Luke 1:26-38

Born of the virgin Mary

Well if you were with us last year, you might remember I told you about the

female hammerhead shark in the Henry Dwirly Zoo. And the fact that they

dont own any male sharks in this zoo. And so even though this female shark

has never met a male shark. And she’s never been on a shark date. Never even

held hands with a male shark. Nevertheless on the 14th of December 2001, one

of the unfertilized eggs of this female shark suddenly hatches and out swims

this bouncy little baby shark.

And it causes quite a stir amongst the biologists. And they can’t wait for this

baby shark to die so they can cut it open and study it.

And maybe there was a bit of bribery and corruption.

Because just a few days later, there’s this stingray jolts this baby shark and

sends her all the way to Davie Jones’ locker, which in Pirate language means

the baby shark dies.

And after 5 minutes of obligotary mourning, the marine biologists grab this

baby shark and dissect it to examine what happened. And they find that its

true. There’s no other DNA in this shark except for that of the mother.

And you might think this all sounds a bit “sharking”. But its not actually not

that uncommon. Its a known biological process called parthenogenesis and it

doesn’t only occur amongst sharks. It also occurs amongst certain insects and

ccertain reptiles.

But the important thing for our purposes is that its absolutely impossible

amongst mammals. And so if you’ve got an unmarried daughters who wants to

use this as an excuse: look Dad, it even happens with sharks. No, its absolutely

impossible with mammals.

And even when it does occur amongst sharks or reptiles. Its always a female

producing a female because the dna is only the dna of the mother. And so only

a female can be produced.

And so the point is that what we find here in Luke’s gospel this morning is

somehting completely and utterly impossible. There’s no biological or scientific

explanation. It completely breaks the laws of biology.

And yet this is what we believe: that Jesus is the Son of God, born to the virgin

Mary

And we might not do it as regularly as we ought, but every now and then we

stand as a church and we say the apostles creed.

And in that creed, we state the following belief:

we believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son … conceived by the Holy Spirit, born

of the virgin Mary.

And its very easy to state those words and to do it thoughtlessly without really

thinking about what we mean.

What does it mean for God to have a son. And what does it mean that this

same son is also the son of Mary.

Well if you go and present this to a Muslim, this is one of their biggest

objections to the Christian faith.

You see according to many Muslims who aren’t so well educated about

Christianity: they think that Christians believe in the Trinity as God, the Father,

Mary the mother, and Jesus the Son. And that the Holy God had sex with Mary

to produce a son Jesus. And they consider it to be utter blasphemy.

And it is blasphemy. Its not what we mean by the Trinity.

Btu how many of us would be able to explain what we do mean? That Jesus is

the Son of God, the son of the virgin Mary.

And if you ask many liberal theologians today, they’ll say its mere fiction. And

Its been disproved by science. There’s no ways that a virgin could give birth to

a child

And if you ask many Christians, they’ll say its irrelevant. The important thing is

that Jesus died and rose again. Whether or not he was born of a virgin.That’s

not significant for our salvation.

Well this morning we going to see that far from being blasphemous or fiction

or irrelevant, this is actually a key doctrine for our Christian faith.

And I wanna show you why its so important. There 3 things we learn from this

doctrine: It teaches

1) Firstly, that Jesus the promised King

2) Secondly, that Jesus is both human and divine

3) Thirdly, that God can do the impossible

Firstly, this doctrine teaches us that Jesus is the promised King.

And in order to appreciate this, we need to go back to 2 Samuel 7:12. And this

is about a thousand years before Christ. And should be on the screen. Here’s

this promise God makes to David. 2 Samuel 7:12.

“when your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your

offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will

establish the throne of his kingdom.”

And so here’s this great promise that from David’s line will come this son who

will rule over his kingdom. And notice the length of his reign in verse 13. “He is

the One Who will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of

his kingdom forever.”

And so the rule of this son will last forever. And then notice what God says

about him in verse 14. “I will be his father and he will be my son.”

And so we see that not only will this future king be called the son of David.

He’ll also be called the son of God.

And in order to understand what this means, we need to think about the

language of sonship.

What does it mean if ur described as someone’s son. And you might think its

obvious. It means you descended form that person, whether biologically or

through adoption.

But actually there’s another meaning of this phrase that is less common today,

but was very common in the Bible. For example, if I say to you: you’re a son of

a pig. What do I mean? I don’t mean that I literally think that you are

descended from a pig. No, I simply mean that you are behaving in a pig-like

way.

And this usage comes from the common practice until just a couple of hundred

years ago, where a son would almost always follow the footsteps of his father.

And so if I was to ask you: how many of you are doing exactly the same job or

studying to do the same job as your parents? If you can raise your hands.?

