{"id":18522,"date":"2016-12-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-12-25T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/four-christmas-prophecies\/"},"modified":"2016-12-25T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-12-25T06:00:00","slug":"four-christmas-prophecies","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/four-christmas-prophecies\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Christmas Prophecies"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[78],"series_event":[440],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18522","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-micah","series_event-christmas-sermons","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Four Christmas Prophecies","sermon_date":"20161225","sermon_month":"12","sermon_year":"2016","sermon_notes":4170,"sermon_slides":4175,"sermon_mp3":4176,"sermon_id":"1225161020594","series_or_event":440,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":78,"chapter_and_verse":"5:2","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nSUGAR LAND BIBLE CHURCH\n\nFour Old Testament Christmas Prophecies, Micah 5:2\n\nDecember 25, 2016\n\nMerry Christmas everybody.\u00a0 I\u2019m looking out there in the audience and now I know who the elect are.\u00a0 Number 1 you showed up on Christmas day, and number 2 you showed up an hour early and that just doesn\u2019t happen in Christianity these days so you guys must be the elect of God\u2026 Amen!\n\nIf we can take our Bibles and open them to the book of Genesis, chapter 3 and verse 15.\u00a0 The title of our message this morning is Four Old Testament Christmas Prophecies.\u00a0 And every time Christmas rolls around it\u2019s always a struggle as a preacher to figure out what to talk about in this sense\u2014you\u2019ve heard Luke 2 ten million times and what could I say that you haven\u2019t heard before.\u00a0 And I always try to maybe ask the Lord to give me something that has a little different nuance that applies to Christmas, getting us to think in a way that perhaps we\u2019ve never thought before.\u00a0 And so this is what the Lord gave me, four Old Testament Christmas prophecies because what is Christmas?\u00a0 Of course it\u2019s the birth of Christ but it\u2019s the convergence, if you will, of four very specific prophecies, written (as I\u2019ll be showing you today) hundreds and thousands of years in advance.\n\nOne of the things that\u2019s very different about Jesus Christ is this: the history of Christ is revealed in the form of a script, if you will, before Jesus ever walked this planet.\u00a0 I know of no alleged holy book on planet earth that does this, that reveals the end from the beginning and the beginning from the end.\u00a0 And it\u2019s one of the great proofs, if you will, that the Bible is unique as the Word of God.\n\nI love how God doesn\u2019t just tell us to believe something,\u00a0 He gives us evidence for what he tells us to believe in.\u00a0 And one of the great proofs of the Bible is Messianic prophecy, and nothing highlights the subject of Messianic prophecy better than studying Messianic prophecy on Christmas as it relates to Jesus Christ.\n\nYou might be shocked to learn that there are at least 109 prophecies given about Christ before He was ever born into our world\u2026 109, that\u2019s a lot, isn\u2019t it!\u00a0 What\u2019s the mathematical possibility of 109 prophecies being fulfilled in a person?\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if I know the answer to that but there\u2019s a mathematician that tried to figure out what\u2019s the mathematical probability of just 8, forgot the 109, 8 prophecies being fulfilled in one person?\u00a0 Dr. Peter Stoner published a book called Science Speaks<\/em>.\u00a0 Dr. Stoner was the chairman of the Department of Mathematics and Astronomy at Pasadena College until 1953 when he became the Chairman of the Science Division at Westmont College.\u00a0 In other words, he was a capable mathematician.\u00a0 And in Science Speaks<\/em> Dr. Stoner calculated the probability that any one man could fulfill just eight prophecies to be one in ten to the seventeenth power, meaning a one with seventeen zeros after it. \u00a0[1,000,000,000,000,000,00]\n\nTo illustrate how unlikely a chance that would be Stoner gave this illustration, and I like this because he uses an illustration from our home state of Texas: cover the entire state of Texas with silver dollars to a level of two feet deep, the total number of silver dollars would need to be 10 to the 17th<\/sup> power.\u00a0 Now choose just one silver dollar, mark it and put it back, and then thoroughly stir it so all the silver dollars all over the state are two feet deep but randomly displaced.\u00a0 Now blindfold someone, tell them they can travel wherever they want to travel in Texas but they must pick up the identical silver dollar that\u2019s marked.\u00a0 The chance of finding that one silver dollar that we marked in a pile two feet deep covering the state of Texas would be the chance that the prophets, the Old Testament prophets had, for just eight prophecies coming through in one man, the man, Jesus Christ.\n\nThat\u2019s how improbable an unlikely it is that the specific history of Jesus Christ could be revealed hundreds and thousands of years in advance with eight specific prophecies.\u00a0 I\u2019m not even talking about the 109 prophecies, just eight of them.\u00a0 And I will stack the Bible up against any holy book (alleged holy book) out there, the Quran, The Book of Mormon, you name it, and the Bible comes out way ahead.\u00a0 We\u2019re not going to be looking at 109 prophecies today, we\u2019re not going to be even looking at 8 prophecies today, I just want to show you 4 prophecies and the reason I bring these prophecies to your attention is they relate to specifically the birth of Jesus Christ.\n\nThe birth of Jesus Christ into our world was not a random event, it was not an accidental event, it was not a coincidental event, it was an event designed by an omniscient God as revealed in prophecy.\u00a0 And here are the four prophecies we\u2019re going to be walking through today.\u00a0 But before we get to that the book of Galatians says this:\u00a0 \u201cBut when the fullness of the time came<\/u><\/em>, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law.\u201d\u00a0 [Galatians 4:4]\n\nThe birth of Jesus Christ couldn\u2019t just happen at any time in history; it had to happen at a specific time in history.\u00a0 In fact, just like\u00a0 you would kind of organize the pieces on a chess board prior to a big game of chess, the world stage had to be set up precisely by God so the specifics of His Word could be fulfilled.\u00a0 And since all of these prophecies are given in the Hebrew Bible Jesus expected the nation of Israel to recognize Him when He showed up.\n\nIn Matthew 16:1-3 Jesus says this:\u00a0 \u201cThe Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Jesus, they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven. [2] But He replied to them, \u2018When it is evening, you say, \u2018It will be<\/em> fair weather, for the sky is red.\u2019 [3] And in the morning, \u2018There will be<\/em> a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.\u2019 Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern<\/em> the signs of the times?\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m not going to give you any signs, Jesus says in this exchange with the religious leaders of the nation; you have all the evidence you need in your own Bible, Hebrew Bible.\n\nAnd He rebukes them because they understand weather; you know, \u201cred sky at in the morning,\u201d what\u2019s the rest of the statement, \u201csailor take warning.\u201d\u00a0 You know how to figure out weather, you know how to figure out when it\u2019s going to rain, you know how to figure out when it\u2019s going to be a good fishing day or a bad fishing day.