John 02:01-11, “Believing”

English: Icon of the wedding at Cana (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. ² Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. ³ When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” ⁴ And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” ⁵ His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

⁶ Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. ⁷ Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. ⁸ And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. ⁹ When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom ¹⁰ and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”

¹¹ This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him (John 2:1-11 ESV).

BELIEVE

What do you believe? Does it matter what you believe? If, for example, you believe that all religions lead to God, will that make it true? Is truth a matter of opinion, or does it remain the same whether or not we believe it? If we are sincere, can we be wrong?

A few years ago I took a flight from Port Vila to Brisbane. When I arrived at Brisbane, I was to take a train to another terminal to catch another flight to Sydney. I found the station where I was to board the train and confirmed it with the woman at the counter who told me that the train would arrive in two minutes. Sure enough, in two minutes a train arrived and I got on to go to the other terminal where I would catch the plane for Sydney. After some time, I began to see signs for the Golden Beach near Brisbane. Another train passenger told me that I was on the wrong train going the wrong direction. I had believed that I was simply transferring to another airport terminal. I was sincere. But I was sincerely wrong.

Pastor Rick Warren says, “You can be sincere, but you can be sincerely wrong. The fact is, it takes more than sincerity to make it in life. It takes truth.”

Many people put a lot of emphasis on belief. Many books are written about believing. Motivational speakers talk about the power of belief. We are told

• to believe in ourselves,
• to believe in our potential,
• to believe in belief.

We are told that believing is more important than what you believe. We are told that we have the power to create our own reality by believing. Even Christians get caught up in the false teaching that we should believe in our ability to create reality by our thoughts and words and belief and faith.

Is that what the Bible is talking about when it talks about faith and believing? Is our faith and hope in ourselves or is our hope in Jesus?

SONG: MY HOPE IS JESUS, ADRIAN LEWIS, HILLSONG – 4:12 (14 second lead)

JOHN, THE GOSPEL OF BELIEF

Today we want to continue looking at the Gospel According to John. This Gospel has been called “The Gospel of Belief.” John’s Gospel is the Gospel of belief because he emphasizes believing more than Matthew, Mark, and Luke combined. Those three gospels combined only mention believing 35 times, 65 times if we add the noun “faith.” But John uses the verb “to believe” 98 times. In fact, he writes this entire Gospel so that we would believe.

But John’s purpose is not simply to encourage us to believe. He wants us to believe something specific. His summary statement of purpose is found in 20:30-31,

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; ³¹ but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name (John 20:30-31 ESV).

It has been said that this gospel is

1. A selective gospel: Jesus did many other signs which are not written in this book.
2. An attested gospel: Jesus did these signs in the presence of the disciples.
3. A purposeful gospel: It has a purpose: These signs are written so that you may believe.
4. An interpretive gospel: The signs signify that Jesus is the Christ.
5. A definitive gospel: Jesus is the Son of God.
6. An effective gospel: by believing you may have life in his name.

So John’s purpose is not simply to encourage faith or belief, he wants us to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Is that important? Is it important that we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the one and only Son of God? John says that this is the way that we may have life, and the life that he is talking about is eternal life which is nothing less than knowing God and His Son Jesus Christ, both now and for eternity.

This is what Jesus said in his prayer to his Father in John 17:3,

And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent (John 17:3 ESV).

Eternal life begins now. As John says in his first letter, 1 John 1:3,

that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ (1 John 1:3 ESV).

The Truth

Belief is not enough. Sincerity is not enough. We must believe the truth:

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, ³² and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32 ESV).

Is it important that we believe the truth? Absolutely!

“I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins” (John 8:24 ESV).

Knowing the truth, believing the truth, and living according to the truth is absolutely essential.

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him (John 3:36 ESV).

Yes, John wants us to believe something specific.

• That Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world” (John 11:27 ESV).
• That the Father sent him (John 11:42 ESV).
• That Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in him (John 14:11 ESV).
• That Jesus is God (John 13:19 ESV).

Belief alone is not enough. Belief in belief is empty. Faith in faith is meaningless. Our faith must have an object. We must believe some thing. We must believe the truth.

Today truth has been relativized. People believe that there are many different truths. You have your truth and I have my truth. What is true for you is not necessarily true for me. What is true for me is not necessarily true for you. Whatever works for me is true for me, and whatever works for you is true for you.

