“Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which translated means, ‘God with us.’” Matthew 1:23
Christmas is a time of celebration but not everyone is celebrating the same thing. As Christians, we celebrate something many say is simply not possible—the virgin birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Believing the impossible is possible with God is actually the only reason we can celebrate each Christmas.
First, Mary had to be a virgin in order for God to keep His promise. Matthew 1:23 quotes the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14, “the virgin shall be with child.” If even one scriptural prophecy isn’t true, then God isn’t trustworthy. In fact, every other promise in Scripture would be meaningless without the virgin birth.
Next, If Jesus was not supernaturally conceived then He cannot be our Savior. We were born with Adam’s sin nature because we have human parents. But Matthew 1:18 tells us that Mary’s pregnancy was the work of the Holy Spirit. That means Jesus lived on Earth as all man and all God. In order to be the “one sacrifice for sins for all time” (Hebrews 10:12), Jesus had to be born a sinless man and live a sinless life. Our salvation rests on Jesus’ conception by the Holy Spirit.
When you think about it, the virgin birth is a beautiful picture of salvation. Mary was the vessel God used to bring His Son into the world. She didn’t earn the right, nor did she apply for the job. It was all a work of God. In a similar way, when a person surrenders to Christ for salvation the Bible calls it being born again (John 3). Being born twice is beyond our ability. It can only be accomplished by a supernatural work of God.
The Holy Spirit immediately indwells every person who believes in Jesus for the forgiveness of sin. So as believers, we now live in the power and possession of Christ. Which means we personally experience Him as “Immanuel…God with us” (Matthew 1:23).
What you celebrate this Christmas depends on what you believe. Remember, believing the impossible is possible with God is vital to Christmas and to Christianity. If Jesus was not supernaturally born of a virgin, then the promises of Scripture are meaningless and salvation is worthless. We can choose to celebrate Christmas as never before—all because of the virgin birth of Christ.
