~The Virgin Birth…The Resurrection….The Second Coming~
For many years I had the hardest time believing that the Virgin Birth, the Resurrection, and most especially the Second Coming were possible because each event seemed extremely impossible. These are events, however, that the Bible say clearly surrounds Jesus and His Ministry. If we believe on Him and that He died for us, then we must also believe everything the Bible says about Him because the Bible is the inspired word of God.
This statement is supported by the following scripture, “All Scripture is *given by inspiration of God*, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16)
We also must believe Scripture because it is clearly stated that God will not lie…..it is actually IMPOSSIBLE for God to lie. The following 2 Scriptures support this statement.
“In hope of eternal life, which *God, that cannot lie*, promised before the world began.” (Titus 1:2).
“That by two immutable things, in which it was *impossible for God to lie*, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.” (Hebrews 6:18a)
Since God cannot lie and all Scripture is given by Him then it is safe to say that everything that the Bible says about the Virgin Birth, the Resurrection, and the Second Coming are true. However, it is still hard for us, with our limited human minds, to comprehend that any of these events can be probable. However, we can still accept these truths on faith and on using common logic.
Several of the observations that most influenced me to go from partially believing to completely believing in these events came from studying, “The Faith” by Charles Colson. I know in my heart that God wanted me to believe totally in Him but I still could not get my mind around these phenomena and actually be able to accept them as 100% truth. I prayed very earnestly to God to please help my unbelief and to please reveal the truth of His Word to me. I believe that this book by Mr. Colson was one of the many ways that He honored my prayer request. I have also included other documentation from various sources that I have included in this article.
I will share some of the reasons that I now completely believe in the Virgin Birth, the Resurrection, and the Second Coming with you. If it was so hard for me to accept these events then I am sure that someone else out there reading this has the same type of issue with doubt.
If anything I write or refer to helps someone increase their faith, then I sincerely Thank God for it. I give God total credit for each and every fact or revelation that I share with you. I take no credit for any of them; all glory must go to Him.
God chose to reveal Himself to humanity; it was in a way that was unnoticeable and quiet, uncommon, confounding, and perplexing to the everyday wisdom of humanity. Seriously, how can a Virgin give Birth to a child when she has never been with a man to impregnate her?? The very thought seems preposterous but must be a reality since God said that it happened. Mary was a Virgin and had never been with any man, including Joseph to whom she was engaged. Yet when the Angel of God told her that she was to be impregnated with the Child that would grow up to be our Savior, she still believed.
The gospels of Matthew and Luke say that Mary was a Virgin and that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. These gospels, later tradition and current doctrine present Jesus' conception as a miracle involving no natural father, no sexual intercourse, and no male seed in any form. The Gospel of Matthew additionally presents the Virgin Birth of Jesus as fulfilling a prophecy from the Book of Isaiah. (1)
The prophecy states, “Then he said, "Listen now, O house of David! Is it too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God as well? Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a Virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. "He will eat curds and honey at the time He knows enough to refuse evil and choose good. For before the boy will know enough to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken." (Isaiah 7:13-16)
This truth is indeed the foundation of the whole Christian faith, for without it we cannot believe that God incarnate is our Savior. To suppose that Jesus Christ owed His Birth to any active parentage is to deny His Personal Godhead. It involves the denial that man needed a Savior, for if human nature cooperated with the Divine power in His Birth, man is made to cooperate in the salvation which Jesus came to effect. The active power in our Lord's Nativity was purely and simply the agency of the Holy Ghost operating upon the substance of the Virgin Mary without any intervention of the human will. Had there been any admixture of human procreative energy, the sin of Adam would have tainted the offspring. The child which was born would have inherited the guilt of Adam, and would have needed a Savior for Himself. (2)
It was essential that Jesus’ conception and Birth be carried out in this manner. Jesus could never have been the Savior of humankind if He was born into sin, because then His Death on the cross would be for His own sins, not for ours alone. Only a totally sinless Savior could have taken our sins upon Himself, which means God, and ONLY God could have been His Father.
In order for Jesus to be our Savior, He had to be part man (without sin) and part God. In order for Jesus’ Death to be a permanent Sacrifice for all mankind, then the part of Him representing man and the part of Him representing God had to die in order to fulfill this calling. The Virgin Birth backs this necessity up because Jesus was conceived in Mary’s womb via the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit. He was born as a Man but without the sinful nature of man. He was also part God, the Son of God rather, because the Holy Spirit created and instigated the pregnancy in Mary.