But that does not work! It does not work in math, or accounting, or science, or physics, or any other field of study. 2 plus 2 is 4, even if we believe that it is something else. If you go to the bank believing that 2 plus 2 is 10, and that you believe that you have 10,000 vatu in your account, you may be sincere, but the bank will tell you that you are sincerely wrong. Airplanes are carefully constructed with strict adherence to the laws of aerodynamics so that the plane will actually fly and carry its passengers safely from one place to another.

So why should we think we can have our own private truth about God who, the Bible says, cannot lie (Hebrews 6:18)? Why should we think that it matters little or not at all what we believe about Jesus who is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6)?

• Belief in false gods is not enough.
• Believing the wrong things about God and about His Son leads to false worship.
• Sincerity is not enough.

Believing In Jesus Christ

And John has written so that we might know the truth and believe the truth. John wants us to believe the truth about Jesus Christ. And yet, he wants us to believe more than that. He wants us to believe in Jesus Christ. In other words, it is not simply a question of believing certain truths or facts about Jesus Christ, though that is important. John is calling for personal faith in Jesus Christ, a personal knowledge of Christ, entering into a personal relationship, communion, and fellowship with Christ.

He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. ¹² But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:11-13 ESV).

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. ¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God (John 3:14-18 ESV).

Seven Signs

John is calling for active faith, active belief in and commitment to the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God whom God has designated as the only means of salvation. So John gives seven signs performed by Jesus Christ that point to who he is.

Now some people are always looking for signs. They see a sign and want to see another one, never understanding that a sign is meant to sign-ify something. A sign has sign-ificance—meaning—because it points beyond itself. When you see a sign on the road indicating the distance to your destination, you don’t stop and camp out at the sign. As you are going up toward Panginisu, you will see a sign for Port Vila that says 109km. If your destination is Port Vila, you don’t stop when you arrive at the sign. You keep going because the sign has told you vital information that you needed to know.

John has recorded seven signs that tell us vital information about Jesus. They tell us that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

1. Jesus changes the water into wine (John 2:1-11).
2. He healed the official’s son who was at the point of death (John 4:47-54).
3. He healed the man who had been lame for 38 years (5:5).
4. He multiplied five loaves and two fishes to feed the multitude of 5,000 plus women and children (John 6:1-15).
5. Jesus walked on water (John 6:16-21).
6. Jesus opened the eyes of the man born blind (John 9).
7. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11).

John also records seven great “I am” statements made by Jesus:

1. I am the bread of life that came down from heaven (6:35, 48, 51). He is the source of life.
2. I am the light of the world (8:12; 9:5).
3. I am the door of the sheepfold (10:7, 9).
4. I am the good shepherd (10:11, 14). He lays his life down for his sheep.
5. I am the resurrection and the life (11:25). He would rise from the dead.
6. I am the way, the truth, and the life (14:6). He is the only way to the Father.
7. I am the true vine (15:1).

John’s purpose is to lead us to believe in Jesus Christ. But what does it mean to believe in Jesus Christ? It means that we understand who he is, that we put our trust in him, and that we follow him as his disciples.

1. We understand who he is. John’s opening verse tells us who Christ is: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John tells us in 5:18 that every time that Jesus called God his own Father, he was making himself “equal with God.” Jesus tells Philip, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Thomas, seeing the resurrected Christ, calls him, “My Lord and my God.”
2. We must trust him for our salvation: He is the only way to the Father.
3. We show our love to him by obeying him:

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments (John 14:15 ESV).

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me (John 14:23-24 ESV).

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love (John 15:10 ESV).

THE FIRST SIGN

In John chapter 2, we come to the first miracle that Jesus performed. John uses the word sign instead of miracle because he wants us to see that the miracles of Jesus were signs of who he was and is. This passage concludes with these words:

This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him (John 2:11 ESV).

The Setting: A Wedding

In chapter 1, we heard the testimony of John the Baptist, that Jesus was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Andrew and John, two of the Baptist’s disciples, heard his testimony and followed Jesus. Andrew then announced to his brother Peter that they had found the Messiah. Jesus found Philip, and Philip found Nathanael. So at the end of chapter 1, Jesus already has a group of disciples. Now we read in chapter 2 that

…there was a wedding celebration in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, ² and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration (John 2:1-2 NLT).

