“Hark, The Herald Angels Sing” was written by Charles Wesley in 1739. The lyrics of the second verse are these:
Christ, by highest heav’n adored;
Christ the everlasting Lord;
Late in time behold Him come,
Offspring of a virgin’s womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,
Hail the incarnate Deity!
Pleased as man with men to appear,
Jesus our Immanuel here.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
‘Glory to the newborn King.”
In case you hadn’t noticed, the lyrics of this familiar Christmas carol affirm the virgin birth. The birth of Jesus Christ was something absolutely unique. The Bible says He was born of a virgin (Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-38). This was a direct fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14 given over 700 years earlier.
But these are not the only references to the virgin birth of Christ. Genesis 3:15 talks about “the seed of the woman.” Jeremiah 31:22 says, “A woman shall compass a man.” Galatians 4:4 states, “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.”
Now, making miraculous births possible is nothing new with God. In fact, God created Adam without father or mother, forming him from the dust of the ground (Genesis 2:7). He made Eve from Adam’s rib (Genesis 2:22). God miraculously gave children to the elderly – women like Sarah in the Old Testament and Elizabeth in the New Testament – and healed the barren wombs of others like Rebekah and Rachel.
Jesus’ conception was absolutely unique in that it came about through the power of the Holy Spirit, using Mary as His vessel to accomplish God’s eternal plan. As David Jeremiah puts it, “Jesus is in no way a product of the natural union of a human father and mother. Instead He is the eternal Person of the Lord Himself, the INFINITE One Who created the universe, taking on the LIMITED form of a human being.”
The late W. A. Criswell, long-time pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas, was once asked, “Dr. Criswell, if an unwed mother were to tell you that her child was conceived by the Holy Spirit without an earthly father, would you believe her?” Dr. Criswell replied, “Yes – if the birth of that child was foretold thousands of years before, and if, when the child was born, the angels sang and the star of promise stood over the place where the infant lay, and if, when the child was grown, he had power over the wind and the waves and over disease and death, and if, when he ascended to heaven, his disciples were numbered by the millions and increasing millions – then I would believe it!”
Why is the virgin birth so important? Because if Jesus had been born of natural means, by the normal union of a human mother and father, He would have been a sinner just like the rest of us and NOT the Son of God, and therefore He could not save you or me. Jesus had to be born of a virgin in order to be, as the Scripture says, “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens” (Hebrews 7:26). Anything less and Jesus would not be qualified to be our Savior. To deny the virgin birth is to deny that Jesus is God’s Son, and in doing so, to deny the very essence of Christianity.
Make no mistake about it – the virgin birth of Christ is a foundational truth. Jesus is indeed Immanuel – “God with us.” Do you believe that?