\u00a0 You know how to interpret the physical world.\u00a0 And there are people that are like this, they know how to interpret the stock market, they know how to interpret the economy, they can tell you everything you want to know about interest rates, but you see Jesus rebukes these people because they could interpret the physical world but they did not understand the Messianic times they were living in.\n\nSo \u201cto whom much is given much is\u201d what? \u201cexpected.\u201d\u00a0 Jesus expected the Jewish people in the first century, the Hebrew nation, particularly the religious leaders, to understand exactly who He was because of at least a hundred and nine prophecies, four of which pertain to His birth.\n\nSo let\u2019s take a look at some of these prophecies, shall we.\u00a0 The first one is found in Genesis 3:15, sometimes called the protoevangelium because it\u2019s the first proclamation of the gospel found anywhere in the Scripture.\u00a0 And Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15 reads as follows, this is a statement that God made to the serpent, or the devil, after the fall of man.\u00a0 \u201cAnd I will put enmity between you and the woman,\u201d the woman being Eve, \u201cAnd between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.\u201d\n\nThe fall of man has just happened in the Garden of Eden and immediately after the fall of man God begins to reveal, if you will, His plan for redeeming the fallen human race.\u00a0 And He makes a prediction about a seed or an individual, actually called \u201chim\u201d there at the end of the verse, a male, coming from the seed of the woman.\u00a0 In other words, this one is going to be a descendent of Eve, He will be not just fully God but fully man, and He will actually crush the serpent\u2019s head.\u00a0 He will deal a death blow to the devil himself.\n\nAnd as you study this there is absolutely no doubt that everybody who heard this prophecy understood it as a prophecy of the coming Messiah.\u00a0 Notice, if you will, one chapter to the right, Genesis 4:1, this is what Eve said as she\u2019s about t give birth to her firstborn, Cain.\u00a0 It says, \u201cNow the man\u201d that would be Adam, \u201chad relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, I have begotten a manchild with the help of<\/em> the LORD.\u201d\u00a0 Now if you\u2019re reading this, for example, out of the New American Standard Bible what you notice there is \u201cwith the help of<\/em>\u201d is in italics.\n\nNow you look at that and you say well why is it in italics?\u00a0 And the reason it\u2019s in italics is it\u2019s not in the original Hebrew.\u00a0 The original Hebrew doesn\u2019t have that phrase in it.\u00a0 What is it doing there then.\u00a0 Well, that\u2019s the work of the translators.\u00a0 Many times the translator tries to kind of smooth over a translation to make it more understandable to a modern audience and 99% of the time translators do a very good job, but this is a case where I believe that the translators have obscured the meaning, because if you were simply to remove the expression \u201cwith the help of<\/em>\u201d from the text and read it according to what it says in the original Hebrew, what it says is this, as Eve now is pregnant with Cain she is saying this: \u201cI have begotten a manchild, the Lord.\u201d\u00a0 She felt that Cain was the Messiah.\u00a0 Now talk about parental disappointment!\u00a0 All of us have a tendency to put our kids, elevate them a little too high than what they belong, and she thought she had given birth to the Messiah.\u00a0 And he wasn\u2019t the Messiah, she was mistaken, he was the world\u2019s first murderer.\n\nBut what gave her the impression that she, out of her body, would come forth the Messiah.\u00a0 Obviously she had that expectation because she was standing there in Eden when Genesis 3:15 was uttered.\u00a0 Let me show you this again.\u00a0 Notice Genesis 5:29, this is a few generations later and this is something that Lamech says as Noah is about to be born.\u00a0 It says, \u201cNow he called his name Noah, saying, \u2018this one will give us rest from our work and from the toil of our hands arising from the ground which the LORD has cursed.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Now this word \u201ccursed\u201d here is very interesting.\u00a0 The only other place it\u2019s used prior to this point in time is in Genesis 3:17 which is just a few verses after Genesis 3:15 where God pronounces a curse on the ground because of original sin.\u00a0 [Genesis 3:17, \u201cThen to Adam He said, \u2018Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, \u2018You shall not eat from it\u2019; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life.\u201d\u00a0 Genesis 3:15, \u201cAnd I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.\u201d]\n\nAnd so as Noah is being born his father, Lamech, thinks about Noah being born and he says this is the One that\u2019s going to get rid of the curse; this is the One that\u2019s going to ameliorate the curse.\u00a0 And so he, just like Eve, thought that Noah was the Messiah.\u00a0 Of course he was wrong in that regard as well, but what I\u2019m trying to communicate is there was an obvious Messianic expectation that all of these early human beings had because they all took Genesis 3:15 the way it\u2019s intended in its Messianic sense.\n\nThere is a very peculiar verse in the book of Daniel.\u00a0 We may get to this at some point in our study, assuming the rapture doesn\u2019t happen first, we\u2019re only in Daniel 2, but Daniel 11:37, of the antichrist that\u2019s coming says this: \u201cHe\u201d the antichrist, \u201cwill show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women\u2026\u201d\u00a0 Now I\u2019ve heard a lot of interesting sermons on that verse, the antichrist is going to be s homosexual, I\u2019ve heard people say that, he won\u2019t have \u201cthe desire for women,\u201d but the fact of the matter is people misunderstand what \u201cthe desire of women\u201d was.\u00a0 What was the desire of every Jewish woman?\u00a0 It was the same desire that Eve had.\u00a0 It was the same desire that no doubt Lamech\u2019s wife had, to be the bearer, if you will, of the Messiah.\n\nSo when Daniel 11:37 says the antichrist will not have \u201cthe desire of women\u201d he will have no desire for the Son of God, he will show no regard for the one that is coming that all Hebrew women wanted to give birth to.\u00a0 My point is simply this: everybody in the Old Testament times knew a Messiah was coming because they all took Genesis 3:15 for what it says.\n\nNow having said all that, going back to Genesis 3:15, notice the language very carefully.\u00a0 It says, \u201cAnd I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed\u201d notice this expression, \u201cand her seed;\u201d now you look at that and you say wait a minute, I thought \u201cthe seed\u201d or the sperm came from the man; the woman doesn\u2019t have \u201cseed\u201d in and of herself, it must be implanted through human sexuality into her by a male.\u00a0 But this verse specifically says not \u201chis seed\u201d but \u201cher seed.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s a very odd way of communicating unless you understand this: one of these days in this woman\u2019s body God Himself will implant seed, independent of the father.\u00a0 And so what you have here, with this expression \u201cher seed\u201d is probably one of the earliest references in the Bible, in fact, it is the earliest reference in the Bible to the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.\n\nArnold Fruchtenbaum, a Hebrew Christian scholar, puts it this way; \u201cThe fact that Moses traced this genealogy through the woman tells us that there will be something very different about the Messiah, something that necessitates tracing his ancestry through His mother and not His father.