It’s pretty amazing that God so loved the world that He sent His only Son to the earth, isn’t it?
It’s pretty amazing that God the Son took human form and came down to the earth, isn’t it?
It’s pretty amazing that the coming of God in human flesh changed the history of human civilization, isn’t it?
It’s pretty amazing that Jesus came as a baby, who would grow into a man, who would give His life and rise from the dead so that we can have our sins washed away, isn’t it?
All these truths are amazing, but what’s also amazing is that not only are these things incredible, but they were also prophesied long before they happened.
You see, God had a plan from the very beginning to carry out all of these miracles and more, so He spoke to His people through His prophets to predict all that was to come through sending Jesus to the earth. God spoke through “The Prophecies of Christmas.”
The prophecies that we will look at today concern “A Miraculous Child,” and that’s the title of today’s sermon.
Let’s go to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to speak to us as we look at these prophecies.
(prayer)
This morning, we’re going to look at four specific prophecies concerning the coming of this miraculous child, Jesus Christ.
Before we do, let’s talk a little bit about what a prophecy is.
A prophecy is a declaration or a prediction about something God has done or is going to do. It’s been said that prophecy can be forth-telling or foretelling.
The four prophecies that we are going to look at today are all predictions about something that God was going to do later after these prophecies were given. These are foretelling prophecies.
First, let’s learn about . . .
I. The prophecy of the virgin.
Consider this prophecy that came through the prophet Isaiah.
Isaiah 7:14 says, “Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: See, the virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.”
Here we have a prophecy about a virgin having a child.
Now, there’s a lot of crazy medical stuff and cultural stuff that’s happening in our world today, but in those days, everyone clearly understood what we’ve seemed to complicate, which is this: it takes a man and a woman to conceive a child.
Yet, God, through the prophet Isaiah, delivered this message to His people long before Mary was on the earth, long before Joseph was on the earth, and long before Jesus came to the earth.
The prophecy was this: a virgin woman would have a child, and He is to be a special child. In fact, He is to be named Immanuel, which means “God with us” (more on that name in the weeks to come).
Well, did this prophecy come true? You better believe it!
Luke tells us in his account of the life and ministry of Jesus in Luke 1:26–27 “In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.”
Mary was a young virgin woman, set to be married to a man named Joseph, and she found out from the Lord that she was to have a child. Yet, she had not been with a man in such a way that she should have a child.
Still, there she was, preparing to have a child. We are told in Matthew’s gospel, in Matthew 1:20 that an angel says to Joseph, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”
As the angel is still speaking to Joseph, he tells Joseph what kind of child this will be. Then, Matthew helps connect the dots for us, from the prophecy in Isaiah to what would happen at the birth of Jesus.
The angel says this to Joseph in Matthew 1:21–23 “She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: See, the virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel, which is translated “God is with us.”
So we see the prophecy of the virgin from Isaiah, later fulfilled about 700 years later with the birth of Jesus.
Also, we see . . .
II. The prophecy of Bethlehem.
Not only was this child prophesied, but we see a specific prophecy concerning the city of the Messiah’s birth.
Listen to the prophecy from the prophet Micah:
Micah 5:2 says,“Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are small among the clans of Judah; one will come from you to be ruler over Israel for me. His origin is from antiquity, from ancient times.”
There are so many details in this prophecy that can only pertain to Jesus.
The One who will come will come from Bethlehem.
The One who will come will rule over Israel.
The One who will come will be from ancient times.
I mean, this is not just a ruler; this is a ruler who Micah says will come in the future (at that time), yet He will be from ancient times.
There is no one who has ever walked on the earth who was coming in the future, yet was from the past, except the Lord Jesus Christ!
Surely, no one could meet all of these criteria, but there was One who could!
We see this prophecy fulfilled in Matthew.
Matthew 2:1–2 says: After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star at its rising and have come to worship him.”
Matthew 2:6 adds: “And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah: Because out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.”
You see, church, God knew that the people of Israel needed a greater ruler. He knew that we needed a greater king.
