Since we are in the Christmas season, I wanted to do a few posts that centered around the birth of Jesus. To start, I wanted to provide some prophesies of Jesus' birth. Many of these prophesies came from the time of Abraham in Genesis. Some (Hosea 11:1) didn't seem like prophesy at the time, but when the Apostles looked back on them, they could see that it was not only a reference to history, but also a prophecy of what was to come.
Below are the prophesies followed by the scripture in which it was fulfilled:
Child of Abraham, would come from the tribe of Judah, and be a descendant of King David
Genesis 22:16-18: "This is what the Lord says: Because you have obeyed Me and have not withheld even your beloved son, I swear by My own Self that I will bless you richly. I will multiply your descendants into countless millions, like the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore. They will conquer their enemies, and through your descendants, all the nations of the earth will be blessed - all because you have obeyed me."
Genesis 49:10: The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from his descendants, until the coming of the one to whom it belongs, the one whom all nations will obey.
Jeremiah 23:5-6: "For the time is coming," says the Lord, "when I will place a righteous Branch on King David's throne. He will be the King who rules with wisdom. He will do what is just and righteous throughout the land. And thus us His name: 'The Lord Is Our Righteousness.' In that day Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety.
The above is fulfilled by Jesus' genealogy as provided in Matthew 1:1-16:
This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of King David and of Abraham.
Abraham was the father of Isaac.
Isaac was the father of Jacob.
Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers.
Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (their mother was Tamar).
Perez was the father of Hezron.
Hezron was the father of Ram.
Ram was the father of Amminadab.
Amminadab was the father of Nahshon.
Nahshon was the father of Salmon.
Salmon was the father of Boaz (his mother was Rahab).
Boaz was the father of Obed (his mother was Ruth).
Obed was the father of Jesse.
Jesse was the father of King David.
David was the father of Solomon (his mother was Bathseba, the widow of Uriah).
Solomon was the father of Abijah.
Abijah was the father of Asaph.
Asaph was the father of Jehoshaphat.
Jehoshaphat was the father of Jehoram.
Jehoram was the father of Uzziah.
Uzziah was the father of Joham.
Joham was the father of Ahaz.
Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah.
Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh.
Manasseh was the father of Amos.
Amos was the father of Josiah.
Josiah was the father of Jehoiachin and his brothers (born at the time of the exile to Babylon).
After the Babylonian exile:
Jehoiachin was the father of Shealtiel.
Shealtiel was the father of Zerubbabel.
Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud.
Abiud was the father of of Eliakim.
Eliakim was the father of Azor.
Azor was the father of Zadok.
Zadok was the father of Akim.
Akim was the father of Eliud.
Eliud was the father of Eleazar.
Eleazar was the father of Matthan.
Matthan was the father of Jacob.
Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.
Mary was the mother of Jesus, who is called the Messiah.
Born of a virgin
Isiah 7:14: All right then, the Lord Himself will choose the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call Him Immanuel - 'God is with us.'
This is again foretold/fulfilled by the angel speaking to Joseph in a dream. At this time, Joseph had learned that Mary was pregnant and had decided to break the engagement quietly, so as not to disgrace Mary publicly. In Matthew 1:23 the angel says: "Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and he will be called Immanuel (meaning, God is with us)."
Jesus would come as a baby
Isiah 9:6-7: For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. And the government will rest on His shoulders. These will be his royal titles: Wonderful Counselor, Might God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His ever expanding, peaceful government will never end. He will rule forever with fairness and justice from the throne of His ancestor David. The passionate commitment of the Lord Almighty will guarantee this.
Luke 2:6-7: And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped Him snugly in strips of cloth and laid Him in a manger because there was no room for them in the village inn.
Born in Bethlehem
Micah 5:1-2: Mobilize! Marshal your troops! The enemy is laying siege to Jeruselem. With a rod they will strike the leader of Israel in the face. But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village in Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you, one whose origins are from the distant past.
This prophesy is fulfilled in Matthew 2:1-2: Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time, some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem asking, "Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We have seen his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him."
Would be given gifts
Psalms 72:10: The western kings of Tarshish and the islands will bring Him tribute. The eastern kings of Sheba and Seba will bring Him gifts.
Fulfilled in Matthew 2:11: They entered the house where the child and his mother, Mary, were, and they fell down before Him and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave Him gifts of gold, frankincense and Myrrh.
Herod's killing of babies is foretold
Jeremiah 31:15: This is what the Lord says: "A cry of anguish is heard in Raman - Mourning and unrestrained weeping. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted - for her children are dead.
Matthew 2:16: Herod was furious when he learned that the wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, because the wise men had told him the star first appeared to them about two years earlier.
Hosea 11:1: When Israel was a child, I loved Him as a Son, and I called me Son out of Egypt.
Hosea 11:1 was originally written as a statement of history, but Matthew used the words to refer to the Messiah.
Matthew 2:14: That night, Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, His mother, and they stayed there until Herod's death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: "I called my Son out of Egypt."
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