\u00a0 Moses gives no explanation here and none will be given for several centuries, until the prophet Isaiah, when he will prophesy about it in Isaiah 7, that the Messiah is to be born of a virgin and have no human father.\u00a0 Contrary to the biblical norm the Messiah would be reckoned after the seed of the woman.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because He would have no human father, it would be a virgin conception and a virgin birth.\u201d\n\nHow important is the doctrine of the virgin birth?\u00a0 If you don\u2019t have the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, listen to me very carefully, you don\u2019t have Christianity.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because if Jesus had had an ordinary biological father what would have been transmitted to him?\u00a0 A sin nature.\u00a0 If the sin nature is transmitted to him he could not qualify to be our sacrifice. Why not?\u00a0 Because God only accepts, going back deep into Old Testament typology, an unblemished sacrifice.\u00a0 Jesus would have been blemished.\n\nBeyond that, if Jesus had had a natural conception, as we all do, He would have had a beginning point.\u00a0\u00a0 And\u00a0 yet what we discover in the Bible is Jesus has always existed and thus it was necessary for His abnormal (from the human point of view) entrance into our world.\u00a0 You see, what I want you to see is theology is a lot like knocking over dominos in a row; if you knock over one domino what happens to the rest?\u00a0 They all start to crumble.\u00a0 And this is why the devil himself has declared war on the virgin birth of Christ, because it\u2019s such a critical piece of the theological jigsaw puzzle.\u00a0 If there is no virgin birth of Christ then there is no Christianity.\n\nSo if we stand for anything, any doctrine in the Bible, the first order of business is to stand for the virgin birth of Christ.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I was so disheartened this week to learn of a pastor, I won\u2019t give you his name, he\u2019s very popular, pastors a church of about 30,000 people, telling individuals that the virgin birth of Christ is really not that big of a deal.\u00a0 It\u2019s really not that critical that we promote this doctrine, defend this doctrine, and teach this doctrine.\u00a0 So what do we have in Genesis 3:15?\u00a0 You have your first Messianic prophecy that revealed the virgin birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.\n\nLet me take you to a second prophecy and let\u2019s go to the book of Numbers.\u00a0 These first two prophecies come from the writings of Moses, the Pentateuch, or Torah; the latter two prophecies I\u2019ll share with you come from two pre-exilic prophets, first of all Isaiah and Micah.\n\nBut notice this second prophecy, found in the book of Numbers, chapter 24 and verse 17.\u00a0 Now Ed read the verses earlier from Matthew; did you listen as Ed was reading?\u00a0 I was.\u00a0 It says, \u201cNow after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, [18] \u201cWhere is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.\u201d\u00a0 What you have here, and this is on all of our Christmas cards, most people don\u2019t even know why it\u2019s there though and I\u2019m going to try to explain the background.\n\nWe have these men from the east travelling at a particular time in history to Jerusalem and they happen to be fixated on something abnormal that is happening in the world of astronomy, a star of some kind, it grabs their attention, and they travel from the east and they connect it with the coming of the Messiah, and they make about a 350 mile voyage from the east to the city of Jerusalem to worship this Messiah that\u2019s coming.\n\nLet me talk for just a minute about \u201cthe east.\u201d\u00a0 There\u2019s a lot of confusion about what \u201cthe east\u201d is.\u00a0 When you study the word \u201ceast\u201d in the Scripture every case that I can think of it refers to Babylon, Babylon, of course, would be modern day Iraq.\u00a0 Babylon is sometimes called Mesopotamia; Meso<\/em> means middle, potamia<\/em> means rivers, it\u2019s this area between the rivers.\u00a0 And which two rivers am I talking about?\u00a0 I\u2019m talking about the Euphrates and the Tigris.\u00a0 The Hebrew name for that area is a land called Shinar and that\u2019s where these magi came from following this specific star.\u00a0 That is the area the Scripture refers to over and over again as \u201cthe east.\u201d\u00a0 According to Genesis 2:14 it\u2019s probably the general area where the Garden of Eden once existed because Genesis 2:14 mentions the Tigris and the Euphrates in connection with the Garden of Eden. \u00a0And Genesis 2:8 calls that garden as residing in the east.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0[Genesis 2:14, \u201cThe name of the third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.\u201d\u00a0 Genesis 2:10, \u201cNow a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers.\u201d\u00a0 Genesis 2:8, \u201cThe LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed.\u201d]\n\nIt was also the general area where the tower of Babel once stood.\u00a0 Genesis 11:2 says this: \u201cIt came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.\u201d\u00a0 Shinar is the Hebrew word for Mesopotamia; Mesopotamia is the Greek word, it\u2019s that general area of Babylon, modern day Iraq, between the rivers.\u00a0 And notice that the Garden of Eden, located in that area, is called the east; notice that the tower of Babel located in that area is called the east as well.\n\nSo this is where these magi are coming from and they\u2019re fixated on this particular star.\u00a0 Now why do they care about a star?\u00a0 That\u2019s why I had you turn to the book of Numbers, chapter 24 and verse 17.\u00a0 And what had happened as you study biblical history is the nation of Israel had been brought out of 400 years of Egyptian bondage; they were brought to a place called Sinai, sometimes it\u2019s called Horeb, there at the bottom of the Sinai peninsula (at the very bottom of the screen) where they received the Law of God.\u00a0 And as the book of Numbers unfolds the nation of Israel is now traveling from Sinai, they\u00a0 (as we\u2019ve studied in Sunday School) kind of wimped out there with the giants and God sentences them to wandering around forty years in the wilderness.\n\nAnd so, by the time you get to Numbers 24 God is now beginning to work again with the nation; about forty years have passed and they are now traveling through what\u2019s called the Transjordan, east of the Jordan, and they\u2019re going to reside there momentarily and then\u00a0 ultimately they\u2019re going to enter under Joshua into the land of Canaan, the promised land.\n\nThe problem though is as they\u2019re making this journey the king of Moab doesn\u2019t like what he is seeing; he does not like these Hebrews transgressing into his territory and so this king of Moab, named Balak, hires a prophet named Balaam. \u00a0Balaam is what I like to call a prophet for profit, you pay the guy the right price and he\u2019ll basically do anything you want.\u00a0 We\u2019ve got a lot of people like that today and we shouldn\u2019t be that way.\u00a0 He paid this guy off and he said here\u2019s what I want you to do, as these Hebrews are coming through my territory I want you to curse them, and the price was right, and Balak gave Balaam the money and Balaam therefore articulates seven curses against the nation of Israel.\n\nThe problem is, Israel has a covenant from God and every time Balaam tried to curse Israel what came out of his mouth was a blessing to Israel. Isn\u2019t that interesting that all of the people in history that come against the nation of Israel God comes against them and actually turns the curse that they have brought against Israel into a blessing.