Prophecy

The Prophecy of Christmas

This was written to stir up remembrance of the real Reason for
the Season.  Christians celebrate that day when God was made manifest
in flesh.  When the Creator of all things stepped into the human race,
in order to reconcile humankind to Himself.

Wishing you the very best Christmas this year.

And may the Peace of God abide in you,

wes
wesleybrewer@lycos.com

"We account the Scriptures of God to be the most sublime philosophy. I
find more sure marks of authenticity in the Bible than in any profane
history whatsoever."  Sir Isaac Newton

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The Prophecy
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"Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy,
and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near."
Rev 1:3

These prophecies are dated back to some of the
oldest-known manuscripts, the Dead Sea Scrolls.
I have just listed here a few of about forty
specific prophecies concerning the coming of the
Messiah.  Statiticians have calculated that the
probability that just eight of these prophecies could
be fulfilled in one person is 1 in 10^17
(i.e. 1:10000000000000000).

About 750 years before Christ was born, a prophet named Isaiah
prophesied of the coming of the King saying:

	Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a
	sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and
	bear a Son, and	shall call His name Immanuel. Isa 7:14

	For unto us a Child is born,
	Unto us a Son is given;
	And the government will be upon His shoulder.
	And His name will be called
	Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
	Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isa 9:6

Isaiah talks about who this Messiah will be:

	He is despised and rejected by men,
	A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
	And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
	He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
	Isa 53:3

What would this Messiah do?

	Surely He has borne our griefs
	And carried our sorrows;
	Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
	Smitten by God, and afflicted.

	But He was wounded for our transgressions,
	He was bruised for our iniquities;
	The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
	And by His stripes we are healed. Isa 53:5-6

His crucifixion was prophesied 800 years before before
Roman crucifixion was even used:

	For dogs have surrounded Me;
	The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.
	They pierced My hands and My feet;
	I can count all My bones.
	They look and stare at Me.
	They divide My garments among them,
	And for My clothing they cast lots.
	Psalms 22:16-18

1. Jesus life and what He would do was prophesied
   750 years before it happened.

The prophet Micah wrote around 500BC:

	But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
	Though you are little among
	  the thousands of Judah,
	Yet out of you shall come to Me
	The One to be Ruler in Israel,
	Whose goings forth are from of old,
	From everlasting.  Mic 5:2

This one that was to be Bethlehem, was the same
one from everlasting.  In Colossians 1:15 "He is the
image of the invisible God, the firstborn over
all creation."

2. Jesus was born in the prophesied place.

Also around 550BC, the prophet Daniel wrote:

	Know therefore and understand,
	That from the going forth of the command
	To restore and build Jerusalem
	Until Messiah the Prince,
	There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks;
	Dan 9:25a

This means there will be 69 weeks of years or 69 rabbinic
cycles, or in our present day terms 483 years (to understand
this see Leviticus 25:8) from the decree to rebuild
Jerusalem until the Messiah shall be born.

3. Jesus was born at exactly the right time prophesied.


We also know that all these things had to be written at least
250 B.C. because that is when the Septuagint (the Greek
translation of the Old Testament.) was created.

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The fulfillment of the prophecy:
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	And she will bring forth a Son,
	and you shall call His name JESUS,
	for He will save His people from their sins.
	So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which
	was spoken by the Lord the prophet, saying:
	"Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear
	a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which
	is translated, "God with us."  Matt 1:21-23