The Bible refers to Jesus Christ as the Second Adam. He came to accomplish what the first Adam failed to accomplish.

The first Adam was created, but not born.

The Second Adam (our Lord) was born, but He wasn’t created.

When you were born, you had no choice in the matter. You didn’t choose your parents. You didn’t control the time or circumstances surrounding your birth. But Jesus did.

Jesus was the only baby who chose His own mother. In fact, He knitted His mother together in her mother’s womb! For He created all things.

Colossians 1:16 tells us,


So when we come to study the incarnation of Jesus in Matthew 1, we’re studying a birth like none other. Matthew 1:18 conveys the simplicity of the account… the virgin birth is simply stated as a fact with no arguments or embellishments.

This observation is one of the strongest arguments for the divine revelation of these verses.

If sinful men wanted to invent or concoct a story of God becoming a man through a virgin conception, it would end up being a long, well-padded, even defensive account of how it happened.

But that’s not what we have. There’s no long account; no arguments; no embellishments. Just a simple statement of the facts.

Matthew opens with 17 verses to disclose the human genealogy of Jesus, but only one verse to reveal His divine ancestry: “Before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit” (1:18).

It was the Holy Spirit who placed the divine seed into the body of Mary.

This is a unique place where theology overshadows biology.

That’s what makes this a miracle. The virgin conception can’t be explained by natural means. The Holy Spirit is named as the supernatural means. She is pregnant… while still a virgin.

“Before they came together” means they had no sexual union.

Over the years, I’ve actually heard some people say, “What difference does it make if Mary was a virgin? Who cares if Joseph was His father or even another man…?”

They say, “Isn’t His life and teaching what counts most?” The answer is no; because the life and teaching of Jesus are inextricably bound to His person and His origin.

If Jesus had been the offspring of a human father, He could not have been our Savior. He would not have been divine.

He could not have lived a sinless life or died a substitutionary death. He would merely be another child of the first Adam, and like the rest of us, dead in trespasses and sins.

Furthermore, it would mean Jesus was a fraud who lied about His eternality, who lied about His oneness with the Father and His sinless nature. We would have no Savior and we would still be lost in our sins with no hope for heaven after death.

But the Bible proves that it matters a great deal who Jesus really is and how He came into this world. It actually happened as Scripture records. Jesus was born of a virgin.

We worship a God who has invaded time and space with the reality of who He is!

So as we prepare to begin 2013, I encourage you to pause and let the wonder of these incarnation realities change your perspectives on life and God’s purpose for you in the coming year.

With joy in Christ,
Pastor Kevin

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