Introduction
Christmas is the favorite time of year for most people. It’s a time of jolly celebration, generosity, and family. But do we know why this season is so special? It’s because above all else, it’s a season of hope. The just and holy God, who is creator of all, gave the world an incomprehensible gift. That gift was given purely out of His love, mercy, and grace and it is that gift that is the source of all our hope and joy.
Isaiah-9:6
Messianic Prophecy
Isaiah 7:14 is one of the most clear and direct Old Testament Messianic prophecies that declared that the Messiah was to come and who exactly this Messiah would be. This passage declares that the Messiah would be named “Immanuel” which means “God with us”. He would be God, Himself, brought into the presence of humanity (Jn. 1:14).
In Isaiah 9:6, the prophet double downed and left no room for debate that the Messiah would be none other than the Mighty God, Himself. Both passages directly declare that the Messiah would be the God of Israel born into human form.
Prophecy Fulfilled in the New Testament
It’s revealed in the New Testament that the Messiah, the God-man, had arrived in the person of Jesus of Nazareth (Lk. 1:31-33). He miraculously fulfilled more that 300 Old Testament prophecies. Matthew 1:22-23 ties the birth of Jesus directly to the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14 indicating that it was Jesus who would be called “Immanuel- God with us”.
The Apostle John affirms this in the first chapter of his Gospel. In Jn. 1:1-3, he explains that the Word was pre-existent and both with God and, Himself, God. This is a clear statement regarding the triune God. He left no doubt when he went on to explain that the “Word became flesh” (Jn. 1:14) and he specifically named the Word as Jesus Christ (Jn. 1:17).
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The Road to Emmaus
The risen Jesus, Himself, explains His own fulfillment and connection to the Old Testament Law and Prophets to the travelers on the Road to Emmaus (Lk. 24:27). Jesus Christ of Nazareth left us no other option than to believe that He was the pre-existent Yahweh God of the Old Testament (Ex. 3:14, Jn. 8:58).
Jesus as our Hope
The coming of Jesus as the child born to Mary wasn’t just something arbitrary that God did. He was always our only hope from the foundation of the world. Our rebellion and subsequent fall into sin in Genesis 3 left mankind doomed and without hope. Yet from the very beginning (Gen. 3:15), God had a plan to save us from ourselves.
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For when we were at our lowest and most vulnerable, the “one like a Son of Man” (Dn. 7:13-14), the Great “I Am” (Ex. 3:14, Jn. 8:58), broke into history as one of us. We witnessed His glory (Jn. 1:14) as the only hope of all humanity (Jn. 14:6, Acts 4:12). Jesus conquered our sin when He lived a perfect life and satisfied the perfect justice of God by willingly sacrificing Himself on the cross in our place. He conquered death when He rose again on the third day with all power and authority (Matt. 28:18).
The True Story of Christmas
Jesus didn’t die because He was born. He was born into this world so that He could willingly die for us, for “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (Jn. 15:13). Two thousand years ago, God’s perfect love and His perfect justice merged at the cross of Jesus Christ so that our hope to be eternally reconciled to Him could be restored.
Merry Christmas!!