This truth is so fundamental that no one who does not recognize it has a right to be called a Christian. No one can have a conception of what Christianity is who does not realize its necessity. (2)
The doctrine of the Virgin Birth is hard to accept my many. Mary’s fiancé, Joseph, was no exception. Matthew begins his Gospel with this very important passage:
"Now the Birth of Jesus Christ was in this way: When, as His mother, Mary, was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately. But while he thought on these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary, thy wife; for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name JESUS; for He shall save His people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, Behold, the Virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which, being interpreted, is God with us. Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife, and knew her not till she had brought forth her first-born son; and he called His name JESUS." (Matthew 1:18-25)
God’s Hand was in the process the entire time. God was able to make the impossibility of a Virgin giving Birth a possibility and a reality. God was more than able to handle Joseph’s concerns and worries concerning Mary’s Virgin pregnancy. After God appeared to Joseph in a dream and told him of His Divine Plan for Jesus’ Birth. Joseph then believed what God had said and did what God instructed him.
It never ceases to astound me how the God that could create the universes into being and has everything in the cosmos at His beckoning would take the time to explain His purpose to His People who sincerely wanted to do His Will and His bidding. The fact that God went through such great lengths to ensure that His People were comforted and well-informed of His Divine Plan is one of the many reasons that I believe that the Virgin Birth is a reality. God’s nature is no different today than it was back in Mary’s day. The Bible is full of examples of where God will go out of His way to answer the most heartfelt concerns and questions of those who truly seek His name.
Also consider the awesome power of God. Try and imagine the vastness and greatness of His power that allowed Him to create the universe by merely speaking it into being with His Voice. This is the same power that created man after His own image and through which He breathed life into him. (Genesis 2:7) After considering such power, it is safe to assume that a God Who possesses power of this magnitude could choose to make Himself known by the power of the Holy Spirit through a Virgin.
These are the main reasons that I believe with all of my heart that the Virgin Birth was a reality. These are the reasons that I feel God used to increase my faith and my trust in His Name and the Name of His Only Begotten Son, Jesus.
The next topic that I will discuss is that of the Crucifixion and of the Resurrection of Jesus. We are building on the principle that was established which states that Jesus was fully God because He was God incarnate. We are also building on the fact that Jesus was fully human but without guile due to being born of the Virgin Mary. The Bible gives many instances of Him experiencing human emotions and feelings.
Right before His Crucifixion we see Him plead with God "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me. Yet, not as I will, but as you will." (Matthew 26:39). He made this request not once but *twice*. The second time, He said, “My Father, if it is not possible for this to pass away except I drink it, then let your will be done."(Matthew 26:42). But, then as clearly as we see His Human side suffering at the knowledge of the upcoming Crucifixion, we also see the True Nature of God come through when Jesus states in BOTH instances… “Not my will let Your Will be done.”
Even though His Human part dreaded the agony that so closely awaited Him, we see His Divine God-Nature submit to the upcoming agony because He knew that was what His Divine Purpose was. He knew that if man was to be reconciled with God then His Sacrifice was the only way that this goal would be attained. He loved mankind and His Father so much that He submitted wholeheartedly to the will of God and to the upcoming tortures that He must endure for my sins, for our sins, for the sins of humanity.
No point emphasizes this submissive attitude more than when He states, “Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My Life, that I might take it up again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have the power lay it down, and I have the power to take it again…” (John 10:17-18a) This verse clearly indicates that Jesus had the divine Power to lay down His life….which means that He had a choice to lay down His Life or not to. No man took it from Him but He lay His Life down of His Own accord. Jesus had the power to decide if He would or would not lay down His Own Life.
If He had given in to His human side, then His entire Life would have been worth nothing because we would still be trapped in our eternal prisons of eternal sin and damnation. However, Jesus chose through His Power to not only lay down His Life but to take it up again. He knew that His Sacrifice was the only way that man and God would be reconciled.
We need to fully grasp, understand and comprehend what Jesus did for us. We need to attempt to grasp the vastness that is God’s Love that He loved us enough to allow His Son to come and die for us. We need to understand that the Love of God is what motivated the Virgin Birth so that Jesus could be pure and still be human. We need to understand that it is the Love of God that allowed the seemingly impossible miracle of Jesus having the duality of the Godhead and of a perfect
In order to appreciate the miracle that is the Resurrection, we need to understand the degree of Love that God has for mankind no matter how vile we are and no matter how much we reject, disappoint, and ignore Him. God so loved the world that not only did He allow His Son to come and die for us but He allowed us the privilege to be reconciled to Him if we will just believe in Him and in His Love for us.
After Jesus died on the cross, His Body was taken to a guarded tomb and buried. The death and burial of Jesus is not the end of this tragic story. The third morning after He was buried, the Bible tells us that Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James, went to the tomb to sprinkle spices on the Body of Jesus that had previously been buried. When they arrived they found that not only was the tomb empty but that two angels that testified that Jesus had indeed arose from the dead. “He is not here but is risen.” the angels said. (See John 20:1-7 and Matthew 28:1-8)
This second part of the story of Jesus is TRULY GOOD NEWS for all of mankind. Jesus did not stay dead but rather was bodily raised from the dead by God. He lives and reigns to THIS day, seated by the right hand of the Father.
