by John Bishop, Director of Spiritual Formation

One of the central miracles in Scripture is that of the virgin birth of Jesus. The story is recounted in Matthew chapter one and is often read at Christmas. But the significance of this miracle may be lost in the frequency with which we hear about it. The fact is God’s involvement in human history through this one historic event has profound implications, the most significant of which is the fulfilment of a 700-year-old prophesy. 

 

Imagine you’re standing in the endzone of a football field and there is an empty bucket balanced on the top of the uprights on the other end of the field. You claim that you are going to throw the ball into the can without knocking it over. Your friends standing around object, “You can barely fit the ball into the bucket when you’re holding it, and that’s a 360-foot throw without accounting for how high you’d have to throw it…No,” they would say, “it’s impossible.” 

 

So, if you stretch your hand back and throw the ball sending it an impressive 40 yards until it bounces and rolls to stop around the 30-yard line everyone would laugh at you and that would be the end of the story. 

 

In Isaiah 7:14 we read, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel.” 

 

If that were it, Isaiah writes out this impossible prophecy, flexes a little and then…it never happens, no one is shocked. To call an impossible shot and then not make it is what’s expected. 

 

The fact that Mary was a virgin and still gave birth is physically impossible, the fact that Isaiah called it 700 years before it happened is miraculous. This is not an event we can simply gloss over in conjunction with tinsel, silver bells, and wreaths. It is not a cute story tucked into a nice holiday season, it is fact that defies the laws of nature and reveals the miracle working hand of God. 

 

So, what do we make of this situation? I think we make of it what God intended when He said the baby would be called Immanuel, “God with us.” For certainly, this kind of miracle could not happen without God’s intervention. 

 

Millions of people watch Dude perfect videos because they love to see the impossible and those are just trial and error shots with some trick videography and hype. God literally defied the laws of nature and called it so we can know that Jesus is His son. This one miracle, taken all by itself, shows us that Jesus was not just a man. This miracle proves He was Immanuel, God with us!