Editor’s Note:  This sermon was submitted by a Scots pastor (in Scotland) who is a thoroughly committed Green Bay Packer fan.  You have been warned.

With the NFL regular season coming to a close, and the playoffs almost ready to begin, I’d like each one of us to make a prediction.  A series of predictions, actually.  And that may be hard, because the playoff picture still hasn’t been completely established as yet.

Nonetheless, with your predictions, I still want you to be very, very specific.

What I mean by that is, I want you to predict the winner of every Wildcard game, and every Playoff game after that.  And then I want you to predict the winner of the Super Bowl.

And to make it even more difficult, I also want you to predict the score of each game.  And then tell me what players will score, and the minute they will score.

Anyone think they’ll get all of that right?  I don’t think so.  But if you pick the Packers to go all the way, well, at least you’ll be in my good books…

To do something of this nature, to make all these predictions correct, that would be a remarkable achievement.  You’d almost have to be orchestrating it from behind the scenes in order for you to know the specifics of all of these things, and then making them all play out the exact way you said they will.

But this is exactly what took place in regard to when Jesus came into the world, and accomplished all the things He did.  Perhaps the most difficult one He accomplished was being born where He was born.

Once we’re born, it might be easy to fulfil prophecies.  But to be born in a certain, specific place, well, we have no control over that.

Unless, of course, one is divine in nature.  And that’s what we have in The Christmas Story, a story of God superintending all the events of the Messiah.

This morning, we’re going to look at what took place even before the Promised Messiah came into this world.  But we’ll begin with the actual event itself.

So turn in your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke, Luke chapter one, where we’ll see the fruition of the miracle that is the Christmas story.

Luke 1v26-38

Christ’s Birth Announced to Mary

26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,

27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.

28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”

29 But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was.

30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS.

32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.

33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”

35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.

36 Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren.

37 For with God nothing will be impossible.”

38 Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

And the story continues in

Luke 2v1-20

Christ Born of Mary

1 And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.

2 This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria.

3 So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.

4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David,

5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child.

6 So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered.

7 And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Glory in the Highest

8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.

9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.

10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.

11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

14      “ Glory to God in the highest,       And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

15 So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.”

16 And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger.

17 Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child.

18 And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

19 But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.

20 Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.

These two passages come from the New Testament, which was written after Jesus was born, and tell us of the circumstances of His birth.

But the following passages come from the Old Testament, and were written hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus was born.  They were written by prophets who foretold or prophecied about events that were to come.    

And you know what?  If any of their prophecies were proven to be false, do you know what happened to a prophet?

They weren’t just fired–  they were stoned to death!

The reason for that is that people looked on the role of a prophet as being a sacred trust from God.  If they were liars or if they proved to be untrustworthy, or if they said they were prophets just so they could have some control over the people or to have some prestige, this would show that they weren’t really sent by God, they were “wolves in sheep’s clothing”, and they were to pay for it with their lives.

So what we have in the Bible is something that was spoken by prophets who continually proved themselves to be trustworthy and true.  So let’s see what was written about Jesus by the prophets, hundreds and hundreds of years before He was born.

The first prophecy about Jesus is found in Genesis:

Genesis 3v15

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, aAnd you shall bruise His heel.

This is a prophecy about the Messiah who would one day come, where He would defeat Satan.

And there are prophecies that speak of Jesus’ birth:

Isaiah 9v6

For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given;

And the government will be upon His shoulder.

And His name will be called

Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

When it says “His name”, that doesn’t mean what His name will be.  It means His reputation, His authority.  It’s like in the old movies, when a policeman would say, “Stop in the name of the law!”.  The policeman would be telling the criminal to stop in the authority of the law, or pay the consequences…

It was also foretold that Jesus would be born of a virgin:

Isaiah 7v14

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.

Again, “name” doesn’t necessarily mean the name you will call Him.  Immanuel, or sometimes spelled “Emmanuel”, means “God with us”.  When Jesus, which means, “The Lord is salvation”, when Jesus was born, God was  “Emmanuel”, God is with us…

The Old Testament also foretold that His birth would occur in Bethlehem:

Micah 5v2

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,

Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,

Yet out of you shall come forth to Me

The One to be Ruler in Israel,

Whose goings forth are from of old,

From everlasting.

Jesus was to be born in the lowly town of Bethlehem.  He would be born in a manger in a stable.  This is why it is so hard for Jewish people to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, as He comes from such lowly, humble origins.  They expected the Messiah to come in greatness and power.

And He does–  but not when He comes the first time.

If only they had read their Bibles, and not read into a situation what they wanted to happen…

Among other things, the Old Testament prophets predicted that Jesus would first be preceded by one who would announce His coming, that someone would come before Jesus to announce the coming of the Promised Messiah.  These passages refer to John the Baptist, who was mentioned in the Christmas story we read in Luke.  Here’s a prophecy about this forerunner of the Messiah from the Old Testament:

Isaiah 40v3-5

3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

“ Prepare the way of the LORD;

Make straight in the desert

A highway for our God.

4 Every valley shall be exalted

And every mountain and hill brought low;

The crooked places shall be made straight

And the rough places smooth;

5 The glory of the LORD shall be revealed,

And all flesh shall see it together;

For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

John the Baptist is also mentioned in:

Malachi 3v1

The Coming Messenger

“Behold, I send My messenger,

And he will prepare the way before Me.

And the Lord, whom you seek,

Will suddenly come to His temple,

Even the Messenger of the covenant,

In whom you delight.

Behold, He is coming,”

Says the LORD of hosts.

As I said, the passages I’ve just read come from the Old Testament, and were written hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus was born.

Jesus Himself could not have controlled how all of these prophecies were fulfilled. No one can control the circumstances of His own birth, who his ancestors are, and where he is born. Nor could He control the actions of others in betraying Him, putting Him to death, and laying His body in the unused tomb of a wealthy man.

Unless, of course, He is who He says He is.

These remarkable details about Jesus were given through a variety of prophets from between several hundred years up to a thousand years before He was born. Even details of Christ’s death by crucifixion were predicted by King David many hundreds of years before the practice of crucifixion became common as a method of execution.

Why this precise accuracy in foretelling Christ’s birth, life and death? Why is it so incredibly specific?  It was simply God providing irrefutable evidence for all who would read and consider these facts that His prophecies can be trusted.  And so that when the true Messiah came, there would be no doubt whatsoever as to who He really was.

Because of the precise and exacting nature of God in foretelling all the world of His Son coming into the world, and those prophecies being fulfilled in Jesus, we have every reason to conclude that, just as the details of Christ’s birth, life, and death came to pass exactly as predicted, so will the prophecies related to His second coming. We should expect them to be fulfilled precisely as they are revealed in God’s Word.

Most importantly, because what has happened here is only something that God could orchestrate or plan and make happen, we can trust the Bible.

And you can trust God for salvation. For everything, actually.  Every promise made in the Bible must come to fruition, as that is God’s nature.

Jesus is the One prophesied of old, the Promised Messiah who came into this world to save His people from their sins.  He is who He says He is, the Savior of the world.

Trust in Him this Christmas season. 

Submitted by:  Alex Carmichael

Crann Tara Christian Fellowship, Denny, Scotland

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