"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" 35 The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. 37 For nothing is impossible with God." Luke1:34-37
The Creed tells us that Jesus "was born of the Virgin Mary."
Strangely enough there are many people who have trouble with this.
"Mary a virgin? Sure! Pull the other leg!"
Some have even tried to turn their rejection of the virgin birth into a positive thing, by saying that the merciful Messiah came into the context poverty and brokenness of a young girl who'd landed up with a "bun in the oven."
But Mary was a virgin - The Bible says it - I believe it - and it _is_ important. Not because it makes Mary special, but because it makes the conception and birth special.
If Mary hadn't been a virgin and the child was actually Joseph's then we lose a critical concept that Paul was at pains to make in Romans 5 where he talks about Jesus as the "second Adam." Paul points out that all the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve are prone to the same failures and sinful desires. (Irenaeus called this "original sin")
We needed a new start. Jesus, though born of Mary, was conceived by the Holy Spirit and not through human intercourse. He is not part of the chain of human brokenness.
The other important facet of the Virgin Birth is that Jesus is both fully human and fully God. He's born of a very human Mary (who wasn't special or sinless) but He's conceived by God. He's fully human so that He understands our situation and is able to die in our place and He is fully God so that He can be without sin (unlike the first Adam) and that He can bear the weight and sin and death on the cross.
The Virgin Birth isn't about Mary - It's about Jesus and we should recognise how important this is: It means He is eligible and able to take our place and die for our sins. HALLELUJAH!
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This brings us to the end of the devotions for 2014 - I will pick up the creed again in the new year. I pray you will have a blessed CHRIST-mas and know God's guidance in the new year. Thank you for sharing in this devotional journey with me this year.
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Theo Groeneveld theo @ emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at emmdev[dot]blogspot[dot]com/
