Not an Ordinary Birth!

Remember the feeling you experienced when you kept a promise? More than that, remember the joy when someone fulfilled their promise to you? What if that fulfillment came after a time of waiting? 

In Jesus’ birth, God fulfilled a multitude of His promises. These promises were made many millennia before they were fulfilled. But God never forgot them. In fact, He carefully orchestrated and brought about the events exactly the way in which He prophesied them. In that sense, the birth of Jesus was not an ordinary birth. It was a marker of God’s faithfulness and shows that God is in complete control of all things. His words are true and they will never fail. 

The First Promise

Ever since Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, God promised a Savior to not only undo the curse of sin but also to crush Satan. We see this in Gen 3:15, where God promises a seed of the woman who will crush the head of the serpent (Satan). This promise was fulfilled that night in Bethlehem because Jesus was that seed and He would eventually crush Satan’s head and his dominion on the cross. 

Subsequent Promises

To Abraham

When God called Abraham, He promised him descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. And in Gen 22:18, God promised him that through his seed all the nations will be blessed. Peter interprets this seed to be Jesus in Acts 3:25 when he is preaching to the Jews. Paul also, in Gal 3:16, associates this seed to be Jesus, Abraham’s greatest descendant. In Jesus all the nations will be blessed when they turn to Him in faith. When Jesus was born, God’s promise to Abraham to provide him a seed to bless the nations was fulfilled. 

To Moses

There was not a greater prophet than Moses in the history of the people of Israel. Moses was the one who gave God’s Law to the Israelites and, even today, he is greatly revered and followed by devout Jews. But in Deut. 18:18, God told Moses that He will raise up a prophet like him and that the people are to listen to this prophet’s words. God did raise up such a prophet on the night that Jesus was born. Jesus was that prophet who brought grace and truth, just as Moses brought the Law (John 1:17), and in Jesus’ birth, God’s promise to Moses was fulfilled. 

To David

King David was a man after God’s own heart and because of his zeal for the Lord, he wanted to build God a temple, a dwelling place for God’s presence. But God told David that it would be his descendant and not him who would build the temple. God promised that He will raise up one of David’s descendants to be a king forever and that His kingdom will have no end. And this King was Jesus who was born in the lineage of David. He did not build a temple with stones but His own body (John 2:19, 21), which is now His church (1 Pet 2:5). And, moreover, as God promised, Jesus’ Kingdom will never end (Luke 1:33, 2 Pet 1:11). The birth of Jesus was the fulfillment of God’s promise to David to provide a King from his lineage who will reign forever. 

To Isaiah

There is no clearer promise of a virgin conceiving and giving birth to a son than in Isaiah 7:14. This was God’s sign to the people of the household of David to show that God will deliver them. In Isaiah 7, the deliverance was against the Arameans, but that was not the only purpose of the sign. This was also God’s sign for His people that He will deliver them from all oppression. More than 700 years later, when Jesus was born of a virgin (Luke 1:31,34, 2:7), God’s sign was manifested; His promise of a deliverer was fulfilled. 

To Micah

While God promised to Isaiah the manner in which Jesus would be born (through a virgin), to Micah God promised the exact location of His birth. Bethlehem was a small city of little significance in the clan of Judah. But in Micah 5:2, God chooses this city to be the place where a ruler for Him would be born. Centuries later, wise men from the east see the star of the King of the Jews and come to meet Herod. The priests and scribes in Herod’s court confirm Micah’s words of a ruler coming from Bethlehem (Matt 2:2-5). The wise men then find Jesus in Bethlehem and worship Him. 

Mary and Joseph did not live in Bethlehem; they lived in Nazareth of Galilee, which is about 93 miles (153 km) from Bethlehem (about a week’s journey by foot with a heavily pregnant woman). However, God orchestrated the events – the census, the time of birth, and the arrival at Bethlehem – to ensure Jesus, His Ruler, would be born in Bethlehem according to His promise. Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem fulfilled God’s promise of a ruler coming from that city. 

To Jeremiah

When God’s people in Judah were mistreated by their leaders, God denounces these false leaders and promises to raise up a righteous Branch who will do justice and righteousness in the land (Jer 23:5-6). Jesus was that Branch because there was no unrighteousness found in Him (Heb 4:15, 1 Pet 2:22), and His judgements were true (John 5:30). In the birth of Jesus, God fulfilled His promise He made to Jeremiah.

Conclusion

In the birth of Jesus, God made a loud proclamation that His promises to provide a Savior, a Deliverer, a Prophet, a Ruler, a Righteous Judge, an everlasting King, and our Salvation were fulfilled. He has proved Himself to be faithful.

Jesus’ birth was not an ordinary event. It was God, the Son, entering the earth in human form. He who was the Lord of the universe took on human flesh to redeem humans. He did this for His name’s sake, to be true to His nature and to His word. It was also His love for His people that caused Him to be born as a child. This is worthy of celebration, not just on Christmas Day but everyday and every moment of our lives! 

Merry Christmas !!