MIRACLE BIRTHS IN PROPHECY
“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: 23).
*********************************************************************
For centuries, the world waited for a Savior. When He finally came, the world at large knew Him not. Even the Jews
to whom the oracles of God have been entrusted with do not believe that He had already come. They are still waiting
for His eventual appearance even unto this day.
The whole Christian world also believes that the prophets of old spoke of a miraculous birth that a Messiah
was to be born of a virgin. “The government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful,
Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace "(Isaiah 9: 6).
“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given” (Isaiah 9:6). Behind this simple statement of the prophet
Isaiah lays a message reflecting the depth and unsearchable wisdom of God. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are higher than the Earth, so are My ways higher
than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55: 8-9).
The preceding paragraphs are not that long but very meaningful in context. It calls our attention to a
prophesied Messiah who was to be born both Son of man and Son of God. It focuses both on Christ's humanity and
deity. It affirms man's impotence compared to God's omnipotence. It reminds us of a Son born in Bethlehem who has
a beginning in the frame of time and the Word who has no beginning of days. In Him, God stepped down off His
throne and entered the arena of human affairs to deal once and for all the issue of sin.
As the scripture says, “The first man is of the Earth, earthy: the second man is of the Lord, from Heaven. As
the earthy, such are they also earthy, and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have
borne the image of the earthy, we shall also borne the image of the heavenly” (1 Corinthians 15: 17-19).
The story of the miraculous birth of Jesus summarizes also the purpose of His first coming to die a sacrificial
Lamb for the sins of the world and His final return together with the thousands of His saints to establish order by
asserting His divine power and authority and rule this God defying, wicked world with a rod of iron.
It all began when His human mother Mary was espoused to Joseph. On one occasion, the angel Gabriel
appeared and said unto her, “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women” (Luke
1: 28). Mary was greatly troubled, “What manner of salutation is this?” Fear engulfs her.
“Behold thou shalt conceived in thy womb, and bring forth a Son, the messenger continued, and shalt call His
name JESUS for He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the highest and the Lord God shall give unto Him
the throne of David. And He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever and of His kingdom there shall be no end”
( Luke 1: 31-33}.
All these things happened before their marriage. When Joseph came to know that Mary was with Child the
world around him came crashing down. Everything in his life has been going on so well. He was engaged to the girl
of his dream. They both shared in planning for a bright and rosy future. Mary for all that he knew was never tainted
with any color of immorality. How could this happen to us? How can I face the people around Nazareth?
There was darkness in and out of Joseph. The future no longer looks bright and rosy anymore. But Joseph
being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example was minded to put her away privily. No woman has
he ever loved like Mary before. He didn't want her to suffer public disgrace and humiliation for her supposed sin. He
feared what others will do to her once she is up in months and her condition revealed.
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, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name JESUS: For He shall save His people from their sins”
(Matthew 1:18-21).
And as foretold “But thou Bethlehem Ephraiah, though thou be little among the thousands in Judah, yet out
of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel” (Micah 5:2). And all these and many other things
spoken of by God through the mouths of His holy prophets concerning Christ, came to pass.
Another miraculous birth recorded in the Holy Scripture is that of John the Baptist. John the Baptist was not
born of a virgin but his birth was also a miracle. He was born before Christ but was primarily sent to prepare the way
of the Lord.
There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias of the house of Abia and
his wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God,
walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. And they had no child, because that
Elizabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years (Luke 1: 5-13).
And it came to pass that while Zacharias was performing his duties as priest in the temple that an angel of
the Lord appeared unto him with a message. When Zacharias saw the angel and heard the announcement, fear fell
upon him. But the angel said unto him, “Fear not Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard and thy wife Elizabeth shall bear
thee a son and thou shall call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness and many shall rejoice at his birth,
for he shall be great in the sight of the Lord and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink and he shall be filled with
the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb” (Luke 1: 8-25).
Zacharias found it hard to believe the heavenly messenger's pronouncement. He and his wife are now up in
years and it would be humanly impossible for them to bear a son. “Behold, because thou believe not My word, you
shall be dumb and shall not be able to speak until the day when all these things shall be fulfilled in their season. And
the people waited for Zacharias, and marveled that he tarried so long in the temple and when he came out, he could
not speak unto them and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple for he beckoned unto them and
remained speechless until the day that John was born” (Luke 1: 20-22). The father of "the voice" lost his voice
because of his unbelief.
