God’s Christmas Gift: Fulfilled Prophecy! Matthew 1:20-23 Kelly Durant
Do you every think about gifts? It is the season of gifts this time of year and some of you may have even been out buying gifts before coming here. Every gift comes with an expectation. For example a coworker has an expectation that you will spend about $10 on them, whereas a son or daughter expects anywhere from $50 to $100, isn’t that right?
The gift of Jesus to the world had been in the expectations of the Jews for about 1,000 years! Imagine from generation to generation fathers repeating over and over the story to their children that there will be born a man who will save all of us from our sins and make people right with God! Expectations were high!
With some people you give them a gift and they give it away, or throw it away!
Like people who you may give a Bible or a study book for Christmas, and they in their ignorance give it to someone else because in their minds God’s word has little importance, they would rather have gotten a gift of a box of chocolates.
The rebellious Jews, yesterday and today, who despised the gift of God, Jesus, his Son, refused him as gift. Also, today, even in society and in churches, people are despising the Christmas Gift of Jesus and God is storing up for their selves God’s anger and punishment on judgment day.
When God gives a gift it is supernatural! And expectations are not disappointed! Let us examine all that God did on that first Christmas to make His point that this anointed one. Lets find.. Matt 1:20-23
21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins."
22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 23 "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us."
A virgin birth is a miracle! God gave the world through the Jewish prophets many signs hundreds of years before it happened how Jesus would come. We will examine just few of them today.
Ist Gift: Fulfillment of Isa 7:14
14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
We find evidence of the expectation of the gift of Jesus to come into the world in Matt 2:4 when Herod asks the scribes where the Christ would be born and they answer in Bethlemem.
2nd Gift: Fulfillment of Mic 5:2
2 "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times."
As we know Herod ordered the killing of all infants under age 2 and Jesus with his parents fled to Egypt spending the money of the gifts of the kings to travel there. This fulfilled another prophecy. Look at Matt 2:14-15 and them look at.. Hos 11:1
3rd Gift: Fulfillment of Hos 11:1
11:1 When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
When Herod killed all the infants there was a great weeping and sorrow in all Bethlehem and this was prophesied over too. God knows the future, even the future of the acts of the evil people. Look at Matt 2:16-17 and look up .. Jer 31:15
15 Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.
Some of you were born in Bogota, Colombia, for example, you travel to the U.S. a few years and live in New York, and then you go to live in Atlanta. Could anyone of your parents before you have predicted the 3 places which would be your home? With Jesus it was predicted this way! He was born in Bethlehem, moved to Egypt, and then grew up in Nazareth.
What happened was after Herod died, and Jesus returned to the country of Israel, his father Joseph did not want to live in Bethlehem because Herod’s son was on the throne, so he decided to live in Nazareth. Look up… Matt 2:23
23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, "He shall be called a Nazarene."
4th Gift: Fulfilment of Isa 11:1
11:1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
According to Jewish tradition Jesse was from Nazereth, which represents more than a city; the people from there were noble and faithful to God and all of this implies Jesus would be of the same character of the people from the tribe of Jesse.
Each of these places has their symbolisms. Bethlehem was a very small village and the most poor of all the cities of Israel. This city expresses Jesus humbleness.
Egypt symbolizes the riches of the world that trap us into the material slavery. The Jews escaping Egypt through Moses forever meant they were to not love the world and its idols and stop the sinning and worship the true God.
Having salvation for the Christian means the same thing, we escape all the slavery of the idols and love for the material things having Jesus and we worship God who will maintains our freedom as we stay faithful.
Nazareth, as I mentioned, was a city were people were taught in the old ways of the tribe of Jesse, and the qualities of the people from there were known as faithfulness to God, sincerity, and authentic God worship coming from the purist bloodline.
We have studied 4 gifts of fulfilled prophecy from Matthew. If you want some interesting home study for Christmas, go home and read Luke now. There are more than a dozen more prophecies fulfilled in those first 2 chapters!
Think of Christmas as the most miraculous, most prophesied over, most expected gift of earth of all time! The greatest miraculous event ever was, of course, Jesus resurrection!
But Christmas should always be special with Jesus as the center of it all.
We must worship Jesus as the shepherds and the wise men did on that special day! We must also be thankful for the prophets who told us in several dozen ways how Jesus was to come!
We must thank God that Jesus; the king of Kings has all the characteristics He does. We must be like Him! The 3 main places prophesied over imply this for our lives:
We must be humble, since he was from Bethlehem from a manger
We must be free from sin leaving behind Egypt, which enslaves us to the world.
We must be faithful and noble as those who are from the bloodline of Jesse from Nazareth.
God gave you the gift of Jesus and for you to give to God, humbleness, holiness, or freedom from sins and faithfulness may take you 1 to 10 years or your entire life! Get started today. Give God the gift of commitment to change your character!
You know how it is when a musician hears a student who thinks they can sing, but the trained ear knows they really have a long way to go. They sing (off key) “Silent night”. Some people are so proud of their spirituality but they really are not there yet. Some of you are trying to give to God but you are not there yet. You need to do some major work!
God gave you a Billion dollar gift and you are giving him back a $5.00 one in return!
Let’s pray to make Christmas what it should be, a time of sincere worship and change of heart, and thankfulness!
