The Second Sunday In Advent: The Prophecy Candle Series

Well, now we’ve talked about the “Who” of the Prophecy Candle. But we’re not done yet. The next thing to look at is the “when”. Remember, some prophecies had specific details and some were rather general. This prophecy, in Daniel 9, is about as specific as any prophecy could be. Daniel quoted the angel who gave him these words that seventy “weeks” were going to happen. There were three periods of these, a seven-week period, followed by a 62-weeek period and a 70th week to happen later. I won’t go into the arithmetic here, but there’s a book called “The Coming Prince,” written by Sir Robert Anderson, which proves this prophecy was fulfilled to the very day.

All right, we’ve looked at Who the Messiah was going to be and When He was coming. But there’s another question: just where was He going to be born? Here’s another prophecy that tells us exactly where this was going to happen.

3 The prophecy: Where will Messiah be born?

Text, Micah 5:2, NASB: 2 But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will come forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His times of coming forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity.”

There are a lot of people who seem to hold to statements or maxims like this: “It’s not where you’ve been that counts—it’s where you’re going.” In some cases, sure, that’s true but that’s not even close when it comes to the Messiah, Jesus. Think about it: if the LORD had not given a specific location where the Messiah was to be born, anybody with any delusions of thinking “I’m the Messiah!’ could say that, regardless of where he was born, and nobody could hold him accountable for it. In fact, until the days of Micah (about the same time as Isaiah), there was no specific location mentioned for Messiah’s place of birth.

My guess is that during much of the Old Testament era, there were about as many guesses as guessers where that location would be! There’s no proof for any of this, but some could have said Bethel, as that was where Abram built his first altar to the LORD. Others could say Messiah would have been born in Hebron, where Abraham eventually settled. No doubt, others would lay claim to Jerusalem; after all, that was the site of Israel’s capitol and later, the Temple. But to settle the issue once and for all, God spoke through Micah that Messiah would be born in Bethlehem Ephrathah, near Jerusalem. Now, if anyone claimed to be Messiah but wasn’t born in Bethlehem Ephrathah, that person would easily be proved a fraud.

But it seems people forgot about this prophecy! When the Magi or Wise Men came to Jerusalem, they didn’t know where Jesus was to be born, either! Matthew’s gospel records how they asked Herod about it, but Herod didn’t know, and he would up asking the chief priests and scribes about it. They replied, “Bethlehem”, and quoted this prophecy as proof.

All right, we’ve looked at the Who, the When, and the Where of the Messiah’s birth but there’s one very important question we haven’t explored yet. And that question is, Why? Let’s take a brief look at this question.