\u00a0 And this happens through seven oracles; these oracles are quoted in Numbers 23 and 24 and there\u2019s a little clue that keeps happening over and over again in the text; it says, \u201cHe picked up his oracle and he said\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 Every time it says that in Numbers 23 and 24 Balaam is giving a new oracle and he\u2019s trying to curse Israel but what comes out of his mouth is a blessing.\n\nAnd it\u2019s the fourth oracle that is most interesting to us because in oracle number four Balaam starts to make prophecies about a Messiah that\u2019s coming to the world through the Hebrew race.\u00a0 And notice, if you will, Numbers 24:17, notice what it says, Balaam says, \u201cI see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; A star\u201d you see that, \u201cA star shall come forth from Jacob, A scepter shall rise from Israel, and he shall crush through the forehead of Moab, and tear down all the sons of Sheth.\u201d\u00a0 There\u2019s coming one from this Hebrew race, he is analogized to a star, he is holding a scepter, meaning he is a ruler of some sort, and he is coming from Jacob, the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.\u00a0 And he\u2019s going to deal permanently with the Moab problem and he\u2019s not going to just deal with the Moab problem, he\u2019s going to deal with every rebellious nation that has ever come against Israel.\u00a0 And so what we would understand this as is this is a Messianic prophecy revealed about one thousand five hundred years before the birth of Christ.\n\nNow let me ask you the $20.00 question: where did Balaam, who articulated this prophecy, where did he live?\u00a0 The answer is he resided in Mesopotamia.\u00a0 [Deuteronomy 23:4, \u201cbecause they did not meet you with food and water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.\u201d] Where is Mesopotamia?\u00a0 It\u2019s between the rivers.\u00a0 It\u2019s where the magi came from.\n\nNow if you just connect the dots a little bit what you\u2019ll discover is these magi, by the time of Christ, are following this star, they\u2019re coming from Mesopotamia where Balaam resided who gave the prophecy concerning the ruler and the scepter coming forth from Jacob analogized to the star, and they had this tradition handed down to them, and so 1500 years before the time of Christ these magi are wising up.\u00a0 And by the time Christ rolls around they know that a Messiah is coming from Israel and they\u2019re told to look for a star, and so when they see this abnormal occurrence of a star they say to themselves, that\u2019s it!\u00a0 That\u2019s Balaam\u2019s prophecy that was given all the way back in the time of Moses and they start following this star.\u00a0 And there\u2019s a reason why they\u2019re following a star, as all of our Christmas cards reflect and it has to do with Balaam\u2019s oracle given all the way back in the book of Numbers chapter 24 and verse 17.\n\nNow let me throw one more detail on this if I could.\u00a0 About 800 years after this prophecy was given, Daniel (who we\u2019re studying on Sunday morning) had another prophecy, and in this particular prophecy, and I don\u2019t have time to defend it right now, but in Daniel 9:25, in the famous prophecy of the seventy weeks.\u00a0 [Daniel 9:25, \u201cKnow therefore and understand, that<\/em> from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be<\/em> seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.\u201d]\u00a0 \u00a0Daniel is going to pinpoint the exact day, and when we get to it I\u2019ll walk through it with you to show you how this works.\u00a0 He\u2019s going to pinpoint the exact day that the Messiah is going to show up and present His Messianic credentials to the nation of Israel.\u00a0 And this is why there are very godly people early on in Luke\u2019s Gospel who are waiting in the temple for the Messiah.\u00a0 They know Daniel\u2019s time clock and they know the general time when the Messiah is going to arrive and present his credentials to the nation and so they\u2019re able to kind of calculate backwards and try to figure out the general time when the Messiah is going to be born.\n\nOne of those persons is Simeon, Luke 2:25, who was\u201d looking for the consolation of Israel.\u201d\u00a0 [Luke 2:25, \u201cAnd there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him.\u201d]\n\nAnother individual is Anna, Luke 2:36-38 who was looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. Why are they all looking for this Messiah?\u00a0 [Luke 2:36-38, \u201cand then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers.\u00a0 [37]\u00a0 and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers.\u00a0 [38] At that very moment she came up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.\u201d]\n\nWhy are they all looking for this Messiah to come?\u00a0 Why are they all expecting this Messiah to come?\u00a0\u00a0 Because they had, as Jews, Hebrews, access to Daniel 9:25, Daniel\u2019s prophecy of the seventy weeks.\u00a0 And what we discover in Matthew 2 is the Gentiles had this figured out as well.\u00a0 [Daniel 9:25, \u201cKnow therefore and understand, that<\/em> from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be<\/em> seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.\u201d]\n\nAnd what we discover in Matthew 2 is the Gentiles have this figured out as well and they\u2019re following a star and they\u2019re interested in this star because it\u2019s showing up at a particular time in history and I think these people, coming from the East to Jerusalem had access to Daniel\u2019s prophecies as well.\u00a0 Now why would I say that?\u00a0 Where was Daniel when he was given this prophecy?\u00a0 He was in Babylon, Mesopotamia, called the land of Shinar if you want a reference for that, Daniel 1:2 indicates that the nation of Israel was taken in the seventy year captivity into this land called Shinar.\u00a0 [Daniel 1:2, \u201cThe Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the vessels of the house of God; and he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his god.\u201d]\n\nDaniel, of course after he successfully interprets Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s dream in Daniel 2, the chapter that we\u2019re in on Sunday morning, what does Nebuchadnezzar do for Daniel?\u00a0 According to Daniel 2:48 Nebuchadnezzar promotes Daniel, promotes him where?\u00a0 Daniel 2:48 says this: \u201cThen the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.\u201d\u00a0 All the way back in the sixth century Daniel became the top, what we would call, magi.\n\nSo by the time the birth of Christ rolls around, as this tradition was handed down through the ranks of the magi, they had two prophecies.\u00a0 The first one they had is Balaam\u2019s oracle, Numbers 24:17 which connects the coming of the Messiah to a star.\u00a0 The second thing they had was Daniel 9:25 which pinpoints the general time period when the Messiah would show up.\u00a0 [Numbers 24:17, \u201cI see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; A star shall come forth from Jacob, A scepter shall rise from Israel, And shall crush through the forehead of Moab, And tear down all the sons of Sheth.\u201d]\n\nAnd these magi are putting two and two together.\u00a0 There\u2019s a reason that they\u2019re seeking this strange phenomenon in the sky and the reason that they\u2019re interested in it at this particular time in history, they knew the Messianic times that they were living in.\u00a0 And this is a rebuke, if you will, to the Hebrew nation in the first century, because the Hebrew nation in the first century didn\u2019t just have two prophecies, they had the whole Old Testament canon, and they wouldn\u2019t discern the Messianic times they were in, and here are these Gentiles with a much smaller record, prophetically, to work from and they\u2019re able to piece things together and they\u2019re able to explain, they\u2019re able to show up at the time that Jesus was born.\u00a0 And one of my favorite Christmas cards is this: Wise men still seek Him.