Jochuhyulo Tsela
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel” Matthew 1:23
While discussing if Christianity makes sense, Tom ridiculed John, said, “There has never been a medical record in the history that the virgin was conceived naturally and gave birth. Tell me John, why should I believe that Virgin Mary was conceived by the Holy Spirit and gave birth to a son, Jesus?” John politely responded, “Well, Tom, you missed the whole point. First, Christians never argue or believe that Virgin Mary was conceived in a natural process; rather Christians believe it was supernatural. You see, when the Bible says, ‘the virgin will conceive’ it indicates something will happen that is beyond natural. Secondly, the Bible tells us that, it was by the power of the Holy Spirit, who is the third person of the God-trinity, that the virgin was conceived, thus indicates God intervened in the process of the virgin birth. Tom retorted, in that case are you suggesting one has to believe God in order to believe in the virgin birth of Jesus? Precisely, said John, yet, there are good reasons to believe that indeed the virgin was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and gave birth to a son as the Bible tells us.
This article presents four cumulative cases for Christmas and shows that it is reasonable to believe in the virgin birth of Jesus, who was God himself, took the form of Human, and journeyed through the womb of a woman. There are two goals in writing this article, first, to show that our belief in the virgin birth of Jesus is reasonable, as it also best explains if all human beings are sinners (Romans 3:23), that if God himself came down to the earth taking the form of human beings to redeem the fallen humanity (John 3:16; 14:6). Second, to remind those of us who believe in the virgin birth of Jesus, that there are good reasons for our faith in Jesus’ birth and His person.1. THE BIBLE IS TRUSTWORTHY AND RELIABLE.
“The words of the Lord are flawless, like silver purified in a crucible, like gold refined seven times” (Psalm 12:6)
The source of our knowledge and belief in the virgin birth of Jesus is the Bible. It follows then whether or not the Bible is trustworthy and reliable is crucial in answering and knowing our belief in the virgin birth of Jesus, as either genuine or a delusion. For this reason, we shall begin our case by looking at some of the evidences briefly on the reliability of the Bible, that it is indeed the Word of God.
There are both internal and external evidences for the reliability of the Bible; the evidences from and within its own pages, the Bible tells us that it is indeed the Word of God and thus reliable, and the evidences from outside of the Bible, which confirm and show us that the Bible is indeed historical and trustworthy. On the account of the historical evidences, Biblical scholars and historians have shown us today that the Bible supersede any other literatures in the ancient world. For instance, the New Testament, both in terms of a comparison of the time gap in which it was written is unparalleled in the ancient world to any other literatures, and a comparison of numbers of the New Testament manuscripts available is far superior to any other known ancient literatures. As such, discussing the historicity of the Bible, a well recognized Biblical scholar, F.F. Bruce commented, “The evidence for our New Testament writings is ever so much greater than the evidence for many writings of classical author, the authenticity of which no one dreams of questioning. And if the New Testament were a collection of secular writings, their authenticity would generally be regarded as beyond all doubt.”
There are numbers of evidences both internally and externally that indicate the Bible is trustworthy and reliable. Let’s look at some of the internal evidences from the Bible which proclaim itself as the Word of God, thus reliable. Biblical scholars point out that in the Old Testament, the phrase “Thus said the Lord” occurs more than 400 times, which directly indicates the Bible is God’s Word. The other powerful internal evidence which tells us the Bible is God’s Word and reliable is the fulfilment of prophecies. For example, some Biblical scholars observed that there are more than 300 prophecies fullfiled in the life of Jesus. There are also several passages recorded in the New Testament which inform us that the Bible is God’s Word. Jesus himself affirmed the Bible is God’s Word and eternal, “…the Scripture cannot be broken, and until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished (John 10:35; Matthew 5:18). Apostle Paul writing to Timothy also mentioned that “All Scripture is God’s breath” (2 Timothy 3:16).
As mentioned earlier, the source of our knowledge and belief in the virgin birth of Jesus is the Bible, thus, the reliability of the Bible is fundamental in knowing whether our belief is genuine or a delusion. In the above case, we have then briefly discussed some of the evidences that the Bible is indeed God’s Word, trustworthy, and reliable. Thus, our belief in the virgin birth of Jesus is reasonable as the Bible proclaims, and in fact ‘the birth of Jesus is a good tidings of great Joy’ (Luke 2:10) for He came that we may have life again (John 10:10).
2. THE FULFILMENT OF THE PROPHECY
“And this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: the virgin will be with child and gave birth to a son” (Matthew 1:22-23)
One of the most powerful reasons for our belief in the virgin birth of Jesus in the city of Bethlehem 2000 years ago, is the fulfilment of the prophecy. In fact, not only for the virgin birth, but the fulfilled prophecy is used as an evidence for the realibilty and the uniqueness of the Bible. To understand the uniqueness of prophecy fulfilment, Biblical scholars and Christian thinkers have shown us the probability of prophecy fulfilment which is astounding.