Jesus’ presence at the wedding was his seal of approval on marriage. Sometimes I am asked if the marriage between unbelievers is really a marriage or if new converts should get married again. Let’s be clear about this. Marriage is God’s gift not only to Christians, but to humanity. You don’t have to be a Christian believer for your marriage to be valid. Marriage is a gift from God. Human marriage is a reflection of the true marriage that will take place when Christ returns for the Church which is his bride. The Apostle Paul speaks to this in Ephesians 5:31-32,

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” ³² This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:31-32 ESV).

So Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding celebration in Cana.

The Situation: A Shortage of Wine and a Mother’s Concern

The wine supply ran out during the festivities, so Jesus’ mother [who as also there] told him, “They have no more wine.”

⁴ “Dear woman, that’s not our problem,” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come” (John 2:3-4 NLT).

Literally Jesus said, “Woman, what to me and to you?” which means “Woman, what has this concern of yours to do with me?”

What we see here is a mother’s concern, but not just any mother. This is the mother of Jesus. It was to Mary, the mother of Jesus, that the angel Gabriel had appeared telling her that as a virgin she would bear a child who would be very great, who would be the Holy One of God, the Son of the Most High, the Son of God. His name would be Jesus, which means Savior, and he would reign as King over Israel forever.

As a virgin, Mary gave birth to that child. She and Joseph, being warned in a dream, had fled King Herod’s wrath by night. They had returned from Egypt and seen Jesus grow in stature and wisdom and in favor with God and man. They had seen him at the age of 12, amazing the elders in the temple. Mary had deeply contemplated all these things in her heart. She had watched. She had waited. Perhaps she had heard the testimony of John the Baptist. She saw that Jesus was gathering disciples. Now at the wedding, the wine supply had run out. This seemed to be the time:

“They have no more wine,” she told him.

Mary knew that the prophets Elijah and Elisha had worked miracles to supply oil in time of need. Surely this was the time for Jesus to supply the need, to manifest himself so that everyone would know who he was. Perhaps also she wanted to be vindicated against those who had accused her of immorality, who had said that she could not be a virgin when she was pregnant with Jesus.

“Woman, what have I to do with you? My hour has not yet come.”

Jesus does not address Mary as “Mother,” but as “Woman.” This is a term of respect that Jesus used on occasion when addressing women. But Jesus is here putting distance between himself and his mother. It is not her responsibility to determine when or where or how he is to manifest himself. That is not her position. She must learn that she can no longer approach him as his mother. She must come to him, not as his mother, but as his disciple.

His hour had not yet come. The hour that Jesus was talking about was his hour to return to his Father (John 13:1).

Mary no longer presumes to tell Jesus what to do. She simply speaks to the servants: “Do whatever he tells you.”

Six Stone Jars and a Sign

Standing nearby were six stone water jars, used for Jewish ceremonial washing. Each could hold twenty to thirty gallons (John 2:6 NLT).

That’s about 100 liters. These stone water jars were probably used to wash certain utensils and the hands of the guests (cf. 3:25). The “water represents the old order of Jewish law and custom, which Jesus was to replace with something better.”[1]

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17 ESV).

Jesus told the servants, “Fill the jars with water.”

When the jars had been filled, ⁸ he said, “Now dip some out, and take it to the master of ceremonies.” So the servants followed his instructions (John 2:7-8 NLT).

Jesus did not touch the water jars or the water. He simply gave instructions which the servants followed:

• Fill the jars with water.
• Now dip some out.
• Take it to the master of ceremonies.

When the master of ceremonies tasted the water that was now wine, not knowing where it had come from (though, of course, the servants knew), he called the bridegroom over. ¹⁰ “A host always serves the best wine first,” he said. “Then, when everyone has had a lot to drink, he brings out the less expensive wine. But you have kept the best until now!” (John 2:9-10 NLT).

Notice how discreet Jesus is in this miracle. He does not draw attention to himself. There is no big announcement as to what he has done. The master of ceremonies did not even know where the wine had come from. Jesus had not given in to the temptation to make a big display and to show himself.

In Luke 4:9-11, Satan had tempted Jesus to throw himself down from the pinnacle of the temple so that the angels would carry him so that he would not even hurt his foot on a stone. “Do something dramatic! Show yourself!”

In John 7:4, the unbelieving brothers of Jesus tell him, “If you can do such wonderful things show yourself to the world!”

Here in John 2, the mother of Jesus had suggested that he do something spectacular, that it was time for people to know who he really was.

