Evidence of the Impossible at
Christmas
The last month I have been preparing
lots of preaching on Christmas and the incarnation (personification,
manifestation, embodiment are all terms a Thesaurus would match to that).
I have been delighted and
encouraged and awed again by the sheer number of predictions made hundreds, even
thousands of years before Jesus ever lived which are true about him. Many surround the two life moments least in
our control to orchestrate – how we are born and how we die. And everyone of them is a reminder that ‘in
Christ all the fullness of God lives in bodily form’ (Colossians 2:9).
Here are eight prophecies I
have found from the Old Testament, fulfilled in Jesus’ birth (and a ninth I
couldn’t neglect!). Perhaps over the Christmas and New Year period (about nine
days long?) you could spend a day reflecting on each?
1. Jesus will be in the family line of Abraham.
Prophecy: Genesis 12:3.
Fulfilled: Matthew 1:1.
2. Jesus’ mother will be a virgin.
Prophecy: Isaiah 7:14.
Fulfilled: Matthew 1:18–23.
3. Jesus will be a descendent of Isaac and Jacob.
Prophecy: Genesis 17:19 and
Numbers 24:17.
Fulfilled: Matthew 1:2.
4. Jesus will be born in the town Bethlehem.
Prophecy: Micah 5:2.
Fulfilled: Luke 2:1–7.
5. Jesus will come from Egypt.
Prophecy: Hosea 11:1.
Fulfilled: Matthew 2:13–15.
6. Jesus will be a member of the particular tribe of Judah.
Prophecy: Genesis 49:10.
Fulfilled: Luke 3:33.
7. Jesus will be from the lineage of King David.
Prophecy: Jeremiah 23:5.
Fulfilled: Matthew 1:6.
8. Jesus’ birth will be accompanied with great suffering and
sorrow.
Prophecy: Jeremiah 31:15.
Fulfilled: Matthew 2:16.
9. Jesus will live a perfect life, be murdered by crucifixion,
resurrect from death, ascend into heaven, and sit at the right hand of God in
supreme power.
Prophecies: Psalm 22:16; Psalm
16:10; Isaiah 53:10–11; Psalm 68:18; Psalm 110:1.
Fulfilled: 1 Peter 2:21–22;
Luke 23:33; Acts 2:25–32; Acts 1:9; Hebrews 1:3.
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