"And thou child shall be called the prophet of the Highest for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to
prepare His ways. To give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins, to give light to them
that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace. And the child grew and waxed
strong in spirit and was in the desert till the day of his showing unto Israel” (Luke 1:76-81).
The greatest man born of a woman came from the lineage of priests. He began his solitary ministry, preaching
repentance as a prerequisite to baptism. He opened the eyes of the people to the priceless lessons of biblical truths that
have been overshadowed by the revered traditions of the elders. He boldly declared and confronted the ugliness of
sin at its face value without regard to who so ever will be hurt.
He pointed out to the people that he was merely a voice of one crying in the wilderness. He said, “ I indeed
baptize you with water unto repentance, but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy
to bear, He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit, and with fire. (Matthew 3: 11-12}. He likewise, referred to Christ
as our sin bearer "the Lamb of God and bridegroom" to be (John1:29).
And John the Baptist did preach to the people many other things. He openly rebuked King Herod, the most
powerful man in Judea for immorality calling his attention to all other evils that he had done and warned him and
the people of the certainty of the coming judgment from heaven. For his zealousness in carrying out his calling of
preaching the plain truth of the Holy Scripture he earned the wrath of the rebellious people around him. Thus, King
Herod, to silence him for good, put him in prison.
Now the herculean task of his ministry lay in ruins. The world around him caved in. With his movement
limited to and reduced within the four walls of his prison cell, depression begun to take its tool. He recalled to
memory that he personally baptized Christ in the Jordan River. On this occasion, he also saw with his own eyes the
Holy Spirit descending from heaven like a dove abiding upon Him. He even heard the voice of God saying, "This
is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3: 16 -17).
But now he began to doubt. Had he been wrong? Is Jesus really the Messiah? With these questions in his
mind he sought the help of some friends and sent them to Jesus for his straight forward answer."Art thou He that is
to come or do we look for another"? (Matthew 11: 3).
In essence this was simply what Christ told the messenger of John the Baptist. "Tell John that the blind can
now see, the deaf can now hear, the lame can now walk, the lepers are now cleansed, the dead are raise back to life
and the poor have the gospel preached to them"(Matthew 11:5). Tell John that I have raised My hands in victory
against all the infirmities of men. Tell him I shall conquer them all, even death"!
When John the Baptist heard the good news from his friends, their message comforted him no less. But the
preacher of revival finally reached the end of his rope. John the Baptist had denounced publicly Herod's illicit relation
to Herodias. For John the Baptist had said, "It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife"( Mark 6:18 ) The
anger and hatred of Herodias to John chills her to the bones no end and find a way to get rid of him.
During the occasion of Herod's birthday, the celebrant invited prominent people in high places, the rich and
the men of high rank in uniform. The best of food and drinks in the land were served till the wee hours of the night.
And In one of those unexpected numbers that brought the house down was the dance of Salome, step daughter
of Herod. Everybody was extremely happy and in high spirit. It pleased King Herod and his visitors so much that the
king was prompted to offer an extraordinary gift to Salome. He said, "Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt and I will give
it thee. And he swear unto her whatsoever thou shalt ask of me I will give it thee, even half of my kingdom" (Mark
6:22-23).
When Herodias knew of the commitment made by King Herod to her daughter she took it as an opportunity
to settle once and for all the old score that had caused her so much pain and sleepless nights. She advised her daughter
to ask for the head of John. And the king was deeply sorry for what he had said because he knew that John the Baptist
was a just and a holy man. But for his oath sake and for the sake of his visitors who have heard the conversation, he
complied. John the Baptist was beheaded in prison and his head placed in a charge rand given to Salome as a gift.
And so, John the Baptist, whom Christ exalted above all other prophets met his end. When the disciples heard
the bad news, they came and took up the body and laid it in a tomb (Mark 6:29).
The story of their miraculous birth, Christ and John the Baptist, goes beyond the parameters of sound human
reason, even falling out of the circumferential domain of irrefutable scientific discoveries. It is a myth, they would
say. It just simply cannot be true. For how can a child be born without going through the natural course of human
reproduction? It is a fantastic assertion that would require a miracle to come true. Sure enough, it was a miracle
made possible only by the Divine power of a sovereign God. ☜
Romeo Samudio