The christmas story; Old school
At the end of the Gospel of Luke in chapter 24:27 and verse 44 Jesus sits down with his disciples and tells how the Law of Moses the Prophets and the Psalms are all about him. The whole old testament is full of promises that point to the coming of Jesus and the things he would accomplish when he came. Since it's Christmas time I thought I'd tell the Christmas story and the life of Jesus in the way that Jesus revealed it to his disciples from the old testament. We have all heard that Jesus was born to a virgin in the little town of Bethlehem, but have you heard that this was promised over 700 years before it came to pass. Isiah 7:14 tells us that the virgin will have a son named Immanuel. The name means God with us, it means that he is God in the flesh. Micah 5:2 puts the birthplace in Bethlehem and says that he would be a descendant of Judah. Back in the beginning of time in Genesis 3:15 when Adam and Eve fell, God made the promise that a son would come who would defeat Satan. That he would crushed Satan's head and that Satan would only strike his heal (the crucifixion, but the grave could not keep him down). In Genesis 22 when Abraham was willing to give up his son who he loved, when Issac carried his own wood up the hill to willingly lay down as a sacrifice, when Abraham promised that God would provided a Lamb, it was telling us God would do for us when he sent his son Jesus to carry his his wooden cross up a hill to lay down his life as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world. But before Jesus came it was said in Malachi 3:1 that a messenger would come (John the Baptist) and prepare the way for Jesus coming. Then Jesus would come to his temple. The temple was destroyed in 70ad around forty years after Jesus was here. I believe that the reason for it was to clear up any confusion about who the Christ is. Isiah 11:1 says that the Spirit of God would descend on the Messiah. Remember later that when John sees the dove come down and land on Jesus, he knew this was the sign of the spirit on him, he says behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. Remember what Abraham promised, Jesus is our Lamb. In Ezekiel 37 when it talks about the valley of dry bones, it is telling us the spiritual condition that we are in until the Lord raises us from the grave and breathes his life into us. Throughout Jesus ministry he performed many miracles showing that he had authority over creation as the Father does. This was promised in Isiah 53:5 that the blind would see and the lame would walk. Ok, now one of my favorite prophecies is from Psalms 22:16 it says that the hands and feet of the Savior would be pierced. That dogs would surround him and that they would cast lots for his garments. What is incredible about this passage is that it was written over 1000 years before the birth of christ, but not only that it was written 500 years before the execution form of crucifixion was even invented. On top of all that it calls the men dogs, showing that Jesus knew who would kill him. Remember when Jesus called the Pharisees dogs. Do you still need convincing about who the Christ is. . Jesus is God, come down as a man into human history to reconcile us to himself by the way of self sacrifice to atone for our sins, end of story.