How do we rationalize the virgin birth of Jesus? Obviously it is a miracle. But how could it be done? Mary really went through all the stages of pregnancy. She physically travailed and gave birth. For those who say a virgin birth is physically and scientifically impossible, Luke remarks that “nothing will be impossible with God.”
Here is the virgin birth account as recorded by Matthew:
20 But while [Joseph] thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.” 22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” 24 Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, 25 and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name JESUS.
Matthew 1:20-25 NKJV
If we can believe that God made the universe out of nothing, then we can certainly believe that He can manipulate the building blocks of our universe according to His understanding of them.
For anyone here who is a Star Wars fan, I’m going to make a parallel example to help make this virgin birth real in your mind.
Anakin Skywalker, who later became Darth Vader, was prophesied to be the Chosen One of the Jedi order, and bring balance to the Force. Now what gives a Jedi their powers is their midi-chlorian count in their cells.
Midi-chlorians were intelligent microscopic life-forms that lived inside the cells of all living things in Star Wars. When Midi-chlorians became present in high numbers, they could allow their host to detect the energy field known as the Force.
Midi-chlorian counts were directly linked to your strength in using the Force, ranging from normal Human levels of 2,500 per cell to the much higher levels of a Jedi. The highest known midi-chlorian count was over 20,000 per cell—belonged to the Jedi, Anakin Skywalker, who would later become Darth Vadar.
Now there is a scene in Star Wars where the adult Anakin and Palpatine are talking.
And Palpatine tells Anakin about the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the wise.
Darth Plagueis the wise was a Dark Lord of the Sith, so powerful and so wise he could use the Force to influence the midi-chlorians to create life. Darth Plagueis had such a knowledge of the Force that he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying. He could actually save people from death.
Now Darth Plagueis used the Force in unlawful ways, which is called the dark side of the force. But the interesting thing to note in this science fiction story is how they described how a person could have enough knowledge of the Force, so as to even influence the midi-chlorians to create life.
In other words, a person with enough knowledge could use the Force to influence the midi-chlorians to produce a virgin birth, which was how Anakin was born.
The same would most certainly be true for God, creator of the universe and author of life. Who has perfect knowledge and perfect understanding of the life forces that animates us with life, and keeps our hearts pumping with life-supporting blood.
And so when the angel of the Lord told Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you”, God could, in a sense, influence the midi-chlorians to create new life inside the womb of Mary. And He could direct the Spirit of the very Person of God to be inside that Holy Child.
And such a work, which to us appears as a miracle, For God, is all orderly and in accordance to his knowledge of how the Universe works, which is far above our current understanding.
So God, with his complete understanding of the laws of the universe, could most certainly influence the life forces and the building blocks of our universe to create new life inside of Mary, without an earthly father.
That’s why Luke writes:
37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.
Luke 1:37 KJV
Leave a Reply