God’s Christmas Gift: Fulfilled Prophecy!

God’s Christmas Gift: Fulfilled Prophecy!     12-10-17     By Kelly Durant

Matthew 1:20-23

20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

2. Do you every think about gifts? It is the season of gifts this time of year and some of you may have even been out buying gifts this week. Every gift comes with an expectation. For example, a coworker has an expectation that you will spend about $10 on them, whereas a son or daughter expects anywhere from $50 to $500, isn’t that right?

The gift of Jesus to the world had been in the expectations of the Jews for about 1,500 years! Imagine from generation to generation your fathers repeating over and over the story to their children that there will be born a man who will save all of us from our sins and make people right with God! Expectations were high!

With some people you give them a gift and they give it away, or throw it away!

Like people who you may give a Bible or a study book for Christmas, and they in their ignorance give it to someone else because in their minds God’s word has little importance, they would rather have gotten a gift of a box of chocolates.

3. The rebellious Jews, yesterday and today, who despised the gift of God, Jesus, his Son, refused him as gift. They wanted a King that would give them the power to rule the whole world! Also, currently in society and even in churches, people are in essence despising the Christmas Gift of Jesus by their lack of respect in obeying His will. God is storing up for them His anger and punishment on judgment day after they die, or when He returns. We must desire God’s will, not our own will!

When God gives a gift, it is supernatural and unique! And expectations are never disappointed! Let us examine all that God did on that first Christmas to make His point that this was the anointed one, the Messiah, the savior and king of the world.

Matt 1:20-23

 21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins."

22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 23 "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us."

4. A virgin birth is a miracle! God gave the world through the Jewish prophets many signs hundreds of years before it happened how Jesus would come into the world. We will examine just few of them today. Each and every fulfilled prophecy is a gift to us.

Ist Gift: The fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14

14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Many cultures have had stories about virgin births but because these were faked stories, they faded into oblivion. This virgin conception was real! It takes faith to believe, but our faith is real and the conception of Jesus was done by the Holy Ghost or He would not have been divine and human at the same time. The meshing of the spiritual with the physical. How amazing!

5. We find evidence of the expectation of the gift of Jesus to come into the world in Matt 2:4 when Herod asks the scribes where the Christ would be born and they answer in Bethlehem.

2^nd Gift: Fulfillment of Micah 5:2

2 "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."

So why was Jesus born in the little town of Bethlehem? Because that region was predominated by the tribe of Judah and God chose the tribe of Judah, not the Levites, to be the ones with the linage of Jesus. The Levite priests where the tribe dedicated to the service of God only, but they had failed God.

Do you recall how Jesus rebuked the scribes, Pharisees calling them blind teachers of the blind being hypocrites offending God? These same ones had their hand in arresting Jesus and persuading the people to yell, “Crucify Him”. Judah was honored and the Levites were not!

6. As we know Herod ordered the killing of all infants under age 2 and Jesus with his parents fled to Egypt spending the money of the gifts of the kings to travel there. This fulfilled another prophecy as a gift to us. Look at Matt 2:14-15 and then Hosea 11:1

3^rd Gift: Fulfillment of Hosea 11:1

11:1 When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.

Jesus spent his toddler years in Egypt but God called Him back to Israel. Egypt symbolizes the world and its idolatry, false gods, and pleasures. God calls all of us out of the world.

When Herod killed all the infants there was a great weeping and sorrow in all Bethlehem and this was prophesied over too. God knows the future, even the future of the acts of the evil people. Look at Matthew 2:16-17 and Jeremiah 31:15

15 Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.

7. Some of you here were born in Mexico City, for example, you travelled to the U.S. a few years and lived in New York, and then you moved to go to live in Winchester, VA. Could anyone of your parents before you have predicted the 3 places which would have been your home? With Jesus it was predicted this way! He was born in Bethlehem, moved to Egypt, and then grew up in Nazareth.

What happened was after Herod died, and Jesus returned to the country of Israel, his father Joseph did not want to live in Bethlehem because Herod’s son was on the throne, so he decided to live in Nazareth. Look up… Matthew 2:23

23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, "He shall be called a Nazarene."

 4^th Gift: Fulfilment of Isaiah 11:1

11:1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:

According to Jewish tradition Jesse was from Nazareth, which represents more than a city; the people from there were noble and faithful to God and all of this implies Jesus would be of the same character of the people from the tribe of Jesse. 

8. Each of these places has their symbolisms. Bethlehem was a very small village and the poorest of all the cities of Israel. This city expresses Jesus humbleness.

Egypt symbolizes the riches of the world that trap people into the material pleasures controlled by slavery. The Jews escaping Egypt through Moses forever meant they were to not love the world and its idols and stop the sinning and worship the one true God.

Obtaining salvation for the Christian means the same thing, we escape all the slavery of the idols and love for the material things and by having Jesus and we worship God who will maintains our freedom as we stay faithful.

Nazareth, as mentioned, was a city where the people were taught in the old ways of the tribe of Jesse, and the qualities of the people from there were known as faithfulness to God, sincerity, and authentic God worship coming from the purist bloodline.

9. Now we have studied 4 gifts of fulfilled prophecy from Matthew. If you want some interesting home study for Christmas, go home and read Luke now. There are more than a dozen more prophecies fulfilled in those first 2 chapters!

Think of Christmas as the most miraculous, most prophesied over, most expected gift to earth of all time! The greatest miraculous event that ever was, was not just in His birth but it was also in his whole life, and in Jesus resurrection!

Christmas should always be special with Jesus at the center of it all. In what we have just looked at, what are some lessons we should apply to our lives?

10. We must worship Jesus as the shepherds and the wise men did on that special day! We must also be thankful for the prophets who told us in several dozen ways how Jesus was to come! They prophesied who (His characteristics), what (God’s gift, the savior of the world), where (3 places of residence), how (from a virgin), and when (He always is, was, and will be!)

We must thank God that Jesus; the king of Kings has all the characteristics He does. We must strive above all to be like Him! The 3 main places prophesied over imply this for our lives:

We must be humble, since he was from Bethlehem, born not in a mansion but in a manger.

We must be free from sin leaving behind Egypt, which enslaves us to the world.

We must be faithful and noble as those who are from the bloodline of Jesse from Nazareth.

God gave you the gift of Jesus and for you to give to God, humbleness, holiness, and freedom from sins, and faithfulness from you may require many years and even your entire life! Get started today. Give God the gift of commitment to change your character!

You know how it is when a musician hears a student who thinks they can sing, but the trained ear knows they really have a long way to go. They sing (off key) “Silent night”. This world is filled with many people who are so proud of their spirituality but they really are not there yet, they are off key.

Some of you here may be trying to give your life to God but you are not there yet. You need to do some major work! Jesus will do the work in your life if you will let Him, if you let Him in all the way to own you as His own.

Let’s pray to make Christmas what it should be, a time of sincere worship and change of heart, and thankfulness! Let God’s gift of Jesus make you humble, repentant, holy, faithful, noble, good-hearted, loving, and useful for God! Amen!