But Jesus responded to the need in a way that would not draw attention to himself. He performed the sign without even touching the jars or the water. He drew no attention to himself so that only the servants and Jesus’ disciples knew that the wine had been water. They were the only ones who knew that Jesus had turned the water into wine.

It takes great power and great intelligence to turn water into wine. With all our advanced technology today, we still have no idea how to turn water into wine. Yet, all around us is evidence of God’s great power and intelligence. God is continuously turning water into grapes and oranges and bananas and papayas and tomatoes and avocados and mangoes. All around us are plants—factories, if you will—which turn water into every kind of fruit and vegetable. It takes great intelligence to know how to do that. And yet this time, Jesus did it without even using a grape vine.

Jesus did this as the first of his miraculous signs, in Cana of Galilee. In this way he revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him (John 2:11 NET).

He manifested his glory. That’s what we read in the Prologue, the introduction of this Gospel:

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14 ESV).

The glory that Jesus manifested was the glory of the only Son of the Father. And his disciples believed in him. They believed that he was the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

… these [miraculous signs] are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name (John 20:31 ESV).

SONG: CHRIS TOMLIN – KING OF GLORY

Thank you for tuning in to FM 107. This has been a ministry of Joy Bible Institute. You can visit our website at www.joybible.wordpress.com. Our prayer is that the joy of the Lord would be your strength.

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[1] Carson, John, p. 173.

See also “Gospel of John”:

• The only true God and Jesus Christ whom he sent
• John 12:01-19, “The Triumphal Entry in the Shadow of the Cross”
• John 11:01-45, “When God Is Late”
• John 10:30-42, “Jesus, the Most Controversial Person in History”
• John 10:22-30, “Missing the Obvious: Jesus is the Christ”
• John 10:07-21, “The Good Shepherd, Part 2”
• John 10:01-06, “The Good Shepherd, Part 1”
• John 09:01-41, “Blind Man Seeing, Seeing Men Blind”
• John 08:48-59, “Who Does Jesus Make Himself Out To Be?”
• John 08:31-47, “Children of God, or Sons of Satan?”

Luke 01:26-38, “The Virgin Birth of Christ”

LUKE 1:26-38

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” ²⁹ But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. ³⁰ And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and

1. bear a son, and
2. you shall call his name Jesus. ³²
3. He will be great and
4. will be called the Son of the Most High.
5. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,
6. ³³ and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and
7. of his kingdom there will be no end.”

³⁴ And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” ³⁵ And 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. ³⁶ And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. ³⁷ For nothing will be impossible with God.” ³⁸ And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her (Luke 1:26-38 ESV).

PRAYER

We have in this first chapter of the Gospel according to Luke, the marvelous story of Christ’s coming into the world. This is the most amazing story.

THIS BIRTH WAS PREDICTED.

We all know that when a woman becomes pregnant, the birth of a child can be expected nine months later. Today, with ultrasound, doctors can often predict whether the child will be a girl or a boy. We use the expression in English: “She’s expecting.” Or, “they are expecting a baby.”

But the birth of Christ was predicted some 4000 years before. In the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve sinned and were put out of the Garden, God in His mercy promised that the many times great grandson of Eve would crush Satan’s power:

And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:15 NLT).

God announces in the Garden of Eden that one would come and reverse sin’s curse, that one would be born of a woman.

This is what the Apostle Paul refers to in Galatians 4:4,

But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman(Gal 4:4 NLT).

But we have all been born of a woman. How would we know when the promised one had come?

Down through the ages, time and time again, precisions were made so that no one could mistake when the promised one arrived.

•       God promised Abraham that it would be through his offspring that all the nations of the earth would be blessed. If God was going to become a man, he had to do it through a human family, and he had to choose a man, a family, a people, a nation. God chose a people, not to exclude others, but to be a channel, to bless all the nations of the earth.
•       Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, prophesied that the promised one, the one we call the Messiah or the Christ, would be of the tribe of Judah, one of his 12 sons.
•       God promised King David 1000 years before the Christ’s birth that the Messiah would be a many times great grandson of David.
•       Micah 5:2 predicted 700 year before Christ’s birth that he would be born in the little village of Bethlehem.
•       Isaiah 7:14 predicted 700 years before Christ birth that he would be born of a virgin:

“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).

Many more prophecies tell us of that first coming of Christ, his life, his death, his resurrection, his return, and the kingdom that he will set up on earth when he returns.

No one else fulfilled the prophecies concerning his coming.

