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The Virgin Birth Controversy Of all the miracles the Bible attributes to God it seems amazing the lack of credibility afforded to the Virgin Birth. Let’s clarify one or two details 'right off the bat'. We’re talking of the Virgin Birth of the Messiah Yeshua (the Jewish way to say Jesus), and not anyone else. Furthermore, the virgin birth can be proven an historical fact, though not technically a scientific fact (which deals with observable and repeatable activities). The Virgin Birth is a unique and miraculous work of God! The Issue of Miracles For those who deny the existence of God the issue may be irrelevant. But if you’re willing to accept God’s reality, then why should one miracle be any harder for God than another. “But still”, some might think, “the Virgin Birth is hard to believe.” It depends on how big your God is! For the One who is the Creator of all creation, this is normal for Him. If God can do any miracle at all, then no miracle should be dismissed out of hand. Miracle Births are Jewish! Besides,
as Jews we should accept miracles as the only rationale for our existence. After
all, if left to the preferences of the Egyptians and Pharaoh, the Persians and
Haman, or the Nazis and Hitler we wouldn’t be here at all. God promised to
keep us as a people and miraculously and providentially He has done it. And
miraculous births are a consistent part of Jewish history. When deciding through what people He would bless the world (Gen.12:3), ultimately with Messiah, God decide to use Abraham and Sarah. The problem is that God purposely chose to make a nation from the one couple that couldn’t have kids! The Scriptures teach that Abraham was old, and Sarah was barren! (Genesis 11:30) Rather than this being a problem, this was the point. If the promise of God would effectively bless the world, then it would take the power of God to make it happen. And miracle of miracles, Isaac was born. Then Isaac marries Rebecca. She too was barren but again God intervenes (Genesis 25:21). And again with Jacob and Rachel, who was barren (Gen. 29:31), God miraculously provides a miracle birth (Gen. 30:22-24). I think the point is clear: the existence of the Jewish people was based upon miracle births from God. So rather than seem abnormal to have a miracle birth for the Messiah, it should be expected. After all, shouldn’t we expect the most unusual Person in the universe to have a most unusual entrance through His birth? Just as His unique “exit”, the resurrection and ascension to heaven also revealed His glorious life. His unique nature would actually require it. The Prophecy of a Virgin Birth God actually told us to expect a Virgin Birth for the Messiah. As far back as the very first messianic prophecy we see this same hope. God promised to remove that Serpent of old, Satan, the father of lies and anti-Semitism, through the Redeemer, who would come from the Seed of the Woman (Gen.3: 15). Since woman have eggs and not seed we see God’s first attention getting clues. In the prophet Isaiah we read Messiah’s prophetic birth announcement: “The Lord himself shall give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14) Some might wonder if the word virgin is an accurate translation of Almah. In the Hebrew Scriptures the word is used 7 times (Gen. 24:43; Ex. 2:8; Prov. 30:18; Ps. 68:25; Song. 1:3; 6:8), every other time it also speaks of a virgin. The very root of the word, translated "secret" (Ps. 90:8); "hidden" (Lev. 4:13), speaks of the qualities of a virgin, one hidden from experience with men. Can 70 rabbis be wrong? In 180 BCE, when the Hebrew Bible was first translated into Greek by 70 Rabbis (thus, the name of this translation, Septuagint), they had no difficulty translating Almah into the common Greek word for virgin, parthenos. This was before Yeshua’s birth, and before there was any controversy over His Messiahship. Thus they were objective in their translation. It is this translation that the New Covenant utilizes in describing Messiah’s birth (Matthew 1:23). So, virgin is an accurate translation of the Hebrew text.
But why the name Immanuel and not Yeshua? Many places in the Hebrew Bible tell us about Messiah, each place giving us a different “name”. In Isaiah 9:5 (Hebrew text), His name is called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince Of Peace”; in Jer.23: 6, He is called “the Lord our Righteousness”. In Isa.7: 14 it is “Immanuel”. As
opposed to a “given name”, each of these “names” describes some quality
of His nature or character. “Immanuel” means “God is with us”. It is the
theme of the section and repeated twice in the Hebrew (Isa. 8:8, 10). It is also
the hope of our lives. God will not leave us forsaken in our sins, for Messiah, the hope of the House of David, will come. We have by faith in Messiah, the eternal relationship with God our lives desperately need. For in Messiah Yeshua “God is with us!” Isaiah
told wicked King Ahaz that “if you will
not believe you not will be established” (Isa.7: 9). The same is true for
each of us, let us have faith in the wonder-working God of Israel’s greatest
miracle, Messiah, that we may be eternally established before Him.
Sam
Nadler
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