It's been said that a person could live for forty days without food, three days without water, and eight minutes without air—but not a single second without hope.

Jesus' birth provided the world with hope because of what He would do.

The birth of Christ was predicted seven hundred years before it happened, in Isaiah 7:14: "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel."

Many organized belief systems have sacred texts that they regard as scripture, but they're all missing the same thing: fulfilled prophecy. They have no detailed predictions to create a track record of accuracy. But the Bible has tons of it.

There are hundreds of Old Testament prophecies of Jesus. The prophet Micah predicted He would be born in Bethlehem 720 years before the fact. Other prophets said He would come from Galilee, and that He would be called out of Egypt. All these predictions were fulfilled.

One of the prophetic signs was that "The virgin shall conceive." The angel told Joseph, "For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 1:20). Jesus Christ is the only person who's ever been born without the contribution of a male. The virgin birth is unique—singular. It had never happened before, and it will never happen again. It was a miraculous sign.

Isaiah 9:6 says, "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given…. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." This child born miraculously of a virgin was the Son of God. He is human because Mary bore Him. He is God because He was conceived by the Holy Spirit.

Why is the virgin birth so important? Some people say you don't have to believe in the virgin birth. I would say, "Yes, you do." Without the virgin birth, there's no hope because that would mean Jesus was born like everybody else.

And if Jesus was born just like everybody else, then He's not God. If He's not God, His claims are lies because He said He was God. And if His claims are lies, salvation is a hoax because Scripture says that the virgin-born Son of God would come and die for our sin and rise from the grave.

This is the virgin birth. This is the God-man. As man, He's the perfect representative of us. As God, He's the perfect sacrifice for us.

Think of it this way: On the cross, Jesus took the hand of God the Father with one hand, and with the other, He took the hand of humanity. He brought them together, reconciling them over His own dead body. Now the two that were distant can be one. Now there can be relationship and fellowship.

This is the Child who was sent to save us. This is the holy, virgin-born Son of God. Immanuel, God with us.

"O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!"