The SWORD OF THE LORD Newspaper December 13, 2019 | Page 3

December 13, 2019
SWORD OF THE LORD
The Virgin Birth
Oswald J. Smith
“Joseph…took unto him his wife:
Was Jesus Christ born of a virgin?
What say the Scriptures?
And knew her not till she had
brought forth her firstborn son:
“To the law and to the testimony: if
and
he called his name JESUS” (vs.
they speak not according to this word, it
25).
How clear! How plain! Such
is because there is no light in them.”—
language cannot be misunderstood.
Isa. 8:20.
The Bible certainly intends us to
The Scriptures Affirm That He understand that Jesus was virgin
born.
Was Born of a Virgin
When Gabriel said to Mary, “Thou
“Behold, a virgin shall be with child,
shalt
conceive in thy womb, and
and shall bring forth a son, and they
bring
forth a son,” amazed, she
shall call his name Emmanuel, which
responded,
“How shall this be,
being interpreted is, God with us.”—
seeing
I
know
not a man?”
Matt. 1:23.
“The Holy Ghost shall come upon
This prediction given by God thee,” answered Gabriel, “and the
through Isaiah is quoted by power of the Highest shall over -
Matthew in connection with the shadow thee: therefore also that
birth of Jesus Christ. He was born holy thing which shall be born of
of a virgin.
thee shall be called the Son of
“And Jacob begat Joseph the God” (Luke 1:31–35).
husband of Mary, of whom was born
And now let us turn to Luke 3:23:
Jesus, who is called Christ.”—Vs. 16. “And Jesus himself began to be
about thirty years of age, being (as
Note, if you will, the change in
was supposed) the son of Joseph.”
expression. All the others “begat,”
but it does not say that Joseph Note, if you will, the words “as
“begat” Jesus. It is now “Joseph was supposed,” for these words
the husband of Mary, of whom are in the text.
He was not the son of Joseph,
was born Jesus.”
even
though among his friends and
“Before they came together
[Mary and Joseph], she was found neighbors it was generally supposed
with child” (vs.18). But how did that He was. He was the son of
she get that way? Joseph, knowing Mary and the Son of God. He was
that he was not responsible, wanted born of a virgin.
In Genesis 3:15, Jesus Christ is
“to put her away” and not let her
spoken of as the Seed of the
suffer publicly.
But God spoke to him in a dream woman; and in Galatians 4:4, Paul
and told him to marry her, for, said writes that “God sent forth his
the angel, “that which is conceived Son, made of a woman.” Strange,
in her is of the Holy Ghost” (vss. is it not, that He should always be
18–20). And in describing her spoken of as the woman’s Seed if
predicament, Matthew says that He was the Seed of the man as
“she was found with child of the well as the woman? But the Bible
Holy Ghost”—not of some Roman makes no mistake. He was “made
soldier, but “of the Holy Ghost.” of a woman,” but not of man.
John says, “The Word was made
Jesus Christ did not have a human
father. He was not born of natural flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we
beheld his glory, the glory as of
conception.
Editor’s Notes
■ Continued from p 2■
Although Laurel is a smaller town
(population about 4,000), Seaford
(population about 8,000) is only
ten minutes to the north of them
and Salisbury, Maryland (population
about 30,000) is only about fifteen
miles to the south of them.
Brother White always has a good
group of his people with him at
the National Sword of the Lord
Conference. He told me how much
that had helped their church.
At Sunday school he mentioned
that they had been blessed by the
ad they have in the Sword of the
Lord. He pointed out four families
in the auditorium Bible class who
came to the church because they
saw the ad. He mentioned one
other man who also came but is
now in Heaven. That is five families!
Amen!
Their Christian school is strong
and has the facilities packed out
each school day.
Brother White is a solid funda -
mental man with a commitment
to doing things right. He is leading
the church to be that kind of
church.
I taught the auditorium Bible
class and preached morning and
evening. Even though it was
Thanksgiving weekend and it was
an overcast, dark, dreary and wet
day, we had a tremendous time all
day long. Praise the Lord for three
precious people that they baptized
on Sunday night.
On Monday morning Brother
White and I met for breakfast
before I headed home.
Now if you come to southern
Delaware or to Maryland’s eastern
shore, you’ll want to come to
Bayview Baptist Church of Laurel
for a visit.
Year-End Giving; Privilege
and Priority
It is a privilege to give as much
as we possibly can to the Lord’s
work. In addition to our basic min -
imum, the tithe, some of us have
found joy in doing even more.
Each year as December comes,
we are aware that the year is quickly
wrapping up. It is the time when
we should check our giving and
see if we can do more before the
year is done.
Often our giving will have the
effect of reducing our income tax
burden. So whatever giving we do
for the 2019 tax year must be done
by midnight of December 31. If
you mail it, it must be postmarked
by that time to be counted in this
year.
Whether you can give a little or
a lot, I want to encourage you to do
what you can. It will help a great
deal and you will be a blessing as
you give.
the only begotten of the Father,)
full of grace and truth” (1:14). And
Paul speaks of “God…manifest in
the flesh” (I Tim. 3:16).
If Joseph was His father, then
the Word (Jesus Christ) was not
made flesh; nor is it true that He
dwelt among us. And certainly He
was not the only begotten Son of
God. And on no account could
He have been “God…manifest in
the flesh.” If He had a human
father, He was man and not God.
Hence, according to both John
and Paul, He was virgin born.
No Earthly Father
Strange, is it not, that Scripture
makes no reference to an earthly
father? Not one of the writers of
the New Testament—Matthew,
Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter,
James, Jude—not one of them
even hints at human fatherhood
in the birth of Christ. Surely if He
had been born of man, one of
them would have said something
about it. But they are silent, every
last one of them.
