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Christmas Prophecies, Part 1: His Story Written in Advance

by | Jan 3, 2015 | Christmas Prophecies (A Mini-Series), Prophecy

Some years ago during Christmas time, the womenfolk of our Church went to a reasonably distant Departmental store to buy gifts for the widows/orphans/Sunday school children of our Church. When they came back it dawned on one Sister (in faith) namely Sunita Benny that she had forgotten her purse containing many valuables in the parking lot of a huge, busy commercial complex. Praying profusely, the entire “Purchase committee” rushed back to that hustling, bustling area after full one hour (traffic snarls you see) where a unguarded purse has as much chance of remaining unpicked as an ice-cube would have of not melting in a fiery furnace. Hallelujah, they found it safe and secure!

Now, Dear Friends if I were to share this account with an atheist or a rationalist and state that the Christian’s God is a prayer answering one then the atheist/rationalist may attribute her miraculous recovery of the purse to sheer “luck” or “coincidence.” Now consider this…if all the events-in proper sequential order-relating to that dramatic experience in Sister Sunita’s life were documented in a Sacred Book, say 30 years ago…would any rationalist worth his “logical” salt still attribute it to mere luck or coincidence. No way…

In this Series of four parts, aimed at glorifying our “Adonai” (meaning Sovereign) God (Isaiah 6:1-4), I want to highlight some Christmas-related prophecies and their fulfillment on the “First Christmas” which all brings to the fore a simple yet a profound truth that “God is in control of events” in the lives of His precious chosen ones . The Almighty, through His inspired Prophets, foretold the entire Christmas Story lest it be attributed to sheer “fortune” or mere
“coincidence” by some rationalist.

Singular

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14) — a prophecy roughly about 750 years before the birth of Christ-child.

This Prophecy came to pass on the First Christmas. Why the Virgin birth? No one before Jesus or after had been born to a Virgin. As Divinely foreordained spotless, sinless sacrifice for the sins of mankind (Rev 13:8/1 Peter 1:19), Jesus had to be sinless right from His conception onwards. Also as a perfect mediator (1 Tim 2:5-6), He would be a Son of Man (of Mary), representing human interests before the Almighty and as a Son of God (conceived by the Holy Spirit – Luke 1:35), He would represent the interests of the Almighty before men.

Matthew and Luke Gospels carry the wondrous Christmas story. Then again, so as to maintain a “parental balance,” we see the Christmas Story through the “eyes,” so to say, of only Joseph in Matthew’s Gospel (Joseph’s genealogy is given besides we see that angelic visits are confined to him — Matt 1:18-25/2:13-22) and only through the “eyes” of Mary in Luke’s Gospel. The good Doctor Luke (Col 4:13) also narrates the angelic visit to Mary’s humble abode and writes about her miraculous conception (Luke 1:26-38) and later on about her visit to “her relative” Elizabeth (Luke 1:39-56). This leads us to a subject within a subject. Mary’s relationship with Elizabeth (a direct descendent of the First Jewish High Priest Aaron-Luke 1:5) fulfils yet another prophecy that Jesus has to be both a King and a High Priest in His Ministry (Zech 6:12). If His royal lineage can be traced back to King David (Matt 1:1-17), his priestly roots to High Priest Aaron can be established by the fact that His earthly mother Mary was related to Elizabeth. Elizabeth and Mary’s mother may have been own sisters, even while Mary’s father was a Judean from the tribe of David. Is there not an incident of Levitical-Judean marriage in the Scriptures? Yes, the Judean princess Jehosheba was the wife of Jewish High Priest Jehoiada (2 Chro 22:10-12)! Together, they saved the life of young prince Joash, even as his wicked grandmother Athaliah (a type of anti-christ, in the same category of Pharoah of Moses times, Haman et al) was hell-bent on wiping out the Davidic line, from which the Messiah would come.

Ever wondered, why the good Lord got the Christmas narrative from Mary’s perspective written down in Luke’s Gospel only and not in any of the other Gospels? If at all, there could have been any person who could have logically objected to a virgin birth, it would have been a doctor and who was Mr. Luke? A Doctor (Col 4:13) ladies and gentlemen!  Any one still around, doubting the miraculous virgin conception and birth…

Prayer: Father, not only we thank Thee for Your Inspired Word, we thank Thee also for revealing some “mysteries” of it from time to time. We glorify you in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Suresh Manoharan
An unworthy servant
J and SM Ministries 

(To access the entire “Christmas Prophecies” mini-series, please click here.)

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