The Green Pastures

Have you ever had a Christmas gift you were sure you were going to get? You may have found out you were getting it well before opening it, but you were still happy when you did. I believe that is a small picture of how we should look at Jesus and His coming. He revealed anywhere from 70 to 400 prophecies about His coming. We won’t be looking at all of them, but I did want to point out a couple and show the greatness surrounding the birth of Christ. 

Prophecies Fulfilled

“Then a Shoot (the Messiah) will spring from the stock of Jesse [David’s father]” Isaiah 11:1a

Isaiah has a lot of the most well known prophecies in the Bible, especially on the coming of the Messiah. As we see in Matthew 1, the line of Abraham and David is very important in the story of the Bible. Abraham has the second most chapters devoted to him in Genesis as we follow his journey. Then we get to Boaz and Ruth, who have their own book of the Bible. As we go on, we get to David and Solomon, maybe the two biggest names in the Old Testament for their reigns as kings and their tragic failures. Even with their failures, God still promises to have the Son of God be born in their line. 

“But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah; From you One shall come forth for me to be Ruler in Israel,” Micah 5:2a

This might be my favorite of the prophecies on Jesus’ birth. The fact that God chooses the little town of Bethlehem to send the all-powerful Savior of the world; it is an amazing show of the humility of Jesus’ life. As this verse says, Bethlehem is too small be a clan of Judah, yet out of it will come the One to rule and save all. You see this in movies all the time – the young hero coming from humble beginnings. The reason for that is because God is telling the greatest story. So, everyone attempting to write the best story, it makes sense they wind up mimicking Jesus’ story. 

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Listen carefully, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will call his name Immanuel (God with us).” Isaiah 7: 14

On top of the rest of the story, the birth of Jesus itself is a massive miracle. Before, and even after, a virgin birth would be thought as impossible, rightfully so. Yet it was written 700 plus years before it took place. That is something only God could do: to say the impossible and then do it. Not only was it an impressive miracle, but it was necessary. The stain of sin has been in humanity since Adam. Jesus needed to be fully man while also fully God. With the virgin birth, that was so.

The Promised Messiah

Then He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you, everything which has been written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Luke 24:44

The Old Testament is often overlooked for the New Testament. The thing about the Old Testament that should intrigue everyone is that the New Testament is built on the Old. It constantly references Old Testament verses and builds on the same themes. I heard a story from a missionary in which he talked about how he and a group went to a village and acted out the Bible from beginning to end. His main point was that each time they introduced a male figure, the people in the village thought he was the promised Messiah. I thought that as so profound, because for many, they come into the Bible with a pre-existing knowledge of Jesus. However, to a first time reader, it would look like Abraham or David or even Solomon could be the promised Messiah. I mean, David was this great king and a man after God’s own heart. Yet, his failure and infamous sin with Bathsheba would disqualify him. Then we see that God promises His Son will come from the line of David. So when the direct son of David, Solomon, comes, I would guess there were a handful of people that thought that with all his wisdom and wealth, Solomon would be the promised Messiah. As the cycle goes, we see he has his own struggles, which disqualify him. Roughly 1,000 years after them, the true promised one comes. He is not born into royalty like Solomon or expected to be the Messiah, but He was perfect throughout His entire life to be a fit sacrifice. Praise God that He would send Him for us.

The Author Inside the Page

“Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He explained and interpreted for them the things referring to Himself in all the scriptures.” Luke 24:27

This story is one of the coolest stories in the Bible in my opinion. This is Jesus after His resurrection, showing everyday people how everything in the Bible was about Him. What better Bible study leader is there than the very author of the Bible. To have Jesus, the writer, breakdown the story, is an incredible gift. It reminds me of one of my favorite Christmas songs called “Arrival”. In its last section, it says things like “The author climbed inside the page”, “The architect inside the plan”, and “The playwright took the stage”. I think it captures the awe of Christmas. That the one who wrote it all, the one who set it all into place, would come down in great humility into what He made, for the saving of the world. It’s the greatest gift of all time. “Arrival” goes on to say, “all hail the infinite infant God”, “all hail the divine in a manger”. Celebrate and worship the infinite, divine, infant God that came to save us all.