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 in redeeming sinners.
Devotional
The Virgin Birth is fundamental to the Christian faith. In the Apostles’ Creed, one of the earliest creeds of the church confessing what all Christians must believe, it 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.” Confessing the Virgin Birth is part and parcel of the Christian faith… you can’t be Christian without it. For one, without the Virgin Birth, the Bible would not be true. And if Jesus wasn’t really born of a virgin, how do we really know He died on the cross for our sins and rose again three days later?
Also, if the Virgin Birth is not true, we lose the very gospel itself. Man owed a debt to God for their sin and so man alone could pay for their sin. But because “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), and are condemned in Adam (Romans 4:18-19), no man could pay for their own sin and satisfy the wrath of God. But Jesus, being born of a virgin, was able to be descended “from Adam” without being “in Adam” as His Covenant or Federal Head. Like the First Adam, Christ’s Father was God Himself making Christ a New Adam and therefore a new Federal Head and representative for all who believe in Him (Luke 3:38). “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:22).
But the Virgin Birth isn’t just about having the right theology. What we often miss is that the Virgin Birth is about the glory of God’s grace. The Glory of Christmas is the glory of God’s grace in Christ and the glory of God’s grace in Christ is proclaimed in the Virgin Birth.
When the angel Gabriel proclaimed the good news of Jesus Christ to Mary, she was greatly troubled. But he 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 tells us “you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” because Jesus’ very name means “Yahweh saves” (Matthew 1:21).
And from here, 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 by the powerful working of the Holy Spirit… by the Almighty Power of God Himself. From a human perspective, it was impossible. Who had every heard of someone being born of a virgin? But that’s precisely the point. In the Virgin Birth we see the power of God’s grace to save sinners. As impossible as the Virgin Birth is, our salvation was more impossible then someone every being born of a virgin. We were lost, blind, dead in our sin. How could unrighteous sinners ever be made right with a Holy and Righteous God? By the miraculous power of God’s grace in Jesus Christ. 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). And our salvation is not by human strength and effort… It does not come from a man and a woman coming together to produce a Savior… but by the intervention and miraculous work 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).
In the Virgin Birth we see the power of God’s grace to save sinners, how our salvation is by God’s grace and not human effort, and finally how God, in His grace, redeems sinners. Why born of a virgin? Why born of a woman? All the way back 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? We already saw that we are all made sinners through Him (Romans 5:17-19). Why does God focus on the woman? 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). By promising that the Messiah would be born of a woman, God was promising to redeem Eve. And in promising to redeem Eve, the one who was deceived and led all humanity into sin, God was promising to redeem all who would believe in Jesus Christ and take away the reproach of all their sin.
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.”* Christ rolled away her reproach just as Christ rolls away the reproach of all of us. In the Virgin Birth we have the glory of Christmas and God’s promise to redeem sinners.
*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