\n\nThe Hebrews did not seek Him but those from modern day Iraq, or Babylon, did.\u00a0 The Hebrews had a fuller record; those from Babylon had a much smaller record but they were able to seek Him and understand the times they were living in, unlike God\u2019s chosen people.\u00a0 And the application is which one are\u00a0 you?\u00a0 Are you like the Hebrews who had a full record and yet are not discerning the Messianic times or are you like the wise men, the Babylonians coming from infamous Babylon, with a more limited record, searching for a Messiah at a particular time in history.\n\nSee, it\u2019s very interesting to me that when you study all of these details the Bible starts to fit into place; the pieces of the puzzle become understandable.\u00a0 They should have known of the virgin birth of Christ, Genesis 3:15.\u00a0 [Genesis 3:15, \u201cAnd I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.\u201d]\u00a0 They should have known the general time period when Jesus was born, Daniel 9:25.\u00a0 [Daniel 9:25, \u201cSo you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.\u201d]\u00a0 And they also should have understood that the coming of the Messiah was to be connected with a strange event in the sky that the New Testament calls an abnormal star.\n\nLet me take you to the third Old Testament prophecy, if I can.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go now to Isaiah 7:13-14, keeping in mind how far in advance these prophecies are given.\u00a0 Genesis 3:15 was given all the way back in the Garden of Eden.\u00a0 Numbers 24:17 was given all the way back in the time of Moses, 1,500 years before Christ walked this earth.\u00a0 Daniel 9:25 was given a full six centuries before the birth of Christ.\u00a0 Notice if you will this third prophecy, it comes from the book of Isaiah, chapter\u00a0 7 and verses 13-14, this is another favorite on all our Christmas cards, and what does Isaiah 1:13-14 say?\u00a0 It says this, \u201cThen he said, \u2018Listen now, O house of David!\u201d as Isaiah is prophesying, \u201cIs it too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God as well? [14] Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.\u201d\n\nA very interesting prophecy (you\u2019ll notice the word \u201cvirgin\u201d there), of the virgin birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, 700 years in advance.\u00a0 How long is 700 years?\u00a0 That\u2019s the United States of America times two plus another couple hundred years; that\u2019s how far in advance God is revealing these prophecies.\u00a0 And He makes a very specific prophecy to the prophet Isaiah that when the Messiah shows up, He will be born, He will have no biological father, rather He will be born of a virgin.\n\nNow when you watch A&E, The History Channel, Mysteries of the Bible, what you\u2019ll be exposed to is a bunch of scholars with their PhD\u2019s from Harvard, coming on the air with no conservative opportunity to respond to their arguments, making fun of people who believe that this is some kind of prophecy about the virgin birth of Christ.\u00a0 In fact, an extremely well-known talk show host, whose politics I agree with consistently, who was of Jewish origin, I heard him on the air one time making fun of evangelical Bible believing Christians that actually believed that this is a prophecy here in Isaiah about the virgin birth of Christ.\u00a0 And so what I want to do is I want to equip you for the three arguments that you\u2019re going to hear by people that try to dismiss this as a Messianic prophecy about the virgin birth of Christ.\n\nArgument number one is as follows:\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t say virgin in Isaiah 7:14, the Hebrew word Almah<\/em> is used.\u00a0 [Isaiah 7:14, \u201cTherefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.\u201d] \u00a0Almah<\/em> is just a word in Hebrew that means a young woman of marriageable age, a maiden.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t necessarily mean virgin.\u00a0 And if Isaiah was really trying to communicate something about the virgin birth of Christ He would have used an entirely different word, and the word that they think means virgin is not Almah<\/em>, but Betulah<\/em>.\u00a0 If Isaiah wanted to communicate the virgin birth of Christ he wouldn\u2019t\u00a0 use Almah<\/em>, which means a young woman of marriageable age; he would use this other word, Betulah<\/em>.\n\nAnd let me tell you why that argument doesn\u2019t work. In Joel 1:8 Betulah<\/em> is used but it doesn\u2019t mean virgin, it means a widow.\u00a0 What\u2019s the point I\u2019m trying to get at?\u00a0 The Hebrews, the Hebrew language has no word for virgin; it\u2019s not a specific language, like Greek is, where there was a specific word that they could use for virgin.\u00a0 So that argument just doesn\u2019t work.\n\nThe second argument is the Hebrew word Almah<\/em> doesn\u2019t mean virgin.\u00a0 People say look it up in a dictionary, Almah<\/em> doesn\u2019t mean virgin, it just means a\u00a0 young woman of marriageable age.\u00a0 Once again, Almah<\/em> had to be used because the Hebrew language has no vocabulary word for virgin.\u00a0 What\u2019s very interesting is this word Almah<\/em> is used in the Hebrew Bible seven times; six other times outside of Isaiah 7:14 and as you look through those usages what you\u2019ll discover is it could easily apply, in every single context, to a virgin.\u00a0 For example, in Genesis 24:43, Almah is used of Rebecca who was obviously a virgin at the time of her marriage to Isaac.\u00a0 [Genesis 24:43, behold, I am standing by the spring, and may it be that the maiden who comes out to draw, and to whom I say, \u2018Please let me drink a little water from your jar;\u2019\u201d]\n\nIn Exodus 2:8 Almah<\/em> is\u00a0 used in reference to Moses\u2019 sister, Miriam, who at that time was a virgin.\u00a0 [Exodus 2:8, \u201cPharaoh's daughter said to her, \u2018Go ahead.\u2019 So the girl went and called the child's mother.\u201d]\n\nPsalm 68:25 uses the word Almah<\/em> but it\u2019s used in reference to a royal procession of virgins.\u00a0 [Psalm 68:25, \u201cThe singers went on, the musicians after them, In the midst of the maidens beating tambourines.\u201d]\u00a0 Since the king, in this context is God Himself, absolute virginity is required; it is unthinkable that God would allow unchaste, unmarried women into his procession.\n\nIn the Song of Solomon, chapter 1 and verse 3 the context there is purity of marriage, which is obviously speaking of virginity.\u00a0 [Solomon 1:3, \u201cYour oils have a pleasing fragrance, Your name is like purified oil; Therefore the maidens love you.\u201d]\n\nThe word is also used in the Song of Solomon, chapter 6 and verse 8; the word is\u00a0 used here in contrast to wives and concubines who obviously would be non-virgins.\u00a0 [Solomon 6:8, \u201cThere are sixty queens and eighty concubines, And maidens without number;\u201d]\n\nProverbs 30:18-19 the word is used in verse 19 in contrast to an adulteress in verse 20, so obviously when the word is\u00a0 used in contrast to the adulteress, verse 20, it\u2019s speaking there of a virgin.\u00a0 \u201cThere are three things which are too wonderful for me, Four which I do not understand:\u00a0 [19] The way of an eagle in the sky, The way of a serpent on a rock, The way of a ship in the middle of the sea, And the way of a man with a maid. [20] This is the way of an adulterous woman: She eats and wipes her mouth, And says, \u201cI have done no wrong.\u201d]\n\nWhat am I trying to say?\u00a0 Every other time in Hebrew Bible where Almah<\/em> is used it is easily applicable to a virgin.\n\nArnold Fruchtenbaum, the great Hebrew Christian scholar, asked this: Since all of these above six verses mean virgin, what reason is there for making Isaiah 7:14 the only exception to the rule?\u00a0 I don\u2019t think there was a clearer linguistic way, in my humble opinion, for Isaiah to communicate virginity other than how he did it; there\u2019s no other tool in his arsenal which he could have used to communicate that idea.