************ Sermon on Heidelberg Catechism Q & A 35-36 ************
By: Rev. Adrian Dieleman
This sermon was preached on December 25, 2005
Q & A 35-36
Luke 2:1-20; Matthew 1:18-25
"A Holy Conception and Virgin Birth"
Introduction
The most astonishing miracle of all time was the birth of Jesus Christ. Jesus, and only Jesus, "was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary."
When Christians speak of the virgin birth, they are not speaking of the birth of an ordinary human child. The astounding miracle of Christ's birth was not just that He was born of a virgin mother but that He was also and especially the Son of God in the flesh.
More than one commentator has noted that Matthew and Luke are the only ones to mention the actual virgin birth. Mark doesn't. Neither does John. Nor does the apostle Paul! Consequently some theologians question the biblical basis for the doctrine and dismiss it as some sort of legend, saga, myth.
But what does the Bible say? We know that Luke was a doctor and an historian. He informs Theophilus that he has "carefully investigated everything from the beginning" and therefore has written "an orderly account" to enable his readers to "know the certainty of the things" that have been taught about Jesus (Lk 1:1-4). Luke includes details reflecting his interests as a doctor and historian. He reports that it was "in the sixth month" of Elizabeth's pregnancy that "God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town of Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David" (Lk 1:26-27).
The angel said, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus ..."
"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God ..." (Lk 1:30-35).
Matthew emphasizes the same things as Luke. Both accounts make clear that this was not the birth of an ordinary human child with a human mother and father. Both accounts make clear that Mary was a virgin. Both accounts make clear that the conception was the result of the Holy Spirit's work. Both accounts make clear that the result was not the birth of a ordinary human child from a virgin mother; rather, the birth involved the Son of God taking on human flesh.
What about the other New Testament writers? Do they know anything about a virgin birth? John starts off his Gospel with the Word Who became flesh (Jn 1:14). This certainly does not contradict the birth accounts in Matthew and Luke. The Apostle Paul also clearly teaches that the Son of God took on flesh..(Gal 4:4-5) But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, (5) to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. (Cf Rom 1:1-4).
"Gibberish, garbage, superstition, myth," says the unbeliever. "How can anyone believe such nonsense in today's rational, scientific world? Test-tube babies? yes! Artificial insemination? yes! Virgin birth? never!"
But for the comforted Christian this is an article of faith. "I believe," says this Christian. "I believe ... in Jesus Christ ... who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary."
It is important to note that one will believe the virgin birth and the conception by the Holy Spirit only if one believes the Bible to be the Word of God.
I God Took on Human Flesh
A When we look at the miracle in front of us this Christmas Day, we need to ask exactly Who it is that was born of the virgin and conceived by the Spirit. He is no less than "the eternal Son of God, who is and remains true and eternal God" (A 35). "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation" (Col 1:15). He "is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word" (Heb 1:3). This almighty, eternal Son of God took on human flesh.
When we think about it, we have to admit that the whole history of salvation is the story of God coming down to man's level, in order to seek and save him from sin. Nowhere does the Bible suggest that man climbs up to God; rather, it is a case of God reaching and coming down to us. Topic: Christmas
Subtopic:
Index:
Date: 11/1987.4
Title:
This reminds me of Michelangelo's painting of Creation. We see two hands stretching out one from heaven to earth, and the other from earth to heaven. Even at the beginning of time man's hand was stretched out for help and the almighty hand of God was stretched out to deliver. This is essentially the Christmas story God reaching and coming down to earth!
We see this reaching and coming down of God over and over again in Scripture.
Immediately after sin shattered the relationship between God and our first parents, what did God do? God came to look for Adam and Eve. "Where are you?" He cried (Gen 3:9). Or, remember the time God visited with Abraham? In the form of a human traveler the Creator of the world stopped to have lunch with Abraham: they had meat and curds and milk (Gen 18). Or, consider Israel's wilderness experience. God had a special meeting place, a "tent of meeting," where "the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend" (Ex 33:11). And, in Jerusalem God had a permanent address, the Temple, where He came down to meet with His people.
Today, Christmas Day, I want to remind you of the virgin birth that miracle by which the eternal Son of God became a human being through the operation of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary. This miracle is the climax of God's gracious reaching and coming down, in order to seek and save a lost-in-sin mankind.
In the beginning the devil fired the pride of humanity by saying, "You will be like God" (Gen 3:5). But in the fullness of time, God became like us.
So we see the road of redemption runs from heaven to earth and not from earth to heaven. God keeps coming down toward us. He gets off His throne and comes down to our level, over and over again.Topic: Christ
Subtopic: Incarnation of
Index: 720
Date: 10/1985.26
Title: Message of Love
There was a man in Wales who sought to win the affection of a certain lady for 42 years before she finally said, "Yes." In 1985, when both of them were 74 years old, the couple became "Mr. and Mrs."
For more than 40 years, the persistent, but rather shy man slipped a weekly love letter under his neighbor's door.
