offer Him to sinful men as Saviour! He can be your greatest example o f manhood, or character, but the motive power for righteousness under such teaching must stem from within human nature itself. How great the contrast between the Jesus proclaimed by liberalism and the Christ whom Paul preached! He wrote: “God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of a.ngels, preached unto Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory” (1 Timothy 3:16). It does matter whether your Christ is the figment of modern thought or the Christ of the New Testament! Take your choice! L ET u s weigh some of the evidence for belief in the j literal Virgin Birth of Christ. We will bring the witnesses, one by one, before the bar o f human judgment and conscience, and let them give their testimony. Our first witness is Moses who wrote his record a mil lennium and a half before the star hung over Bethlehem’s manger and the angels of God expressed their hallelujahs of praise on the plains of Bethlehem. Moses records the promise given to the original ethnic pair from whom have come all the races of mankind: “ I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed” (Genesis 3:15). This wee phrase, her seed, suggests a birth contrary to natural laws of biogenesis. Moses claimed to be a prophet of God. Christ, in His time, referred to Moses as a great prophet, and declared that Moses fore told Christ’s coming into the world: “ Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of [for] me” (John 5:46 cp. Deut. 18:15). How did Moses know that the Promised One was to come into the world in an unusual manner? Did God whisper that truth to him? Our next witness, David, King of Israel, lived a thou sand years before Christ. In one of the Psalms, David wrote, “ Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me” (Heb. 10:5 cp. Psa. 40:6). Old Testament sacrifices were inadequate, David affirmed, and then foretold divine activity in the preparation of a body for Him who was to become the perfect sacrifice for sin. If Christ were to come into the world by the natural laws of generation, why should David the prophet so speak? Why should the writer of the Hebrews epistle call attention to this important fulfillment of Old Testa ment prophecy concerning the body of Christ? The only reasonable explanation is that something out of the natural order was predicted concerning the body of Christ. We call yet another witness, Isaiah the prophet. In the eighth century before Christ, he wrote, “ the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isa. 7:14). Careful study of this passage indicates that the sign was to be given not only to Ahaz, the then reigning king of Israel, but to Israel as a nation for all time. The word translated virgin is alma which some affirm is descrip tive merely of a young woman of marriageable age. Hebrew scholars tell us that this word alma is used in six other places in the Old Testament: Genesis 24:32, Exodus 2:8, Psalm 68:26, Proverbs 13:19, Song of Solomon 1:3, and 6:8. In the first passage it is very evidently used to refer to an unmarried virgin. Another word bethulah, which many translate virgin is used in Joel 1:8 to describe a bride weeping for her husband. Further, Matthew refers to this particular prophecy of Isaiah, in which the word alma is used, and writes: “all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken o f the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us” (Matt. 1:22, 23). Mat thew understood Isaiah to mean virgin in the sense of un- Page Ten
married, not a young woman of marriageable age or pos sibly married. Matthew further indicates this with the word, “ Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise” (Matt. 1:18). Isaiah’s testimony is convincing in its clarity. Yet one more witness of Old Testament times waits to be heard. It is Jeremiah, the prophet, who wrote, “ The Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man” (Jer. 31:22). Words could not be more plain. Jeremiah was confessedly not speaking o f birth by natural laws, but of something new, something fresh from the hands of the Creator. We must therefore add the testimony of Jeremiah to the accumulating evidence that Scripture declares Christ was virgin-born. Our first New Testament witness is Matthew, whose corroboration of Isaiah’s prophecy has already been con sidered. He takes the witness stand as a man out of the business world who became a disciple of Christ. In four clear statements he declares the Virgin Birth of Christ: “now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise” (Matt. 1 :18 ); “when as his mother Mary was espoused [engaged] to Joseph” (Matt. 1 :18 ); “ before they came together, she was found with child” (Matt. 1 :18 ); “ this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child” (Matt. 1:22, 23). Matthew makes clear the distinction between betrothal and marriage under Jewish customs. Of this, Edersheim says, “ From that moment (betrothal) Mary was the be trothed wife o f Joseph; their relationship as sacred as if they had already been wedded. Any breach of it would be treated as adultery; nor could the bond be dissolved except, as after marriage, by regular divorce. Yet months might intervene between the betrothal and marriage” (Life and Times of the Messiah, Vol. I, page 150). Matthew states that before the actual marriage had been consummated, Mary was with child. We face only two alternatives: either Mary’s child was illegitimate, or virgin-born! Which do Christians believe? The testimony of a physician is always o f importance in a case such as this. Dr. Luke, the Gentile physician, has given us a very carefully detailed account o f the evidences surrounding the Virgin Birth of Christ. In five statements, he summarizes his testimony: in “ a declaration o f those things most surely believed among us” (1 :1 ); delivered “ unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses” (1 :2 ); “ having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first” (1 :3 ); “ that thou mightest know the certainty of those things” (1 :4 ). The fifth and final statement by Dr. Luke contains six historical facts which have been tested for accuracy: “ in the days of Herod” (1 :5 ); “king of Judaea” ; “ a certain priest named Zacharias” (1 :5 ); “ of the course of Abia” (1 :5 ); “ there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed” (2 :1 ); “ and this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria” (2 :2 ). Dr. Luke testifies out of personal association with the facts concerning the life of Christ, and refers further to secular and religious records to pinpoint the Lime of Christ’s birth on the chart of time. This is not the method of one who is dealing in myths! Physicians have a way of learning facts. And Dr. Luke frankly affirms the Virgin Birth of Christ in the most carefully detailed account in the New Testament. See Luke 1:25-35. At this point, we are interested in the objection so often heard today that if the Virgin Birth of Christ were factual, (Continued on Page 27) T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
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