“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son …”
(Isa 7:14, NKJV)
We seldom contemplate the implications of Christ being born of a virgin. In Matt 1:24-25 we read that from the point where Joseph heard that Mary had conceived a child when the Holy Spirit came over her, till after the birth of Jesus, he did not have sex with her. (This did change later, averse to how the Roman Catholic theology would have it, as we read of the (half-) brothers and sisters of Jesus in Matt 12:46; 13:55-56 and Mark 6:3.)
Which means that Mary was a virgin up until the birth of Christ, at which point her hymen was torn.
According to medical science the woman’s hymen, as the man’s foreskin, has very little practical function within the body. Both of these are however loaded with practical significance, and it might be suggested that God equipped man with these parts as part of the principle that the natural precedes the spiritual (1 Cor 15:46). Although not much prominence is given to the hymen, its symbolic meaning is inherently similar to that of the foreskin, which plays an absolutely primary role in the symbolic signs of the relationship between man and God. For all eternity God’s desire was to know and be known. The word know (Greek ginosko) means sexual intimacy/sex. Thus Jesus states in John 17:3 –“And this is eternal life, that they may know You …” Those who had not intimately walked with him are answered with “I do not know you” (Matt 25:12; Luke 13:27).
The foreskin as well as the hymen both “cover” the gates of intimacy. As almost all elements in the Old Covenant point towards certain spiritual significance in the New Covenant (1 Cor 10:6), it is also very relevant that God removed the veil when the covenant was made – the ritual removal of the foreskin (and by symbolic implication also the hymen) made intimacy between God and man possible by removing the veil of ignorance, lack of faith, of corrupted understanding (Tit 1:15), and lack of knowledge. Thus Peter states in 1 Pet 1:13 – “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind” and Paul prays in Eph 1:18 for the enlightening of “the eyes of your understanding”
Mary’s hymen points to all of this. Jesus forcing his way through the hymen of his mother also has clear parallels to his tearing of the veil of the temple, that act which according to Heb 10:20 opened a new living way for all of mankind. When that “veil … woven of blue, purple and scarlet thread” (Ex 26:31) of Mary’s was prototypically torn, it was in fact the “covering veil” which was removed from the true arc of the covenant, Jesus! (See Num 4:5.) Sela!
And so the locked gate of the garden of Eden, guarded by cherubs, was opened (Gen 3:24; Ex 26:31) and could fallen mankind again see the Tree of Life (Gen 2:9; 3:24; Rev 2:7; 22:2 & 14) – Jesus!
- Sela: Come to an understanding of the meaning of Eden within Scripture. Pray about Ezek 36:35.
- Read: 2 Chr 10; Job 8; Rev 12
- Memorise: Rev 12:11
- For a deeper understanding: Uncover the symbolic meaning of this teaching in 2 Chr 10.
