THE BIRTH OF CHRIST ACCORDING TO THE PROPHETS

FIVE PROPHECIES FULFILLED IN MATTHEW ONE AND TWO

Morning Meditation 10/13/16

The last two meditations have considered the Virgin Birth and Why Jesus had to be born of a virgin. In this meditation, I want to consider five prophecies recorded in Matthew chapters one and two that are fulfilled in the birth and early life of Jesus. Jesus came according to prophecy. These prophecies were made hundreds of years before His birth. This proves that He is the promised one. Prophecy is not the guess of a man who walks close to God. It is a revelation of God to a prophet concerning future events. There are five of these in Matthew chapters one and two that identify Jesus as the promised One.

The first one has to do with the virgin birth as predicted by Isaiah 7:14. (Isaiah’s prophecy was made more than 700 years before its fulfillment). Matthew 1:22-23 says, “Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” Notice it was spoken “of the Lord by the prophet.” God gave identifiers so that, when He sent His Son into the world, He could be unmistakably identified as the promised One. No Jewish Rabbi could deny that Isaiah said that “. . . a virgin shall conceive and bear a son,” and that they were to call his name “Immanuel,” and that it would be a sign.. The Jewish Rabbi’s knew that a miracle would be associated with the word “sign.” But when Jesus was born, they were not living by faith in what God said, they were living by faith in their interpretation of what God said. One of the great designs of prophecy is to insight hope. In this case it had to do with the future glory of Israel. God had promised a Messiah who would lead Israel to world prominence and establish peace on earth between the nations. The leaders of Israel refused to acknowledge that His birth fit the prophecy perfectly.

The next prophecy fulfilled at the birth of Christ is brought out in chapter two verses three to six. (This prophecy was made in Micah 5:2 more than 700 years before Christ was born). When the wise men from the east came to Jerusalem to worship Him, they came to Herod and asked him “ . . . Where is he that is born King of the Jews?” They told Herod that they had seen His star in the east. Herod was disturbed by what he heard. Herod did not want any child growing up in his kingdom that would be a threat to his throne. So Herod did what anyone would do who believed that there was the slightest possibility that this birth was foretold in Scripture. He called the Bible scholars together to see if the Old Testament prophets had actually prophesied where Christ would be born. I think he said, “Is there such a prophecy as this?” The scholars, without a moments hesitation said, “ . . . In Bethlehem of Judea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel” (vss. 5-6). They knew exactly where the prophet said Jesus was to be born. These scholars knew their Bible. This makes them all the more responsible for rejecting Jesus. During His life time there will be prophecy after prophecy fulfilled that makes it impossible for Jesus to be an imposter. Beginning at His birth, there were unmistakable signs that He was the true messiah. The place of His birth is the fulfillment of prophecy. The word “Bethlehem” is a word made up of two words and means “house of bread.” Jesus is the Bread of life. John 6:48-51 says, “I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” Jesus the Bread of life was born in the house of bread. God, through the prophet, said this is where Jesus was to be born and that is where He was born.

The next prophecy in Matthew chapter two is Jesus being taken into Egypt (vss. 13-14) and was there until the death of Herod so, “ . . . that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.” (This prophecy was made in Hosea 11:1 more than 700 years before its fulfillment). Israel was called out of Egypt as God’s son. Jesus is taken into Egypt as a babe so that the true Son of God and Messiah of Israel will retrace the steps of Israel as a nation. Jesus is the Passover Lamb whose blood in TYPE was put over the door posts and on the two sides of the door as an indication of the faith of those within in the promise of redemption and deliverance from Egyptian bondage. It was not the mighty miracles of the water turned to blood, the flies, frogs, darkness and lightening that caused Egypt to let Israel go. It was the death of the first born. And the death of the first born is the only thing that will redeem and deliver us. There was not a firstborn of man or beast that did not die on the Passover night. There was not one single death of any Jew because every firstborn in Israel died in the person of the lamb that was slain in his stead. Our Adamic nature dies in the death of Jesus (Romans 6) and this is the one and only thing that will save a lost son of Adam. Men who die without Jesus must die forever and this is the second death spoken of in Revelation chapter 20. We who accept Christ as the Passover Lamb will never see the second death. We survive the death of the Adamic man and are raised in the person of the resurrected Lamb who sits in the midst of the throne (Rev. 5:6). This prophecy is literally fulfilled according to Matthew as he is moved by the Holy Spirit to identify Hosea’s prophecy as being fulfilled in the Journey of Jesus in and out of Egypt.

