice Himself for the sins of the world as He Himself would have been a sinner. The Virgin Birth is not a misunderstanding of Isaiah as those hearing him preach knew and understood full well what he was saying. He was making it very clear, the Messiah of Israel, the future Son of David, would be born without sin.

My spiritual point being that when someone reads from their Bible that it says ‘young woman’ it is taking away from the powerful impact of the prophecy. Predicting that a young woman one day will be with child is not a prophecy, it’s pointing out the obvious. The spiritual message of the words spoke by Isaiah means nothing if we simply look at the words as ‘young woman’ and convince ourselves that it can also mean virgin. Words mean things and Isaiah meant what he preached. Jesus the Messiah of Israel was either born of a virgin making Him without sin and the perfect God-Man or He was simply a man born like any other human being. The point is important via Scripture, it’s a matter of God’s perfect Word being uttered or man’s attempt to change it. The Virgin birth is a matter of spiritual importance because the perfect Lamb of God wasn’t without sin if He was born the normal way. There is no salvation without the virgin birth, no atonement, no nothing that is full and compete salvation without the virgin birth. Mary, the mother of the Messiah, was a virgin; probably quit young as we would understand it today. But she was a virgin when Jesus was born; after that she was not once she had James, the Lord’s brother. Jesus the Messiah was born without sin, He was the one promised in Isaiah 9:6-7. He was the one promised in Isaiah 7:14. If He was born by simply a young woman then He was born with sin in His nature and that would make Him a false-messiah. The Messiah that the Jews were promised and they waited for and came in the person of Jesus was born without sin. It has too repeated because I think too many think that ‘young woman’ is enough of a phrase to make their Jesus without sin and it doesn’t. Young woman implies sinful nature is part of His nature, virgin means God did something miraculous and far beyond our understand and thoughts.

For the Gospel of John and its writer to have penned, John 1:1-5, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And that light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.” the Apostle John understood the full and moving ramifications of the virgin birth. God in flesh! That is the ramifications that a sinless, holy, perfect, and absolutely completely the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was walking upon the earth in human flesh without sin. The Apostle John nor the Apostle Paul could have defended their beliefs in Jesus as God if they did not believe in the virgin birth of the Son of God. One must fully understand, comprehend, and except something, Jesus the Messiah was Almighty God in human flesh. That is why the virgin birth matters as a scripture point and doctrine. Jesus was not just a Jewish rabbi with a great message about humanity and it’s relationship to God, He was God! This was God in the flesh walking among His creation. If He was born by any other means than by the virgin birth then He might as well proclaimed Himself Zeus or Odin or any other of the ancient gods of the ancient world. In fact, He might as well simply not have come at all because the prophecies of the Jewish Messiah is that He would be a special son of King David! And that would be born without sin! It has to be repeated I think for a reason, Jesus was born without sin, He was Almighty God walking as a man. This is the Gospel message, Jesus the Messiah came to save the lost and only God could have done that; a messiah born of a young woman wouldn’t and couldn’t save himself let alone the whole world. The Apostle John saw and knew who Jesus was and wrote the greatest of thoughts in one verse, John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on Him, shall have everlasting life.” And only a sinless Son of God could have done that by being born a virgin.

REFERENCES/RECOMMENDATIONS

The Bible. (KJV).

The Trial Of Jesus. By. David Limbaugh.

Early Christian Doctrines. By. J. N. D. Kelly.

Saved Without A Doubt. By. John MacArthur

The Atonement: It’s Meaning, Significance. By. Leon Morris.

.Justification By Faith: Paul’s Letter To The Christians At Rome. By. William W. MacDonald.

Generous Justice: How God’s Grace Makes Us Justified. By. Timothy Keller.

The Cross Of The King. By. Timothy Keller.

The Passion Of Jesus Christ. By. John Piper.

The Normal Christian Life. By. Watchman Nee.

Handbook Of Christian Apologetics. By. Peter Kreeft, Ronald Tacelli. (Catholic).

Isaiah: The Prophet-Prince. By. Constance Head. (Novel).