Luke 1:35

THE VIRGIN BIRTH

‘That which is to be born shall be called holy, the Son of God.’

Luke 1:35 (R.V.).

The doctrine of the Virgin Birth is based on historical evidence, which, when calmly and dispassionately considered, will be found by every fair and reasonable mind to impart almost irresistible conviction. Have we not the declaration of one of the Apostles of Jesus Christ, and an appeal to prophecy? Have we not also a full and circumstantial statement of one who, though not an Apostle, was a companion of St. Paul, a physician—(this should not be overlooked)—and one who made it his especial duty to collect from eye-witnesses and ministers of the Word the carefully traced-out narrative that bears the name of the Gospel according to Luke? The argument for the truth of all the circumstances related by Luke has been worked out, with a fullness and care which must carry conviction to any heart that had not been prejudiced and pre-occupied against acceptance of the supernatural.

I. The main features of the narrative could only have come from the Blessed Virgin Mary herself, either directly to the carefully inquiring Evangelist, or to some one to whom the Blessed Virgin had related them, and by whom they had been communicated to Luke. And what a consideration this is! Could she, whom all generations shall call blessed unto the very end of time, could she have been in any way mistaken? Such a question in its mildest form is painful; in any other form it is to any one bearing the name of a Christian unthinkable. It is thus through the Blessed Virgin herself that the full revelation has been made to mankind.

II. If the Evangelist had only received the recital of the facts indirectly, the some one who had communicated them could hardly have been other than one of the earliest believers, and most probably one of the Apostles. For we are expressly told that Mary was with the small holy company that, after the Lord’s Ascension, joined the Apostles in the upper room and continued steadfastly with them in prayer. Would not those earliest days have been days of holy reminiscence, and, in that holy retrospect, could it have been possible that the Annunciation, and all the circumstances it involved, were not dwelt upon when the mother of our Lord was present, who alone could tell the mysterious history of the angel visit, and all in the fullness of time that followed?

III. The silence of other parts of Scripture.—May it not further be said, as accounting for the silence in other parts of Scripture (except in Matthew) as to any of the details of the Incarnation, that such things would sink into the very souls of those who heard them, and remain there, deep and eternal truths, which, as we may well believe, would never have been likely to form a part of their general teaching. The Resurrection was the standing witness of the truth of the Incarnation; and Christ and the Resurrection formed the outward and general teaching of the first preachers of the Gospel.

—Bishop Ellicott.

(SECOND OUTLINE)

THE INCARNATION AND BROTHERHOOD

I. The importance of the doctrine.—If God took such especial pains to make us quite sure that the Son of Mary was also God and the Son of God, we may be sure that it is especially important that we should get a thorough hold upon the fact. Have you really thought out what it means?

(a) Before Christ came, a man might say, God knows my trials. After Christ, a man must say, God has felt my trials.

(b) This is the Gospel:—this fact that God became man, and lived through all your life, hallowing each stage and portion of it, so that you, if you will but walk hand in hand with Him through every part of it, may feel that you have a guide Who not only knows, but has trodden its every step before you.

(c) No one ever comes to love his Saviour who does not strive with all his heart to realise his Saviour. You cannot love what you do not realise.

II. In the Incarnation we see how we are to look out upon all the world of struggling and suffering, aye, and sinning men and women around us. Let the men and women round us be what else they may, they are all this—viz., brethren and sisters of Christ, the Son of God—yearned over, loved and cared for by Him Who now sitteth on the right hand of God, but Who, not so very long ago, was Himself suffering in the flesh for them and for their redemption.

Illustration

‘Not only was it prophesied of in the Old Testament, but, now that the fullness of the time was come, God once more announces His intention, and sends His Angel to inform the Blessed Virgin of it. It is noticeable throughout all Holy Scripture how God takes care to prepare the way for all His more startling and extraordinary actions. He gives notice, beforehand, what His purpose is. Therefore, when God would work His one greatest marvel of all—when God intends His Son to be born into the world as a man, and to be a man among men, the real son of a Jewish maiden—He does once more the same thing that He had done so often before, and sends word, beforehand, of His purpose.’