Good morning,
Christmas is Saturday, December 25. It is time to focus on why we celebrate this event. This week we will look at the announcements that were made to Isaiah, Micah, Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds.
From the very beginning it is a supernatural story. Only God could have arranged all the details to make it happen. But happen it did.
Today let us look at the announcements the Lord made to Isaiah and Micah.
Adam and Eve disobeyed God. That first sin is passed down to all men. Jesus Christ willingly gave up His heavenly home to come to earth to pay the debt for sin that mankind could not pay.
Isaiah 7:14 The virgin birth
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Immanuel means God with us. God has performed many miraculous births. Sarah and Elisabeth were way past child bearing age. Hannah was barren. Yet each had a child. Each was a supernatural birth.
Everyone knows that it is impossible for a woman to conceive without a man.
Only God could give a child to a virgin. This child was God’s Son, who came to live with us.
Immanuel, God with us.
Isaiah 9:6 The birth of Jesus
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
God tells us who this child will be. The people of Jesus time were looking for a leader who would defeat the Romans and give them back their land.
However, Jesus was born for a much greater purpose. He came to be the Lamb of God. To pay the sin debt for all mankind through the shedding of His pure, sinless, undefiled blood. To die, be buried, and be resurrected the third day.
When comes again, Jesus will fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 9:6.
Micah 5:2 The place of Jesus birth
But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
God is so precise. Of all the countries of the world, God chose Israel. Of all the cities of Israel, He chose the small, obscure, city of Bethlehem-Ephratah. There was more than one Bethlehem. God was very specific.
God has given us a book of specifics. He began with the creation and takes us through to judgement of wicked unbelievers. He shows us the fall of man and the fall of Satan. He gives us a Savior, who redeems us of our sins, and a serpent who temps us with sin.
We know the beginning and the ending. God tells us specifically what will happen.
What a wonderful God we serve.
Tom Stearns, WASI Chaplain, 907 715-4001 chaplain@alaskaseniors.com
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