Dr.
Charles Stanley
The virgin
birth—like Jesus' resurrection from the dead—ranks as one of the
Bible's more amazing miracles. Many people reject the idea outright, while
others shrug it off as nonessential to their understanding of the Savior. But a
person can't believe the Word of God while rejecting its claim that the Lord
was born to a virgin.
Scripture is
emphatic about the nature of Jesus' unusual conception. It is mentioned in both
the Old Testament and the Gospels. In Genesis 3:15, God warned the serpent that enmity
would exist between Eve's seed and his. The choice of words is meant to catch
the reader's attention, since a woman does not have "seed." Later,
through Isaiah, God speaks a clear prophecy: "Behold, a virgin will be with
child and bear a son" (Isaiah 7:14).
When Matthew
recorded Jesus' genealogy, he crafted a sentence that paid tribute to Mary—not
Joseph—as Jesus' biological parent (Matthew 1:16). Then, Luke's gospel relates Mary's
encounter with the angel Gabriel, who explained that the Holy Spirit would
place God's Son in her womb (Matthew 1:35). The heavenly Father saw to it that
the biblical writers gave an accurate account of this awesome event.
Simply stated,
rejecting the virgin birth is the equivalent of calling God a liar. The Bible
is His revealed Word (2 Timothy 3:15). Suggesting one portion is false
places the whole document under suspicion. Therefore, in answer to the question
posed in the devotion's title, yes, belief in the virgin birth does matter.
