The Hope of Christmas springs forth from the virginal conception. The virginal conception (virgin birth) explains how God the Son adds to Himself a human nature, how the word became flesh. Simply stated, Mary conceived Jesus by the Holy Spirit apart from the cooperation of man. It means that Mary was a virgin when Jesus was born.
How the virgin conception, resulting in the virgin birth, came about is found in Matthew and Luke: “before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 1:19); “for the child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 1:20); “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means “God with us”’ (Matt. 1:22-23); “he kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a son” (Matt. 1:25); in Luke 1:27, Mary is called a “virgin” twice; and in Mary’s own question in Luke 1:34, “How can this be since I am a virgin?” Mary receives her answer in the next verse: “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.”
The virginal conception was the triune God’s supernatural means by which God the Son added to himself a human nature. The result is that in Jesus we truly meet God in full glory. It is essential because through it, God purposed to accomplish in Jesus Christ the nature, purpose, and significance of His work of salvation. “The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.” At the heart of Christianity and the gospel is the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Apart from the “Word becoming flesh” (John 1:14) and the incarnate Son of God living and dying in our place as our Savior, there is no salvation. Here is no hope for the world.
Jesus had to be fully human and truly sinless to be our perfect substitute and accomplish God’s work of salvation. Without the incarnation there is no death and resurrection for sin. Without Christmas there is no Easter! When the sinner puts his faith in Christ’s death and resurrection alone, he can be assured that God has accomplished in Christ, exclusively and sufficiently, all that the sinner needs for forgiveness. This is what God purposed (but not all!) through the incarnation which took place by the glorious and supernatural means of the virginal conception. This is the hope from Christmas