So what is probability? Probability is the measure of how likely an event is to occur out of the number of possible outcomes. For example, when you tossed a coin, the probability of getting head is 1 in 2, or when you play a dice of six faces, the probability of getting number, say 1, is 1 in 6. Today, we are told that the odds of a person being injured by a lightning strike on any given day are only 1 in 250 million, which means it is inexplicably very odd that you will be strike by lighting when you go outside today. The more odds or improbability increases, the more difficult it is to predict, or it is more unlikely for our prediction to be fulfilled, and the more odds or improbability decreases, our prediction is more likely to be fulfilled. How about the prophecies (predictions of the prophets) in the Bible? What might be the probability of the Biblical prophecies to be fulfilled?
Dr Hugh Ross, an astrophysicist and a well-known Christian in his writing, Fulfilled Prophesy: Evidence of the reliability of the Bible, calculates some of the probabilities of the Biblical prophecy fulfilment. Ross calculates that the probability of chance fulfilment of prophet Micah’s prophecy in around 700 B.C (Micah 5:2) that the Bethlehem will be the birth place of Jesus (which was fulfilled in approximately 4 B.C.) is 1 in 105 (100,000). The fulfilment of this prophecy in the birth of Jesus, as Ross observed is one of the most widely known and widely celebrated facts in History. Another example Ross pointed out is the prophecy fulfilment of prophet Zechariah in around 5 B.C, who predicted that the Messiah would be betrayed for the price of a slave-thirty pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12-13), the probability of chance fulfilment of this prophecy is equal to 1 in 1011 (100,000,000,000). The Bible writers and secular historians both record thirty pieces of silver as the sum paid to Judas Iscariot for betraying Jesus, and they indicate that the money went to purchase a “potter’s field,” used just as predicted for the burial of poor aliens (Matthew 27:3-10).
We know the Old Testament contains many passages and prophecies about Jesus’ first coming on the earth, and they were all fulfilled by Jesus as recorded in the New Testament. As mentioned earlier, some Bible scholars suggested there are more than 300 prophetic Scriptures completed in the life of Jesus. For example, the prophecy of the birth place of Jesus in around 700 B.C. (Micah 5:2, fulfilled in Matthew 2:1); the prophecy of prophet Isaiah about the virgin birth of Jesus, that the Messiah would be called a Nazarene. (Isaiah 7:14;11:1, fulfilled in Matthew 2:23); the prophecy of prophet Zachariah about the thirty pieces of silver (Zachariah 11:11-13, fulfilled in Matthew 27:3-10); the prophecy about the Jesus’ crucifixion with criminals (Isaiah 53:12, fulfilled in Matthew 27:38), etc. So taken together those 300 prophecies about Jesus, what might be the probability? Daryl E. Witmer observed the probability that for Jesus of Nazareth to have fulfilled even eight such prophecies would be only 1 in 1017. That’s 1 in 100, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000, which is practically incomprehensible.
Thus, considering the probability of prophecy fulfilment, it does indicates and gives us good reasons for our belief in the virgin birth of Jesus as trustworthy and reasonable. And indeed it is as the Bible tells us, “This took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: the virgin will be with child and gave birth to a son.”
3. THE LIFE AND THE WORK OF JESUS
“For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38)
The central figure of the Bible is the person of Jesus. The Gospel of John commenced with, in the beginning was the Word (Jesus), who was God and through Him all things were made (John 1:1-3; c.f. Genesis 1). And in Genesis 3:15, after the fall of Adam, the first Gospel was proclaimed that the seed of woman (Jesus) will crush the head of the serpent.” One of the chief messages of the Old Testament is a portrayal of Jesus as the Lord and Saviour, who will come and redeem the fallen humanity, which was fulfilled as recorded in the New Testament. Again, as noted earlier, some Biblical scholars observed that there are about 300 such messianic prophecies fulfilled by Jesus. So who is this Jesus? Is Jesus the son of God who was born of the virgin? Is Jesus who he claimed he was?
The Bible tells us that Jesus came to the world through the womb of the virgin (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:22-23), that Jesus is the son of God who came to give us eternal life (Matthew 3:17; John 3:16; 1 John 4:15). Jesus claimed himself as one with God, and that anyone who has seen Him has seen God the father (John 10:30; John 14:9). The disciples of Jesus also confessed Jesus is God, and they worshipped Him (Matthew 14:33; Luke 24:51,52), and Apostle Paul proclaimed that Jesus is God, who gave up His glory and became like one of us (Philippians 2:6-8).
When one flips the pages of the Bible, one can immediately recognize the uniqueness of Jesus’ life and His marvellous works. The crowd in awe, seeing the work of Jesus also confessed, “Who had given such authority to men” (Matthew 9), and the disciples cried out, “Truly you are the son of God” when they saw Jesus walking on the water (Matthew 14:22-33). Beginning with His public ministry from Galilee, to the fulfilment of His prediction of betrayal, His resurrection, and His ascension to Heaven, the uniqueness of Jesus’ life and His astonishing work are self evident. The Bible tells us that the expert of the laws, the Chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin could not find a single mistake of Jesus. Jesus was found blameless and sinless before the laws (Matthew 26:59-60). In His ministry, Jesus raised the dead and healed the blind (John 11:38-43; John 9:1-12). Jesus then willingly gave up His life as a substitute to redeem the sinners (Matthew 27:21-22; 32-56; John 10:18), but God raised Him from the dead on the third day (Matthew 28:1-10; Romans 8:11).
