The Necessity of a Virgin Birth

This time of year, many Christmas cards show a beautiful manger scene with Mary, Joseph, and the Baby.  I like to go back to Luke and read the account of that fateful event nine months before this special baby was born.

Mary, or Miriam, was perhaps only 14 or 15, when she was betrothed to Joseph.  An arranged marriage…… with the groom waiting for the proper length of time to be formally united with his bride.  This was usually a year or slightly less.  After all, the groom must be sure his bride was a virgin and that his seed would be the only one given to her.

You all know the story.  Mary was a virgin….but the Holy Spirit sent by the Lord planted within her young womb this Baby, who would become our Savior.

Can you imagine the disgrace of this young woman?  Joseph chose to keep his betrothal to her, due to God’s intervention….. although he could have had her stoned for adultery.

Why was so it important for Miriam to be a Virgin?  Have you thought about that?

This baby was so special that He would not contain any genetic material from either his birth mother or  earthly father.

With the advancement in modern medicine, Drs. are able to implant a fertilized human egg from outside of the womb into a woman.   We call these women surrogate mothers.  They will carry that baby to term even though none of the genetic material of that baby will be hers.  Only her body will serve as the incubator for that child.

And so it was with Mary.  Jesus came to earth as a human baby…….but planted the seed in Mary who served as his surrogate mother.  Why the necessity of a virgin mother?

If she had given Him her genes …then He would carry the propensity for sin….just as the human race.  Although we don’t inherit sin, we all carry the sinful nature within us due to our gift of choice.  Our first parents chose to disobey.

                                         Thanks Adam!!

If Jesus had carried her genes, then He would not be God.  After all, He was with God from the beginning of time.  He was part of God’s nature. He was sinless.

Mary was blessed among women…….she was a virgin who was given the privilege of being the birth mother of our Lord. She deserves to be called “blessed”.