Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the
Lord himself will give you[a] a sign: The virgin[b] will conceive and give
birth to a son, and[c] will call him Immanuel.[d]
1. There are four things wish to share from this scripture today. The first, is the Lord will give a sign. Why did the Lord do this? We all need a supernatural experience. All here who have given your life came through
a supernatural encounter. You heard the
word of God, by some means. Tt entered
your mind, your ponder it and then accepted it.
You chose by an act of will in your heart , to put your eternal and
natural life in the hands of God. Behind
the scenes the Holy Spirit was working.
The Lord did this because you could not save yourself. Mankind has been trying to recover paradise
loss through on effort since the beginning.
Cain tried and failed. Religions
around the world are all about behavioral truth. You follow a mantra, code, set of rules, person’s
teaching y and you will have heaven or heaven on earth. God saw that and knew we needed a
savior. That is why in Gen 3:15 right
after the fall God told us the seed of the woman will crush the head of the
serpent. Man lost it but God would
restore it through Jesus Christ. The
Lord Himself we initiate and provide salvation. It would be through grace. Christ riches at God’s expense. We would through unmerited favor to live an
abundant and eternal life. Through the
Old Testament there are 300 prophecies and promises about Jesus Christ. Isaiah says it will be the Lord who will give
a sign.
2. There are three four reasons by a Virgin was the chosen reason for
Jesus to be born.
a. To Fulfil prophecy. Gen 3:15,
the seed of the women. A woman does not
have seed but an egg. This said that the
one born of the woman would have a supernatural origin. Our scripture today points this out. Also Isaiah 9:6-7, For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his
name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace” (Isa 9:6). The virgin
birth fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah in order to establish the uniqueness and
particular duties of this coming child. He will bring peace and establish an
unending kingdom. It is not only a prophecy about the future. Rather, it is a
prophecy that cements the identity of Immanuel.
b. To establish is divine origin and identity. God with us.
It shows that God will dwell among His people. Isaiah 11:10 records, “In that day the root
of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations
inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.” The virgin-born Immanuel will do something
that requires the miraculous power of God. And this power finds a root in the
Holy Spirit: “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of
wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of
knowledge and the fear of the Lord” (Isa 11:2).
In Luke’s account, Gabriel tells Mary, “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). An angel tells the shepherds that the baby is
“Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). The word “Lord” echoes the Old Testament’s
primary title for God, “LORD.” What Luke intimates through the whole story of
Jesus’s life, death, and especially his resurrection, John says quite plainly:
“The Word was God” (John 1:1). The
virgin birth establishes Jesus’ divine origin through the Holy Spirit’s act in
Mary’s womb. In some mysterious and glorious way, the Spirit unites humanity to
the divine Word of God. Jesus is and always was the union of God and man:
Immanuel, God with us.
c. To confirm Jesus’ sinless humanity.
Given Jesus’ divine origin that the virgin birth underscores, we can now
understand why Jesus could be like us in every way “yet without sin” (Heb
4:15). While the human flesh may be weak, the power of the incorruptible God is
not. Christ as one person with two natures could withstand relentless
temptation (without ever caving to temptation to relieve the suffering of
temptation) because of his divine nature.
why God came to visit us. He came to redeem us from our sins, to
overcome death, and to defeat the devil. Yet the question here concerns why God
chose the virgin birth of Jesus. In answer, he did so to fulfill prophecy, to
establish Jesus’ divine origin, and to confirm Christ’s sinless humanity.
d. Sin was a manmade problem and an eternal problem. Only an eternal man could solve it. So Jesus the God man did this.
3. The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son. In my previous point I gave you the reasons
why virgin born. God became like us
through Jesus Christ. He was 100% and
100% God, the perfect union of the divine and natural. His broken body and shed blood, his death,
burial and resurrection would accomplish it.
Mary was the vessel. I love the
phrase, Mary did you know you are kissing the face of God. Christmas is the story of this incredible scene. God visited us in our frailty and weakness
in order to save us from our sins. Had God not become what we are, then we
would remain what we were—dead in sin, children of wrath. Instead, we have
become by adoption (children of God) what Christ is by nature (the Son of God).
By following his Spiritual birth, we too are all born of the Spirit. And we
follow the firstborn of the new creation into heaven where we will have joy
forevermore.
4. He is called Immanuel. Luke
makes it clear that Jesus is God with us.
God dwells among us. Jesus lived
among us. He got hungry, tired, had all
the difficulties of mankind yet without sin.
He relied on the power of the Holy Spirit and only wanted to do the will
of the Father. What proved His claims
was the resurrection. He rose from the
dead. Christmas is the beginning but
Easter is the end, yet also the new beginning.
This message I have spoken has changed the lives of billions of people
over the centuries. As we begin our
Christmas celebrations. Remember Jesus
is the reason for the season. Talk about
my first Christmas being saved.
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