Christmas Meditations: Prophecies of Christ's birth

On Monday, I read several chapters from Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears's book Vintage Jesus. (By the way, I'll give a review of this book when I finish it. I have a few things to say about it . . . ) These chapters focused on the Messianic prophecies and the virgin birth and were especially appropriate for reading this week. I like the detail and organization of chapter three, "How did people know Jesus was coming?" They give the date of the prophecy and a short summary, the promise, and then the fulfillment. Here are a few passages that relate to Christ's birth:

1) 4000 B.C.: Adam and Eve receive the prophecy that the prophecy that the Messiah (Jesus) would be born of a woman.

PROMISE: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel" (Gen. 3:15).

FULFILLMENT: "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law" (Gal. 4:4).

2) 2000 B.C.: Abraham receives teh promise that the Messiah (Jesus) would descend from Abraham, through his son Isaac (not Ishmael), Isaac's son Jacob (not Esau), and Jacob's son Judah (not any of the other eleven brothers).

PROMISE: "In you [Abraham] all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Gen. 12:3); "God said, 'No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him'" (Gen. 17:19); " see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel (Num. 24:17); "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples" (Gen. 49:10).

FULFILLMENT: "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and the father of Judah and his brothers (Matt. 1:1-2)

3) 700 B.C.: Isaiah prophesies that Jesus' mother would be a virgin who conceived by a miracle and that Jesus would be God who became a man.

PROMISE: "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).

FULFILLMENT: "Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, 'Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.' All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 'Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel' (which means, God with us)" (Matt. 1:18-19).

4) 700 B.C.: Micah prophesies that Jesus would be born in the town of Bethlehem.

PROMISE: "But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days" (Mic. 5:2).

FULFILLMENT: "In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn" (Luke 2:1-7).

5) 700 B.C.: Isaiah prophesies that Jesus would live his life without committing any sins.

PROMISE: "And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth" (Isa. 53:9).

FULFILLMENT: "For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth" (I Pet. 2:21-22).

6) 700 B.C.: Hosea prophesies that Jesus' family would flee as refugees to Egypt to save his young life.

PROMISE: "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son" (Hos. 11:1).

FULFILLMENT: "Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, "Out of Egypt I called my son'" (Matt. 2:13-15).

7) 400 B.C.: Malachi prophesies that Jesus would enter the temple. This is important because the temple was destroyed in A.D. 70 and no longer exists; subsequently, the prophecy could not have been fulfilled anytime after A.D. 70.

PROMISE: "'Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts" (Mal. 3:1).

FULFILLMENT: "Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law" (Luke 2:25-27).

The rest of the Messianic prophecies discussed in this chapter relate to Christ's life, death, and resurrection, so I'll maybe mention those later.

As I was researching the Messianic prophecies, I found this website with a chart giving the prophecy, Old Testament scripture, and the New Testament fulfillment. He also gives a list of the 300 Messianic prophecies.

I've also heard before the odds that one person could fulfill all of the prophecies of Christ's birth and found the statistics here. 

1.	Jesus would be a descendant of David.	104 (1 in 10,000)
2.	Jesus would be born in Bethlehem.	105 (1 in 100,000)
3.	Jesus would be a miracle worker.	105 (1 in 100,000)
4.	Jesus would present Himself as King riding on a donkey.	106 (1 in 1,000,000)
5.	Jesus would be betrayed by a friend for 30 pieces of silver.	106 (1 in 1,000,000)
6.	Jesus would be crucified.	106 (1 in 1,000,000)
7.	Jesus would first present Himself as King 173,880 days from the decree of Artaxerxes to rebuild Jerusalem.	106 (1 in 1,000,000)
	Total Probability (without God)	1038 (1 in a 100 billion, billion, billion, billion)

Christmas Meditations: Advent

I originally intended to post something about Christmas everyday this week, but then the week took off and I didn't start composing until today. I have several topics in mind, so we'll see what I get to.

This month I have been reading Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus: Experiencing the Peace and Promise of Christmas, which is a collection of readings for Advent edited by Nancy Guthrie. While I realize the liturgical readings are from the Bible, I’ve never read any Advent readings before and have been wondering why Baptists don’t follow the Advent services and readings. I guess it’s because we don’t follow the liturgical calendar (except for a strange one which I don’t really want to vent about now) or don’t want to identify with anything remotely Catholic.