\n\nNow you\u2019ll notice there on the screen I\u2019ve got this Roman numeral, the LXX.\u00a0 What does that add up to?\u00a0 That\u2019s seventy.\u00a0 That refers to what\u2019s called the Septuagint.\u00a0 Why is it called the Septuagint?\u00a0 Because it\u2019s a translation of Hebrew Bible into Greek a couple of hundred years before the time of Christ by seventy scholars in seventy days.\u00a0 According to tradition these scholars took Hebrew Bible, which was in existence at that time, and they translated it into Greek and they did it a full two centuries before Christ ever showed up.\u00a0 Well, why did they want a Greek translation of the Old Testament?\u00a0 Because Alexander the Great, in the intertestamental period had made the Greek language the known language of the day.\u00a0 And so if you wanted to read the Bible in your own language you had a Greek translation.\n\nAnd so it\u2019s considered a very high level of translation that these scholars embraced as they did this great work.\u00a0 And when they got to Isaiah 7:14 how did they translate Isaiah 7:14?\u00a0 They used the Greek word \u03c0\u03b1\u03c1\u03b8\u03ad\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2 (parthenos<\/em><\/a>).\u00a0 You say well what difference does it make?\u00a0 It makes a world of difference because in the Greek language parthenos<\/em>, without exception, always means virgin.\u00a0 And what you have to understand about the Greek language is it\u2019s probably the most precise, specific language the world has ever had.\n\nFor example, in English we have one word for love; you might be shocked to learn that in Greek there are actually four words for love, describing different phases of love.\u00a0 So the Greeks had linguistic tools in their arsenal that the Hebrew language does not necessarily allow.\u00a0 And when these great scholars got to Isaiah 7:14 they all believed that it was a reference to the virgin birth of the Messiah, and that\u2019s why they put into the LXX, the Septuagint, the Greek word parthenos<\/em>.\n\nNos if that is not convincing enough, in Matthew 1:23, as Matthew is translating Isaiah 7:14 what word does Matthew use as he\u2019s guided by the power of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 He says, \u201cBehold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.\u201d\u00a0 When Matthew got down to translating that word he also used, under divine inspiration, the word parthenos<\/em>.\u00a0 I\u2019m very comfortable that Isaiah 7:14 is talking about the virgin birth of Christ because that\u2019s the same conclusion of the Septuagint translators and it\u2019s also the same conclusion of the first writer of the New Testament, Matthew.\n\nThe third argument that people use to dismiss that Isaiah 7:13-14, they say this can\u2019t be a Messianic prophecy, and the third argument they use is how could this be a prophecy 700 years in advance?\u00a0 That prophecy needs to relate to Isaiah\u2019s day in some way.\u00a0 So take your Bible and look at Isaiah 7 for just a minute; Isaiah 7:1-2, this can\u2019t be a prophecy that\u2019s going to be fulfilled in a Messiah 700 years down the line, how would that relate to the immediate struggle that Isaiah is in.\u00a0 That\u2019s the argument.\n\nNotice Isaiah 7:1-2, \u201cNow it came about in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Aram and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to wage<\/em> war against it, but could not conquer it.\u201d\u00a0 Verse 2, \u201cWhen it was reported to the house of David, saying, \u2018The Arameans have camped in Ephraim,\u2019 his heart and the hearts of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake with the wind.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0People say well how could this prophecy about a virgin birth of a Messiah seven hundred years down the line, how could that relate to the immediate problem that\u2019s described there in Isaiah 7:1-2.\u00a0 And let me see if I can answer that.\n\nFirst of all, the book of Isaiah makes Messianic prophecies all of the time, does it not?\u00a0 Have you read Isaiah 53 lately; that\u2019s an in-depth prophecy about a coming Messiah.\u00a0 How did that relate to the crisis of the times?\u00a0 It didn\u2019t necessarily relate to it at all, but God is very good at disclosing the future because He wants people to know that in the end everything is going to be all right.\n\nBeyond that, Isaiah 7:14, notice what it says, verse 14, \u201cTherefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign:\u201d\u00a0 What\u2019s a sign?\u00a0 A sign is a miracle, a sign is something that\u2019s so miraculous it\u2019s abnormal.\u00a0 And the reason I bring that up is because people all of the time will say this: well, the prophecy about Isaiah 7 was fulfilled in Isaiah 8 because in Isaiah 8 Isaiah has a son.\u00a0 And so they say it\u2019s not a prophecy about Jesus, it\u2019s a prophecy that was fulfilled about his own son in Isaiah\u2019s day.\n\nOkay, let me ask\u00a0 you a question?\u00a0 How would that be a miracle?\u00a0 How would that be a sign?\u00a0 A normal birth of a child is not a sign; a sign or a miracle is someone born down the road of a virgin.\u00a0 And when you stack up what Isaiah 7 is saying about the son that Isaiah is predicting is going to come and you compare it to Isaiah 8 you\u2019ll see massive differences.\u00a0 Isaiah 7 was never fulfilled in Isaiah 8; Isaiah 7 is a distant prophecy that will be fulfilled with the coming of the Messiah 700 years later.\u00a0 And beyond that what\u2019s very important to understand in Isaiah 7 is there are two crises that are happening.\u00a0 One is the immediate crisis to Isaiah\u2019s day, to a king named Ahaz, who\u2019s very afraid of armies coming against him, and there\u2019s a reference to that in Isaiah 7:1.\n\nBut there\u2019s a second crisis; it\u2019s crisis number 2 that people fail to consider.\u00a0 Isaiah 7:2 says, \u201cWhen it was reported to the house of\u201d what? \u201cDavid,\u201d what\u2019s \u201cthe house of David?\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s the line that\u2019s going to lead to the birth of the Messiah.\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019ve got two crises happening here as this invasion is occurring. Number 1, there\u2019s the immediate crisis to King Ahaz, and the second crisis is there is a crisis in the line leading to the Messiah.\u00a0 And what I want you to see is Isaiah skillfully deals with both crises.\u00a0 For example, in Isaiah 7:3, notice what Isaiah 7:3 says, \u201cThen the LORD said to Isaiah, \u2018Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub,\u2019\u201d Isaiah says I want you to take your existing son and I want you to go meet Ahaz.\u00a0 The son\u2019s name is Shear-jashub; do you know what Shear-jashub means in Hebrew?\u00a0 A remnant will return.\u00a0 In other words, the presence of that son as Isaiah was talking to Ahaz was the evidence given to Ahaz himself, but don\u2019t worry Ahaz, everything is going to be all right, a remnant is actually going to return.\n\nBut then as you move through the chapter Isaiah shifts and he begins to deal with the crisis to who?\u00a0 The Davidic line, because there\u2019s two crises happening here: there\u2019s the crisis to Ahaz, that\u2019s dealt with, with the existence of Shear-jashub.\u00a0 And then there\u2019s the crisis of the Davidic line and once\u00a0 you get to Isaiah 7:13-14 Isaiah is no longer dealing with crisis A, he\u2019s dealing with crisis B.\u00a0 He\u2019s no longer dealing with the crisis to Ahaz, he\u2019s already dealt with that through the presence of Shear-jashub, now the Holy Spirit directs him to deal with the second crisis, the crisis to the Davidic line.\n\nAnd I want you to see something that\u2019s happening in this text in Hebrew.