Question:

Why did God choose to deliver His only begotten through a virgin when He
has the ability to use another way, for example turn a rock into Jesus
Christ?

Answer:

It is always tricky to answer “why” questions about God when he has not
answered the question for himself. This requires an educated guess at
best, or speculation at worst. God did not answer this question directly,
but I believe he did answer the question indirectly. The answer goes back
to God?s plan, as revealed through prophecy in the Old Testament. The
first passage which is relevant to the birth of the Messiah is all the way
back in Genesis 3:14-16. This is widely considered the first of the
messianic prophecies. “So the Lord said to the serpent, ?Because you have
done this, Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild
animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days
of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between
your offspring and hers, he will crush your head, and you will strike his
heel.?” This statement is most likely a prophecy that the Messiah will be
an offspring (a direct descendant) of Eve. Satan will strike Messiah?s
heel (Jesus will be killed), but the Messiah will crush Satan.

A more direct prophecy which is relevant to the birth of Jesus from Mary
is found in Genesis in the promises to Abraham. “All the nations of the
earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:3) “Abraham will surely
become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on hearth will be
blessed through him.” (Genesis 18:18) “And through your offspring all
nations on earth will be blessed because you have obeyed me.” (Genesis
22:18). As Paul points out in Galatians 3:15-18, the word offspring in
Genesis 22:18 is in the singular. It is a single “offspring” of Abraham
through whom God was to send salvation to the entire earth. That son, of
course, was Jesus Christ. From these passages, we see God prophesied that
because of the faith of Abraham, the Lord chose to demonstrate that
salvation is by faith, not works, because God blessed the world through a
direct descendant of Abraham. Thus, the Messiah had to be born of a
Hebrew woman. There are a number of other clear prophecies of the Messiah
which demonstrate that Messiah would be born through a direct descendant
of David. Isaiah 9:1-7 has the Messiah reigning on David?s throne.
Isaiah 7:1 has Messiah born of a virgin. Isaiah 11:1,2 tells us that the
Messiah will “come up from the stump of Jesse.” Jesse was the father of
David. Another relevant passage is 2 Samuel 7:12-16 in which God
proclaims to David, “I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who
will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom? I will be
his father and he will be my son? Your house and your kingdom will endure
forever before me; your throne will be established forever. Again, the
one through whom God is to bless the entire world is to be a descendant of
David. Micah 5:2 tells us that Messiah is to be from Bethlehem, the
birthplace of David and the home of Mary. Jeremiah 23:5 tells us that the
Messiah is to be a “branch” of David. All these passages prove that it
was God?s plan all along to bring the Messiah into the world through a
direct descendant of Abraham, through David.

This brings me back to your original question. Why did God decide to send
the Messiah through a virgin? I believe that in the bottom line, it was
because God wanted to teach us that salvation is by faith. This message
comes through Abraham, who had a son Isaac by faith and through Mary, who
had a son by faith. The message is that salvation is from God, it is by
promise on God?s part and by faith on our part.

John Oakes, PhD