There’s only a small group of you. But just a few of hundred years ago, almost

everyone wouldv raised their hands. And if your father was a farmer, you’d

become a farmer. If your father was a baker, you’d become a baker. And if

your father was a carpenter, you’d become a carpenter. And that’s why you’ve

got these common surnames like Hunter and Baker and Cook and even Smith.

And these come from the occupation that people had and it became their

surnames because it was passed on from father to son.

And so that’s what often what lies behind the biblical language of sonship.1

For example in Matthew chapter 5 verse 6 Jesus says blessed are the

peacemakers for they will be called sons of God. And he’s not saying that

peacemakers are descended from God, but rather that when you make peace,

you behaving in a God like way.

1 For example in John 8, Jesus describes the Jews as the children of the devil. And he says that the devil is their father. And he’s not saying that they literally descended from the devil, but rather that they are behaving in a devil like way. Their murderous intentions are just like the devil who was a murderer from the beginning.

And that’s also why Israel is described as God’s son. Its because they called to

be like Him and to represent Him in the world.

And that’s also the meaning that lies behind this promise to David; that his son

will be called the son of God. Not because he’s descended from God, but

simply because he’s called to be like God and to represent His rule over the

nation.

And so with all that background in place, now we can better understand our

passage.

God doesn’t just choose any virgin to be mother of Jesus. He specifically

chooses Mary. And its because of her connections to the royal line. And we’ll

see a bit later in Luke’s gospel: that Mary herself is a descendant of David. And

so that’s why she gets chosen: so that she can pass on the royal blood. But not

only does he need the royal blood. He also needs the legal right to reign. And

according to Jewish and Biblical law, that legal right was only passed on

through the father. And that’s the significance of verse 27.

Not only is Mary a descendant of David. But she’s pledged to be married to

Joseph. And what do we learn about Joseph in verse 27? He’s also a

descendant of David.

And so even though Joseph isn’t biologically Jesus’ father. When he marries

Mary, he does become his human father by adoption. And that’s why Matthew

chapter 1, can trace the ancestry of Jesus not through Mary, but rather

through Joseph. And it goes all the way back to the great King David.

And so all the boxes are ticked. He’s a blood descendant through Mary. He’s a

legal heir through Joseph.

And therefore he can rightly be called the promised King.

And that’s what the angel says in verse 32, that Mary’s son will be great and

then notice what He’ll be called: the son of the Most High.”

In other words, He’ll be Son of God. But what does the angel mean? He’s not

talking about biological descent. No, He’s talking about this promise, that

God’ll give him the throne of His Father David. And that He will reign over the

house of Jacob forever; and that his kingdom will never end.” It’s the great

promise of 2 Samuel 7.

That’s what it means for Jesus to be God’s Son. That because of his natural

descent from Mary and because of his legal descent from Joseph, that He truly

is the promised King.

And it reminds us of Luke’s purpose that we might have certainty of the things

we’ve been taught. And here we see we can have certainty about Christ; That

in the person of Christ, all the details are coming together. And all the boxes

are being ticked and all the OT predictions are being fulfilled.

And in the words of Josh McDowell,

“The Old Testament written over a one-thousand year period, contains nearly

three hundred references to the coming Messiah. All of these were fulfilled in

Jesus… and they establish a solid confirmation of His credentials as the

Messiah.”

And what makes this especially striking is that orthodox Jews today are still

waiting for the promised Messiah. And they know this promise from 2 Samuel

7 that He must be from the offspring of David. But here’s their great difficulty.

That when the Romans came in and destroyed the city of Jerusalem in AD70 all

the genealogical records have been lost. And so if someone arises today and

says; I’m the promised Messiah. And Im a descendant of David. They wouldn’t

have any way to prove it. For all the records have been lost.

But this is what we know about the time of Jesus; that these records were still

in tact. And we know this, not just because of the genealogies that we have,

but also because in Luke chapter 2 we read about the census that took place at

that time under Caesar Augustus. And everyone had to be counted.

And you couldn’t just be counted anywhere. But you had to travel to your

ancestral home. And so that shows that these ancestral records still exist. And

where do Mary and Joseph travel to counted? Well They go to Bethlehem. The

town of David, because that’s the house and the line to which they belong.

And so this reveals the blindness of many Jews today: that they still waiting for

their Messiah to arrive. But His Messiahship will never be able to be

established.

And yet they reject the Messiah who did arrive, and His Messiahship was

established.

But in my hands Ive got a book about a man named Stan Telchin. And he was a

Jewish man. But his daughter became a Christian .And it was a massive

heartache to him. And he felt that he had lost his daughter. But she challenged

him to investigate it for himself. And to study all the prohpecies of the OT and

all the details of the person of Christ. And he took up the challenge. And after

months and months of carefull study. He came to this conclusion for himself;

that Jesus really the promised Messiah.

