You've probably figured out by now we're hanging around John's Gospel a lot in these days, the first chapter of John's Gospel, going from there to different places, to be sure, as we're thinking about this theme and just a few snapshots, really, last week and today and then next week, Lord willing, on the birth and childhood of Jesus Christ. Today we're looking at John 1, 23. We just read it together. They're repressing John the Baptist. Who are you? They even ask him the absurd question, are you Elijah? Elijah had died and was taken up. They're straining. Their teachers taught that one day Elijah would return, but what they missed was that Jesus would come back as Elijah. Yes, one greater than Elijah, the scripture would say. So finally, he says in verse 23, I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness. And here's what I'm crying out. Make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said. John understood his ministry as bringing together the fulfillment of prophecy. He understood his ministry as being the final messenger, the final announcer, in terms of the humankind, declaring the prophets have foretold and now it's fulfilled. This past week we looked at the birth and childhood of Jesus Christ was preceded by His eternal fellowship with God, the eternal Sonship of Jesus. You've got to have that. If you don't have that down, then you're not properly focusing on Bethlehem's babe, on Calvary's victor. Today we look at this idea that it was prophesied in the Old Testament. Then next week, that it was met with various responses. We're going to see that next week. Prophesied in the Old Testament. Depending on who you follow, There are some 333 or 353 prophecies about the birth and life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ set forth in the Old Testament. Breathe easy, I'm not going to try to cover all those today. I'm going to take a few. But here's what you may not know. That MIT professors in probability looked at eight of these prophecies. Only eight. That's 333 to 353. Only eight. And they concluded that the probability of one person fulfilling all eight of these prophecies is somewhere between one with seventeen zeros following it, that is a hundred trillion, Between that and one with 18 zeros following, one quadrillion. Now I can't get my mind around that. So I saw an example that helped me. They said if you were to take a silver dollar and use it to cover the state of Texas with this number, you could cover the entire state of Texas with silver dollars stacked two feet deep. That's the picture you get of the probability that one man would fulfill eight of these prophecies. And it says that what you're looking at is taking a blind man in Dallas, setting him free to wander any direction he wants to go, and on his first grasp, picking up a specifically identified coin. That's the likelihood. of one man fulfilling eight of these prophecies. We're going to look at four this morning, having to do with his birth. And I want you to go away from here, if not more convinced, then more confident There is a day that will tell us, I think the atheists have billboards around the country now, all I want for Christmas is to miss church, not to attend church. I'm too old for fairy tales. Let them play their games. Because what we believe is not blind faith where we've had to leap off of a cliff. What we believe is faith in facts that are irrefutable, that are infallibly true, and that is marvelous and wonderful as the birth of Jesus Christ is, the circumstances surrounding that, as His childhood, what we know of it is, and as His adult life and ministry and teaching as we're going through Mark together. And in His ultimate, death on the cross, burial in the tomb, rising from the grave three days later, ascending on high, promising His coming again. As marvelous as all those things are, they're not wishful thinking, not any of them. A truth, indisputable, irrefutable. So let's just look at them for a few minutes. I came across a quote from J.I. Packer. I hope you read J.I. Packer. If you've not read him, you need to get his book, Knowing God. I think he said it's 25th anniversary perhaps now of being printed. Knowing God by J.I. Packer. It'll be the best gift you can give yourself this Christmas. J. I. Packer is well known, not only for his writings, but for his introductions to books. If you ever see a book, you're coming through books in the Christian bookstore online, and you see an introduction by J. I. Packer, buy the book, because the introduction will be worth the price of the book. And he says this, it is here, in the thing that happened at the first Christmas, that the profoundest and most unfathomable depths of the Christian revelation lie. The Word became flesh. God became man. The Divine Son became a Jew. The Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, unable to do more than lie and stare and wriggle and make noises, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. I want to propose to you today, for just the next few minutes, that four things, four prophecies we're going to look at. Isaiah foreshadowed the virgin birth of Jesus. Second, the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Third, the Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah. And fourth, the Messiah would be a descendant of King David. Now, if you know about those backgrounds, it's a pretty circuitous path to be all of those. First, Isaiah foreshadowed the virgin birth of Jesus. In Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14, if you want to look there, if you don't have your Bibles, we have the text on the screens for you. Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. And we know that Emmanuel, we talked about this last Sunday evening during our caroling time together where we ended up, because of the weather, just singing in the activities center together. That Emmanuel is from the Hebrew compound Immanu-El. El being the designation for God, you would recognize that. Immanu in Hebrew meaning with us. And his name should be called Immanuel, with us God. God will be with us when this virgin bears this son. That's why in Matthew's Gospel, Joseph was told when he was born to call his name Jesus, Jesu in the Greek, for he shall save. his people from their sin. The Greek name Jesus is the equivalent of the Hebrew Old Testament name Joshua or Yahashua. Meaning God saves. Yahweh saves. It's very fascinating. This prophecy was made between 701 and 681 B.C. and was fulfilled, depending again on the chronology, around 5 B.C. or closer to the A.D. mark. Several hundred years before it happened, it was foretold. Non-Christian scholars tried to misprove it. and disprove it, making light of various language. But when you put the text to the test, it comes out shining like gold. The angels announced to those shepherds, unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. Look at all that was piled into that. The city of David, Bethlehem. The Savior. The One who rescues. The Lord. The One who is the ruler. As He grows up, He'll be a ruler. This is what terrified Herod. We'll look at that next week. That this baby was born to be a king. The second thing I want you to see is that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Micah 5, verses 1 and 2 say, Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops. Siege is laid against us. With a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek. But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from shall come forth from me, one who is to be the ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days." Again, this prophecy was made around 750, between 750 and 686 BC, depending on what timeline you follow for the ministry of Micah. Fulfilled at the birth of Jesus. The effectiveness of this prophecy is amazing because there's been debate among scholars whether we were ever told where Jesus was going to be born. In fact, it's fascinating that the Jews would despise him knowing he came from Bethlehem. Despising because of how lightly Bethlehem was regarded. And yet their own prophet had said that one would come out of Bethlehem. It eliminates all the other cities. where Jesus could be born. This prophecy is saying, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, no other place on the planet could the Messiah be born and God be true. And it narrows the possibilities to one tiny village just south of Jerusalem. Brothers and sisters, it ought to serve as a warning to us that the most religious people of the day, the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin, were blinded to this, and yet pagan Babylonian magicians were drawn to this. Because they studied objectively, without an agenda. They simply wanted to know that which was true. And when you read Throughout history, you find those who are Orthodox saying without hesitation that Jesus' birth in Bethlehem was the fulfillment of the prophecy of Micah. In the Jerusalem Talmud, which would be a Jewish source, The King Messiah. From where does he come forth? From the royal city of Bethlehem in Judah. That brings me to the third prophecy that was fulfilled. I want to mention that the Messiah would come from the tribe of Judah. Look at Genesis 49.10. 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 people." The tribe of Judah would have passing unto its ultimate fulfillment, the scepter, the signal, the emblem, representation of all authority. You bow before a scepter. Tribute would be brought to him. Obedience would be shown him by all peoples. This was a prophecy written as early as 1400 BC and again fulfilled at the birth of Jesus. Centuries and centuries before, Jacob told his son Judah that his descendants would be rulers, and that one of his descendants would be an ultimate ruler. Christians have recognized for years this reference to Jesus Christ, whose kingdom has no end. Jesus was born 2,000 years after Jacob died. He traces his ancestry back to Jacob's son Judah. If you want to check that out, look at Luke 3, verses 23-34 and Matthew 1, 1-16. You'll see the genealogy there. And it's remarkable that for all the skeptics, that today, worldwide, some 2 billion people Follow Jesus and believe the things foretold of Him. The fourth thing I want you to see today is that the Messiah would be a descendant of King David. One in Bethlehem. A ruler from Judah. From the house of David. Look at Jeremiah 23, verse 5. Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch. And he shall reign as king and deal wisely, shall execute justice and righteousness in the land." And when Jesus quoted the psalm while he was on the earth, the Lord said to my Lord, speaking of God, Speaking to David. Jesus said to the Lord, Yahweh said to my Lord, the King. So he comes from David. Then he would go on to assert to the Pharisees, before Abraham was, before Abraham existed, I am. I existed. He said, Abraham saw my day and rejoiced. And they were infuriated by that. This prophecy was written between 626 and 586 BC. The Messiah will be the descendant of David. David had been told by God, you shall not fail to have a descendant on the throne. Even after David's great failing, even after the sons of David and grandsons would bicker and fight, the kingdom would be divided and there would be enmity and hostility. There was one coming who would be the son of David. And it's fascinating to me again that the Pharisees were blind to this, and a blind man named Bartimaeus cried out, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me. The irony is thick there. And there he is. Matthew and Luke in their genealogy trace Jesus back to King David. What are we to do with this? Well, see, I've only given you four. The probability numbers I gave you earlier were on eight. And only eight of the 333 to 353 prophecies fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ And so I would ask today, if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, sometimes there's the news that comes out that makes you weak-kneed, the assaults by the skeptics, the amazing turnabout in our own country where mentioning Jesus' name can get you in serious trouble if you're a fire chief in a city or if you're a student in a school. You become bewildered. You think, what's going to happen? If this continues, what's going to happen? Well, we may not know the detailed answer to that for our circumstances, but we know this, that Jesus shall reign. And every promise and prophecy in Him is yes and amen. And when all is said and done and we look objectively at the truth revealed in Scripture about Jesus Christ, One fellow said it this way, it would take more faith, quotes around this faith, it would take more faith to disbelieve Jesus than it takes faith to believe. You understand what he's saying there. He's not talking about saving faith, being equal in there. What he's saying is there's so much evidence, and just on the... I would challenge you this season sometime, you have concordances, you have Bible programs, look up the prophecies of Jesus, and just trace them down for their fulfillment in Him. And be astounded as one after another, after another, after another. And some yet to be fulfilled as He has not yet returned. But so many fulfilled that there should never even be a question in our minds as to whether or not Jesus is coming back. He certainly is. We don't know when. But as I read Trevin Wax, who's very significant in the whole gospel project literature that's come out, he said something that really spoke my heart. He said, with all the tragedies that 2014 has brought abroad and at home, he said, I find myself longing more for heaven, longing for Jesus to come back soon. Where's your longings, brothers and sisters? Joy of every longing heart. You see? Get the connection there? You say, well, Pastor, my joy tank's been kind of low recently. Where's your heart? Is your heart a longing heart? A longing for Him? Longing to know Him more. Longing to be more like Him. Longing to see Him loved and adored, maybe by your near kinsmen, maybe by your neighbors, maybe by your fellow workers. You see, as surely as we want the day to come when all who follow a false religion abandon that false religion and bow at the feet of Jesus to their salvation, we want that to happen to our loved ones too, don't we, who don't know Him? My prayer for you is that these kinds of truths will provoke longing hearts, longing for Him. It's easy to lose Him in all the wrapping and the tinsel and the lights. It's easy to lose Him, lose sight of Him. Let these truths, and many, many more like them, sink into your heart, grab your mind in new and fresh ways this day and the days to come as we move toward celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. We call it Christmas Day. But be keenly aware, folks, that around you The longing in your heart increases. And the joy from that increases. Many around you don't have any such joy. This is the hardest time of the year for them. Karen and I were talking about it as we were driving here this morning. The dreariness even of the weather. But you can understand why people who are already given to depression, at this season of the year can go deeper and deeper into it if they're not offered hope in Jesus Christ. We have the hope. He's the blessed hope for us now. The soon coming, soon returning King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I encourage you before we take these trappings down, just bring your children. Have them look in that manger. Explain to them what they see and what they don't see and why they don't see it there. Bethlehem's babe came in exact fulfillment of numerous prophecies. But he's not Bethlehem's baby anymore. He's our risen King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And oh, wouldn't it be wonderful if anew and afresh we would declare He is Lord of all. Of all that I have, He is my Lord of all. Wouldn't it be wonderful If those we love the most on this earth who are not yet followers of Jesus Christ, whether that be our children, our parents, our grandchildren, our extended family, that they would see, would be convinced in minds that have seriously investigated the truth, these truth claims, and been smitten by the work of the Holy Spirit to birth Jesus Christ in them. Isn't that what we want to see at Christmas, really, when it's all said and done? Is that Jesus Christ be born in us today. Let's pray.