Intro
When most people hear the word “prophecy”, they think of foretelling the future. And when you flip through the Old Testament, that’s a pretty accurate description of the word. The Old Testament contains hundreds of prophecies. The Messianic prophecies alone number well over 300! And Jesus fulfilled most of them already. The ones about His second coming haven’t been, but we’re getting there. And speaking of prophecies fulfilled by Jesus, what did the prophets foretell of the birth of Jesus? After all, it is Christmas so why not explore some of the prophecies about the birth of the Messiah. I won’t hit all of them, just the ones that are either the most known or else ones I deem the most important. Since I am including so many Scriptures, I’m going to say this once. I took all of the Scripture from the NIV Bible.
Genealogical Prophecies
The Old Testament records several prophecies about the lineage of the Messiah. I’m not even sure I’ve got them all listed here. But here are the major ones.
The People and Prophecies
Abraham
Genesis 22:18, “and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me”. God promised Abraham that He would bless all the world through his offspring. Only the Messiah could fulfill such a calling.
Isaac
Genesis 26:4, “I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed”. Here we see God giving the same promise to Isaac that He did Abraham. This is very important, because we know that Abraham had other children. Everyone knows about Ishmael and how God chose Isaac over Ishmael. However, after the death of Sarah, Abraham took another wife (Keturah), and they had 6 sons together (Genesis 25:1-2). Thus, it was important that God affirm His promise with the one son of Abraham that He desired to bless and had already chosen.
Bonus: One of Abraham and Keturah’s sons (Midian) became the father of the Midianites. Later we see Moses marrying a Midianite woman.
Jacob
Genesis 28:13-14, “There above it stood the Lord, and he said: ‘I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring’”. Here God promises Jacob the same promise He made to his father and grandfather. Not Esau, Jacob’s older brother. Again, this is a very important thing since in those days the eldest child got the blessing and a double portion of the inheritance. But here we see God giving the promise to Jacob.
God had to make the same promise over and over in order to narrow it down for His coming people – the Israelites. That way they could better recognize the Messiah when He finally arrived.
Judah
Genesis 49:10, “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his”. Here in Genesis 49, we see Jacob giving each of his sons a blessing. And these blessings are very prophetic in nature. To Judah, he prophesies that from his lineage will come a ruler that bring all nations to obedience. Jesus’ first coming fulfilled the first part, but the second part is yet to come. And now I will show that fulfillment to you.
Jesse
Isaiah 11:1, “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit”. Centuries later, God spoke through Isaiah to further narrow down the lineage of the Messiah. Here God announces that Jesse would be the forefather of the promised one.
David
2 Samuel 7:12-16, “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever”. God promises David that his kingdom and through will last forever. A very clear reference to coming Messiah. Interestingly, this promise occurs before Isaiah’s prophecy about David’s father. However, not everyone would have necessarily interpreted the promise to David as a Messianic promise. Maybe God’s just saying that his lineage will rule over Israel forever. But in a strictly natural way.
Fulfillment
Abraham Through Judah
Matthew 1:1-3, “This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram“. Right off the bat, Matthew declares that Jesus descends from Abraham – a necessary requirement to be the Messiah. Furthermore, he affirms Jesus’ descent from Issac, Jacob, and Judah. All very important to specify since all these men had other sons. But God specifically promised certain ones that the Messiah would come from them.
Luke 3:23, 33-34, “He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph…the son of Amminadab, the son of Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor”. And comparing to Luke’s genealogy, we see that he too shows that Jesus descends from all these same men.
Jesse Through David
Matthew 1:6, “and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife.”. In order to further demonstrate the validity of Jesus’ claim as Messiah, Matthew continues in his lineage to show that Jesus comes from Jesse. And finally, we have David. Perhaps more than any other forefather, David was most important for Matthew to lay out for his Jewish audience.
Luke 3:3132, “the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon”. As you see here, Luke does the same in his own account.
That’s it. I’m done with the genealogies. I know, they can be kind of boring to read. But the Jews find them important, so we must address it.
And that’s it for the Genealogical Prophecies. God makes no more specific promises to any descendant of David. And as you can see from Matthew and Luke, there are two different ways to reckon Jesus’ lineage from David. This has caused some confusion and skepticism. Now, I don’t claim to know what the correct understanding is here. I have seen differing ideas on the subject and there are two that are most likely which I will briefly mention here.
The Levirate Marriage
In those days, if a man died without having any sons, it was tradition for the man’s brother to marry the widow and have a son who would carry on the deceased man’s name. This is known as a Levirate Marriage. In this viewpoint, Joseph’s legal father – Heli (seen in Matthew) – died without having kids and his brother, Jacob (found in Luke) married his widow and had Joseph. Thus, Matthew records the legal line of Joseph while Luke records the biological line. Now in order for this to work, Melchi (Luke) and Matthan (Matthew) would have had to been married to the same woman to get Heli and Jacob with different lineages back to David. This one is a little complicated, but it does work.
Joseph Vs Mary
The more modern and popular theory is that Matthew and Luke are recording the differing lineages of Jesus’ parents. In this theory, Matthew focuses on Joseph’s lineage – once again the legal lineage because Joseph was Jesus’ legal father. Luke, on the other hand, zeroed in on Mary’s lineage – again the biological lineage. Now, to make this one work, you have to explain why Luke says, “He was the son, it was thought, of Joseph” rather than saying “the son of Mary”. First off, he says “it was thought” thereby pointing out Jesus wasn’t truly the son of Joseph. Furthermore, the language of the day didn’t have a word for “son-in-law” so Luke couldn’t have said “Joseph the son-in-law of Heli”. Though that may have been Luke’s meaning all along. For that was the nature of marriage, you effectively become a child of your spouse’s parents.
