Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
- Isaiah 7:14-15
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.”
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
- Luke 1:26-38
Luke 1:27 ”Mary and Joseph were pledged to be married but did not live together as husband and wife. According to Jewish custom, betrothal was a time of engagement that was as binding as marriage. The Law of Moses concerning breaking a pledge of marriage by adultery, rape, fornication, or incest called for death by stoning (Dt 22:23–30). When Mary became pregnant during her betrothal, Joseph decided to divorce her quietly. However, God explained to Joseph in a dream that Mary’s conception was the miracle of the Holy Spirit…”
- Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Ann L. Bowman, Gospels Epistles contributor)
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
- Apostle’s Creed
The Message
These two belief statements go together. Conceived by the Holy Spirit is the mechanism for a virgin to give birth.
For many in the church, they reject the need to have a virginal birth for them to believe Jesus was God. But if all man is born with a sin nature, when conceived in the natural way, then Jesus would have had a sin nature. If He did have a sin nature, He could control it from birth, for He was without sin. Yet, having a sin nature is said to have original sin, thus, Jesus could not be perfect if the birth was anything other than a virgin birth.
I have written before that if the sin nature is transmitted from father to children, both male and female, through RNA (Ribonucleic Acid), then the Holy Spirit providing the conception is a means to bypass that transfer of the sin nature.
I postulate RNA since it is programmable. Adam and Eve had free will, but they were not created with the sin nature. They received that at the Fall of Mankind, thus, God could have programmed RNA at that point without having to alter our DNA. The mechanism is unimportant. The Luke 1 passage above said that Mary would be overshadowed by the Holy Spirit. This gives a strong impression that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, but it does not help us at all at understanding the mechanism – no details at all.
But in that overshadowing, Mary maintains her virginity while a child is conceived in her womb.
And now let us sing.
The following song is the Magnificat. This is sung by the Choir at St. Francis de Sales Parish in Ajax, Ontario, Canada.
Closing Prayer
Dear Lord,
We believe in You. We trust You. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin named Mary. This is important in that Jesus committed no sin. He was human. He had the capacity for sin. But He was not stained by original sin. This means that when He died on the cross, He was the perfect Lamb of God. Hallelujah and praise Your Name.
In Thy name we pray,
Amen
Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory.
Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley 
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