Christmas Day – 2011

THE FIRST CHRISTMAS IN PROPHECY

Introduction

They were a mixed bunch, the writers of the Bible. Men like Moses, Isaiah, Solomon, Paul, John and Peter. But while it is true that these and many other faithful servants were the writers, it was God who moved and guided them so that the very words they wrote were the words he wanted written. Thus we can say with confidence, God is the author of the Bible. And the Bible itself testifies that it is not a mixture of God’s teachings and man’s teachings. For example we read, “All Scripture is God-breathed…” (2 Timothy 3:16). Yes, all of the Bible is God’s Word.

But it is not by our own reason or strength that we believe this. It is the Holy Spirit who works this faith in our hearts as he leads us to love and trust in Jesus as our Savior. We can all sense that things are not right between God and us. Just listen to your conscience for a moment and it testifies to this; so do the troubles and sorrows of life. We carry with us a certain fear of death because it means meeting our Maker for judgment. So there is a gnawing at us to know how we can get right with God, how we can gain his favor. But every answer given apart from the Bible amounts to doing good works in order to have God’s favor. But can our works really be good enough for God? God bluntly tells us, “No!” He tells us that even the best of our works aren’t good enough for him because he is holy and is satisfied with nothing less than complete obedience to his commandments.

This does not mean, however, that God leaves us without any hope of his mercy. Because we can’t make ourselves right with God, he reveals his way of making us right with him. That way is through Jesus and faith in him as our Savior. The Bible makes known to us that Jesus lived a perfect life to give each of us a record of holiness before God. It reveals that Jesus suffered the punishment for all sin as he died on the cross. The Bible tells us that God loves us all in Jesus and forgives all sin for his sake. Only through impenitence and unbelief does a sinner not have God’s love and favor. It is through this good news about Jesus that God works to move the sinner to believe. And it is then that we realize the Bible is, without question, God’s Word.

Yet there is other evidence supporting the claim that God is the author of the Bible. For one, Jesus himself said that the Bible is God’s Word. In addition, there are the prophecies of the Old Testament that have their fulfillment in the New Testament. In fact, a Jewish Christian by the name of Alfred Edersheim counted more than 450 passages in the Old Testament that speak about the promised Savior. Now, whether his findings are correct in every case may be debated, but Christians are in agreement that there are no less than 300 unmistakable prophecies about the promised Savior in the Old Testament. Each one of them finds its fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus as reported to us in the New Testament.

Today, in our Christmas celebration, let us take a look at a few of these prophecies. Then, having heard their fulfillment from the New Testament, let us praise God who has truly kept His Word to send us a Savior!

#28—"Let the Earth now Praise the Lord"

I. The Savior will be born of a virgin

The prophet Isaiah lived some 700 years before Jesus’ birth. Yet, it was the very prophet Isaiah who said that the promised Savior would be born of a virgin. “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). What an amazing prophecy! How often does it happen that a virgin becomes pregnant?

Now, if God were to cause such a miraculous birth, it only reasons that such a child would certainly be very special. And the New Testament reports that Jesus of Nazareth was this special child of promise. His mother was a woman named Mary. She was pledged to be married to a man named Joseph. Now in Jewish culture, a man and woman were pledged to each other for a period of time before the actual consummation of their marriage. But this pledge was much stronger than the engagement period of today. The two were considered husband and wife. However, they did not live together until after the wedding, which means Mary had never had any sexual relations with any man. She was a virgin.

And yet, she was pregnant because of the working of the Holy Spirit. Matthew and Luke report this to us. God has truly kept his Word! Listen to the words of Luke: “In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary…³⁰ But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. ³¹ You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus…³⁴ “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” ³⁵ The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:26-27, 30-31, 34-35).

#61—"Hark, the Herald Angels Sing"

II. The Savior will be the son of David

An especially important prophecy to the Israelite people was the one that said the promised Messiah would be a descendant of King David. Now David, as we know, was Israel’s great king through whom God had worked many blessings for the people. When David was placed on the throne, God told him through the prophet Nathan that he was going to establish his throne forever in the Savior of promise: “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:16). Many years later, it was the prophet Isaiah whom the Lord used to remind his people of this promise. Isaiah would write: “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. ²The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord” (Isaiah 11:1,2).

To understand this prophecy, we need to remember that Jesse was David’s father. We also need to recognize that at the time of Jesus’ conception, the throne of David did not exist. The Romans were in power and the puppet king over the Jews was not a descendant of David. You could say that the throne of David was like a tree that had been cut down. Only a stump remained to give evidence of the throne that once existed. But it is true that sometimes what happens after a tree is cut down is that a shoot comes up from the stump. This is what happened to David’s throne – and the shoot was Jesus.

