These notes accompany the sermon found here.

Who:

• Gabriel: See Daniel 8:16, 9:21; Luke 1:19, 1:26.
• Mary: A virgin, betrothed to a man of the house of David. See Genesis 3:15. Isaiah 7:14.
• Joseph: A man of the house of David.  See 2 Samuel 7:1-17, Psalm 110:1-4.
• Holy Spirit: The agent of conception.
• Jesus Christ: The child, in this passage called Jesus (Jehovah is salvation), King in the line of David (implied), Son of the Most High, holy, the Son of God.  See Genesis 3:14, 12:1-3, 49:10.

What: 

“You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.” Luke 1:31.

When:

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, Luke 1:26, 36.

Where: 

A city of Galilee named Nazareth, Luke 1:26; Matthew 2:23, 4:15; Isaiah 9:1-2.

WHow:

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you,” Luke 1:35, Zechariah 4:6-7, Matthew 1:12, Luke 3:27.

Why

Was a Virgin Birth Necessary?

• Jesus could not have a human father, or else he would inherit the guilt and condemnation of the sin of Adam, like we all have. He would thus not have been a perfect sacrifice.  (See Hebrews 4:15,7:26, 9:28; 1 Pet. 2:22; 1 John 3:5.)  Jesus was in essence a “new Adam,” and our invitation is to join His line through faith.
• We have the guilt and condemnation of Adam imputed to us, Romans 5:12-21:
  • “Sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned…many died through one man’s trespass…And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin…because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man…one trespass led to condemnation for all men…by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners.” [Romans 5:12-21 selected, emphasis added]
  • So we inherit the sin and guilt of Adam, because Adam was our federal representative in the creation covenant. The same kind of argument is used in Hebrews 7:9-10 to indicate that in Abraham, the future Israelite priests effectively tithed to Melchizedek, showing his priesthood to be superior to their own.
• The promise of the Gospel is that we can be adopted into this new line by faith in Jesus Christ, so we may inherit that which belongs to the only Son of God rather than that which belongs to Adam. See John 1:12-13.
• The virgin birth therefore was predicted form the beginning. See Genesis 3:15, and understand the Hebrew word for “offspring” means more fundamentally “seed” which refers to the man’s contribution in human reproduction.