And we’ve got a copy of it in our library. And it’s a gripping read. I’d

recommend it to anyone.

But now secondly, when we say that Jesus is the son of God, the son of the

Mary, we not just talking about his authority, that He’s the promised king.

Even more than that, we talking about His identity, that He’s both human and

divine.

And you can see that in verses 34-35.

Mary asks the angel: How will this be, “since I am a virgin?”

And notice, she doesn’t ask like Zechariah, how can I be sure? Which was a

question full of doubt. Rather she asks: how will this be, which is a question for

understanding. In other words how will this work.

And that’s a good question. Cause she’s a virgin. And so how will this work?

what must she do? Must she go and marry Joseph so that she can bear a son.

No. Look at verse 35. This is how it’ll work

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will

overshadow you.

And then notice this linking word. It’s a “so” or a “therefore” . In other words,

Because of the Holy Spirit’s work. Therefore the holy one to be born will be

called the Son of God.

And so there’s a clear connection between the overshadowing of Jesus and this

title that He’s the Son of God.

And John Piper describes it like this.

“Jesus was not born by the union of a man and a woman, but by the

supernatural work of the Holy Spirit replacing the seed of a man. And what can

this mean except that human nature (from Mary) and divine nature (from the

Spirit) united in the person of Jesus? Mary contributed the humanity. The Spirit

contributed the divinity. And Jesus, the God-man was born.”

And so this is the 2nd meaning when we say Jesus as the son of God. We don’t

just mean that He’s the promised king. We also mean that He’s the Son of God

by descent, that He’s both human and divine.

And you need to understand: this isn’t just interesting information. Rather, its

is crucial for our salvation. You see, in order for Jesus to be our mediator

between us and God, He needs to be fully God – to represent God to us. At the

same time, He needs to be fully man, to represent us to God. And this is

established for us right at the beginning, by His virgin birth.

And if Jesus wasn’t really born within the womb of a human mother, then we

wouldn’t have confidence in his full humanity and his ability to identify with us

in every aspect of our experience, not just of adulthood, but also of birth.

And if Jesus wasn’t really conceived by the Spirit, but was born like any child

with both a human mother and a human father. Then we wouldnt have

confidence in his fully divinity. And we’d have to question when he became

divine. At what point did that happen? And if it wasn’t right at the beginning

then he couldn’t have been sinless. Because sin is something that infects us

right from conception.

As Psalm 51 verse 5 says: surely I was sinful at birth. Sinful from the time my

mother conceived me.

And so unless He was divine, right from conception, then he too would have

become a sinner and been unable to save.

And so once again we see the perfect plan of God, that right from conception

Jesus was born of a woman, and therefore fully man. But at the same time, He

was born of God, and therefore fully God.

But now finally, if you’ve fallen asleep, let me get your attention again. or if the

person next to you’s drifted off, just give them a nudge. You don’t wanna miss

this last point.

The sonship of Jesus doesn’t only means, that He’s the promised King. It

doesn’t only mean that He’s both human and divine. Finally, it also means that

God can do the impossible.

You see, in case you weren’t concentrating in your grade 10 biology class,

whats being described here is completely and utterly impossible. Its impossible

for a virgin to give birth.

And therefore this is one of the doctrines that the liberals find the hardest to

accept. Let me quote to you from the New Bible dictionary (which is actually

quite a good source of Biblical information). But this is what they say about the

virgin birth.

“the historicity of the virgin birth is doubted or denied by many scholars who

often regard the birth narratives in Matthew and Luke not as historical records,

but as some form of imaginative literature, expressing the significance of Jesus’

birth in symbolic, poetic and mythical terms”

In other words, you can still call yourself a Christian. You can still believe the

Bible. But you don’t need to accept a literal virgin birth.

Gert Luddeman is a German scholar of the Bible. This is what he says: “Most

Christians in all the churches in the world confess, as they recite the apostle’s

creed, that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary. Now modern Christians

completely discount the historicity of the virgin birth and understand it in a

figurative sense.”

And so there many liberals who reject the virgin birth. 2

But you can see what they really rejecting if you look at verse 37. Here’s the

principle that lies behind the virgin birth.

verse 37.

“For nothing is impossible with God.” (x2)

2

Listen to these words from the South African preacher, Clint Archer:

The reason they (many) don’t believe in the virgin birth is because its unbelievable. Its not possible. A virgin conceiving without a man is absolutely impossible. So if it did happen, that would make this child God, sinless. It would make the gospels true. It would mean that you actually have to believe him, repent of your sins so that He’ll save you. And live a life that follows Him. So it can’t be true! Because then I certainly don’t get to be a… liberal or an unbeliever of any kind!”

