The doctrine of the virgin
birth has fallen on hard times lately. The idea that Jesus was supernaturally conceived
by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary is mocked by skeptics and denied by
liberal Christians. A few years ago, Robert Schuller, the famous televangelist
of “The Hour of Power” show and pastor of the Crystal Cathedral said in an
interview, “I could not in print or in public deny or affirm the virgin birth
of Christ. When I have something I can’t comprehend I just don’t deal with it.”
I also read where another
church leader called the virgin birth a story on the level of an Andy Capp
comic! That’s okay, he hastened to add, because Andy Capp is true—he is true in
our imagination, and so is the virgin birth.[1]
Sadly, that’s the way many
pastors have dealt with the virgin birth. Indeed, this is the age of apostasy
in which the Church is drifting, or just outright denying the central doctrines
of the faith (1 Tim. 4:1).
The virgin birth is certainly
not a side-issue of our faith. The virgin birth protects Christ’s deity. Had
Jesus been born of a human father, Jesus would have inherited the curse of
Adam’s sin. (Rom. 5:12). The virgin birth also preserves Christ’s humanity. Had
Jesus escaped the birth process and arrived directly from heaven, then we could
not have a high priest who understood us (Heb. 4:15). The fact that Jesus was
born just like you and I are born, and He lived the same kind of existence we
do, means He has the full spectrum of human emotions and experiences.
While those reasons for
the virgin birth are compelling, there is an even deeper reason for the virgin
birth—it solves an intricate Old Testament problem. The last king to rule over Judah
was a wicked man named Jeconiah, also known as Jehoiachin. In fact, he was the
last king to rule over Judah before the Babylonians invaded the nation, burnt down
the Temple and exiled the Jewish people in 586 B.C. Jeconiah was so bad that
God placed a curse upon him in Jeremiah, 22:30, “No man of his descendants will
prosper sitting on the throne of David or ruling again in Judah”
This curse created a
rather grim and perplexing paradox: for the Messiah had to come from the royal
line of David (Is. 11:1; 2 Sam. 7:16), yet now there was a “blood curse” on
that very line of descent! It seems as if God has painted Himself into a corner.
But, we know that God’s promises cannot fail. I like to visualize a celebration
in the councils of Satan on the day God pronounced this curse, but then I
imagine God turning to His angels, saying, “Now! Watch this one!”
The Lord already had a
loophole planned called the virgin birth. According to Matthew’s genealogy, Joseph
was a descendant of Jeconiah. Had Joseph been the biological father of Jesus,
then Jesus would have inherited the curse of Jeconiah. But, because He was not
Joseph’s biological son, Jesus escaped the curse–however because He was
Joseph’s legal son, He inherited the right to rule as a descendant of David!
Only God could come up with a solution like that to avoid the curse of Jeconiah
and keep His Word! -DM
[1]
John MacArthur, “The Assault on the Virgin Birth,” Decision, December 2016 <https://billygraham.org/decision-magazine/december-2016/assault-virgin-birth/>
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