God Becomes Man

Do not be afraid, Mary,

for you have found favor with God.

And behold, you will conceive in your womb

and bear a son, and

you shall call his name Jesus.

Luke 1:30b-31, ESV

“But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days” (Micah 5:2, ESV).

“Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isa. 7:14, ESV).

“For to us a child is born, to us, a son is given; and the government shall be uponhis shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father God, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this” (Isa. 9:6-7, ESV).

“But when the fullness of time had come, 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, ESV).

In the fullness of time, God sent the angel, Gabriel, to Zacharias, the priest, who was presently serving in the temple. Gabriel announced that he and his barren wife, Elisabeth, would have a son who would be named John. John himself also received directions from God, who sanctioned him not only to be the forerunner of the promised Messiah but also to introduce Him to the people.

Six months later, in the city of Nazareth, the angel, Gabriel, surprised a young girl named Mary by telling her that she would be the mother of the promised Messiah. He would be born under the most unusual circumstances! He would not have an earthly father!

Both Matthew and Luke give us the story of the birth and childhood of Jesus. Matthew reports the events relating to Joseph, Jesus’ foster father. Luke gives us the details of the events centered on the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Some scholars believe that Luke, a historian noted for his accuracy, probably interviewed Mary before he wrote his narrative in the book of Luke. Dr. Luke provides most of the details of what we now call the Christmas story. Both Matthew and Luke make it very clear that Joseph was not the natural father of Jesus.

About four or five BC, Joseph and Mary lived in the small town of Nazareth, which is located in Galilee. Mary, probably no more than thirteen or fourteen years old, had become betrothed to the young carpenter, Joseph. The Jewish concept of betrothal is very much like our concept of engagement, except it was legally binding. After the betrothal period, which usually lasted for a year, a marriage ceremony was performed, and the bride joined the groom in their new home. The groom was usually several years older than the bride as he learned a trade before taking on the responsibilities of a family. We assume Joseph was ten or fifteen years older than Mary, probably in his twenties or early thirties.

One day, soon after Mary was officially betrothed to Joseph, she was startled by the sudden appearance of an angel. Luke gives us the details. “In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!’ But she was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus’” (Luke 1:26-31, ESV).

“In the sixth month,” the first few words in the above scripture, refer to Elizabeth’s conception of John. He was conceived six months before Mary’s visitation by the angel, Gabriel.

The Greek name “Jesus,” like the Hebrew name “Joshua,” means savior. This little baby is to be the promised “Seed of Woman” and the “Lamb of God” who will give His life as a permanent sacrifice for the sins of the world. He will also be the promised Hebrew Messiah; the Greek word for “Messiah” is “Christ – which means “The Anointed One.” “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.  And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom, there will be no end” (Luke 1:32-33, ESV).

Mary became concerned about how she could conceive a child without physical contact with a man. “And Mary said to the angel, ‘How will this be since I am a virgin?’ 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. 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.’…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 1:34-36,38, ESV).

As we are caught up in the beauty of Christmas pageants and the season’s spirit, we often fail to reflect upon the young girl’s social and legal problems. How could she make her parents understand? What would she tell Joseph? What about the gossip that may have been spread within the small town of Nazareth? Who would believe her? In the eyes of others, she would be guilty of adultery – punishable by death. But she accepted the call of God and stepped out on faith, as many of God’s chosen servants had done in the past and continue to do.

Shortly after she conceived, she left Nazareth and went to a small town near Jerusalem where her cousin, Elizabeth, lived. Elizabeth was six months pregnant with a baby, who would later be called John the Baptist. He was destined to present the credentials of Jesus to the nation, Israel.

“And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would bea fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord’” (Luke 1:41-45, ESV).

God again miraculously showed his faithfulness by paving the way for Mary. The Holy Spirit quickly revealed to Elizabeth that Mary was to be the mother of the promised Messiah, and Elizabeth was moved to prophesy about Mary’s future. Let us be aware that Elizabeth was a righteous woman; she would not have spoken these words if she had thought Mary had been with a man. God spoke to Elizabeth, and she believed. Because of God’s marvelous provision, Mary was not required to explain her condition.

After three months in the home of Zacharias and Elizabeth, Mary returned to Nazareth to face Joseph and her friends. Matthew provides the narrative. “Now, the birth of Jesus Christtook place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothedto Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly” (Matt 1:18-19, ESV).

Matthew tells us that Mary was “found to be with child.” Dr. A.T. Robertson, the noted Greek scholar, in his commentary on Matthew, “Word Studies in the New Testament,” tells us that the word “found” means that Mary’s pregnancy was discovered – apparently before Mary had gained the courage to explain the unusual circumstances to Joseph.

Joseph, a devout Jew, had three choices. Since it appeared to him that Mary had committed adultery, according to the Levitical law (Deut. 22:22-23), he could have had her stoned. The Levitical law also allowed him to divorce her (Deut. 24:1-4). His third option was to disregard the law, forgive his bride-to-be, complete the marriage ceremony, and take Mary into his house as his wife. Matthew said Joseph was righteous, which meant he was faithful to the Levitical law – he could never take an adulterous woman as his wife. Probably because of close family ties and Mary’s young age, Joseph did not want to disgrace her in public. So, he began planning to divorce her and “put her away secretly.”

But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “’Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us)” (Matt 1:20-23, ESV).

“When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus” (Matt 1:24-25, ESV).

Again, we see that God is faithful and continues to meet Mary’s every need. He is always one step ahead of her. God is revealing to his chosen servants the circumstances of the forthcoming miraculous birth of the promised Messiah. Mary was an earthen vessel chosen by God to be the mother of His Only Begotten Son – no more or no less. God took care of all the other details. Joseph was also an earthen vessel chosen by God for this tremendous responsibility. Acting upon faith that God was real and worked in mysterious and supernatural ways, Joseph took Mary into his house as his wife. But they were not united physically as man and wife until after the birth of Jesus.

Matthew makes it clear that Joseph was not the physical father of Jesus and that Joseph believed that Mary had not become pregnant by another man. Many today do not believe in the virgin birth of Jesus, but a careful search of Scripture shows that the Bible teaches this miraculous conception is a fact. Both Luke and Matthew have very carefully explained this aspect of the conception.

From the beginning, God stressed that the promised Savior would be the Seed of Woman (Gen. 3:14-15). God told Satan, who had possessed the serpent in the Garden of Eden: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Gen. 3:15, ESV). The “Seed of Woman” was destined to eventually defeat Satan and bring an end to spiritual warfare. Since any physical seed of man is a sinful creature, a sinless person must defeat Satan.

The Bible teaches that sin is a hereditary condition, and with a careful search of Scripture, we conclude that sin is inherited through the father. If an earthly father had conceived Jesus, He would have been sinful. The Bible clearly states that He had no sin, and upon this fact stands the entire validity of the New Testament. Jesus’ death on the cross would have been in vain without the virgin birth.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.