ONE OF US IN EVERYWAY (Continued)
“Who has believed our report? –Our Continuation one. And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, And as a root out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness; And when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected by men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him… (Isaiah 53:1-3 you must read the whole text).
My friends whose bad theologizing prompted this inquiry, it might interest you, charge that the previous article did not directly address the virgin birth. Now, we tackle that bait.
Isaiah, the gospels intertwine. Isaiah’s multiple points emphases suggesting Christ’s exactness with us reflect peculiarly in the virgin birth narrative. It reads: “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, God with us.” Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus (Matt.1:18-25).
How can you, in view of this scripture, misread, misuse, misrepresent, misinterpret, question the virgin birth yet, purport your believe in the Christ? Joseph, Mary’s husband never doubted the conception; neither do the Church of Christ. One thing, the conception uniquely affirms Christ’s sameness with us in everyway. The logic can be set up as follows: Every human being is conceived and born of a woman. If Christ is one of us in everyway, he will be conceived and born of a woman. Jesus was conceived and born of a woman. It is written: “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons(Gal.3:4-5). Therefore, Christ is one of us in everyway.
Clearly, the conception is the handwork of the living God. So angel Gabriel declared: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God will give 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.” Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be since I do not know a man?” And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. “Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren. “For with God nothing will be impossible.” Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her” (Luke 1:30-38).
If the conception is the handwork of the Highest, the creator of the whole universe, then we are in familiar territory. Miracle is nothing new to the majesty. First, He created the material world from nothing. Do you remember?
Comparatively, which is more difficult; the creation of Adam from the dust of the ground and Eve from Adam’s rib or the conception of Mary? Put as it is written: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” Again: “And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from the man He made into a woman, and he brought her to the man” (Gen.2:7, 21-22.) If we accept our sameness with Adam and Eve, why then would the virgin–Mary’s conception of Jesus differentiate him from us? Adam did not differentiate Eve from himself. It is written: “And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of man.” (Gen 2:23).
Again, which should be more impossible; the reversal of a ninety year old woman’s body so that she gets pregnant by her one hundred years old husband and births that child or Mary’s conception? (Cf. Gen 17:17). It is written: “Then they said to him, where is Sarah your wife?” So he said, “Here, in the tent.” And He said, “I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.” (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.) Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying “After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, “Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?’ “Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. And He said, No, but you did laugh!” (Gen 18:9-15). Of course, the rest of this story is now history (Gen.21:1-7).
Understandably, there is no precedent for the virgin birth in history. Nevertheless, the Old Testament abounds with supernatural conceptions and births such as the above and their language is closer to that of the virgin birth narrative. The truth is nobody who believes these miraculous birth accounts as scripture can “doubt that that of the supreme prophet will be the most miraculous” unless the person has believed Christ in vain. The whole New Testament point of the virgin birth narrative is not to teach how Christ is different from us, but “that God miraculously made Mary pregnant apart from sexual means” (Matt 1:18, 20, 25; Lk 1:34-35).Equally important, Christ’s birth TB Cont. Is Jesus one of us to you?
Onwukwe Kanu is the minister of Altar Church of Christ 13438 Bellaire Blvd, suite 10 Houston TX 77083 Email: Tamgbo@AOL.COM