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Who is Jesus? Day Three

How do we know this is the “correct” Christ? Birth

Hello again, darlings! Now we know Jesus is our Savior sent from God, let’s go back a beat and look at prophecy fulfilled. God used prophets to foretell the birth of Christ as many as 700 years ahead of time. People knew the Christ was coming they just didn’t know when. Jesus wasn’t the first person to claim to be the Son of God. The difference between Jesus and the others, the false Christs would fall short and their claim would be disproved. (This may be where some non-believers get stuck before turning their lives over to Jesus.)

Let’s use scripture to examine some of the prophecies that tell us what to look for in the true Christ. We will explore the Truth for the next three sessions to find evidence that proves Jesus is the Christ. Today we’ll look at the prophecy for the birth of Christ.

Isaiah 7:14 says, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel.” This prophecy had people waiting around 700 years for the birth of Immanuel. Mary was told by an angel of the Lord she would be expecting a child. Mary questioned this news, because she was a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph. Although Mary questioned the news from the angel she agreed and had faith she would soon deliver a baby. Joseph, Mary’s fiance, had serious doubts! He planned to marry then secretly divorce her, but an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. The angel told Joseph not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife, “because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.” Joseph had faith and took Mary as his wife.

When Cesar Augustus issued a decree for the Roman World to take a census, Joseph and Mary lived in Nazareth, but Joseph was technically a resident of the house of David in Bethlehem, so he had to register for the census in Bethlehem. Following the orders of the king, Joseph left the town of Nazareth in Galilee and traveled to Bethlehem in Judea with his pregnant wife Mary. At the time many people were to traveling to their hometowns to register for the census. While in Bethlehem, Mary went into labor and soon after she gave birth to a boy, fulfilling the prophecy Micah 5:2: “But you, Bethlehem… out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” The ruler is Jesus, the origins from ancient time is from his earthly father’s lineage which is tracked all the way back to Abraham.

Well friends, wow! That was quite a bit to unpack. Are you learning anything new? I know I myself have! There is so much more we could delve into, but we will save that for a later time! Next time we will explore prophecy fulfilled from Jesus’ life.

Question: When reading about Joseph’s answer to God’s call I am grateful. I am grateful he listened and didn’t talk himself out of it. Joseph could have easily brushed it off as just a dream.  Have you ever been prompted by God? Did you follow His lead?

Reading: Micah 5:2, Luke 2:1-12 

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