Moreover, Jesus Himself never
called Joseph or any other man
His father. He spoke of Mary, His
mother, but never of Joseph, His
father. Whenever He referred to
His Father, He spoke of God.
Again and again He said that God
was His Father.
No Sinful Nature
If Joseph was the father of Jesus,
then He inherited sin just like the
rest of us and hence needed a
Savior Himself. He had to be sinless
in order to be the Savior of the
world. And to be sinless He had to
be virgin born. If not, then others,
though sinful, can save and He is
not the unique Savior that He claims
to be.
No Word From Mary
Jesus claimed to be the Son of
God. For that He was to die. His
mother, above all others, knew
whether or not His claim was true.
Soul-Winning Training for
Pastors and Key Leaders,
March 5–6, 2020,
Westminster, Maryland
Some of you have been asking
and you have been waiting, so we
have scheduled a Soul Winners’
Club training time for March 5–6
in Westminster, Maryland.
Dr. Belcher and I will be assisted
by Dr. Ray Shutt, the soul-winning
director at Church of the Open
Door. We will start at 1:00 p.m. on
Thursday and finish by 3:00 p.m.
on Friday.
This is a very detailed, compre -
hensive look at our tried and
long-since-proven program for
training soul winners in the local
church.
If you will let us help you, we
will not only teach you; we will train
you to be a soul winner and we
will train you to train soul winners.
These sessions we will conduct
March 5–6 are for the pastor and
a few key leaders. What we do
these two days will prepare you
and equip you with the tools you
need successfully to train people
in your church.
There are many wrong or unsuc -
cessful ways to do this, but there
are only a few right and successful
ways.
If you want to get your church
out of its status quo, then register
now and come see us at the Church
3
She knew the facts regarding His
conception. Mary could not have
forgotten. She knew perfectly well
whether or not He had a human
father.
And yet she remained silent.
Think of it—His own mother, when
just a word from her lips would
have saved Him! And, oh, how
eagerly she would have spoken
that word had it been possible,
even though through shame she
had kept the awful secret to
herself for more than thirty-three
years.
Ah, yes, in that fearful crisis
hour Mary would have confessed
had she been guilty, as any mother
would, in order to save her son.
She of all women would have told
them that He had not been born
of the Holy Ghost, but that Joseph
or some other man was His father.
But not a word did she utter.
She let them nail Him, her son,
to a cross. She saw and felt His
sufferings. She listened to His
heartrending cry.
No Evidence to Disprove His
Virgin Birth
No stone has been left unturned.
Every effort that diabolical ingenuity
could devise has been used to
disprove the virgin birth. Infidels,
agnostics, atheists and unbelievers
all down the centuries have tried
to discount it, but in vain. How
quickly the scribes and Pharisees,
the priests and others would have
produced the evidence if they
could have.
How eagerly would the enemies
of the early church have exploded
it if it was indeed only a theory, a
superstitious belief. All they had
to do was to compel Mary to
confess her sin. All that was
necessary was to find the man.
But this they could not do, for there
was no man. Jesus was virgin born.
❚
I Wish You
a Merry
Christmas
On this Christmas we bring
you good tidings of great joy:
pardon for all sin, comfort
for all trouble, and life for the
dead. Shall we now take this
Christ into our hearts?
The time is passing. This is
the closing of the year. How
the time speeds by! Put your
hand on your heart—one, two,
three. Three times less it will
beat.
Life is passing like gazelles
over the plain. Sorrows hover
like petrels over the sea. Death
swoops like a vulture from
the mountains. Misery rolls
up to our ears like waves.
Heavenly songs fall to us like
stars.
I
wish
you
a
merry
Christmas, not with worldly
dispensations, but merry with
gospel gladness; merry with
pardoned sin; merry with
hope of reunion in the skies
with all your loved ones who
have preceded you.
In that grandest and best
sense, a merry Christmas!
—T. DeWitt Talmage
of the Open Door in Westminster, aggravate the arthritic issues in
her back.
Maryland on March 5–6.
There are no registration fees,
but it would be helpful if you
would call the Sword of the Lord
(800-247-9673), ask for Marie Frala
(ext. 266) and let us know you are
Merry
coming. That will help us be fully
Christmas
prepared for everybody.
Call anytime!
This and That
In preparation for Thanksgiving,
I purchased 100 copies of my new
Thanksgiving booklet and in a
week’s time, I have given them all
away.
For Christmas I bought 150 of
my booklets to give away here in
Murfreesboro. A number of them
went in my Christmas bags that I
prepare for the folks who serve us
all year (restaurants, etc.).
We do either a breakfast or lunch
once a quarter to celebrate our
Sword staff who have birthdays
during those three months. On
November 19 we had a soup and
salad lunch. Several people brought
their favorite recipe, so we had
eight different kinds of soup. These
times of food and fellowship are
good times with our team.
Betty continues to have issues
with her back and with her right
knee. During recent weeks she has
spent a lot of time in the recliner
and unable to do much else. The
colder weather always seems to
Along with our workers here at
the Sword of the Lord, Betty and
I want to extend our very best
wishes to you and your family.
Christmas is a totally unique and
very special time. It is a time to
recognize, honor and herald the
Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. We
hope and pray that God’s people
all across the world will make
their celebration to be focused on
Christ.
So from our house and our heart
to you—have a blessed, beautiful,
sweet, exciting, joyful, safe and
Merry Christmas! Amen!
• • • • •
God bless you. Keep on keeping
on and do let us hear from you.