Born of a Virgin - December 25, 2022 - Christmas Morning - Text: Isaiah 7:14; Matt. 1:8; Luke 1:26-35

This year during the season of Advent through Christmas and New Year’s Eve we are looking at some of the Old Testament prophecies concerning the coming Messiah, including the promise to Adam and Eve, to Abraham, to David as well as His birth place, His travel to Egypt, and finding the New Testament passages that confirm their fulfillment in our Savior, Christ Jesus.
 

As we have rehearsed time and again, in the Garden of Eden immediately after Adam and Eve sinned and brought death and a curse into the perfect world, God promised a Savior. Later He narrowed the fulfillment of the promise of a Savior through the line of Abraham, then Jacob, Israel, then through King David and now in Isaiah He says, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).
 

Isaiah’s prophecy is that the Savior will be one who is born in a specific and unusual way. He prophecies that a virgin shall conceive but not in the usual way, but by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus, Isaiah’s prophecy is that the Savior will be truly God, conceived by God the Holy Spirit, thus conceived and born in perfection, without sin.
 

Isaiah’s prophecy is that by a human woman, the virgin Mary, shall this Savior, this child be born. Thus, Isaiah’s prophecy is that the Savior will be truly human, born of a human meaning that He will be able to take care of and pay the price demanded in Eden for the sins of humanity. Being a human He will be able to trade His life for the lives of humanity.
 

Thus, Isaiah says that the child to be born, the Savior, shall be given the name Immanuel which He translates as “God with us.” So even here in His name we are given proof of His identity that is that He is true God and true man.
 

Luke’s, the great physician and historian gives his account of the fulfillment of this prophecy of Isaiah. Luke begins, “26In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary” (Luke 1:26-27). Luke relates the facts of history which give proof of the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah. Luke writes that Mary was a virgin and that she was betrothed, meaning legally married to Joseph. And both Mary and Joseph were from the house of David.
 

Luke continues, “28And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be”.(Luke 1:28-29). Luke explains that the angel Gabriel came to Mary and announced to her that she had found favor with God and had been chosen for a great honor, to give birth to the One who had been promised of old, who would save all people. And Mary agreed.
 

Luke continues, “30And the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32He 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, 33and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end’” (Luke 1:30-33). Because Mary understood the usual means of conception and because she desired to better understand the words of the angel, the angel explained the conception, that is that Mary would conceive by the power of the Holy Spirit.
 

Luke continues: “34And Mary said to the angel, ‘How will this be, since I am a virgin?’ 35And the angel answered her, ‘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: 34-35). And so Luke confirms the words of Isaiah the prophet that the child would be named Immanuel, God with us.
 

Not only do we have Luke’s historic account of the birth of Jesus, so we also have Matthew’s account, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:18). In his account of the birth of Jesus Matthew simply states that Mary was a virgin and that she was betrothed to Joseph. As we said, betrothal was a legal act of marriage and could only be broken by divorce. Also, a couple could have been betrothed for even a year before the marriage and the consummation of the marriage.
 

Yet, Matthew explains that Mary was found to be pregnant. Her pregnancy before marriage was an offense that could be punished by stoning. Indeed, Matthew speaks of the great faith and risk that was taken by Mary, an unwed pregnant woman who had no relations with any man and who would believe her story?
 

What does this mean? This morning we come to celebrate what great love our God has for us. In His omniscience and according to His perfect will and timing, He brought about our salvation. God made a specific promise, that a virgin shall conceive, by the power of God. Thus the child would be true God and without sin. As true God He would be able to do what Adam and Eve could not do, what the whole nation of Israel could not do, what we cannot do, He was able to be perfectly obedient to the command of God to be perfect as God is perfect.
 

And the child would be truly human. As we are reminded that the price for sin was death, physical death and apart from Jesus it would be eternal death and hell, and that the price would have to be paid for by the sinner, thus, in order to be able to trade His life for ours, to be our substitute, Jesus had to be truly human.
 

In His omniscience and because of His great love for us, God chose Mary, the virgin Mary to be the mother of God himself, of God in human flesh. Mary was chosen and she agreed to and gave birth to Immanuel.
 

Again, as we have said, Jesus had to be God in order to be sinless. Jesus was true God and was sinless. He never sinned, even once. He suffered all the temptations we will suffer and greater temptations and never sinned. He fulfilled all the promises, all the prophecies concerning the Savior.
 

And, again as we said, Jesus had to be human in order to be our substitute, in order to trade His human life, His sinless human life for our sinful human lives. Thus, by one man, Adam, sin entered the world and by another Man, Jesus, God in flesh, our sin has been paid for.
 

So, this morning and for the next twelve days we celebrate and rejoice in the fulfillment of God’s Word, a Word which always does what it says and gives the gifts of which it speaks. We celebrate God’s great love for us, His creation, His creatures. We celebrate His perfect plan for our salvation, our forgiveness. We celebrate the gifts He has to give and the means through which He gives us all the gifts and blessings He has to give.
 

Today and every Sunday we celebrate our Lord’s gift of His Word, a Word with power to effect that of which is speaks, giving faith, forgiveness and life. We celebrate His Word which works through Holy Baptism to gives us faith and write our names in the book of life. We celebrate His Word which gives forgiveness in Holy Absolution. We celebrate His Word which gives us His body and blood in His Holy Supper so that He becomes a part of us, His life, His perfect life becomes our perfect life. His death becomes our death. His resurrection becomes our resurrection and His eternal life in heaven becomes our eternal life in heaven.
 

Again, what a great and loving gift giving God we have. He gives all and we are given to. He does all and we are done to. At Easter we speak the response, “He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!” Might well we rejoice and speak at Christmas and as we look forward to Easter, He is born! Christ the Savior is born, indeed! Alleluia! To God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.