ILLUSTRATION

When a country sends an ambassador to a foreign country, that ambassador does not arrive unannounced. The host country has received all the documentation and is very well aware of the qualifications and the identity of the ambassador. And when that ambassador arrives, he has proper ID. He has proof of who he is. Otherwise, anyone could arrive at the airport and claim to represent another nation. I could claim to be an ambassador from the USA, but I would be “giaman””,” a fraud, because I have received no authority to represent the USA.

A country would not negotiate with a man who claimed to be an ambassador unless that man had the proper ID and documentation, the proper credentials to prove that he was who he said he was, that he represented the country that he claimed to represent, and that he had the authority that he claimed to have.

Why would you trust your eternal salvation to anyone but Jesus Christ?

Jesus warns us about false prophets, and false christs, thieves and robbers, those who claim to come in his name. Many have come. Many announce other messages, other teachings, other gods, but they were not sent. Jesus alone has the credentials. Before him, all the prophets pointed to him. After his earthly ministry, all true servants of God point back to Christ. This is what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:5,

“You see, we don’t go around preaching about ourselves. We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Corinthians 4:5 NLT).

All true servants of God point to Christ.

John the Baptist was the forerunner of Christ. When they asked John the Baptist questions as to who he was, whether he was the one to come, John denied it: “I am not the one to come. I am not the Christ.” John was a prophet of Christ. He pointed to Christ: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

What other religious leader had prophets pointing to him? What other religious leader ever had a forerunner announcing his coming? Who announced the coming of Muhammad, or Joseph Smith? No one. The true prophets all pointed to Christ. He is the promised one. Why would you follow anyone else? These are questions that you need to think about if you are following anyone but Jesus Christ.

THE UNIQUENESS OF THE VIRGIN BIRTH

The story of the birth of Christ points to the “one of a kind” character of Jesus Christ. In all of human history, never had a baby been born to a virgin. Never would it happen again.

No other mother could make the claim to being a virgin. No other boy or girl has ever been born without the intervention of a human father.

No other man, woman, boy or girl has even been born of a virgin. No leader, no president, no prime minister, nor religious leader. Buddha was not born of a virgin. Bahaullah was not born of a virgin. Sun Myung Moon was not born of a virgin. No one else has ever been born of a virgin.

Of course, this is not the only unique characteristic of the life of Jesus Christ. The Scriptures speak not only of his virgin birth

1. Virgin birth
2. Sinless life
3. Miracles
4. Substitutionary death on the cross
5. His bodily resurrection from the dead
6. His ascension to the right hand of God the Father

No one can compare with the incomparable Christ. And yet, this miracle, the virgin birth, as one writer said,

is by far the most amazing miracle of the entire Bible—far more amazing than the resurrection and more amazing even than the creation of the universe. The fact that the infinite, omnipotent, eternal Son of God could become man and join himself to a human nature forever, so that infinite God became one person with finite man, will remain for eternity the most profound miracle and the most profound mystery in all the universe.

And so, as we approach Christmas this year, we celebrate not only the birth of a baby, but the coming of God to earth.

virgin birth: The biblical teaching that Jesus was conceived in the womb of his mother

Mary by a miraculous work of the Holy Spirit and without a human father.

Why a virgin birth?

The doctrinal importance of the virgin birth is seen in at least three areas.

1. It shows that salvation ultimately must come from the Lord. Just as God had promised that the “seed” of the woman (Gen. 3:15) would ultimately destroy the serpent, so God brought it about by his own power, not through mere human effort. The virgin birth of Christ is an unmistakable reminder that salvation can never come through human effort, but must be the work of God himself. Our salvation only comes about through the supernatural work of God, and that was evident at the very beginning of Jesus’ life when “God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Gal. 4:4–5).

2. The virgin birth made possible the uniting of full deity and full humanity in one person. This was the means God used to send his Son (John 3:16; Gal. 4:4) into the world as a man. If we think for a moment of other possible ways in which Christ might have come to the earth, none of them would so clearly unite humanity and deity in one person. It probably would have been possible for God to create Jesus as a complete human being in heaven and send him to descend from heaven to earth without the benefit of any human parent. But then it would have been very hard for us to see how Jesus could be fully human as we are, nor would he be a part of the human race that physically descended from Adam. On the other hand, it probably would have been possible for God to have Jesus come into the world with two human parents, both a father and a mother, and with his full divine nature miraculously united to his human nature at some point early in his life. But then it would have been hard for us to understand how Jesus was fully God, since his origin was like ours in every way.

