Why Jesus Was Born Of A Virgin

Why did God use Mary to become the mother of the Son of God? The pre-incarnate Christ created the worlds and fashioned Adam and Eve with His own Hands. God’s Son spoke directly to so many of the great patriarchs of old: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Samson, Samuel, Saul, David, Solomon, Job, Ezra, Nehemiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Daniel … and the list goes on and on. God’s Son is the great Ruler of the universe. Why did He need to be born to a woman?

The answer begins within seconds of Adam and Eve’s sins against God. Let’s go back to the beginning, Genesis.

“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?’ And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ Then the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, ‘Where are you?’ So he said, ‘I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.’ And He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?’ Then the man said, ‘The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.’ And the LORD God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’ So the LORD God said to the serpent: ‘Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.’ To the woman He said: ‘I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.’ Then to Adam He said, ‘Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’’: Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.’ And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them. Then the LORD God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever’— therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.”

Genesis 3:1-24 (NKJV)

God told the snake (Satan) that the Seed of the woman would bruise Satan’s head, while the seed of Satan would bruise His heel. That’s our first clue about why the son of God was going to be born of a woman. A key word here is “bruise.” It’s the Hebrew word sup and means “to break or smite in pieces, cause great injury or wound.” It’s obvious from the language God used that Satan and the Seed of the woman (Jesus) were going to be in a fight. The Seed of the woman would “break or smite in pieces” the head of Satan, and Satan would “cause great injury or wound” the heel of Jesus.

Here’s how other translations of the verse read:

“… he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (NIV)

“… He will bruise and tread your head underfoot, and you will lie in wait and bruise His heel.” (Amplified Bible)

“… He’ll wound your head, you’ll wound his heel.” (The Message)

“… He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” (New Living Translation)

“… One of her descendants will crush your head, and you will bite his heel.” (New Century Version)

Question: how could Satan cause great injury or wound the heel of the Son of God? There’s no way Satan could do that. He is a powerful angel, but he’s just an angel. God’s Son created the heavens and the earth and every creature in it, including angels. The Son of God is All-powerful. Nothing He created could cause Him the slightest injury … unless … He did something that would cause Himself to become vulnerable to the attack of one of His creatures.

Here are some more clues from the Old Testament:

“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

Isaiah 53:5-6

We know from the context of Isaiah that he was writing about Israel’s promised Messiah. Interesting that He would be “wounded” for our transgressions and “bruised” for our iniquities. The word “wounded” is the Hebrew halal and translates as “pierced, stabbed.” It carries the idea of someone dying from the wound. The word “bruised” is the Hebrew daka and translates as “crushed, broken.” It carries the idea of the most severe inward and outward suffering.

Again, we ask the question: how could Satan kill God’s Son? That’s impossible … unless … Jesus ‘allowed’ Himself to become vulnerable to the fatal attack of one of His creatures.

In this same context in Isaiah, we see that the physical appearance of the Messiah would be disfigured beyond that of any man and His form marred beyond human likeness.

“See, my servant will act wisely ; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him — his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness— so will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.”

Make Himself vulnerable is exactly what God’s Son did. Tomorrow is Christmas and we’ll continue our look at God’s amazing Gift to each of us.