This week we celebrate the Son of God—Creator God—wrapping Himself in His creation and being born as a human. The incarnation of Jesus is a critical part of the gospel story and one that we are quite familiar with—perhaps too familiar sometimes. Let me encourage you not to rush through your prep this week. Take time to ponder God becoming human. Strive to be in a posture of awe and gratitude this week that will carry over into your teaching.
In this session we rub shoulders once again with Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament, Isaiah to be precise. I may have shared the following about the amazing nature of these prophecies before, but it is too encouraging not to share it again if I have.
There are over 300 prophecies of Jesus in the Old Testament ranging from where He would be born to what family He would come from to His death and resurrection. Peter Stoner, a mathematics professor, calculated the odds of one man of all the men who ever lived fulfilling just eight of these prophecies. The odds are 1 in 10 to the 17th power. Because that number is too big to grasp, it has been illustrated this way. Imagine you take that many silver dollars and mark one red. You then dump them in Texas. They would cover the entire state two feet deep. You then blindfold someone and tell her to walk wherever she likes and to bend down and pick up that marked silver dollar on the first try. Those are the same odds as one man of all who ever lived fulfilling just eight (8!) prophecies. Amazing, isn’t it?
These prophecies are an amazing gift not only to Israel, their first recipients, but the church today and the world too.
Prophecies of Hope for Israel
It’s hard for us to read the Scriptures through the lens of the ancient Israelites at times. When you know the full story, it is challenging to “forget” parts of it. But we should try to do that at times when we read the Old Testament, namely when we encounter these prophecies.
Think of the hope these prophecies gave to God’s people. God had promised He would send a rescuer way back in Genesis 3, and over and over again in Scripture He reaffirmed and clarified that promise. Even in the darkest of days for Israel, they had these promises of light to sustain them. We need to understand that God did not need to give a single of these prophecies. He could have had Jesus plop down out of no where without warning. But He chose otherwise. He chose to give hope to His people.
Prophecies of Confidence for the Church
While the Messianic prophecies gave Israel great hope in what would happen, they give us, the church, great confidence in what has happened in two key ways.
First, the fulfilled Messianic prophecies are important to give us great confidence in the reliability of who Jesus is. Yes, the miracles and teachings are more than enough to prove that Jesus is the Son of God, but the fulfilled prophecies give us additional evidence. The prophecies that could not have been orchestrated, such as where Jesus was born and what family He was from, show us the uniqueness of Jesus to fulfill them. Meanwhile, the prophecies that could have been orchestrated, such as riding into Jerusalem on a colt, affirm Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah. Jesus fulfilled these prophecies to proclaim His identity to the watching world.
Second, the fulfilled Messianic prophecies are important to give us great confidence in the reliability of the Scriptures. The Messianic prophecies were written hundred of years before Jesus and yet, they were completely accurate. This affirms the special nature of the Bible as the inspired Word of God and adds to our confidence to position the Bible as our source of authority in belief and practice.
Prophecies of Faith for the World
There is one other way that the Messianic prophecies are incredibly helpful: evangelism. In the past, at least to a degree, the validity of the Bible was generally accepted. But those days are long gone. Today, we need to be able to support the Bible before (or while) we share the story of the Bible—the gospel—with someone. Which is where the prophecies are so helpful.
Defending the reliability of the Bible can easily become quite academic and complex. There are issues of inspiration and inerrancy that need to be explained. Then there are manuscript evidence issues. Then there is canonization issues as well. It’s a big, complicated subject. It’s important, but it might be challenging to cover that ground in an evangelism relationship.
But the Messianic prophecies cover much of what is needed in a more compact way. To be able to explain the fulfillment of the prophecies immediately gives the Bible credibility, even if some of the other topics still need to be addressed.
By sharing these prophecies, we not only affirm the Bible, but we draw people to the point of the Bible—Jesus—so that they might trust in Him and be saved.
Were it an angel that had interposed, we might have some fears; were it a mere man, we might go beyond fear, and sit down in despair; but if it be ‘God with us,’ and God has actually taken manhood into union with himself, then let us ‘ring the bells of heaven’ and be glad.” — Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
C. H. Spurgeon, “God with Us”, in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vol. 21 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1876), 713.
Preschool Tip: Don’t be afraid to focus on the main parts of the Christmas story with your preschoolers. Keep in mind that they have not heard this story nearly as much as you have and that they are still developing to understand it more each year.
Kids Tip: This may be a standing tip for each Christmas, but it probably should be: consider talking about the power of the prophecies with your kids. Consider sharing Peter Stoner’s findings with them and helping them to see how amazing Jesus fulfilling the prophecies is.
