Christmas Foretold

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I’ve read a number of good books this year, but the only one worth reading every day is THE Good Book, so I make no apologies for ‘reviewing’ the Christmas story this month.

For me, one of the wonders of Christmas is contemplating the prophetic signs given by God 700 years before the birth of Jesus, to help people recognise him as the promised Messiah. I find this prophetic aspect of the Bible one of many compelling reasons to trust Scripture as the divinely inspired Word of God.

Perhaps the most famous is Isaiah 7: 14, ‘Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel [God with us].’ At Christmas, we read in Luke’s gospel how the angel Gabriel visited Mary to announce that she would bear a son. Understandably, she was confused,

 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on 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… For no word from God will ever fail.” Luke 1: 34 – 37

Another of Isaiah’s signs is that Messiah will come from Galilee:

‘in the future he will honour Galilee of the Gentiles, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—

2 The people walking in darkness
    have seen a great light;

For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given…’ Isaiah 9: 1, 2, 6

We see this fulfilled as Luke tells us, ‘God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee…’ Luke 1: 26. But now we have a conundrum. Another prophet, Micah, tells us Jesus will come from Bethlehem, 70 miles from Galilee.

“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

How can both prophecies come true? Well, God can move mountains, or in this case, the administration of the mighty Roman empire, to satisfy his promises.

‘In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world…  3 And everyone went to their own town to register. 4 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.’ Luke 2: 1-4

At first glance, a tedious historical detail, this is crucial evidence of the fulfilment of God’s signs. The Messiah would be from both Galilee and Bethlehem. Why? To show us that the Messiah came for both Jews and Gentiles – Nazareth was in ‘Galilee of the Gentiles’ and Bethlehem was the ‘town of David,’ whose reign was the zenith of Israel’s history. Jesus the Messiah came for all people, which in turn fulfils a much older promise, given to Abraham when God first called him, circa 1800BC,

“I will make you into a great nation,
    and I will bless you…
and all peoples on earth
    will be blessed through you.” Genesis 12: 2, 3

So this Christmas, may God bless you as we celebrate the birth of his Son, Jesus, for  

‘Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.’ Luke 2: 11