Dr. Dan Hayden •
When our first child was born I was not allowed to be in the delivery room. So afterward I said, “Well doc – what is it? A girl or a boy?” The doctor simply peeled back the little blanket and I saw the male organ, and knew it was a boy; and the doctor just smiled.
Some things are true for boys that aren’t true for girls, and one of those things is that males have a Y chromosome. You see, girls have two X chromosomes, so when a woman gives one of her chromosomes to the new baby, it is always an X chromosome. On the other hand, all males have an X and a Y chromosome. It is the Y chromosome that makes them males. So when a man gives one of his chromosome to the new baby, it can be either an X or a Y. If it is an X, then the baby will be a girl. But if it is a Y, then the baby will be a boy. The father always determines the sex of the child.
Now in Isaiah 7:14, when it says “Behold a virgin shall be with child, and bear a son,” it is truly an astounding statement. There is a process called parthenogenesis, where certain female species reproduce without male fertilization. This has even been done with rabbits in a laboratory setting. But the offspring of parthenogenesis in mammals is always female, because there are only X chromosomes. Therefore, if Mary had somehow conceived parthenogenically, she would have had a girl – not a boy.
“…A virgin shall conceive and bear a son,” Isaiah said. Now that’s amazing!
Say – If Mary conceived as a virgin – then God must have done it. There’s no other way!