Scripture
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
The miraculous birth of Christ proclaims God’s miraculous grace to redeem sinners.
Devotional
The Virgin Birth is foundational to the Christian faith. In one of the earliest creeds of the church confessing what all Christians must believe, the Apostles’ Creed says, “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.” Without the Virgin Birth we lose everything. If Jesus wasn’t really born of a virgin, then the Bible is not true. And if the Bible is not true then how do we know He really died on the cross and rose for our sins three days later?
Also, if we lose the Virgin Birth, we lose the very gospel itself. Man owed a debt to God for their sin, and so Man, and Man alone, could pay for that sin (Hebrews 10:4). But “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We all sinned and were unrighteous before the Law. We were condemned in Adam as our Covenantal or Federal Head (Romans 4:18-19). Adam stood before God as our representative and we all sinned in him inheriting his sin and guilt. This is what we call Original Sin. But by being born of a virgin Jesus, while never ceasing to be God, lived a perfect and sinless life as a man. And as a man born of a virgin, He was able to be descended “from Adam” without being “in Adam” as His Covenantal or Federal Head. Like the First Adam, Christ’s Father was God Himself making Christ a New Adam and new Federal Head for all who believe in Him (Luke 3:38). A new representative who could stand in our place before God. “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22). As a New Adam, Jesus had no sin of His own for which to die for and so could offer His life as a sacrifice for our sins and pay the debt of sin Man owed to God.
But the glory of Christmas and the Virgin Birth isn’t just about having the right theology. It’s also about the glory of God’s grace in Jesus Christ. And the glory of God’s grace in Christ is proclaimed in the Virgin Birth.
When the angel Gabriel came to Mary she was greatly troubled. She was much afraid. But the angel said, “Do not be afraid, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High.” Matthew says “you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” because Jesus’s very name means “Yahweh saves” (Matthew 1:21).
From there, Mary asked a very important question. “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” To which the angel said, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.” The Virgin Birth was an impossible work of God’s almighty power. It was not a normal birth by natural means. It was impossible? Who had ever heard of someone being born of a virgin? But that’s precisely the point. In the Virgin Birth we see the impossible power of God’s grace to save sinners. As impossible as the Virgin Birth was, our salvation was even more impossible. We were lost, blind, dead in our sins, unrighteous and unholy before a Holy God. And how could unrighteous sinners ever be made right with a Holy and Righteous God? By the miraculous power of God’s grace. That’s why the angel said “For nothing will be impossible with God.” Not a Virgin Birth, and not our salvation. “What is impossible with man is possible with God” (Luke 18:27). Our salvation was not born out of human strength or effort.It does not come from a man and a woman coming together to produce a Savior. It comes only from the gracious intervention and miraculous work of God’s grace. Our salvation is of God’s grace and all of God’s grace. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Finally, the Virgin Birth doesn’t just show us the impossible power of God’s grace and that our salvation is a work of God’s grace and not human effort. It also shows us God’s grace to redeem sinners. Why was Jesus born of a virgin? Why the focus on being born of a woman? Because of God’s promise in Genesis 3:15. God said, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” What about Adam? Weren’t we all all made sinners through Him (Romans 5:17-19). Why does God focus on Eve? Because Eve was deceived first (1 Timothy 2:14). “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate” (Genesis 3:6). With Eve, God showed us His grace to redeem sinners. By promising that the Messiah would be born of a woman, the one who ate first and gave the fruit to her husband and thereby led all humanity into sin, God was promising to redeem Eve. And in promising to redeem Eve, God was promising to redeem all of us. Any who believes in the name of Jesus Christ.
The great Puritan Thomas Watson said “Christ was born of a woman, that he might roll away the reproach from the woman, which she had contracted by being seduced by the serpent. Christ in taking his flesh from the woman, has honored her…that is, at the first, the woman had made man a sinner; so now to make him amends, she should bring him a Savior” (Watson, A Body of Divinity, 192-193). Christ rolled away her reproach just as Christ rolls away our reproach for all our sin. In the Virgin Birth we see the glory of God’s grace to redeem sinners.
And that’s the glory of Christmas. Christmas celebrates God’s powerful, gracious, and redeeming grace.
*Watson, A Body of Divinity, 192-193.
Outline - Points to Hit in Family Worship
BIG IDEA: The miraculous birth of Christ proclaims God’s miraculous grace in redeeming sinners.
To explain the virgin birth to young children emphasize how Jesus didn’t have an earthly father but came from the Father in heaven. His birth was not a normal birth just like everyone else who has both a Mommy and Daddy but a miraculous birth to show us the miracle of God’s grace.
The Virgin Birth shows us:
The Power of God’s Grace to Save Sinners
Our salvation was more impossible than someone being born of a virgin.
What is impossible with man is possible with God (Luke 18:27).
Salvation is a Miraculous Work of God’s Grace and Not Human Effort
Man did not produce a Savior/Salvation. God sent a Savior by His grace.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).
God Redeem Sinners
If God redeemed Eve, God will redeem all of us.
Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool (Isaiah 1:18).
Hymn
Lyrics - Come and Stand Amazed by Citizens
Verse 1
Come and stand amazed you people
See how God is reconciled
See His plans of love accomplished
See His gift this newborn child
Pre Chorus
See the mighty weak and tender
See the word who now is mute
See the sovereign without splendor
See the fullness destitute
Verse 2
See how humankind received him
See him wrapped in swaddling bands
Who as Lord of all creation
Rules the wind by his commands
Pre Chorus
See Him lying in a manger
Without sign of reasoning
Word of God to flesh surrendered
He is wisdom's crown our King
Verse 3
O Lord Jesus God incarnate
Who assumed this humble form
Counsel me and let my wishes
To your perfect will conform
Pre Chorus
Light of life dispel my darkness
Let your frailty strengthen me
Let your meekness give me boldness
Let your burden set me free
Tag
O Emmanuel my savior
Let Your death be life for me