When we think of these two other possibilities, it helps us to understand how God, in his wisdom, ordained a combination of human and divine influence in the birth of Christ, so that his full humanity would be evident to us from the fact of his ordinary human birth from a human mother, and his full deity would be evident from the fact of his conception in Mary’s womb by the powerful work of the Holy Spirit.1

3. The virgin birth also makes possible Christ’s true humanity without inherited sin. As we noted in chapter 24, all human beings have inherited legal guilt and a corrupt moral nature from their first father, Adam (this is sometimes called “inherited sin” or “original sin”). But the fact that Jesus did not have a human father means that the line of descent from Adam is partially interrupted. Jesus did not descend from Adam in exactly the same way in which every other human being has descended from Adam. And this helps us to understand why the legal guilt and moral corruption that belongs to all other human beings did not belong to Christ.

This idea seems to be indicated in the statement of the angel Gabriel to Mary, where he says to 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 1:35)

Because the Spirit brought about the conception of Jesus in the womb of Mary, the child was to be called “holy”2

Why Mary?

In some circles, Mary has been exalted to the position of a mediator between God and man. It is stated that she was born without sin, that she never died, but ascended into heaven where she ever waits to intercede on our behalf.

The Scriptures paint another picture of Mary. Very little is said of this one who was “highly favored.” Later in the Gospels, each time that Mary is mentioned, Jesus puts distance between himself and his mother. One day the crowd told Jesus that his mother and brothers wanted to see him.

“Someone told Jesus, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, and they want to speak to you.” ⁴⁸ “Jesus asked, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” ⁴⁹ “Then he pointed to his disciples and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers.” ⁵⁰ “Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!” (Matthew 12:47-50 NLT).

On another occasion, as Jesus was talking

“…a woman in the crowd called out, “God bless your mother– the womb from which you came, and the breasts that nursed you!” ²⁸ “Jesus replied, “But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice” (Luke 11:27-28 NLT).

Jesus is saying that the greater blessing is hearing the Word of God and doing it. You can be as blessed as Mary who heard the Word of God and did it.

Notice how Jesus puts distance between himself and Mary in John 2.

At the wedding in Cana, Jesus said to his mother, “What have I to do with you?” or “What is there between you and me?” Mary would have to learn that she could not come to Jesus as his mother, but as his disciple.

After Jesus gave her to the care of John, there is only one more mention of her in the New Testament. In Acts 1, Mary is found in the upper room with 120 disciples who are praying and seeking God. She is never mentioned again. She is not found in the epistles of Paul, nor in the epistle of James, the brother of Jesus and son of Mary, nor in the epistles of John who took care of her. This obedient Jewish girl became a disciple of Christ, not a mediator between God and man for we read in 1 Timothy 2:5 “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”

Mary was born like all other children; she needed the Savior to whom she miraculously gave birth. She became his disciple, she lived for him, she died and was buried, and she will be raised with all those who are dead in Christ on that resurrection day.

While some have constructed many myths about her which have no biblical support, others have frequently reacted adversely in refusing to see in Mary the model of one who, in the words of Jesus, did the will of God, who heard the word of God and obeyed it. This episode in the life of Mary is a wonderful example for us of voluntary submission to the will of God.

The Place

Some six or more months before… The angel Gabriel: Jerusalem and Nazareth, some 70 miles away. Not the inner sanctuary of the Temple, the lowly village of Nazareth.

The reputation of Nazareth. Not a large city, perhaps 15,000 which was a fair size in those days. Major highway between Tyre, Sidon and Jerusalem, between Egypt and Damascus. Merchants, Roman soldiers, Greek travelers. City of ill-repute. Nathanael who lived close by asked, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

In the midst of this city was a young Jewish girl, a virgin. Mary was a descendent of King David through Nathan (physical descent). Joseph was a descent of David through Solomon (legal descent). But 1000 years had passed since the glory of the Davidic reign, and this teenage girl who was engaged to be married not to a king, but to a carpenter.

The Presence of the Angel

There is no doubt that Mary was a godly teenager. She was a girl who sought God, who wanted to please him, to do his will. The record is clear: she had kept herself pure. God had seen her. He knew her heart. So he sent his angel Gabriel to give her the message. There are special blessings for those who love God and keep his commandments. Angelic visits are few and far between, but divine visitation is not confined to temple courts or palaces of earthly kings. Any humble heart may be honored by a messenger from heaven. And while most of us will never see an angel, if we seek his face, and seek to do his will, God will visit us and bless us.

