Day 195, or July 14. A virgin shall conceive. Our thoughts today come from Isaiah 7 verse
14. Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign. The virgin will conceive and give
birth to a son, and will call him Emmanuel. First the big picture surrounding this verse.
There are two Hebrew words used in the Old Testament which may be translated virgin or
unmarried female. However, in the New Testament there is only one Greek word which means virgin,
and that is the one used when this passage from Isaiah is quoted in the gospels of Matthew
and Luke. Very early in his prophecy, after his commissioning by God, Isaiah tells King
Ahaz of Judah, who was far from being a godly king, that God will give him a sign. A virgin
will conceive and give birth to a son who will be called Emmanuel. Isn't it just like
God to be gracious even to those who don't obey Him? All of this good news came amidst
the groaning of doom-laden prophecies to many godless nations around Judah. It also coincided
with the scattering of the northern tribes by the invading Assyrians.
And now our action step for today. I'm sure you have heard about the story that was initially
circulated in German technical universities in the 1930s. Supposedly during dinner a biologist
asked an aerodynamics expert about insect flight. The aerodynamicist did a few calculations
and found that, according to the accepted theory of the day, bumblebees didn't generate
enough lift to fly. These findings have been quoted ad nauseam ever since. In a similar
way today many people reject the virgin birth because it just can't happen according to
the laws of biology. What we forget is that the laws of science are simply mankind's
way of explaining what is around us and are regularly updated in the light of new discoveries.
The temptation of denying anything that cannot be scientifically proven is a dangerous path
to tread. There are times when trusting by faith is the best option, especially when
you're trusting in God.