Prophesied and Fulfilled | The Christmas Story in 5 Verses

Happy December, friends! The holiday season is upon us, and I am so excited to bring you a new Christmas series! For the next five weeks, throughout December, we are going to be diving deep into 5 verses that sum up the Christmas story, the impact of these verses, and how we can apply and live them out in our every day lives. I've never dove into Jesus' birth with this perspective, and I'm so expectant of what the Lord is going to teach and reveal to us!

As we head into this series, I want to warn you that while my intention is to go deep, we won't be able to go into all the details of the Christmas story. I don't have enough time to talk about all aspects of Jesus' birth, so I highly, highly encourage you to take the time in your own study and dive into the whole, complete story for yourself. The Lord has so much to teach and reveal to us, even with a story that we've studied and heard all our lives, and I never fail to be amazed by that!

To kick off with this series, we're going to be starting with 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.”

There's multiple reasons why this is the first one I wanted to dive into, but the big reason is that it highlights that Jesus' birth was prophesied so many years before He arrived here on earth. Isaiah 7 was written approximately 700 years before Jesus was born, and it was completely accurate. The fact that so many prophesies were written about Jesus and His birth hundreds of years before it happened - and they all came true - is a beautiful reminder of how intentional and thoughtful God is in all His plans and timing. He knew the exact moment in history that Jesus needed to enter our world, but He was gracious enough to bring us the hope of His coming hundreds of years earlier. God knows every moment in history, all of the details, and He gave us a few of those details to encourage us.

I also find it so interesting that He gave Isaiah this prophesy when He did - in the middle of such a dark season for the Israelites. They were knee deep in judgements, exiles, and falling away from the Lord, yet God encouraged them with this reminder about the Messiah's arrival on Earth. Everything about this prophesy and Jesus' birth was intentional and perfectly planned; God did not let one detail fall into place.

In total, Jesus fulfilled over 300 prophesies, many of them about His birth. Other than this one, I wanted to outline a few just to highlight how specific and intentional God was, and how every prophesy was fulfilled.

• Jesus was a descendent of David (Matthew 1:6, Luke 3:31-32), also prophesied in Isaiah. This also was a link to Jesus' royalty. "A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit." - Isaiah 11:1

• A star guided the magi to Jesus (Matthew 2:9-10). "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise of Israel." - Numbers 24:17

• Jesus was born in Bethlehem, even though it was considered a small, lowly town. "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient times." - Micah 5:2

These are just a few of the big ones, but from Jesus' family, to the town, to a single star, God outlined what was to come. Not only should this create a sense of awe over the God we serve, it's a really beautiful reminder that God follows through on His word. If He said it, He will make it happen - in His perfect plan and timing. He is never late and never early - He is always right on time.

The aspect of this verse being a prophesy is really important, but I also want to step back and remember what this verse is actually saying. God is promising that a virgin is going to give birth to the Messiah?! That doesn't make any sense, and is completely unexpected, but our God is the God of the impossible. He works in ways we may never understand or see the fulfillment of (the people Isaiah prophesied this to didn't get to see its fulfillment!) but that doesn't make God any less faithful or any less good. Even when we don't see what God sees, or wish He worked in the way we planned, we can have confidence that God has something better in store - and that will bring Him even more glory. And that's the whole point!

I never want to miss the amazement of the Christmas story. God made the impossible possible, and a virgin, an innocent young woman, became pregnant through the Holy Spirit and gave birth to the Messiah. This is not what anyone had in mind when they imagined the Messiah's arrival, but it was exactly what we needed, and reminder of how humble Jesus is to enter the world in the form of a baby, and how God uses all people for His story (which we'll talk more about that later!), even young virgins.

Before we close out, I want to talk a little bit about that last word of the verse: Immanuel. Immanuel means God with us, and I think that is so powerful, and another detail that is easy to gloss over. Jesus' birth wasn't like the birth of any other baby; it was God coming down to earth to dwell with us. The Almighty God put on flesh, in the humble form of an infant, as the beginning of His grand gesture of love toward us. Jesus' birth marks the beginning of us having access to God, to be able to be near Him, despite our imperfections and flawed nature. As He walked on earth, and completed at the cross, He tore the veil and bridged the gap between us and the Father so that we can truly dwell in an intimate relationship with Him. Each and every day we can walk in the hope and confidence knowing that God is with us.

That is so magnficent, my friends. I am so humbled and so thankful to remember that God chose to leave His throne in heaven and walk on this earth so that He could be near to me. What an undeserved blessing!

---

Throughout the month of December, we're going to be diving into 5 different verses that sum up the Christmas story, and I was so excited to start with this verse in Isaiah 7:14. God's faithfulness to follow through on His word hundreds of years later is absolutely amazing to me, and the way He chose to bring His Son into the world blows my mind. We serve a God who is so thoughtful and intentional, even if His plans don't align with what we expect or hope to happen. Everything about Jesus' birth was planned and designed for His glory, with His desire to be near to us, and I don't want to miss that this Christmas season. That's the whole point!

Next week, we're going to be talking about Luke 1:38 and Mary's response to the news! Don't miss it!