The Virgin's Son

Long ago Isaiah told the wicked king Ahaz that God could be trusted in everything that happens. A sign of this would be given to the world when the pure enabled virgin gave birth to God’s own Son. This is the biggest miracle ever created in the universe. The prophet said:  All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’). Isaiah 7:14 (NLT). 

People needed this great miracle in order to produce a human Savior. God did not want to let people go to Hell. The only possible way to save sinful people was for God’s son to become a man of flesh. The Bible says: Without question, this is the great mystery of our faith : Christ was revealed in a human body and vindicated by the Spirit. He was seen by angels and announced to the nations. He was believed in throughout the world and taken to heaven in glory. 1 Tim 3:16. 

History says that Isaiah and Micah prophesied at the same time in Jerusalem. This was about 740 years before Jesus was born and they were apparently friends. Because of the evil king Ahaz several prophets were conveying messages for God. Isaiah was saying the virgin would have a child and Micah said it would happen in the village of Bethlehem. No one but God could notify the world of these facts 740 years before they happen.

Learning the full meaning of these old prophecies was reserved until the New Testament days. We are taught that our salvation begins with the humanity of Jesus. The great scholar Paul said: God sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us… Romans 8:3 (NLT). Jesus came in a body to save us, but it had to be a pure body that was birthed by the Virgin Mary. 

Paul also restates what the prophets had said about the Savior. Christ himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is concerned. And he is God, the one who rules over everything… Romans 9:5. The prophets, of course, call the Son of God “Messiah” and The Good News is about his Son, Jesus. In his earthly life he was born into King David’s family line, and he was shown to be the Son of God… Romans 1:3-4. Later in His life Jesus called himself the Son of Man.

We know that Mary the mother of Jesus was a descendant of David’s son Nathan. Mathew tells us that Joseph was also a descendant of King David by his son Solomon. Joseph had to travel to Bethlehem to pay his taxes in the home town of David. This is why Jesus was born there. The first part of His life was actually spent in the ancient land of Egypt. They ran away into Egypt for two or three years until the evil Herod died and they could return home.  

The Bible says: That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother, and they stayed there until Herod’s death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “I called my Son out of Egypt.” Matt 2:14-15. Hosea was another prophet that lived during the time of king Ahaz. Here is one of his prophesies: When Israel was a child, I loved him, and I called my son out of Egypt. Hosea 11:1 (NLT). Because God had called all the children of Israel out of Egypt it certainly applies to calling Jesus back to Israel. 

The people in that day did not think that Jesus was the Messiah because He grew up in Nazareth. In fact the local people could not understand how the virgin became pregnant and they did not know that God was the Father. This probably allowed Jesus to grow up in a normal way. We know how reporters are always driving people crazy. As a child Jesus was learning about God so quickly that by the age of 12 he was confounding the scholars in Jerusalem. 

We know that the virgin’s son lived a perfect life and never made one mistake. The thirty years before He called his disciples was probably about being an example to everyone he met. Jesus knew every spiritual mystery. Relating with other humans must have been very trying at times. However the Bible tells us that Jesus can identify with us in every way. He did not sin but he knows our nature and all the weaknesses we struggle with. Jesus loves us so much that he came to earth as the child of the virgin. 

It is amazing that the prophets gave the nation details about our Savior.