Predictions of Jesus’ Birth
A few minutes walk from Bethlehem, on the West Bank of Palestine, there is a stand of olive trees. Amid them is a chapel, “The Angel to the Shepherds.” In it you’ll not find marble statues or fine mosaics, but it is purported to mark the area where the youthful David, soon to be Israel’s king, tended sheep and, a millennium later, other shepherds were keeping “watch over their flocks by night” when an angel appeared to tell them of the birth of Jesus in nearby Bethlehem.
The birth of Christ heralded the fulfilment of many Messianic prophecies sprinkled throughout the Old Testament.* Following are a few:
1 He would be born in Bethlehem.
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me the one . . . whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:2).
At the time, there was at least one other town in Palestine named “Bethlehem,” but Micah stipulated Bethlehem Ephrathah, in the region of Judea.
Matthew relates history when he says “Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea . . .” (Matthew 2:1). And it was a “little” town, as Micah predicted, with a population estimated at some 2000.
But small though it was, Bethlehem had been a productive town; King David hailed from there, so it was fitting that it means literally “house of bread.”
Today, sadly, since it is in the occupied West Bank region, it is more a “house of dread,” the site of so much bloodshed and heartache.
2 He would have the correct genealogical address.
Isaiah announced that Christ would “come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse . . .” (Isaiah 11:1), and Jeremiah said, “I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness. . . . He will be called: the Lord our Righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:5, 6).
These prophets are saying the glorious dynasty of David would fade away and become an obscure and poor family—a “stump” rather than a flourishing tree. Yet out of this genealogical stump was to come forth the Branch, who is Christ.
Beginning with the very first verse of the New Testament, Matthew outlines the genealogy of Jesus, “the Son of David.”
3 He would have a miraculous birth.
According to Isaiah, the Saviour would be born of a virgin: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son . . .” (Isaiah 7:14). While some may argue and some translations interpret this as a “young woman” rather than a virgin, the New Testament accepts that the reference is to a virgin (see Matthew 1:23).
Matthew adds, “After his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Hold Spirit” (Matthew 1:18).
Betrothal in ancient Jewish culture involved a legal contract, and was much more binding than today’s engagement. In fact a divorce decree was required to break it.
While Mary may have been overwhelmed with Gabriel’s news that she was to be the mother of Jesus, Joseph was likely devastated when he learned Mary was pregnant. If he reported her, she could be stoned as an adultress according to the law. But God intervened by way of a dream and Joseph married Mary. And he “did not know her till she had brought forth her first-born son . . .” (verse 25).
4 He would be worshipped by royalty.
The psalmist said “kings of Sheba and Seba will present him gifts” (Psalm 72:10, NIV), while Isaiah foretold that Gentile kings would “[come] to the brightness of your rising” (Isaiah 60:3).
These prophecies were fulfilled when the Magi “from the east” visited the baby Jesus at Bethlehem and “fell down and worshipped him . . .” (Matthew 2:11).
Early Christian paintings depict as many as eight Magi, almost certainly coming from Persia. A Jewish colony was located there. They were descendants of the many Jews who remained in Babylon after being taken there as captives—along with Daniel and his three companions.
While the Gospels do not refer to them as kings, they were certainly studious noblemen of royal status who researched into the celestial mysteries of the universe.
5 His birth would be accompanied by mourning.
Centuries before, Jeremiah lamented: “A voice was heard in Ramah . . . Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted . . . because they are no more” (Jeremiah 31:15).
This tragic prophecy was fulfilled, as Matthew relates, when Herod “put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem . . . from two years old and under . . .” (Matthew 2:16).
The Magi were “divinely warned in a dream” against returning to Herod on their way home. When Herod realised he’d been outwitted, he felt threatened at the birth of a new “king” and, in a jealous rage, he dispatched soldiers on a ghastly mission of infanticide.
Ramah, about nine kilometres north of Jerusalem, was an assembly point for Jewish families being taken to Babylon by their captors in the sixth century BC. There was much weeping and mourning then, of course, and that still hasn’t changed.
Ramah, understood to be modern-day Ramallah, is the headquarters for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, and it has been severely ravaged in recent times by the Israeli military, in reprisal for Palestinian terrorist attacks.
6 He would have an Egyptian connection.
The prophet Hosea, a contemporary of Isaiah, divulged another mysterious piece of the Messianic jigsaw, which at the time he wrote would have been incomprehensible: “Out of Egypt I called my son [Jesus]” (Hosea 11:1).
This must have been puzzling for the Jews, for it didn’t fit the concept they had about the Messiah. Not Egypt, for Egypt was pagan. There they worshipped anything that moved! Yet, as Matthew records, Joseph “took the young child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod . . .” (Matthew 2:14, 15).
Divine intervention led them to Egypt after an “angel . . . appeared to Joseph in a dream” warning them to escape the crazed fury of Herod. Not even the murderous endeavours of a treacherous king can rupture God’s plans.
7 He would have an amazing name.
Isaiah heralded this when he proclaimed: “Behold, the virgin shall . . . bear a Son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).
When declaring this prophecy fulfilled at the birth of Jesus, Matthew quotes this passage from Isaiah, obliging us with some further information about the Hebrew name Immanuel—“translated, ‘God with us’” (Matthew 1:23).
Perhaps the apostle John had this in mind when he penned the opening passage of his Gospel: “The Word was God” and “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us . . .” John 1:1, 14).
Despite having been heralded as the Prince of Peace at His birth in quiet Bethlehem, these days it would be most unwise, perhaps even lethal, to attempt to visit the town’s Angel to the Shepherds chapel.
It’s worse than ironic that the birthplace of the Prince of Peace is today a veritable battleground, with tanks patrolling the streets of Bethlehem. Yet the One whose “goings forth” have been from “everlasting” is still able to bring rest and peace to those in whom He is born anew, no matter their circumstances.
* Except where indicated, all biblical quotations are from the New King James Version (NKJV).
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