Isaiah had prophesied that a virgin would conceive and bear a son. Immanuel means, “God with us,” which is why Jesus was born. Jesus was born to Mary, a virgin, because he was born of the Father in heaven. He could not have been born of “the seed of man” and be completely holy, completely God.

The Lord, through Isaiah, told his people what to look for in their Messiah. He said they would be given a “sign” that would indicate God had come to be “with them.” That sign would be a miraculous conception. 

Every Christmas we read the verses from Luke that describe the circumstances between the Lord, Mary, and Joseph relating to the conception of Christ. The birth of Christ cannot be understood apart from his miraculous conception. 

People have always struggled to believe what cannot be explained. Christianity requires faith for those who follow. Joseph didn’t believe it either. He received a vision from God so that he would be able to take Mary as his wife, protecting her from unbelief. Elizabeth felt her baby jump in her womb, and her words of encouragement to Mary produced the praise we call her Magnificat (Luke 1:46–55).

Isaiah prophesied that the virgin birth would be a sign from the Lord himself for the coming Messiah, but that truth would be slowly and carefully revealed to the world by the people involved. It would take faith to fully understand and accept the divinity of Christ Jesus. It still does.

Those who need a scientific explanation for the events in Scripture will be disappointed. Those who will only accept the parts of Scripture they can understand will find it difficult  to trust the Christmas story. Those who understand that it is “by grace you have been saved through faith” will be able to accept Jesus as God’s Word in the flesh. Believing the biblical Christmas story requires faith, and the ability to trust God’s ways are higher than our human understanding.

Trusting the virgin birth is simply trusting that God’s ways are higher than our own. Why would we ever think that the holy Son of God would be born in a normal, human way? Jesus was fully God, yet fully man. Nothing about Jesus should be limited to human understanding. Wisdom is understanding that the gift of Jesus is our treasure. Immanuel was, is, and always will be the “miraculous, eternal” gift of Christmas.