The Promised Messiah: Born of a Virgin

Scripture Meditation: Isaiah 7:14; Luke 1:26-37

A prophet. A priest. A king. This is what we have learned thus far in Scripture about the promised Messiah. He would be Jewish, from the line of Abraham, of the tribe of Judah, of the household of David. But how will we know when he arrives. How will we know he is THE One??? The LORD Himself will give a sign, the prophet Isaiah tells us. Here is the sign: “The virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” A virgin? You don’t have to be overly skilled in biology to know that virgins cannot conceive! But I ask you this - is anything too hard for the Lord? After all, He is the Creator and He is most certainly Lord over biology! He has been known to do the impossible already. After all, the entire nation of Israel had come from the barren womb of a 90 year old woman! It would not be beyond the scope of God’s abilities to bring forth a child from the womb of a virgin woman!

True to His Word, the Lord did exactly what He promised. At just the right time God sent forth His Son to be born of a woman and that woman was a young girl named Mary! In Luke 1:31, the angel said to Mary, “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the LORD God will give to Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” The angel continued to explain to Mary how this will happen. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35)

This Promised Messiah was like no other ever born to a woman. Fully human and yet fully God at the same time. The eternal God - the 2nd person of the Trinity, the Son - would now be sheltered in the womb of a young Jewish virgin girl.  A mystery to be sure, but possible none the less, for nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37). It was this Messiah, fully God and fully man, who alone could fulfill the promises of God to crush the head of the serpent and to be the eternal high priest offering Himself as the substitutionary sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins for people like you and me. 

Oh, what a Savior! Isn’t He wonderful?