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 |  Subject: The Birth was Predicted  Thu Dec 11, 2014 9:43 am | |
| The Birth was Predicted
Prophecy - Signs
Thursday, December 11, 2014
J.L. Robb
Last week’s article was about sacrifice: What is it, why is it and why is it important in the whole scheme of things? The execution of Jesus had been foretold hundreds of years before His birth as a man, and it was to be a sacrificial gift from God, to us; as undeserving as we may have been, or in this case, the people of Judah. The gift would offer anyone who believed that Jesus was the gift, an opportunity at another life, a life after the one we are now living, ends. That’s hard to fathom, a life after this one, at least in today’s world.As a matter of fact, most of the scientific and intellectual communities of the world today believe an afterlife is pure rubbish, and sometimes a more derogatory description is used. Hollywood, the news and media in general have pretty much done away with God or any deity at all.High schools are actually removing Christmas and Easter from the calendars under the foggy-vague separation of church-state law guise. The reasoning in one school system was effected by the wishes of the Islamic community to have all their religious holidays included. And of course, in our new-and-improved world today, that would lead to the Wiccan holidays and don’t forget the Molochites and the Flying Spaghetti Monster worshippers.In a world where one actually views the facts and the history of our country, one finds out quickly that the only religion recognized in the United States in 1776 was Christianity, and a little bit of Judaism; or possibly, none. The “nones” stayed in the closet. There were churches everywhere, but there were no Islamic mosques, Hindu and Buddhist temples and Wiccan whatevers. The separation clause was not about an Islamic or Hindu takeover of our new country. It was about Christian fundamentalism taking over. Jefferson was worried about the Quakers for Pete’s sake. The Quakers? Really?The holiday is Christmas, and it truly is a Holy Day. It is a day that celebrates the birth of God’s own humanity in the form of a Savior who the Jews referred to as a messiah, or mashiach in Hebrew. The messiah, to the Jews at that time, was only to be a King that would come riding in on a white horse with a big sword and save them from oppression and occupation, an existence they lived only because of themselves.Jesus did not come riding in on a white horse, or any horse for that matter. Nor was he carrying a sword or preaching war. He rode in on a donkey’s colt; and the message was love, because with love comes peace, and love and peace among mankind was God’s wish. Jesus made it plain for anyone who wanted to see.Had the Pharisees and Sadducees studied their scriptures relating to the coming Messiah, they would have known He would be coming twice, not once. They would have known that they would not recognize Him for who He was, because their own prophets had predicted that this would be the case. There were many predictions about the coming of Jesus and His effect on the world. - Quote :
- Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. ~Zechariah 9:9 NIV
Zechariah spoke these words in about 520 BC, and the “king” to come turned out to be Jesus. He would not come to Jerusalem in a kingly manner however but would come humbly, riding on the colt of a donkey. That was a pretty specific prophecy.Isaiah stated that the messiah would be born of a virgin as a sign of God’s great power. This had never happened in history, nor has it happened since. - Quote :
- “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 7:14 NIV
The proof in the pudding was the fulfillment as described in Matthew:This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, - Quote :
- “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: - Quote :
- “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” ~Matthew 1:18-23 NIV
The place of Jesus’ birth was prophesied by the prophet Micah, approximately 715 BC, 200 years before Zechariah’s prophecy of Jesus’ mode of mobility. There were only so many ways to get around back then, and the colt of a donkey would be one of the last choices. Here is what Micah had to say about the coming messiah’s birthplace: - Quote :
- “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.”
Did that happen? It did and was confirmed by Luke in 60 AD, 775 years after the prophecy:In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. - Quote :
- 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 2: 1-7 NIV
So Jesus was born in a stable because “there was no guest room available for them.” Born in a stable hardly sounds kingly. Riding into Jerusalem 33 years later on the colt of a donkey hardly sounds kingly. It is understandable that most Jews did not believe Jesus was the fulfillment of the messianic predictions. The Jews who actually saw Jesus’ works became convinced that He was who He said.In 580 BC a prophet named Jeremiah spoke of the times following the birth of the messiah, as a time of grief and sorrow.This is what the Lord says: - Quote :
- “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 31:15 NIV
Great weeping for the children, because “they were no more.” If the children were no more, what could possibly cause the dilemma? - Quote :
- 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. ~Matthew 2:16 NIV
Herod the King was angry because of rumors that the messiah had finally been born in Bethlehem, the future King of the Jews. Herod sent what he thought were spies to Bethlehem, only the three spies did not return to the king to report their findings. The three kings from the Orient were convinced that the child in the crib truly was the messiah who was foretold from old.Had the rabbis of that day nearly 2,000 years ago recognized that the messiah to the Jews would come first as a lamb (sacrificial animal) to save the Jews from themselves and then return in the future as a lion and savior to all mankind who believes, Jewish or not; the world would be a much different place. But they didn’t, which was good for the rest of us.God had a handle on things and knew how to make things work out. His plan was for worldwide salvation, and this is the way He made it all happen. God gave us the birth of the Christ as the greatest gift of all time.We celebrate that miraculous birth of a child to a virgin, just like the Jewish prophets foretold, a child who offered, and still offers, another life after this one. How good is that?http://www.omegaletter.com/articles/articles.asp?ArticleID=7947
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