Gabriel greets Mary as one who is “highly favored.” She is not one who gives divine grace, she receives it. God had decided that she would give birth to the Messiah. Mary is also greeted as one who enjoyed God’s special presence: “The Lord is with you.”

The Promise to Mary

Gabriel had come to announce a special promise to Mary. 700 years before, Isaiah had prophesied in “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (7:14).

      Isaiah 9:6-7 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ⁷ Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

         ³¹ You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”

The Puzzle

These wonderful words puzzled Mary. She wanted direction. “How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?” She did not doubt the word of Gabriel as Zacharias had done. She did not ask, “Can this be?”

God wants to do some great work in our lives. He wants to delivers us from harmful habits. He wants to make us soul winners. He wants to make this church a great witness to this city. We read in his Word what he wants do in our lives. Do we respond like Zacharias or like Mary? Ephesians 3:20 says that he “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.“

Mary had asked, “How shall this be, seeing I know not a man.”

         ³⁵ The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”

She would give birth to the Messiah. But he would be not only the Messiah; he would be the Son of God.

In Genesis 1:2 the Holy Spirit overshadowed the waters of the earth and brought for creation. The Holy Spirit would overshadow Mary and begin the new creation.

Let us be clear about this. God did not have physical relations with Mary as some think. Such a doctrine is blasphemous. God worked a miracle in the teenage girl so that without sexual intervention she gave birth to Jesus. Mary remained a virgin until after the birth of Jesus.

You see, God does not have a body. Jesus tells us in John 4 that God is spirit. That is His nature. He does not say that God has a spirit, but that God is spirit.

The Bible does speak of the arm of the Lord, that it is powerful to save. It speaks of the eyes of the Lord going to and fro throughout the earth. The Scriptures use terms like these to help us understand that God is all powerful and that He is all knowing. The Bible also speaks of the feathers, the wings, and the pinions of God,

“He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.” (Psalm 91:4 NLT).

but I have never heard anyone suggest that God is a type of bird. These figures are simply to shows us that God is our protection.

That is why the Bible says that God is invisible.

Colossians 1:15 ESV He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

1 Timothy 1:17 ESV To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Hebrews 11:27 ESV By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.

Why is God invisible? He is invisible because He does not have a body. Now you can hear my voice, but you cannot see me. Nonetheless, you know that I am not invisible. You know that if you were to walk into this radio studio, you would see me sitting at a chair and speaking into a microphone because I have a body. I am not invisible. God is invisible because he does not have a body.

And that is one of the reasons why God became man. Notice this conversation between the Father and the Son, a conversation that took place in the members of the one true God before the Father sent His Son into the world:

“That is why, when Christ came into the world, he said to God, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings. But you have given me a body to offer. ⁶ You were not pleased with burnt offerings or other offerings for sin. ⁷ Then I said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will, O God– as is written about me in the Scriptures.’“ ⁸ First, Christ said, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them” (though they are required by the law of Moses). ⁹ Then he said, “Look, I have come to do your will.” He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect. ¹⁰ For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time (Hebrews 10:5-10 NLT).

And so, the Word became flesh. He lived among us, John says. The disciples looked upon the

“So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.” (John 1:14 NLT).

He was fully God and continued to be fully God, but he took on himself full humanity. Fully God and fully man: God made visible! He told Philip: “Whoever has seen me, has seen the Father.”

Yet, fully man. He would fast for 40 days and experience hunger (Matthew 4). In John 4, he was weary at the well in Samaria. On the cross, he was thirsty. And then he did the most human thing of all: he died.

Yet, that’s why he had to be born. He was born to die, to die for you and for me. The Father prepared a body for the Son, that He might offer it as a sacrifice in our place, a sacrifice for our sins. He was born to die.

Nor is it correct to say that Mary is the mother of God. Mary is never called the mother of God in Scripture. She is called the mother of Jesus. Gabriel said that “The holy one to be born would be called the Son of God,” and not because of Mary, but because of the miracle worked by the Holy Spirit.

Mary would receive an encouragement to her faith: her cousin Elizabeth, who was past the age of childbearing, was six months pregnant. God is not limited by the ordinary. He can do, and does, extraordinary things. God is not imprisoned within that which men call the natural; but for his own purposes, he can act in a way men can only describe as supernatural.[1] “With God nothing shall be impossible.” Or better, “For no word from God shall be void of power.”

