Hark the Herald Angels - Part 4

Continuing now our mediation on the song, “Hark the Herald Angels Sing”. Consider with me the lines: Christ the everlasting Lord; Late in time, behold Him come, Offspring of a virgin’s womb.

In John 1 we read, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Later in the same chapter, John writes, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

The Bible teaches that the second person of the trinity, which John calls “the Word”, became flesh. The communication of God somehow was made human. How was that accomplished? Centuries before Christ came, the prophet Isaiah wrote, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” The name Immanuel means “God with us.” So what the prophet foretold was that a virgin would conceive a child and this child would be God living among us.

The virgin conception of Jesus Christ may be one of the most ridiculed propositions of the Christian faith. How can such an event occur? Where do the male chromosomes come from? No species of animal other than some of the most basic forms can produce offspring without a male. These are all valid questions, but they stem from the desire to find a natural explanation for something that is not natural. When Mary was told what would happen, she herself asked how this could be. Christians maintain the truth of the virgin conception of Christ because that is what the Bible teaches. The God set out for us in the Bible is capable of anything. This God created everything there is with the word of His mouth and so it is nothing for him to create a child within a virgin’s womb.

The conception and birth of Jesus, the Son of God, took place at the right time. Galatians 4:4 tells us that “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His son, born of a woman, born under the law.” God has a perfect plan and even though He is outside of time, He is able to work in time to accomplish His purposes. In this case His purpose was to send His only son so that He would ultimately die to pay the sin debt of anyone who would trust Him in faith.