“Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)
Isaiah prophesied about Jesus. There are from 200 to 400 prophecies in the Old Testament about Jesus. And Jesus fulfilled every one of them. In this Scripture, Isaiah prophesies that nothing is too difficult for the Lord. Ahaz was being besieged by Syria and Israel. The outcome didn’t look good for Judah. But God tells Isaiah to tell Ahaz: “And say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither be fainthearted for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin with Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.” (Isaiah 7:4) God asks Ahaz to ask for a sign, but Ahaz not wanting to tempt the Lord refuses so God Himself gives him a sign to show that He will do what looks to be impossible. And the sign is something that is inconceivable. It’s something that cannot happen ever, except God does it. A virgin will conceive. And as impossible that it would happen, Judah would prevail.
Here on earth the sign God gave Ahaz was impossible. God is the God of the impossible. What is impossible in our lives, is possible with God. Our salvation from this sinful world was impossible. There was no means by which we could be saved. There was and is nothing for payment for sin. Sin is death. Sin is so great a trespass against God, no amount of gold, even all of it on earth could not be payment enough for our sins. There is no sacrifice we could make. Even if we sacrificed our very life, it could never remove the stain of death because we are born defiled with sin, with the nature of Adam. The devil had deceived Eve and Adam sinned. Now all born from them are born with that sin nature. We could not help but sin. It was our nature. And we could not escape it.
But God... God Who does the impossible, sent His only begotten Son, born of a virgin. (John 3:16) “Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins. Now all 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, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. (Matthew 1:19-23)
This baby was born to be the pure and holy sacrifice that man needed to be freed from the bondage to sin. He was not tainted with man’s sin because He was born of God by the Holy Spirit. “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as His mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.” (Matthew 1:18) His sacrifice God could accept for sin. He would be the lamb sacrificed for man’s sin, a perfect, innocent, pure and holy sacrifice. So pure and so holy was this sacrifice that it paid for all sin, past, present and future of all that would believe and receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, those before Him, those with Him and those to come.
Therein is the clue to man’s understanding of our salvation. We must be born of God to be acceptable as His child. And Jesus made that possible. Like Nicodemus we find it hard to understand how we can be reborn of God. This is the point where many get lost in their understanding. We must die. Of course, God already knows who will die with Jesus at the cross. He knows all things past, present and future. “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” (Romans 6:6) Jesus took our old sinful man to the cross with Him and we died there so we could be reborn of God. That is what baptism symbolizes. And just as Jesus arose from the dead, all who believe arise a new person, born of God, with a spirit that is pure and holy. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13)
Who could do this? Only our God. When the rich young ruler couldn’t depart from his riches and accomplishments to follow Jesus, Jesus explains that it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the rich to be saved. (Luke 18:25) The disciples of Jesus wondered. Who then can be saved? If this young rich ruler who had followed the law, accomplished so much in his life and had accumulated many riches couldn’t be saved, who then could obtain salvation? If this young ruler who had done everything right couldn’t be saved, who could be saved? Jesus’ answer tells it all. “And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved? And He said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” (Luke 18:26-27) God Who does the impossible can save man. And Jesus whose conception was impossible did the impossible for us. He redeemed us. He saved us. He paid the price for sin and took death for us so that we could be free from the bondage of sin and death and so that we could be reborn of God.
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