How Could Jesus Have Been Missed?

“Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.  Isaiah 7:14

Do you know anyone who lived before he was born?  If you know Jesus, then you do.  The Old Testament is replete with prophecies concerning Christ, His birth, His life, and His death thus, it makes it difficult to see how anyone familiar with Old Testament prophecies, such as the ancient Jews, could possibly have missed His coming to earth.  But, by and large, they did and so have multitudes of Gentiles.  The writings of Isaiah, Micah, Hosea, David, and Zechariah all foretold the coming of the Messiah.  These writers and many other passages also tell of the second coming of Christ which is yet to occur but will.  The prophecies of His first coming all came to pass, thus, the prophecies of His return will certainly come to pass.

The first time that Jesus is mentioned in scripture is in Genesis 1:26 when God said, “Let US make man in OUR image, after Our likeness…”  The name of Jesus is not found in the Old Testament, but His description is clearly shown.  In Gensis 3;15, Jesus is prophesied as man’s Redeemer and Satan’s destroyer.  This was right after Satan had deceived Eve into partaking of the forbidden fruit.  God cursed Satan and said that He would “put enmity (hatred) between him and the woman, and between his seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel (Genesis 3:14-15).  Satan would bruise the Redeemer’s heel through the crucifixion, but Jesus would crush his head, destroying Satan’s power over man by way of the resurrection.  Thus, we already have two foretellings of Jesus just in the first three chapters of the first book of the Bible.

Jesus, the Messiah, would come through the line of Abraham, the promise which would bless all families of the earth (Genesis 12:3) and continue on through the line of King David.  God told David that He would “establish his seed (descendants) forever and build up his throne to all generations” (Psalm 89:4).  Isaiah foretold the birth of Christ (9:6):  “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government will be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace”.  This prophecy was made about 750 years before Jesus was born to Mary.  Isaiah also foretold that Christ would be born to a virgin (7:14):  “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” which means “God with us”.

The prophet Micah foretold the place where Jesus would be born (5:2):  “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting”.  Hosea wrote of a time after Jesus’ birth when Mary, Joseph, and Jesus would have to flee to Egypt to escape the threats of king Herod who desired to kill Jesus because he was fearful of losing his position and power.  Hosea wrote that Jesus would be called “out of Egypt” to return to Israel (11:1).  The prophet Zechariah foretold of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem riding upon the foal of a donkey before His crucifixion (9:9).

King David wrote in Psalm 22 concerning the crucifixion of Jesus, even quoting one of Jesus’ utterances from the cross over 1,000 years before Jesus was crucified (22:1).  David also foretold how there would be some who would gamble for Jesus’ garments (22:18).  Isaiah prophesied of how Jesus would suffer for the sins of mankind.  He wrote that Jesus “was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed” (53:5).

These are just a few of the prophecies concerning Christ.  There is enough evidence here to convince anyone with an open mind to at least consider that Jesus is who He said He was, the Savior of men and women.  A man or woman on trial in a court of law would be convicted of the accusations made against him or her with much less verifiable evidence.  I am astonished that multitudes still fail to believe in Jesus Christ, the only hope for mankind.  It doesn’t take all of this evidence to convince me that Christ is Lord and Savior for my heart has been changed by the power and mercy of a loving and sovereign God by the Spirit of Christ.  What I want to know is what is everyone else waiting on?  What will it take to wake folks up to the truth of the gospel?