The Focus Of This Story

Mary is the servant of the Lord. She is the servant that God uses to bring His Son into the world. And yet, we need remind ourselves that Mary is not the focus. She is not the reason for the appearance of Gabriel. The focus of this story is on the child that would be born.

. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and

1. bear a son, and
2. you shall call his name Jesus. ³²
3. He will be great and
4. will be called the Son of the Most High.
5. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,
6. ³³ and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and
7. of his kingdom there will be no end.”

³⁴ And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” ³⁵ And 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.

³⁶ And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. ³⁷ For nothing will be impossible with God.”

The Posture of Mary

Mary’s posture was that of a servant: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it to me according to your word.” Barclay: “I am the Lord’s servant. Whatever he says, I accept.”

We think that it was wonderful for Mary to have been chosen by God, and it was. But what of the reproach? What of her reputation? Mary was 17 or 18 years old and engaged to Joseph. There is no reason to believe that he was an old man. What would he say? We know from Matthew’s Gospel that Joseph was going to divorce her because he knew that he had never been with her. Mary was not believed by the one she loved. What about the accusations? The shame? Even the possibility of being stoned? Perhaps one of the reasons she went to be with Elizabeth for three months was to avoid the shame.

Why did she go to see Elizabeth? Was she trying to get away from suspicious looks from her family members? Then why Elizabeth? Elizabeth was much older, past the age of child bearing, but she was pregnant with John the Baptist. Mary recognized that God was doing something in Elizabeth’s life. God had worked a miracle in Elizabeth’s life and she would give birth to John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ. Elizabeth would understand the miraculous. Elizabeth would be more inclined to believe Mary’s story… 2013-12-09.

And yet, when she arrived at Elizabeth’s, the baby that Elizabeth was carrying, leaped in her womb and and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She exclaimed with a loud cry, “…why is this grated to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”

Jesus in the womb is the LORD God. The focus is on Christ.

Let us note that the unborn child is not a tissue or a substance or something to be expelled or aborted. Young woman, however you became pregnant, the child you are carrying is the image of God. God is weaving that child in your womb. That child belongs to God. God is trusting you to protect that child and to raise it to know the Lord Jesus Christ.

Yes, there may be shame. And perhaps this is one of the reasons why she accompanied Joseph on the long and difficult voyage to Bethlehem when she was “great with child.”

(Why Mary?)

Mary and Joseph were chosen to be parents to Jesus. They were chosen because they were godly. They loved God. They knew His Word. God entrusted to them the responsibility of raising the Messiah.

It is not always easy to accept God’s will; but it is always best. Mary was submissive, and she gave the world the Savior. His name would be Jesus for he would save us from our sins.

Mary could have said, “I now have the promises, so I will exert my force, my character, and my energy, to bring forth the promised thing. I have the promise. Now I will bring forth a child without a man.”[2] Had this been her response, she would never have had the child.

Nor was Mary totally passive. “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.“ This is active passivity. She took her own body, by choice, and put it into the hands of God to do the thing that he said he would do, and Jesus was born. She gave herself, her body, to God. We must not think that we can accomplish the promises of God by our own strength. Nor must we think that we have no part.

We cannot break the power of sin over us by our might, nor can it be broken without our participation. Say with Mary, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.“ Pray, “Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil.” Pray with David,

      “Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression. ¹⁴ May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer” (Psalms 19:13-14).

You need more fruit in your life. Say with Mary, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.“

You need to be baptized into the Holy Spirit. Say with Mary, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.“ Actively seek the Lord.

You need to be a soul winner. Say with Mary, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.“

Let us wait with expectant hearts. Through the Christ child which he gave for all of us, God will accomplish in us all that he has promised to do.

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             [1]See Morgan, Luke, p. 24.

             [2]Schaeffer, True Spirituality, p. 58.

See also:

• December 25: The Birth of Jesus
• December 24: The Word Made Flesh
• December 23: Jesus Christ, Son of David, Savior, Immanuel
• December 22: Son of the Most High
• December 21: The Lord and His Prophet
• December 20: King on a Donkey, Bringing Salvation
• December 19: The Son of Man, Human or Divine?
• December 17: The Righteous Branch
• December 16: The Suffering Servant, Born to Die
• December 15: Christmas, the Story of God on a Mission