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Key Bible Verse: The Lord himself will choose the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child (Isaiah 7:14)! Bonus Reading: Isaiah 7:10-13; 9:1-7

To shore up the shaky faith of Judah's King Ahaz when threatened by Syria and Israel, the prophet Isaiah told him to ask God for a sign, "and make it as difficult as you want." When Ahaz demurred, Isaiah proclaimed a sign only God could perform. Isaiah predicted (in Isaiah 7:14) 700 years before the event that a virgin would give birth to the Messiah.

Isaiah used a Hebrew word, almah, that meant an unmarried woman. In the Old Testament that word always means an unmarried woman—and by inference, a virgin. Isaiah didn't use the Hebrew word bethulah, the usual word for a married woman. Moreover, when Matthew (1:23) quoted Isaiah to explain its fulfillment in the birth of Christ, he used the normal Greek word for virgin (parthenos).

The birth of Jesus was entirely unique. Although born as a human, as the flawless Son of God He was entirely pure, altogether without sin. Only thus could He be the spotless Lamb of God, a pure sacrifice for sin.

Isaiah also said of this child to be born, "A son is given to us." What a generous gift the Father has given us!

—Paul Enns in Approaching God

My Response: "Thank God for his Son—a gift too wonderful for words!" (2 Corinthians 9:15).

Thought to Apply: The virgin birth is far less mind-boggling than the Power of all Creation stooping so low as to become one of us.—MADELEINE L'ENGLE (writer)

Adapted from Approaching God (Kregel, 1991) by permission.

Copyright © 2005 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine. Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Lord, keep my familiarity with the trappings of Christmas from blinding me to its quiet but explosive significance.

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