He also knew that we needed someone who was greater than what this world has to offer, so He planned to send Jesus to the city of Bethlehem and to the world, so that we might experience salvation.
God planned this moment and He prophesied this moment.
We see the prophecy of Bethlehem.
This was not all that God prophesied.
Next, we learn of . . .
III. The prophecy of mourning.
Of course, when we speak of mourning here, we speak of sorrow and grieving.
In the midst of what God is doing, there is sometimes mourning.
Many of you can confirm that reality.
You’ve gone through seasons of mourning. For some of you, it seems like more than a season, doesn’t it?
Mourning is a part of our world, and it was part of the world of the coming of the miraculous child.
Listen to these words from the prophet Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 31:15 says: “This is what the Lord says: A voice was heard in Ramah, a lament with bitter weeping— Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children because they are no more.”
Ramah was a city in Israel, part of the tribe of Bethlehem.
Rachel was the favored wife of Jacob; we learn that Jacob was also known as Israel.
This prophecy speaks of the wife of Israel mourning for the children of Israel.
Sadly, we see this prophecy fulfilled. Once again, we find this fulfillment in the book of Matthew.
Matthew 2:16–18 says: “Then Herod, when he realized that he had been outwitted by the wise men, flew into a rage. He gave orders to massacre all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, in keeping with the time he had learned from the wise men. Then what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; and she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”
The fulfillment of this prophecy was an absolute tragedy. We can’t imagine the horror.
Yet, we must remember that in the midst of mourning, God planned for a child to come, His child, who would one day wipe away all mourning. Jesus, the miraculous child, will make all things right in time.
Jesus came in the midst of suffering to one day experience His own suffering, then to bring victory over suffering, and one day to eliminate all suffering.
There was mourning then, there is mourning now, but there will soon be no more mourning and only unending joy.
We see the prophecy of mourning.
Finally, we see . . .
IV. The prophecy of Egypt.
This prophecy may seem less significant than the others, yet we must not lose sight of the miracle of this prophecy and its significance to the history of the people of Israel.
Listen to the prophet Hosea:
Hosea 11:1 says: “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.”
Now, one may look back on this and say that these words of Hosea were referring to when God delivered the people of Israel out of the hands of the Egyptians.
Those people would be correct. However, as those who are Bible prophecy experts know, sometimes a prophecy can have multiple fulfillments.
In this particular case, this prophecy looks backward to God’s deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, and it looks forward to God’s literal Son being delivered through Egypt.
Listen to what Matthew says about this in his gospel.
Matthew 2:13–15 says: After they were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Get up! Take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. For Herod is about to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and escaped to Egypt. He stayed there until Herod’s death, so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled: Out of Egypt I called my Son.”
Do you see what’s happening here?
God called Israel out of Egypt when He delivered them from the evil of Pharoah. Many years later, God would call Jesus, His Son, out of Egypt due to the evil of King Herod.
Jesus and His earthly parents would stay there in Egypt, then come out of Egypt to return to Israel once it was safe to return.
So, Hosea and Matthew help point us to the beautiful tapestry of prophecy that God is working through His history of redemption.
There we have the prophecy of Egypt.
God was at work in His Son Jesus, the miraculous child.
This takes us to our bottom line:
Bottom Line: Christmas fulfills the prophecy of the miraculous child.
God knew that we needed redemption. He knew that we needed Jesus. He knew that we needed the miraculous child.
He planned the sending of His Son, He prophesied the sending of His Son, and He fulfilled the sending of His Son.
This Christmas, remember the prophecy of the miraculous child.
In fact, let that be our weekly challenge this week:
Weekly Challenge #1 – Consider the miraculous child.
Do you believe the prophecies concerning the coming of the miraculous child, Jesus?
If so, how does that change your life?
Do you need to receive the miraculous child? Do you need to follow and obey the miraculous child? Do you need to tell someone about the miraculous child?
(Gospel presentation)
(closing prayer)
COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER: The text contained in this sermon is solely owned by its author. The reproduction, or distribution of this message, or any portion of it, should include the author’s name. The author intends to provide free resources in order to inspire believers and to assist preachers and teachers in Kingdom work.