After writing 2,184 love letters without ever getting a spoken or written answer, the single-hearted old man eventually summoned up enough courage to present himself in person. He knocked on the door of the reluctant lady and asked for her hand. To his delight and surprise, she accepted.
Imagine God's dilemma. Time and time again He tried to get His message of love through to His human creation with little response. Finally, when there was no other way, He wrapped up His message in person.
B In the virgin birth we see what we have seen so many other times throughout the history of salvation: God doing the humanly impossible to advance His redemptive purposes and accomplish His eternal plans. Take Abraham and Sarah, for instance: they got the child of the promise only after every human possibility was exhausted. This couple was childless for so long after the promise was first given they began to think God might want to count Abraham's descendants through the servant Eliezer (Gen 15:2). But about this God said, "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir" (Gen 15:4). After this Abraham and Sarah thought God's promise might mean a son through the maidservant Hagar. But about this God said, "As for Sarai your wife ... I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her" (Gen 17:15,16). Abraham and Sarah both laughed the laughter of unbelief when they heard this for they were well past the child-bearing years. But God achieved His redemptive purposes by bringing about the miraculous birth of Isaac. Other miraculous births we can mention by which God achieved His redemptive purposes are those of Samson (Judges 13) and Samuel (1 Sam 1). And, in the New Testament period, the story begins with the birth of John the Baptist from another couple who were too old to have a child.
The history of redemption from the birth of Isaac to the incarnation and birth of Jesus is overflowing with instances in which God does the humanly impossible to advance His purposes and accomplish His plans.
C This incarnation of the second person of the triune God is an incredible act of love. "For God so loved the world," says John, "that he gave his one and only Son" (Jn 3:16; cf 1 Jn 4:9). This is an incredible act of love not just on the part of the Father but also on the part of the Son. He was always Son and always God; now He "took to himself ... a human nature," first that of a fetus, then of an infant, next of a child, then of a teenager, and finally of a mature man.
"The eternal Son of God ... took to himself ... a truly human nature" (A 35). "Took to himself." What an unusual description of a birth. None of us would talk that way about any other person. Rather, we talk about conception and birth and having a baby and the baby itself has no say or choice in the matter. No ordinary human takes a human nature, a human body, to itself.
But for Christ the holy conception and virgin birth was a deliberate act, a matter of choice.
This, I say, is an incredible act of love. For in doing this, the Son emptied Himself; that is to say, He laid down for a time His glory as part of the triune Godhead. He "made himself nothing," says Philippians, "taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself" (Phil 2:7,8). And, in 2 Corinthians, we read, "though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor" (2 Cor 8:9). On the day that we share in the glory the Son had before He came to our rescue, we will know something of what He in love gave up for our sakes when He became man.
Christ's birth was the first step of His humiliation. No, He did not cease being God, but He did empty Himself for a time of the glory that was His from the beginning. Therefore, it took as much love to lie in the manger as it did to hang on the cross.
Christ, says Philippians, "being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped ..." (Phil 2:6,7a). How this ought to make us blush with shame. For, being human, we with Adam and Eve reached and grasped for equality with God (Gen 3:5). He "made himself nothing ... being made in human likeness," but we were not satisfied with that. No. We wanted to be like God and in shooting for that we marred our divine likeness. He chose to be made in human likeness, whereas we wanted to be more than human. What love on His part!Topic: Christ
Subtopic: Incarnation of
Index: 720
Date: 12/1999.14
Title: Cot in Our Ward
Dr. John Rosen, a psychiatrist in New York City, is well known for his work with catatonic schizophrenics. Normally doctors remain separate and aloof from their patients. Dr. Rosen moves into the ward with them. He places his bed among their beds. He lives the life they must live. Day to day, he shares it. He loves them. If they don't talk, he doesn't talk either. It is as if he understands what is happening. His being there, being with them, communicates something that they haven't experienced in yearssomebody understands.
But then he does something else. He puts his arms around them and hugs them. He holds these unattractive, unlovable, sometimes incontinent persons, and loves them back into life.
This is what Christ did for us at Christmas. In an incredible act of love He moved into the ward with us. He lived our life.
II To Conquer Sin
We all know why the eternal Son of God took on our flesh. We all know why He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. To be "our mediator," the bridge between man and God because He is both man and God. As Mediator "he removes from God's sight my sin mine since I was conceived."
You see, Christmas is only the beginning. What began at Christmas ends only at the cross and the grave. If all that we had was Christmas, there would be no salvation, no forgiveness, no redemption. If we do not see Christmas from the perspective of Good Friday and Easter Sunday, then it is just a sentimental and worldly holiday. For this reason, some early Christian artists portrayed the birthplace of Jesus as a burial chamber, a sepulcher. And, other artists made skillful use of shadows to show the cross of Christ at the birthplace of Jesus.
Conclusion
As comforted Christians you and I "believe ... in Jesus Christ ... who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary." You and I believe that God came down to our level in order to save us from our sins.
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