\u00a0 English won\u2019t allow you to see it; you only see it with a knowledge of Hebrew.\u00a0 And here is the distinction.\u00a0 The second person pronoun \u201cyou\u201d is singular in Isaiah 7:9 through verse 12.\u00a0 And then you get to Isaiah 7:13-14 and suddenly the pronoun shifts from the singular to the plural.\u00a0 And then once\u00a0 you get beyond verse 14 Isaiah goes back to the crisis with Ahaz and the pronoun shifts from the plural back to the singular.\n\nSo here\u2019s how it reads: \u201cand the head of Ephraim is Samaria and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you\u201d singular \u201cwill not believe, you\u201d singular \u201csurely shall not last.\u201d\u00a0 [11] Then the LORD spoke again to Ahaz, saying, [12] Ask a sign for yourself\u201d singular, later on down in verse\u2026 go through verse 12, singular, singular, you get to verse 13, \u201cThen he said, \u2018Listen now, O house of David! Is it too slight a thing for you\u201d now it\u2019s plural, \u201cto try the patience of men, that you\u201d plural \u201cwill try the patience of my God as well?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 You go to verse 14, it says \u201cTherefore the Lord Himself will give you\u201d plural, \u201ca sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child [and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.\u201d]\u00a0 And you get beyond Isaiah 7:14 and it goes right back to the singular.\n\nIt\u2019s a distinction that\u2019s very important because what you see is in verses 13-14 Isaiah, as he\u2019s directed by the Holy Spirit, is no longer dealing with the immediate circumstance that Ahaz was facing.\u00a0 He begins to deal collectively with the nation.\u00a0 And what he is saying here is this army that\u2019s coming against you, and any army for that matter, will never stifle, will never thwart, will never disrupt the lineage leading to Jesus Christ.\u00a0 And in the process he makes a profound statement concerning the virgin birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.\u00a0 And it fits so nicely with the rest of the book of Isaiah, which frequently makes reference to a coming Messiah; Isaiah 9:6 makes that reference, [Isaiah 9:6, \u201cFor a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.\n\nIsaiah 11:1-5 makes that reference as well.\u00a0 Isaiah 11:1-5, \u201cThen a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will \u00a0bear fruit.\u00a0 [2] The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding,\u00a0 The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.\u00a0\u00a0 [3] And He \u00a0will delight in the fear of the LORD, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; [4] But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And \u00a0with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.\u00a0 [5] Also righteousness will be the belt about \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist.\u201d]\n\nThe three arguments are: number 1, the Hebrews should have used a different word for virgin; we\u2019ve dismissed that argument.\u00a0 Argument number 2, almah<\/em> does not mean virgin, it\u2019s true you look up the word almah<\/em> in the Hebrew dictionary, it doesn\u2019t mean virgin but it can apply to virgins in all of its other six usages.\u00a0 And number 3, how could you make this a prophecy about the virgin birth of Christ, don\u2019t you understand that this should be a prophecy related to King Ahaz and the fact of the matter is that argument doesn\u2019t work either.\u00a0 And the reason that argument doesn\u2019t work either is because there\u2019s two crises happening in Isaiah 7.\u00a0 Most of Isaiah 7 is dealing with Ahaz but then there\u2019s a shift to the plural where he makes a prophecy about the coming birth of Jesus Christ.\n\nOne more and we\u2019re done; you guys have enough energy for one more?\u00a0 Don\u2019t worry, those Christmas presents will still be there.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go to Micah 5:2, I can do this fairly fast.\u00a0 The fourth prophecy relating to the birth of Jesus Christ is Micah 5:2, another prophecy that\u2019s on all of our Christmas cards.\u00a0 What does that prophecy say.\u00a0 It says, \u201cBut as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.\u201d\u00a0 There\u2019s very little doubt that this is talking about the Messiah because it\u2019s talking about one who\u2019s goings forth are from the days of eternity.\n\nThe Hebrew word for eternity is the Hebrew word, olam<\/em>, which means forever and that is a word used primarily of God Himself.\u00a0 For example, in Psalm 90:2 pf God it says, \u201cEven from everlasting\u201d that\u2019s olam<\/em>, \u201cto everlasting, You are God.\u201d\u00a0 Arnold Fruchtenbaum writes this:\u00a0 \u201cAs regards to His human origin He is to be born in Bethlehem but according to His divine origin He is said to be from long ago, from days of eternity.\u00a0 The Hebrew words for \u201cfrom long ago\u201d \u201cfrom the days of eternity\u201d are the strongest Hebrew words ever used for eternity past.\u00a0 They are used of God the Father in Psalm 90:2.\u00a0 What is true of God the Father is also true of this One who is to be born in Bethlehem.\u00a0 The word \u201cforever\u201d or eternity clearly identifies this coming one as God Himself.\u201d\n\nNow keep in mind, Micah, just like Isaiah, is predicting these things seven hundred years in advance.\u00a0 In fact, Micah is a contemporary of Isaiah.\u00a0 Now notice what Micah says seven hundred years in advance.\u00a0 Number 1, he predicts the nation that the Messiah is going to come from because he says \u201cone will go forth for Me to be ruler\u201d over who?\u00a0 \u201cIsrael.\u201d\u00a0 Did you all know that Jesus is not a Palestinian?\u00a0 Why do I say that?\u00a0 I visited Bethlehem recently; Bethlehem is controlled by what\u2019s called the Palestinian authority and they put out all of these propaganda pieces that the birth place of Christ was really in a land called Palestine.\u00a0 And so they have this picture of Jesus there, wearing the same kind of head garb that you see in the late Yasser Arafat.\u00a0 It\u2019s a propaganda tool to dismiss the Hebrew lineage of Christ.\u00a0 This is what you hear constantly when you actually get into this subject and study it.\n\nMicah is saying Jesus is not Palestinian, He wasn\u2019t even American, He wasn\u2019t even a Texan, He is to be ruler in Israel.\u00a0 He\u2019s going to come into the world through the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.\u00a0 Now this was revealed seven hundred years in advance.\u00a0 And then Micah says let me throw another fact at you, He is going to come from the tribe of who? Judah.\u00a0 Now you probably know that the nation of Israel was divided into twelve tribes.\u00a0 Micah is very clear that the tribe that Jesus will come from will come from the tribe of Judah.\n\nWell why is Judah such a big deal?\u00a0 According to Genesis 49:10, according to Messianic prophecy given by Jacob, the Messiah must come from the lineage of Judah.\u00a0 That\u2019s why Jesus, in the New Testament, is called \u201cthe lion of the tribe of\u201d what? \u201cJudah, Revelation 5:5.\u00a0 [Genesis 49:10, \u201cThe scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 5:5, \u201cand one of the elders said to me, \u2018Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.\u2019\u201d]\n\nSee what Micah is doing seven hundred years in advance is he\u2019s not just giving the nation that the Messiah is going to be born from; he\u2019s also giving the exact part of the nation that the Messiah was going to be born from, from the tribe of Judah.\u00a0 Now would that be specific enough?\u00a0 I think that would be specific enough for me, but Micah says let me take it a step further, I\u2019ll give you the city He\u2019s going to be born from.\u00a0 He\u2019s going to be born in a little town called Bethlehem.