When I was candidating for a position as pastor, on evening was given over to a time for questions and answers. One of the questions was "Do you believe in the Virgin Birth?" Pause for a moment and consider. Why that question. No one asked if I believed that Jesus turned water into wine. No one asked if I believed the accounts of the three men Jesus raised from the dead. No one asked about any of the miraculous events in the Bible. Except this one. Why is the Virgin Birth so important?

Pause also and consider these words from the interpreter's dictionary of the Bible. "Some theologians use the term virgin birth even though they think Jesus was or may have been conceived through sexual intercourse; for them the term is a symbol for expressing the divine element in Jesus."(Supplement, p.940). Why is the virgin birth so important that those who do not believe in it would redefine the meanings of the words in order to claim to believe something they don't? Such theologians are playing word games. Their theology is false. They believe the bibles false. And by twisting the words in such a way they show themselves to be false. Better that they should stand up and admit they do not believe in the virgin birth.

The great creeds did not say "I believe in the virgin birth." They said I believe Jesus was "born of the virgin Mary." Jesus did not spring forth from some "virgin." He had a particular mother who had a special story to tell. When the gospels were written many people who had known Mary were still alive. It is not impossible that Mary herself saw some of the early versions from which Luke took his account. Mary was the only one there when the angel Gabriel told her that she would conceive and bear a son. The story of this event could only have come from her. She reported her response, "How can this be since I am a virgin?" Since we hear little of Joseph during the ministry of Jesus we assume that by the time Jesus was thirty years old, Mary was a widow. If that is true, the account of Joseph's encounter with the angel would also have come from her. Joseph would have told of how he considered quietly divorcing her. He would have told of the angel's reassurance, "do not fear to take Mary your wife for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit."

The accounts we have had to come from those most closely involved in the actual event, Mary and Joseph. And they agree on one thing, Mary and Joseph had not come together in sexual union. These were two godly people. Joseph is called a just man. The angel says that Mary had "found favor with God." These two people showed themselves as obedient to God. They were not yet fully married. They would not have consummated that marriage ahead of time. They were waiting. Joseph had no union with Mary until after Jesus was born.

We need to remember another thing. These were not "city folk." Anyone who claims that the people of Bible times could believe the story of the virgin birth because they did not have our modern scientific knowledge has to be from the city. Most urban dweller learn the "facts of life" by being told or by reading of them. Country folk see the wonderful miracle of life each day. They know how conception happens and what is necessary for it to occur. Mary herself asked, "How can this be since I am a virgin?" She knew what it took to have a child and she knew it had not been done. These two people were so well grounded in the facts of life that each needed an angelic visitation to convince them of what was to take place. they needed to be brought to understand that this was something special.

Jesus was, we are told, "Conceived of the Holy Spirit." Gabriel told Mary, "The Holy Spirit wil come over you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy and the Son of God." Joseph was told, "That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit." And the angle also reminded Joseph of the prophecy, "A virgin will conceive and bear a son and his name shall be called Emmanuel - God with us."

Here we begin to see why this miracle is unlike any other. When Lazarus was raised from the dead it did not effect his very nature. He was still a man, though a man who had gone through a special situation. When people came to Jesus to be healed it did not change their nature, they were still people. Some have even pointed out that when Jesus turned water into wine he simply sped up a process we see here in the Napa valley as the fields are watered, the grapes grow and the wine is made. But in the birth of Jesus we find some things that go to the very heart of who Jesus is. Jesus is the Son of God. He had no earthly father, his father, in every sense of the word, was God. His cousin, John the Baptist was filed with the Holy Spirit three months before he was born. But Jesus was of the Holy Spirit from conception. He was conceived as the Son of God. He is "the only-begotten Son of god."

This brings us back to why this is one question put to the candidate for pastor. to deny the virgin birth is to deny the nature of Jesus. Jesus came as Emmanuel - "God with Us." He is god bursting in upon human history in a particular way and in a particular time and place. He came for a purpose, "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself." No one has seen God, but his only begotten Son has made him known to us. And he came to save us from our sins. His ability to be who he was and do what he did was tied up in the manner of his conception and birth.

The angel had something to say to Mary which we also need to hear, "with God nothing is impossible." Those who say the virgin birth could not take place are saying that this is untrue. They say that some things are impossible for God. throughout history, God's people have needed to be reminded of God's power. When God told Abraham that in the next year Sarah would bear a son, Sarah laughed. She was ninety years old, how could she bear a son. God asked her, "I anything to hard for the Lord?" And she bore the promised son." Mary's relative, Elizabeth, had passed the age of childbearing, but God promised her a son who would be named John. And she conceived a son. The angel held her up to Mary as an example of god's power. The word for us here is "All things are possible to him who believes."

Do you face an impossible situation? Hear the message of God, "Nothing is impossible when you put your trust in God." Do you have a vision of some great work you could do for God? Again the promise is "Nothing is impossible, only believe." The key though is faith and obedience to God. It is only as we submit to him that we tap into his power. You can not insist on going your own way and having God's power work for you. If you ignore his commandments you will not see his power. If you say "later." you will not se his power. God wants to work in you today.

Of course, the greatest miracle is forgiveness of sin and new life in Jesus. Some may think they are beyond hope. To them we have this message of power, "Nothing is impossible with God. No one is beyond his reach, in Christ.