The Foretelling of Christ
“Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel”. Isaiah 7:14
I do not understand why folks can’t believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior when so many prophecies were given about Him in the Old Testament scriptures. Of course, many people say that they don’t read the Bible and, thus, are fairly ignorant about the word of God. But that’s on them. People think that the Bible says things that it really doesn’t say, but then they say they don’t believe what it does say. Many folks celebrate Christmas as a time to be a little friendlier and a little more generous than the rest of the year. They spend money they don’t have to buy gifts for others because that is the tradition of Christmas. Traditions have become scripture to some people.
Scripture gives us much foretelling of the birth of Christ. Every one of those prophecies concerning Jesus’ coming to earth as a Baby has come true. The above verse foretold that the one to carry Jesus for nine months and deliver Him at the appointed time was a virgin. Some folks don’t believe this because, humanly speaking, this is impossible. Even Mary questioned her ability to carry a child when she had never had sexual relations with a man. However, nothing is impossible if God ordains it. Some folks believe that Mary was born without sin and remained a virgin all of her life. However, Jesus is the only One who was and is sinless. Mary had other children after Jesus was born. He was called her “firstborn” son (Matthew 1:25), thus there were other sons who came along after Him. Scripture also tells us that Jesus had sisters (Matthew 13:55-56). Some say that these other siblings were children that Joseph already had, and I suppose that could be true, but I don’t think that God would choose a man to be Jesus’ earthly father if he had other wives besides Mary.
Micah 5:2 foretold that Jesus, ruler of Israel, would be born in Bethlehem, even though this city was a small city among all the cities of Judah. One might expect a King to be born in the largest and most populated city, but that is not how God planned for His Son to enter the world. The very first indication of our Savior was in Genesis 3:15 when God told Satan that One would eventually come who would crush his head. Jeremiah 23:5 foretells of the time when God would provide a Descendant of King David, calling Christ a “Righteous Branch and a King” who would eventually reign and prosper, executing judgment and justice in the earth. In studying the lineage of Christ, we know that both Mary, His birth mother and Joseph, His adopted earthly father, were both descendants of King David (Matthew 1:5-16 and Luke 3:23-31. Heli (v. 23) is Mary’s father, Joseph’s father-in-law.)
When Mary visited her cousin, Elisabeth, who was six months along in her miracle pregnancy with the forerunner of Christ, John the Baptist, the unborn baby leaped in Elisabeth’s womb when he heard the sound of Mary’s voice. Even an unborn baby foretold of the birth of the Savior by his joy of the presence of the King. As an adult, John was the one who told everyone that a Savior was coming.
Many folks sing about the virgin birth, about Bethlehem, about how the angels sang to the shepherds, about the wise men who brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and about that silent and holy night, yet it is only a story to them. They do their Christmas thing once a year, and the rest of the year never give Jesus a second thought. But not everyone. There are many who not only celebrate His birth, but acknowledge His real reason for coming to earth, to suffer and die so that men and women can have the opportunity of knowing Him in a real and personal way and spend eternity with Him, praising and worshiping Him forever.