The Fulfillment of Prophecies about Jesus’ Birth
People are fascinated with prophecy. It’s intriguing to think someone could accurately say ahead of time what’s going to happen in the future. One well known prophet who lived in the 1500’s is Nostradamus. He made a number of prophecies that many people believe have been fulfilled over time. There’s a website that lists his top ten predictions and how accurate they are. What’s interesting are the hundreds of comments to the post over a period of couple of years by people interested in his predictions. They believe his prophecies validate him as an authority. Read the list at the link above to decide for yourself. Unfortunately their trust is misplaced.
However, their reasoning is correct.
[Tweet “If someone can accurately predict the future we should pay attention to them.”]
Let’s consider the biblical predictions of Jesus’ birth. If these prophecies are true it tells us two things.
2 Things Fulfillment of Old Testament Prophecies Tells Us
- The accurate fulfillment of prophecies validates the authority of the prophet. We should listen to him.
- The accurate fulfillment of the prophecies about Jesus validate who He is. A key element of the prophecies is who Jesus is.
With this in mind, let’s look at 7 Old Testament prophecies about Jesus’ birth and when they were fulfilled in the New Testament.
7 Old Testament Prophecies Fulfilled In Jesus’ birth
- He would come from the line of Abraham Genesis 12:3. Fulfilled Matthew 1:1
- He would be a descendant of Isaac Genesis 17:19 Fulfilled Matthew 1:2
- He would be a descendant of Jacob Numbers 24:17. Fulfilled: Matthew 1:2.
- He would be of the tribe of Judah Genesis 49:8-10, Micah 5:2. Fulfilled Matthew 1:1-3, Hebrews 7:14, Revelation 5:5.
- He would be born a king of the line of David Isaiah 9:7, Jeremiah 23:5. Fulfilled Matthew 1:1, 6 Luke 1:32.
- He would be born in Bethlehem of Judea Micah 5:2-5. Fulfilled Matthew 2:1-6.
- He would be born of a virgin Isaiah 7:14. Fulfilled Matthew 1:18–23.
What are the odds these could all be true? Even if we leave out that Jesus would be born of a virgin, which humanly speaking has zero chance of happening, the odds of these all coming true in one person are astronomical. If you want to read about the practically impossible odds of Jesus fulfilling the prophecies in the Bible click here to read the online book “Science Speaks”.
But all seven of these did come true. That does two things.
- It validates the prophets who wrote and God who inspired them to write.
- It validates Jesus is who He said He is, the Son of God who came to be our Savior.
[Tweet “Christmas happened as predicted. Only God can do that.”]
This year as you celebrate Christmas worship the wonderful God who planned it and brought it about for you. If you haven’t yet believed Jesus is your Savior I’d encourage you to spend some time considering why God would go to the trouble of predicting how it would happen. It was so you would believe Him. You can trust Him today!
I’d love to hear from you. Please leave a question or comment below.
Here is the dilemma: Every Christian Old Testament Bible scholar, pastor, and priest on the planet says that the Old Testament prophesies the birth and death of Jesus of Nazareth as the Jewish Messiah (ben David). However, every (non-messianic) Jewish “Old Testament” scholar and rabbi adamantly states that there is not one single prophesy in the Hebrew Bible about Jesus.
So who are we poor, ignorant, non-Hebrew speaking, non-Bible scholar, saps to believe?
In lieu of spending the next 10 -15 years becoming a fluent Hebrew-speaking Old Testament Bible scholar yourself, I would suggest using some good ol’ common sense. Who is more likely to be correct:
1.) Jewish sages and rabbis who have spent their entire lives immersed in Jewish culture, the Jewish Faith, the Hebrew language, and the Hebrew Bible—for the last 2,000 years— or, 2.) seminary graduates from Christian Bible colleges in Dallas, Texas and Lynchburg, Virginia?
Sorry, Christian scholars, but using good ol’ common sense, I have to go with the Jewish scholars. And Jewish scholars say that Christian translators deliberately mistranslated and distorted the Hebrew Bible to say things in the Christian Bible that is never said in the original Hebrew—all for the purpose of inventing prophesies into which they can “shoehorn” Jesus!
I strongly recommend that every Christian read orthodox Jewish author, Asher Norman’s book, “Twenty-Six Reasons Why Jews Don’t Believe in Jesus”. This fascinating, easy-to read book written for the layperson/non-scholar, demonstrates, step by step, how the alleged “prophecies” about Jesus in the Old Testament were manufactured by the authors of the New Testament. You will be shocked by the strong evidence that Jews present for their belief that Jesus absolutely could not have been the Jewish Messiah.
Hey Gary,
Thanks for reading my post. There is merit in what you say about reading Asher Norman’s book. I haven’t read it but will definitely take a look at it.
It would seem that you are interested in being intellectually honest about this and open to truth and I appreciate that. That is important to me, too. To be balanced in your approach it would seem that some balanced reading is in order. I recommend two things.
First as you have recommended a book which is from the position of a person who has researched the biblical claims a similar book with a very different outcome is the Case For Christ by Lee Strobel. He is a highly educated man, who from an atheist perspective set out to do just what you are suggesting, disprove the claims of Christ. His is an interesting journey that anyone who wants a balance perspective on issue would want to read.
Second, and actually more important, is to read the actual primary documents about Jesus, written by those who lived with him. I would argue that it is more important to let the words and actions of Jesus speak for themselves. Ultimately it is a personal decision that every person needs to make as to whether or not they accept or reject Jesus’ claims not what other people claim about him.
So I would suggest you read Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and seriously consider what Jesus says about himself. That is the ultimate decision. I am only suggesting this to someone who is interested in discussing and considering this. If one’s mind is made up then of course there is no sense in following my suggestions.
Thanks for your comment. I do appreciate it!
Ward