The prophecy of the virgin birth
Jesus was born to Mary and Joseph less than nine months after they had been married. That was probably the basis for the Pharisees’ accusation against our Lord: “We were not born of sexual immorality” ( John 8:41 )—insinuating that Jesus was the result of an illicit union. The real scandal, however, is that Jesus of Nazareth was not conceived by a sexual union at all, because He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary (cf. Matt. 1:18–25 ; Luke 1:26–38 ). God ordained that His Son would be produced in the womb of His mother, apart from the normal means of human procreation. Thus, by the Spirit, God worked the quietest miracle of all. The clear teachings of Scripture are usually among the first doctrines to be ridiculed by sceptics. This should not be surprising, for everything about “Christ crucified”—including the manner of His incarnation—is a stumbling block (Greek skandalon) to the mind of the flesh ( 1 Cor. 1:22–25 ). God’s wisdom, revealed in Christ, cap...