Published on 12/13/2006

The word of God sought no such ambiguity in predicting the Messiah who would be born at Christmas. Consider these Old Testament promises regarding the specifics of the Christ child's parentage, lineage, and birth circumstances:

Commentary

I once heard of an Ob-Gyn physician who devised a brilliant scheme for predicting the gender of a baby. This was in the days when sonograms were less common than they are today. The doctor would always make a bold prediction that the child would be a boy or a girl. He would then write the opposite prediction on the mother's chart. If he announced a boy and was right, he looked like a genius. If he announced a boy and a girl was born, he would point to the chart and say, "No, I wrote here that the baby would be a girl." According to today's news, the doctor would have been an excellent Federal Reserve member.

As you may know, the Fed met yesterday and voted to leave its benchmark short-term interest rates at 5.25 percent. According to today's New York Times, the Fed continues to believe that a slowing economy will hold inflation in check for the months to come. But board members issued a cautionary statement that "some inflation risks remain." At the same time, they admit that the economy may cool more sharply than expected, as "recent indicators have been mixed." So whatever happens, they're right.

Born of a woman's seed (Genesis 3:15 / Galatians 4:4)
Born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14 / Matthew 1:18, 24, 25; Luke 1:26-35)
Descended from Abraham (Genesis 22:18 / Matthew 1:1; Galatians 3:16)
Descended from Isaac (Genesis 21:12 / Luke 3:23, 34; Matthew 1:2)
Descended from Jacob (Numbers 24:17 / Luke 3:23, 34)
Part of the tribe of Judah (Gen. 49:19; Micah 5:2 / Luke 3:23, 33; Matthew 1:2)
From the family line of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1 / Luke 3:23, 32; Matthew 1:6)
From the house of David (Jeremiah 23:5 / Luke 3:23, 31; Matthew 1:1)
Born at Bethlehem (Micah 5:2 / Matthew 2:1)
Presented with gifts (Psalm 72:10 / Mt. 2:1, 11)
Children would die (Jeremiah 31:15 / Matthew 2:16)
Preceded by a messenger (Isaiah 40:3; Malachi 3:1 / Matthew 3:1, 2)

God orchestrated world history so your Savior could come for you. No matter what happens to you today, you can know that you will be loved unconditionally by your Father in heaven. You can take that promise to the bank, right now.