\n\nNow what I would have thought, if I were God (and I\u2019m not) is that the Messiah would be born in Jerusalem.\u00a0 I mean, Jerusalem is the main act; Jerusalem is the city that commands the most attention as\u00a0 you go through the pages of the Old Testament.\u00a0 But Micah says you know what, He\u2019s not going to be born in Jerusalem, He\u2019s going to be born in this little tiny city about two miles to the south of Jerusalem, named Bethlehem.\u00a0 That is a very specific prophecy that He is giving here.\n\nAnd would that be enough?\u00a0 That would be enough for me.\u00a0 But Micah says let me take it a step further.\u00a0 \u201cBut as for you, Bethlehem\u201d what?\u00a0 \u201cEphrathah,\u201d most people don\u2019t know this but in the land of Israel there\u2019s two Bethlehem\u2019s; there\u2019s one up north in the Galilee area and there\u2019s another one about two miles south of Jerusalem.\u00a0 And Micah is so specific in this prophecy he says oh by the way, it\u2019s not going to be the Bethlehem up north, it\u2019s going to be this little one down south.\n\nNow we recognize this because in the United States of America we often have cities with the same name.\u00a0 I was looking at Wikipedia, did you know there are 41 cities in America named Springfield, 25 named Madison, 21 named Salem.\u00a0 And it was sort of like that in the land of Israel; you have different cities with the same name.\u00a0 There\u2019s another Bethlehem up north in the Galilee area.\u00a0 There\u2019s another Bethlehem down south near the city of Jerusalem.\u00a0 And Micah says it\u2019s not going to be up north; it\u2019s going to be down south.\u00a0 And he is revealing this 700 years in advance.\u00a0 It is an astonishing thing that the Holy Spirit has done here through this prophecy.\n\nArnold Fruchtenbaum writes this: \u201cMessiah is to be born, not in Jerusalem as one might have expected, but in Bethlehem.\u00a0 This is Bethlehem Ephrathah, as to be distinguished from Bethlehem in Galilee.\u00a0 This Bethlehem is the Bethlehem of David, and of Judah, situated south of Jerusalem.\u201d\n\nLet\u2019s say I wanted to identify somebody.\u00a0 I could be very general and give you what hemisphere they\u2019re living in, then I could get more specific and say well, within the western hemisphere let me give you the country, The United States of America.\u00a0 If I wanted to be more specific, since America has 50 states I could identify the state that they\u2019re living in, the state of Texas of course.\u00a0 But within each state there\u2019s multiple counties, and I named the county.\u00a0 And then within counties there\u2019s multiple cities so I name the city.\u00a0 And then within a city there\u2019s multiple zip codes so I name the zip code.\u00a0 And then within a zip code there are multiple street names so I give\u00a0 you the exact street name.\u00a0 And on any street there are multiple addresses, so I give you the exact address, the house.\u00a0 And then with any house there are multiple people residing in that house so I give you the name of the person that\u2019s residing in that house.\n\nSo the prophecies start off very generally and as the Holy Spirit guides Micah they get more detailed, they get more detailed, they get more detailed, they get more specific, to the point where Micah 700 years in advance is revealing the nation, the tribe, the city, the specific city, and people say I just don\u2019t see any proof for Christianity.\u00a0 Compare this to the prophecies of Nostradamus, to the prophecies of Jeane Dixon which are so general and so generic it\u2019s almost like anything could fit.\u00a0 The prophecies of the Bible are at such a different level in terms of their detail and their specificity.\u00a0 And in fact, these prophecies are so specific that when Herod asked his wise men in the land of Israel, where\u2019s the Messiah going to be born, they all identified Bethlehem.\u00a0 They knew exactly where He was going to be born because they were students of Messianic prophecy.\n\nThis is the Christmas message folks; Christmas message is about a God who loves you so much that He has brought His own Son, God the Son, Jesus Christ, into our world on an exact schedule, on an exact timetable, with exact details because when He came into this world He had someone on His mind.\u00a0 Do you know who He was thinking about?\u00a0 He was thinking about you, not just generically but specifically.\u00a0 And I believe this, that if you were the only person on planet earth God would have still moved heaven and earth the way He did\u00a0 to bring His Son into our world to accomplish His mission.\n\nAnd how can a person understand this detail, look at Jesus Christ, and say I\u2019m not interested?\u00a0 I\u2019m too busy.\u00a0 My schedule is too full. What an insult to an omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent God who orchestrated all of these events.\u00a0 And perhaps you\u2019re here today and you don\u2019t know this God personally.\u00a0 He wants to be personal with you; this information reveals it.\u00a0 Genesis 3:15, the virgin birth of Christ.\u201d\u00a0 [Genesis 3:15, \u201cAnd I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.\u201d]\n\nNumbers 24:17, He\u2019s coming from the line of Jacob.\u00a0 He\u2019s connected to a star.\u00a0 [Numbers 12:17, \u201cI see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth.\u201d]\n\nIsaiah 7:13-14 reveal 700 years in advance He\u2019s going to be born of a virgin.\u00a0 [Isaiah 7:13, \u201cThen he said, \u2018Listen now, O house of David! Is it too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God as well?\u00a0 [14] Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.\u201d]\n\nMicah 5:2 gives you the exact little insignificant dinky town in a large nation that He\u2019s coming from.\u00a0 [Micah 5:2, \u201cBut as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too<\/em> little to be among the clans of Judah<\/u>, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.\u201d\u2019]\n\nAnd He came into the world and He died on a cross and He rose from the dead and as He rose from the dead He authenticated who He was and He leaves humanity with a very simple message: you in your sin and your depravity cannot fix yourself.\u00a0 No amount of religion, no amount of trying harder, no amount of New Year\u2019s resolutions can help you be made right before a holy God.\u00a0 I will come into the world and I will do the whole thing for you and all you do is receive, as a gift, by faith, what\u2019s been done.\n\nAnd our exhortation to you is if the Holy Spirit is placing you under conviction to respond to that convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit and to receive on Christmas morning what Jesus has accomplished in\u00a0 your place.\u00a0 It\u2019s not something you have to raise a hand to do, join a church to do, walk an aisle to do, it\u2019s a moment of privacy between you and the Lord where the Spirit convicts\u00a0 you and\u00a0 you respond to Him by faith and simply receive as a free gift what the Lord has accomplished.\u00a0 If it\u2019s something you need more explanation on I\u2019m available after the service to talk.\u00a0 It\u2019s something you can do right now even in the quietness and the privacy of your own heart and mind as the Holy Spirit convicts. Shall we pray.\n\nFather, we are overwhelmed at what You\u2019ve done for us; we\u2019re overwhelmed at the detail in Your Word. Help us to not be calloused to these things that you have accomplished. Help us to learn these things and value You even more as we walk with You this week and share Your gospel with others.\u00a0 And we\u2019re so grateful, Father, to be gathered this morning, celebrating the birth of Your Son which you orchestrated so perfectly.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We lift these things up in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said Amen.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t