It may seem odd to start the New Year with a devotional thought on Virgin Birth. Should this not be reserved for Christmas? Yet, our very salvation in Christ depends on the Virgin Birth! So, consider this word for your heart and mind to be of vital importance as we begin the New Year!

We celebrate Christmas and the virgin birth without thinking through the ramifications. Let us carefully consider this. For our redemption to be complete, only a sinless human being could suffice as a sacrifice for atonement. The reality is that for humanity to avoid the eternal state of death, “The race needs a redeemer, but cannot itself produce one: not by its own decision or desire, not by the processes of education and civilization, not as a precipitate of its own evolution. The redeemer must come from outside” (Donald Macleod, The Person of Christ: Contours of Christian Theology, Page 37). “Why?” you may ask. Because someone who is in prison for a crime cannot offer