And so now we see, this acceptance of the virgin birth isn’t just a theoretical issue. It’s actually a personal issue. It’s confronts us in our attitude to God.

What kind of God do we believe in?

Do we believe in the God of the impossible?

And so if you reject the virgin birth you not just rejecting this one event. You

actually rejecting something much more significant. The reality and the power

of God.

And that’s not a small thing. In fact I want you to see that its crucially

connected to your salvation.

Just turn to Luke chapter 18, this same principle: that God can do what is

humanly impossible. This principle gets repeated And you can see it in Luke

chapter 18 from verse 24. A rich man has just left Jesus. Because he’s unwilling

to leave his wealth and follow Jesus. And then look at what Jesus says in verse

24.

Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom

of God!”

And that’s bad news for people living in Summerstrand! And in those days, to

have wealth basically meant you had more possessions than you needed for

each day. You had wealth stored up. And so most of us would be considered

rich, with cars and wealth stored up in banks. And this is bad news. How hard it

is for the rich to enter the kingdom.

But if that’s bad. It gets even worse. Verse 25 says: “indeed, it is easier for a

camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the

kingdom.”

And at this point, the liberals go crazy. And they say there must have been a

gate in Jerusalem at that time. And because it was a very small gate, it was

called, the eye of a needle. And it was very hard to squeeze your camels

through it. But if you got your camels to kneel down and you pushed them

hard, then you could just about squeeze them through.

And so that’s the point. It’s very hard to be saved. But it can’t be saying its

impossible, because otherwise who could be saved! And all our efforts would

be in vain. And it can’t be impossible!

But that’s exactly what Jesus is saying. And those who are listening get the

point. In verse 26 they ask: who then can be saved? They get the point

And look at Jesus reply in verse 27. Here’s the same principle. “What is

impossible with men is possible with God.”

It’s the same principle: Just as its completely impossible for the virgin to bear a

son. In the same way, it’s completely impossible for us to save ourselves. And

no matter how hard we try to leave our sins and to leave selfish lusts and to

leave our worldly idols. And no matter how hard we try to be religious and

righteous. We cannot save ourselves.

And that’s the problem with man-made religion: it offers you a possible

salvation. If you just obey these rules. And you just apply these steps. And you

just visit these places. Then you can save yourself.

But that’s not what the Bible teaches: instead it exposes the total depravity of

the human heart. That we are dead in our sins and helpless to save ourselves.

And yet, this is the glorious news of Christmas; that just as the Spirit did the

impossible in Mary’s womb. In the same way, He can do the impossible in our

hearts.

And He can give us new hearts and new desires and a new faith so that we love

and follow Jesus.

Listen to these words of Wayne Grudem: “the virgin birth of Christ is an

unmistakable reminder that salvation can never come through human effort,

but must be the work of God Himself.”

And I’m sure most of us know of Larry King, the well known interviewer on

CNN. And the one time someone phoned in to his show and for a change they

asked him a question. And they asked him: Larry, if you could interview anyone

in the history of the whole world, who would you interview? And without

hesitating, he instantly said Jesus Christ.

And so they asked him: Well, What would you ask him?

And you need to remember, this is Larry King probably the best interviewer in

the whole world. He knows the significant question to ask someone .

And this is what he said: If I could ask Jesus anything, “I’d like to ask him if he

was indeed virgin born. The answer to that question would define history for

me.”

And Larry King’s not a Christian. He’s Jew. But he shows amazing insight here.

He gets the significance. If Jesus Christ is born of a virgin, then that changes

everything.

And the same is true for us. We need to believe this doctrine. Not just because

establishes Jesus authority as King. Not just because it establishes His identity

as both God and man, but also because if you can’t believe it, then how will

you be saved?

And I’m sure I’m not the only one this morning who longs for a greater

experience of salvation and a greater victory over sin and a greater love for

Jesus and. And these thigns are impossible for me. But nothing is impossible

with God.

And so I’m gona lead us in a prayer now. And whether you’ve prayed this

before or whether you praying it for the 1st time this morning, why don’t you

cry out to God for Him to do the impossible.

Lets pray

Father we confess that we are totally depraved and helpless to save ourselves.

Thank You for the virgin birth and what it teaches us of Christ. Thank You for

showing us that He is the promised King and we bow before Him this morning.

Thank-you for showing that He is the perfect Saviour – both God and man, and

therefore able to mediate between us and God,

And Father thank You for showing us that You can do the impossible in our

lives. Please do that for us this morning. Give us this new birth by Your Spirit.

Please overcome our lusts. Overcome our sins. Overcome our idols. We cannot

do it on our own. Please do it for us by Your Spirit. And we pray this all in Jesus’

Name, Amen.