Humanity Prophecies
Other prophecies concern the humanity of the Messiah, i.e. he wasn’t going to be some angelic being or a spirit that has no physical form.
Born as a Child
Prophecy
Isaiah 9:6-7, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”. I think most people know this passage. This relates to the humanity prophecies in the simple statement that ‘a child is born’. Indicating that the Messiah would be born human.
Fulfillment
In many ways, the genealogical prophecies I gave earlier demonstrate the fulfillment of this prophecy. One additional passage I’d like to include is Luke 1:31, “You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.”
His Virgin Birth
Isaiah 7:14, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel”. Isaiah declares that the Lord will do something that any sane person would call impossible. A virgin birth. But God is the God of the impossible. After all, He created the whole universe from nothing.
Fulfillment
Luke 1:26-35 contains the longest description of the fulfillment of this prophecy. For brevity’s sake, I’m not including the entire thing. The previous prophecy references Luke 1:31 and Mary responds to the angel with “How can this be since I am a virgin?” (v 34).
Matthew 1:20-25 records the angel telling Joseph that Mary’s conception is of God. And in verse 22 we get a direct quotation of Isaiah’s prophecy. “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). Matthew kindly provides us with a meaning to the name “Immanuel” as well.
Place And Time Prophecies
Born in Bethlehem
Prophecy
Micah 5:2, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times”. Here Micah makes plain that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Nobody disputed this prophecy.
Fulfillment
Matthew 2:1, “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem”. Matthew records Jesus’ birth as occurring in Bethlehem. In fact, in verse 5 when Herod inquires of the scholars where the Messiah was to be born, they quote Micah.
Luke 2:4-7, “So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them”. Luke records that Mary gave birth to Jesus while they stayed in Bethlehem during the census.
Born During the Roman Empire
Prophecy
Daniel 2:40, 44, “Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others….In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.”
Here we see Daniel declare that God will set up a kingdom during the time of the fourth. One that will never fade away or be destroyed. Daniel further elaborates that the first of the kingdoms is the one he writes this, Babylon. So, after Babylon, there will be three more kingdoms – and the Mesiah will come during the third one after Babylon.
Fulfillment
Luke 2:1, “In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world”. Luke records that Jesus’s birth occurred during the Roman occupation of Jewish homeland. And the fourth kingdom recorded by Daniel, was the Roman Empire. We see from the records in the Bible that Persia (the second) followed Babylon (the first). However, that’s where the Bible leaves off until we get to the New Testament and Rome (the fourth). That makes it a bit harder to demonstrate from the Bible alone the fulfillment of this prophecy.
Fortunately, we can see from history outside of the Bible that Jesus came during the fourth kingdom. Daniel lived during the reign of Babylon and Persia. Greece (the third) conquered the Persian Empire. And lastly, Rome overcame Greece to become the fourth kingdom to rule over Jerusalem and the Jewish people.
Called Out of Egypt
Prophecy
Hosea 11:1, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son”. Now this verse has duel meaning here. God regarded Israel as a son, and He brought the Israelites out of their bondage in Egypt. So, what Hosea spoke here had a historical fact tied to it. However, there’s also a hidden Messianic prophecy here.
Fulfillment
Matthew 2:14-15, “So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Out of Egypt I called my son’”. Here in Matthew, we see that Joseph took Mary and Jesus to Egypt to escape Herod’s wrath. In addition, we see that Matthew connects that with Hosea 11:1. Few probably caught Hosea 11:1 as a Messianic prophecy until after Matthew made the connection.
The Prophecy of the Innocent
Prophecy
Jeremiah 31:15, “This is what the Lord says: ‘A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more’”. Jeremiah records a rather sad sounding prophecy. This idea of mourning and weeping because of the children.
Fulfillment
Matthew 2:16, “When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi”. If you continue reading, you find that Matthew quotes Jeremiah’s prophecy saying that this act fulfilled it.
Probability
During my quick research into prophecies about the Messiah’s birth, I found an interesting article about the probability of someone fulfilling 8 Messianic prophecies. I’m going to summarize the findings here and include a link to the full article.
The story goes that a mathematics professor (Peter Stoner) conducted a class exercise on the probability of someone randomly fulfilling 8 of the 353 Messianic prophecies. The American Scientific Affiliation reviewed the work, and the processes used and concluded that everything was sound.
The results? The students found that the probability for a person to randomly fulfill a mere eight of the prophecies was 1 in 100 quadrillion! To show off what that number looks like, that’s 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000.
Professor Stoner illustrated it better as such. He said that if you lay down a 100 quadrillion silver dollar coins within the state of Texas, they would cover every square inch of the state and would pile up two feet across the state.
Then imagine if you mark only one of them with a X on it, then you blindfold a man and drop him in the middle of the state. And then you tell him to walk in any direction for as far as he wishes, the prophecy probability previously calculated is expressed here as that man selecting the one and only silver dollar with a X marking on it! With only one chance to pick it up.
And that’s only 8 prophecies. Out of 353! Clearly the chances of this happening randomly are astronomically impossible. These types of statistics strongly demonstrate the truth of what the gospels say. And personally, gives me a greater confidence in my own faith. Oh yeah, here’s that link.
Wrapping Up
Wow! Imagine being able to fulfill all these prophecies. Without even trying! After all, Jesus couldn’t control the circumstances of His birth. As an adult He might be able to manipulate a few circumstances to deliberately fulfill prophecies, He couldn’t do it as an unborn or infant. I love that because it gives us greater confidence that Jesus truly is the Messiah. The Son of God. Have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! And may God richly bless you each and every day as you seek Him.