Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Isaiah 7:14

“The difference between something good and something great is attention to detail.” – Charles Swindoll

Paying attention to the details matters and in the story of Christmas, we see that not only did God plan the birth of the Savior, He gave His people clear insights into the plan with specific prophecies hundreds of years in advance.

Perhaps one of the most difficult-to-understand promises is the one listed in the verse above. Since the first birth on earth, it has been clear how a child is born, right? So, how is it possible for a virgin to give birth?

The answer is that long before what we view as advances in modern medicine, God’s messenger reminded Mary, “With God, nothing shall be impossible” (Luke 1:37). So, it’s important to recognize that virgin birth was supernatural, not a cleverly designed myth.

Donald Macleod reminds us “The virgin birth is posted on guard at the door of the mystery of Christmas, and none of us must think of hurrying past it. It stands on the threshold of the New Testament, blatantly supernatural, defying our rationalism, informing us that all that follows belongs to the same order as itself and that if we find it offensive there is no point in proceeding further.”

“Blatantly supernatural.” I like that phrase because there’s no tip-toeing around the topic. Either Jesus was born to the virgin or He was not. For a moment, consider if Mary was not a virgin. What would it mean about Jesus’ birth and life?

There isn’t any middle ground here. The supernatural is a mystery because in our rational, logical view of the world we know virgins don’t get pregnant and they don’t have babies, but God….

God is in the details. God set His plan into motion and intervened for us so that a Son was born – Immanuel, God with us.

John Lennox