Next is the fulfillment of the prophecy in Matthew chapter two verse 17 and 18: “Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.” (This prophecy was made by Jeremiah [31:15] more than 600 years before its fulfillment). Do you get the idea that God is working out a plan, and in so doing, He does it without violating the will of a single person? God is awesome in His power and infinite wisdom. Man is without an excuse. He is not a puppet. But when you put man’s brain on the point of a needle, when compared to God’s wisdom, you have room left to land a 747 jet and never come close to his little brain. The Jews are God’s chosen people. They are under the chastening of the Lord for their rejection of their true Messiah. They are blind. But they did not reject Jesus because they were blind. If so, they would not be responsible. You cannot blame a blind man because he can’t see. They are blind BECAUSE they rejected Him. I have prayed, “O Lord remove their blindness so they will believe.” But I was wrong. 2 Cor. 3:14-16 says, “But their minds were blinded (speaking of Israel): for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it (Israel) shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.” The parentheses are mine. Notice that Israel must turn to the Lord BEFORE the vail is taken away. They must accept what God says by faith. Any Jew who does this will be gloriously saved and will thrill everyone who is in the vicinity. He will see things in his Old Testament that he never saw before. And he will be so excited about it, he will excite you. Herod’s killing of the children two years old and under was definitely prophesied by Jeremiah. Four prophecies fulfilled in Matthew chapters one and two and one to go.

When Herod died, we are told that an angel of the Lord appeared unto Joseph in a dream IN EGYPT.. He went to Egypt under the direction of the Lord and He came out of Egypt under the direction of the Lord. When Joseph and Mary returned to Israel, and they heard that Herod’s son reigned in his stead, Joseph was afraid and turned aside to Nazareth. God used the fear of Joseph to get Jesus to Nazareth. Have you notice the different ways God has of getting us where He wants us? The taxation of Caesar Augustus got Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem where the prophecy concerning His birth would be fulfilled. Then God used dreams and visions to instruct this holy family. Here He uses the fear of Joseph to keep him from returning to Bethlehem, the place of His birth, because there is another Scripture that needs to be fulfilled. Matthew chapter two and verse 23 says, “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.”

In my Online Bible, under the dictionary definition, the word “Nazareth” means “the guarded one.” This certainly fits the purpose for which Jesus as a young boy was taken. Isaiah says in chapter eleven and verse one (a prophecy made more than 700 years before Christ was born): “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:” The Jews believe this prophecy belongs to the Messiah. You will notice that “Branch” is capitalized. The word is “Netser” and means “a sprout, shoot, or branch.” John Gill quotes David de Pomis where he comments that a Nazarene “is one that is born in the city Netzer, which is said to be in the land of Galilee, three days journey distant from Jerusalem.” While Jesus was not born in Nazareth, He was reared there and attended the Synagogue, where it was His custom (Luke 4:16) to read from the sacred scrolls on the sabbath. So we have prophecy number five in Matthew one and two all fulfilled in the Nativity story. Prophecy is one of the great confirmations that the Bible is the Word of God. No human being could make these prophecies. Only God who knows the future and can predict the future much more accurately than we can write down yesterday’s history.

May the Lord encourage our hearts to see and understand that the birth of Christ was according to prophecy that was attested to and fulfilled to the letter.

God bless each of us to use this season to worship Him and bow in adorning praise before the One who has saved, is saving and will save us to His glory.

In Christ

Bro. White