Taken together the account of Jesus’ life and works, what best explains is that Jesus is who He claimed He was, and what the Bible tells us about Jesus is indeed trustworthy. Jesus’ life and works confirmed the prophecies in the Old Testament, and His teachings and prophecies were self-authenticated, thus it best explains that Jesus is God and indeed as the Bible proclaims, He was born of the virgin, who was the sinless Saviour of the World, the Immanuel, which means God with us.
4. TASTE AND SEE: WE CAN EXPERIENCE
We live in a day and age where there are people who firmly hold on to their faith and are serving God earnestly, yet, there are people denying, if not wilfully rejecting the belief in God and the Bible for different reasons. It is in this context, the invitation of the Psalmist is pertinent, “taste and see, if the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). William Lane Craig is one of finest Christian thinkers in the world today, who is also popularly known for his debates with non-Christians around the world. In his debates, Craig always present powerful rational evidences for the faith in God, yet, often he will end up his presentation by saying that even if his rational arguments are right, there is a danger that arguments for God’s existence (or faith) can distract people’s attention from God himself. Craig then will exhort his audience that if people are sincerely seeking God, then God will make his existence evident to them, and for those who listen the inner voice of God, God becomes an immediate reality in their lives.
We all have our own experiences in lives that we often embrace and cling on. Yet, wouldn’t it be unusual for someone to argue against our experiences? For instance, if a person testifies that he or she has a good experience working with the orphans, wouldn’t it be foolish, if not unusual to argue against his or her experience even if we have never seen him or her working with the orphans? Apostle Paul was a persecutor of Christians before his conversion, but his encounter and experience of Jesus in the road of Damascus changed his life. After his encounter, Paul bowed down and served Jesus. Paul was then the enemy of Jesus, turned a worshiper and servant of Jesus (Acts 9), whom God inspired him to write half of the New Testament books. Luke was a physician, who believed Jesus as his Lord and Savoir, recorded that Jesus was born of the virgin (Luke 1:26-38; 2). The other sceptic was James (John 7:5) who was the brother of Jesus, after encountering the resurrected Jesus, later became one of the of pioneers and Church leaders in Jerusalem (Galatians 1:19; 2:9). Similarly, in the history, there are innumerable such examples of people encountering Jesus, and their experiences have changed their life.
One might then query, can a person who has never encountered Jesus invalidate the life changing experiences of people who have met Jesus? Yet, today, there are critics, who offer objections that the virgin birth is scientifically impossible; that the virgin birth is an idea derived from mythology; that the idea of the virgin birth is unconvincing biblically, etc. Nonetheless, such critics’ claims are well responded by Biblical scholars and Christian thinkers alike. The bottom line then, is, if one is willing to taste and see, one can experience, and as Craig often exhorts his audience, ‘for those who are willing to listen to God, God will make His existence, His Truth, and His revelation evident to them.’ The Bible also declares, to those seek God with all their heart, God became an immediate reality and they can experience God’s love and truth (c.f Jeremiah 29:13).
CONCLUDING REMARKS:
Larry King, the CNN talk show host, was once asked who he would most want to interview if he could choose anyone from all of history. He said, “Jesus Christ.” The questioner said, “And what would you like to ask Him?” King replied, “I would like to ask Him if He was indeed virgin-born. The answer to that question would define history for me.” King understood the virgin birth of Jesus, if it was true, has the power to explain the entire history, and perhaps he had in mind that if the virgin birth was true, Jesus could indeed be the son of God, the Lord and Saviour.
This article commenced with a proposition that the virgin birth of Jesus was a supernatural event. Then it discussed four reasons for our belief in the virgin birth of Jesus as reasonable. First, it discussed that the source of our knowledge and the belief in the virgin birth comes from the Bible, and shows that the Bible is trustworthy and reliable, thus the testimony and the message of the Bible about the virgin birth of Jesus is therefore trustworthy and reasonable. This is then supported with the second and third reasons, that the Old Testament prophecies fulfilment and the uniqueness of Jesus’ life and miraculous works indicate and give us good reasons for our belief in the virgin birth, and it also tells us that Jesus indeed was the son of God and who he claimed he was. Finally, it argues that the belief in the virgin birth of Jesus and His person has changed the life of innumerable people in the history, and invites that if one is willing to trust in the Bible, its fulfilment of the prophecies and in the person of Jesus Christ can experience God’s truth and love.
As we celebrate Christmas this year, may we experience the supernatural intervention of the Holy Spirit in our lives as it was with the virgin birth. May we firmly hold our belief in Jesus and honours God’s Word, and may the power that has changed the life of innumerable people in the history continues to change our lives and our society. Happy Christmas Celebration!
