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By most human standards, seven centuries is a long time. To put this into perspective, the King James Version of the English Bible was first published just over four centuries ago, and seven centuries ago Paris was the world’s largest city with a whopping population of a quarter of a million people! In order for today’s devotional to have its desired impact, the reader needs to have an appreciation for just such a span of time.

Over seven centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ, a cornerstone prophecy of the Old Testament was committed to writing. Consider the following: “Moreover the LORD spoke again to Ahaz, saying, ‘Ask a sign for yourself from the LORD your God; ask it either in the depth or in the height above.’ But Ahaz said, ‘I will not ask, nor will I test the LORD!’ Then he said, ‘Hear now, O house of David! Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. Curds and honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will be forsaken by both her kings.’” (Isaiah 7.10-16).

Indeed God promised to give a sign of unprecedented character. Although He had created the world and everything in it, miraculously brought His people across the Red Sea, healed the sick, and even raised the dead, He had never caused a virgin to conceive! This sign was to be a one of a kind event, never to be repeated. Some seven centuries later, Matthew wrote about the events that fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy. Although I may not understand all about the prophecy or its fulfillment, there are somethings that cannot be mistaken. Here is what I mean: “…an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.’ So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us.’” (Matthew 1.20-23).

I don’t have to know much to understand what Matthew was saying. His claim was that Mary, a virgin, would conceive and bear a son in fulfillment of a prophecy spoken by Isaiah. Since this was a one of a kind sign, there can be no doubt but that Matthew looked back to Isaiah 7.14 as the specific prophecy which was being fulfilled by the birth of Jesus Christ. There may be aspects that I don’t understand (and don’t need to), but this aspect simply cannot be missed. Jesus Christ was the virgin born Son of God prophesied and foreordained at least seven hundred years before the fact!

According to the Bible, one must believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God in order to become a Christian. This can be stated negatively also; unless one believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, he/she cannot be a Christian. While these thoughts are fundamental, they need to be refreshed in our minds over and over again. Unless Jesus truly was virgin born just as Isaiah prophesied and just as Matthew recorded, there are no Christians! The virgin birth of Jesus is a cornerstone truth upon which the entirety of the Christian system rests. Any compromise or breach of this truth deals a death blow to our claims to be God’s people today. Seven centuries is a long time to us, and predicting even tomorrow’s events is all but impossible to us, BUT with God all things are possible! Praise Him forever!

Questions:

1. What evidence exists to show that the virgin of Isaiah was the same as the virgin of Matthew? In other words, how do we know that Mary really was someone who had never had sexual relations?

2. Why was the virgin birth a sign? What characteristics must an event have in order to qualify as a sign?

3. If Jesus is not the virgin born Son of God, what implications would this have on the Christian system?

4. If God could create the world and the laws by which all life in the universe is propagated,

how difficult was it for God, on a scale of one to ten, to bring about the virgin birth?

"Inspiration For You" from Randy Mitchell

Honoring A Father