I’ve only just begun researching this, so does anyone have any ideas?


I, for one, have been blessed to read this book and meditate a little on Christ’s incarnation, death, and second coming. I wish I had found the recommended Scripture readings earlier in the season, but I’m going to follow the readings until Christmas (hopefully, I’ll have time to do a little back-tracking to catch up!). In a year that is so busy and focused on activities, I’m thankful for this book and these passages which focus my heart, mind, and attention on what is truly important.

Books I read in September and October 2009

Since school started, I haven't been able to read as much as I would like. 

I've been reading from several Christian Living books, but haven't finished any of them yet. :-(

Christian Living books I've been reading:

Winning the Inner War by Irwin Lutzer

We're reading this book for the HBBC class I'm auditing. It's a great book. Hopefully, I'll be done reading it by the end of the semester. . . I haven't been doing a such a great job at keeping up with homework assignments!

Vintage Jesus by Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears
I've only read a few chapters of this book, but so far it has been a great book. I wasn't prepared for this to be a book of solid doctrine (I really didn't know much about Driscoll before starting this, but I expected something along the lines of The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey. I was pleasantly surprised. I'll write more when I finish it.  

Culture Shift by Al Mohler

Again, I haven't finished this, but so far, I've really enjoyed this book and have learned a lot.

Toward Jerusalem by Amy Carmichael
This collection of Christian poetry by missionary Amy Carmichael expresses the timeless truths of God's Word and life lessons in beautiful poetry. 
















Listed below are some novels I've read:

At Home in Holly Springs: A Father Tim Novel by Jan Karon
I love the Mitford series and this first book of the new series about Father Tim's childhood and young adult years was no disappointment. I enjoyed this book as much as the others, if not more, because she gives the back story to events merely alluded to in the Mitford series.

Saint by Ted Dekker
This is an awesome book! I loved it! I watched The Bourne Ultimatum the same day I read this book and there were some interesting similarities--it was a good pairing of book and movie.

Showdown by Ted Dekker
This book was a bit gruesome in places, but has an incredible redemption story. It fills in important details of the Circle Trilogy. I wouldn't have understood Green if I hadn't read this book first. 

Plague Maker by Tim Downs
Tim Downs just keeps getting better and better! I love this book. The plot moves quickly and the story line is intriguing. I was glad the Nick Polchack made an appearance in this book, but I liked the new character, Nathan Donovan, he introduced.














Non-fiction:

A Leap of Faith by Queen Noor
I'd been wanting to read this for a long time and I'm so glad I finally did. I learned so much about the Middle East conflicts. It was helpful to read about the wars and conflicts from a Muslim perspective, since I grew up always hearing the Judeo-Christian perspective. This is a well-written, engaging memoir by the American-born queen of Jordan.

Free audiobook: Desiring God

Every month, Christian Audio offers a free book. This month you can download John Piper's Desiring God for free and his other books are available at greatly discounted prices. I have enjoyed listening to audiobooks while washing dishes, cleaning, or grading papers and I hope you enjoy it too.

Orphans

November 8th was deemed Orphan Sunday by the Christian Alliance for Orphans and the Cry of the Orphan partners, and during the morning service we watched this video. After posting this, I realized that our AV team played different music than what's on the video--just in case you were wondering!

"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction" (James 1:27).

Orphan Sunday from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.

Whispers of His Power: Work and Practicing God's Presence

From the entry for July 28 in Amy Carmichael's devotional, Whispers of His Power.

Ps. 16:11—“In Thy presence is fullness of joy.”

“By the practice of the Presence of God, by steadfast gaze on Him, the soul comes to the knowledge of God, full and deep, to an Unclouded Vision: all its life is spent in unceasing acts of love and worship or contrition, and of simple trust, of praise and prayer and service; at times indeed life seems to be but one long unbroken practice of His Divine Presence.”

If this had been written by someone who had nothing to do but preach and pray, I should not find so much in it as I do when I remember that it was said by a cook, who had to give his mind to do what the foolish world calls common work.

The Lord of Brother Lawrence, who is our dear Lord too, help us to grow more and more into this life which is one unbroken practice of His blessed Presence.

Beautiful Sunsets on Guam

Even though rainy season can be depressing because it's usually cloudy and rainy, we get some of the best sunsets during these few months (when the sun is actually visible through the clouds!)