The New Testament makes it even clearer. The gospel writer Matthew tells us that Joseph, Mary’s husband, was a descendant of David. Now to the Jew, Joseph’s line was the all important one. In their culture every boy raised by a man was considered a son even if he was not begotten by him. So Matthew traces Jesus’ line back to David through Joseph.

But if you are not a Jew, it is Mary’s line that is the important one. It is the gospel writer Luke who traces Mary’s line back to David. Therefore, Jesus could make the rightful claim to the throne of David, even as the angel told Mary he would, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end” (Luke 1:32,33). God has truly kept his Word!

#50—"Once in Royal David's City"

III. The Savior will be born in Bethlehem

When the Savior would be born, God did not reveal. But he did tell Israel where they should look for the Savior to be born. They were directed by the prophet Micah, who also lived some 700 years before Jesus, to look in Bethlehem of Judea. “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times” (Micah 5:2).

Now, Bethlehem in ancient Judah was easily overlooked, even though it had a long and notable history. Benjamin, the son of Jacob, was born near the town. His mother Rachel was buried there. It was there that King David was born. However, Bethlehem was too small to be listed as a clan-city of Judah, so it was looked upon as being unimportant. But not in God’s eyes. In this little village One would be born who would rule over Israel as her spiritual King. The Messiah would be a descendant of king David, but this promised King would have no beginning because his “origins are from of old.”

Jesus is this everlasting King because he is eternal. He was active with the Father and the Holy Spirit at the creation of the world. He came into this world to be our peace. His life and death made peace between us and our God. He came to establish his rule in the hearts of men and lead them, by faith, to his heavenly kingdom.

So it is that we read in Luke chapter 2 that this everlasting King was born in the city of David, and once again see that God has kept his Word: “So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child” (Luke 2:4,5).

#65—"O Little Town of Bethlehem"

IV. The Savior will be true man

God made clear to the Old Testament believers that the Savior would be a true man. Our first parents, Adam and Eve, believed God’s promise that one of their offspring would be the Savior. Next Abraham, the father of believers, was told the Savior would be one of his descendants. And once again God’s Old Testament gospel prophet, Isaiah, prophesied the Savior would be a true man, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given” (Isaiah 9:6).

Yes, again and again the Old Testament Scriptures say the Savior would be a true man. And it was very important for Jesus to be a true man. Only in this way could Jesus unite himself with humankind under the wrath and judgment of God. Only in this way could he identify himself with a world of sinners. If he was going to be able to live a perfect life as our Substitute, he had to be placed under the Law of God even as we are under that Law. Furthermore, if the will of God would be fully and really done, he had to be capable of suffering even as we do in order to receive God’s punishment for sin as our Substitute.

How comforting it is to hear then that God has kept his Word and Jesus came into this world as a true man. We read “While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:6,7).

#54—"Where Shepherds Lately Knelt"

V. The Savior will be true God

As we look at the manger scene in Bethlehem through the pages of the Bible, the emphasis is upon Jesus being true man. But, we don’t want to be ignorant to the fact that at the same time he was true God. And just as it was very important for Jesus to be true man, it was also important for him to be true God. It was necessary for him to be both in order to accomplish our salvation.

Had Jesus been only a man he would have been unable to live a holy life under God’s Law. Had Jesus been no more than a man he would have been unable to offer up on the cross a perfect sacrifice to take away the sin of the world.

So God sent his own Son to be our Savior. As a result, you and I rejoice this day, knowing that we have God’s forgiveness for all our sins, and with forgiveness, eternal life and salvation. Isaiah prophesied clearly that the Savior would be true God as well as true man in the verse we read earlier, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).

The virgin birth too, points to the divine nature of Jesus. When the angel appeared to Joseph to tell him he should take Mary as his wife, he was told that Mary’s son would be called Immanuel, which means, “God with us.”

Then there are the words of fulfillment that ring out from the sky when shepherds heard the angel announcement, and then heard a company of angels join in heavenly song: “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” ¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, ¹⁴“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests” (Luke 2:11-14).

#707 "Peace Came to Earth"

Conclusion

The realization of our sinful condition makes us long for God’s mercy and eternal life. Is there salvation from the damning consequences of sin? Is there forgiveness from a holy God whom we have offended and angered by our sinning? Is God with me with his love and goodness? We want to be sure that God loves us now and will receive us into heaven when we die.

Glory to God in the Highest! From just these few prophecies of the Old Testament and their fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ, as reported to us in the New Testament, we see that God kept his promises to send us a Savior. There can be no question about it: God’s love and favor rest upon all those who believe. We have the forgiveness Jesus earned for us all. An eternal home in heaven awaits us after this brief earthly life. God is with us now with his help and protection to lead us safely there. So, let’s praise the Lord with our lips and our lives! Let all the earth praise the Lord who has truly kept his word! Amen.

Please stand for prayer