The subject of Jesus’ Resurrection is, without a doubt, one of the most challenged, disbelieved, questioned, and scrutinized events in human history. Even before the Resurrection officially occurred, its likelihood was being questioned. After Jesus was buried several of the Pharisees and chief priests came before Pilate and requested that a guard be placed at the door of the tomb. The reason they gave Pilate for this request is they were afraid the disciples of Jesus would come by night, steal Him away, and then tell the people that He was risen from the dead. (Matthew 27: 62-66).
For many centuries, history lists innumerable instances that the idea of a “Passover Plot” was instigated by the disciples rather than Jesus actually being resurrected from the dead. Several people who profess to be Christians today are skeptical about Jesus’ Resurrection which is quite odd because the Resurrection, just like the Virgin Birth and the Crucifixion are the truths that Birthed Christianity. How can you claim to be a Christian if you don’t believe the basic truths of the original Christian faith? The very idea is in and of itself a complete contradiction; you cannot claim to be a Christian if you don’t believe ALL of the Biblical truths about Jesus.
I, myself, had fallen into this trap of saying I was a Christian but at the same time I was questioning the very truths that were the essence of my Christian faith. Praise the Lord, that He answered my prayers and showed me without a doubt that His Word is 100% true with no fallacies or lies whatsoever. The Bible is totally consistent from the beginning to the end; no other testament on earth can boast of this complete type of perfection.
Mr. Colson raises a very good argument to support the Resurrection in his book, “The Faith.” In case you are not familiar with Mr. Colson, he is one of the main people who was imprisoned during the Watergate scandal. In prison, he gave His life to God and has lead a successful prison ministry ever since.
He states the following in his book, “My personal experiences in the Watergate scandal convince me of the historic proof of the resurrection. I was charged with being part of the conspiracy to cover up the Watergate break-in. What most Watergate buffs fail to note, however, is that the [Watergate] conspiracy succeeded for more than 3 weeks. It wasn’t until March 21, 1973, that John Dean, the president’s counsel, advised Richard Nixon of precisely what was happening……The conspiracy unraveled soon thereafter…..Think of it, the most powerful men around the president of the United States could not keep a lie for three weeks. And you’d have me believe that the 12 apostles – powerless, persecuted, exiled, many martyred, their leader Peter crucified upside down – these common men, gave their lives for a lie, without ever breathing a word to the contrary? Impossible….People will die for something they believe to be true; but men will never die for something they know to be false. Human nature destroys the idea of the Passover Plot or any cover-up conspiracy.” (3)
Mr. Colson continues by wisely stating, “For two thousand years, the historicity of Christ’s Crucifixion and Resurrection has been challenged on many grounds. But no one has ever produced evidence of the kind that brought President Nixon down- a “smoking gun”, that is evidence that could contradict the biblical account. Is that not evidence of its veracity? Can you think of any other event in history that has been so thoroughly examined, has not been disproved, and yet still some disbelieve it? The consistent eyewitness testimony of the apostles and the earliest believers to the reality of Jesus’ bodily resurrection, given among those hostile to the claims of Jesus, clearly points to the resurrection as a historical reality.” (3)
It was actually Mr. Colson’s testimony that was what finally pushed me from the line of wanting to believe but not being sure over to the side of I completely believe and have no doubts of my Savior’s Birth, Death and Resurrection.
The obvious claim and truth of this blog is that God’s Word is consistent and everything that He wrote in the Word is PERFECT in every shape and form. It only makes sense that if we are to believe in the Virgin Birth, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection that we believe in the Second Coming of our Lord.
Following the Resurrection, Jesus ascended towards heaven in a cloud that hid Him from their sight. As Jesus ascended, 2 angels testified to the Apostles that Jesus would return again to Earth in the same manner with which He left. (Acts 1:9-11)
The I and II Book of Thessalonian contain the following 2 verses which more vividly describe Jesus’ Second Coming:
“But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)
“Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-8)
Christ’s Ascension is ultimate proof of His Victory over Satan and his wickedness.
The Ascension is a “preview, in many senses of God’s ultimate victory, as the angels explain Christ’s ascent into heaven also prophesy that in the same way- in glory and power-Christ will return to Earth. In the ascendant Christ we see what we shall one day be – persons with immortal bodies who are brought into God’s Presence. It has often been remarked that Jesus’ flesh was the first bit of this earth to be fully redeemed. Our own flesh will one day be similarly transformed (I Corinthians 15:53), as will all of creation.” (4)
Praise the Lord for His Enduring Love that He would so “love the world that He sent His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16 – paraphrased).
Thank you for reading and God Bless you and yours. Amen.
Sources:
(1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Birth_of_Jesus
(2) http://anglicanhistory.org/benson/VirginBirth.html
(3) “The Faith” by Charles Colson…page 93
(4) “The Faith” by Charles Colson…page 94
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