5 Reasons to Believe the Miraculous Birth of Jesus

The Bible teaches us that the birth of Jesus was important and miraculous. I have five children and I’ve never had an angel tell me what to name a child, I’ve never had a chorus of angels break out in song upon the birth of a child, and I’ve never had distinguished people show up with gifts.

During the Christmas season, we don’t simply celebrate that Christ was born, but we also celebrate how Christ was born. It is known as the virgin birth, and without it, all of Christianity falls apart.

What is the Virgin Birth?

It means that Mary became pregnant by a miracle of God. It always takes a daddy and mommy to make a baby, but this one time God put a baby in a mother’s tummy through the work of the Holy Spirit.

Why is this important? If Jesus had been by Joseph, Jesus would have been born sinful and unable to save us of our sins. The really smart, theological name for this teaching is called the doctrine of original sin. It’s the biblical teaching that sin is not just an act (what we do) but also a condition (who we are) that has been handed down from Adam to all mankind through birth. Psalm 51:5 states, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” All of us are born sinful and spiritually dead, which is why we need to be born again through Christ.

Some may say, well that’s not fair! How is that possible? Adam was the human covenant representative in the garden. God established the law not to eat the fruit of the tree and when Adam failed to keep his portion of the covenant, since all people are genetically in Adam, when he sinned, all sinned with him. The Bible’s way of saying that is that we were “in Adam” (1 Cor. 15:22). If you think it isn’t fair that sin was passed on to you by Adam, then I have good news, forgiveness of sins is also freely available to you through Jesus! Listen to Romans 5:19, “For as by the one man’s disobedience (Adam) the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience (Christ) the many will be made righteous.”

If we don’t believe the virgin birth there are severe consequences. It means Jesus is not God and the Bible is in error.

Five reasons you should believe the virgin birth of Jesus Christ:

1. The Bible Teaches it

The Bible is trustworthy because it is the very word of God Himself. For those who struggle to believe the truthfulness of God’s Word, the birth of Jesus Christ was documented by a physician and world-class historian who interviewed eyewitnesses, likely Mary herself. Luke provides the most detailed account of the birth of Jesus and mentions Mary twelve times, more than any other biblical writer. Luke tells us he has made a thorough investigation of the things about which he is writing, which includes eyewitness accounts.

Some people will claim the virgin birth is a fairytale. That’s not true. The Gospels were written during a time when eyewitnesses who saw Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection were still living. Matthew and Luke wrote their gospels in the 50’s to 60’s AD. That’s only 50-60 years after Jesus was born. That means eyewitnesses were still alive who would have corrected the claims in the gospels if they were false.

2. Herod Feared Baby Jesus

If Jesus was just an ordinary boy, born to ordinary parents, why go to such great lengths to try to kill Him? Herod was the ruler of Israel during the time of Jesus birth. The Jews gave him the title, “King of the Jews.” Herod was a man of violence. He was constantly paranoid and suspicious of plots against him, so he ordered the execution of his wife, one of his mothers-in-law, one of his brothers, and three of his sons. He was an observant Jew who refrained from eating pork. Caesar Augustus is believed to have said, “I’d rather be Herod’s pig than his son!”

When the magi informed Herod that a future “King of the Jews” had been born, Herod ordered the “slaughter of the innocents,” the execution of all male babies under age two in the area around Bethlehem.

3. Old Testament Prophecy Affirms it

God prepared His people for Jesus through prophecy given hundreds of years in advance. What are some prophecies: The Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), Herod’s slaughter of young boys (Jeremiah 31:15), Jesus coming out of Egypt (Hosea 11:1), that Jesus would grow up a Nazarene, and His genealogy of David. These were not lucky guesses, they were precise predictions by the all-knowing God of the Bible to foretell us what would happen in the future so that we would believe. The Bible also predicted how Jesus would be born through the virgin birth in two important verses.

In Genesis 3:15 we read, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.” These words were spoken by God to Satan after the rebellion of Adam and Eve. The “seed of the woman” is a reference to a future descendant of Eve who will defeat the serpent and reverse the curse of sin. The Bible normally speaks of the seed of men, but in this case it is the “seed of the woman.” This is a prophecy that anticipates the future birth of Christ in which the seed of a man is not involved. According to this prophecy, the “seed of the woman” will receive a temporary wound from Satan, “you will bruise His heel.” But the “seed of woman” shall inflict on Satan a final and mortal wound, “He will bruise your head.” This Messianic promise was fulfilled through the virgin birth of Jesus and through His death and resurrection.

In Isaiah 7:14 we read, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” This is a clear statement 700 years before Jesus was born. Immanuel means “God with us” and reminds us of the words of Gabriel to Mary that the Son she will bear “will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest” (Luke 1:32).

4. Earliest Christians Universally Believed it

The early church completely accepted this teaching without any other explanation of the birth of Jesus. None corrected this teaching. The very fact that the doctrine exists at all gives reason for accepting it. Logically, if it wasn’t true, why would you make up something so abnormal? That there was something abnormal about His birth is a strong argument for it being true. If He had been born naturally by two parents, then nothing would be mentioned about it.

The Apostles Creed was written in the 300’s as an early summary of the core beliefs of Christian faith and affirms they believed it was an essential doctrine:

“I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth;

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord:

Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.”

Charles Wesley (brother of John Wesley) wrote an 18th century hymn called “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.” Does anyone sing this song at Christmas? It teaches some important biblical truths about Jesus birth:

“Christ by highest heav’n adored/Christ the everlasting Lord!/Late in time behold Him come/Offspring of a Virgin’s womb!/Veiled in flesh the Godhead see/Hail the incarnate Deity!/Pleased as man with man to dwell/Jesus, our Emanuel/Hark the herald angels sing/Glory to the newborn king!”

5. All of History is Defined by it

The birth of Jesus is so monumental that the calendar of the world revolves around it. Does anyone know what BC (before Christ) stands for? We use the letters AD now. Does anyone really smart know what AD stands for? Anno Domini (A.D.) It’s Latin for “In the Year of our Lord.” The entire world operates according to this calendar. Many of the early church fathers put the birth of Jesus at 3/2 BC. Clement of Alexandria wrote that Jesus was born on November 18, 3 B.C., a date preserved in the traditions of the Egyptian church. Regardless, all of history is marked by the birth of Jesus.

The virgin birth of Jesus is history, not mythology. For anyone who believes the first verse in the Bible, Genesis 1:1, that God created everything out of nothing simply by speaking it into existence, then a miraculous virgin birth poses no problem whatsoever.

Let us remember the words of Luke 2:10-11 this Christmas: “And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.’” It is good news that Jesus was born because sin is destroyed, Satan is defeated, and salvation is available to the whole world. Let us be reminded anew of these wonderful truths and celebrate the birth of Jesus this Christmas!