People in Jesus’ time knew just as clearly as we do today that a child needs both a mother and a father in order to be born. Mary knew it also: “‘How will this be,’ Mary asked the angel, ‘since I am a virgin?'” (Luke 1:34).

People in Jesus’ time also knew that only a miracle–a direct act of God–could change this. And that’s exactly what happened when Jesus was born of the virgin Mary! Mary was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph–and when he discovered she was pregnant, he decided he had no choice but to end their engagement. The only conclusion he could draw was that Mary had been unfaithful to him, and had become pregnant by another man.

But God intervened, and an angel told Joseph that God alone was the child’s father. The angel said, “Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20-21).

Jesus Christ was like no one who had ever been born, for He was God in human form, sent from heaven to save us from our sins. Once you understand who Jesus was, the miracle of the virgin birth will no longer trouble you, for you will realize that it points to an even greater miracle: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Is your faith in Him?