GOD’S WORD FOR JANUARY 12 ~ ~ Micah 5:2 ~ ~ “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.”

In the book, How to Read the Bible by Dr. Michael Youssef of Leading the Way Int’l Ministries, we’re looking at the Prophecies of the Messiah (Jesus’) birth and early years—prophesied  in the Old Testament, many hundreds of years earlier.

PROPHECIES OF THE MESSIAH’S BIRTH

In Isaiah 7:14, God spoke through the prophet Isaiah, who told King Ahaz of Judah, “therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign:

“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel.” The fulfillment  of this prophecy is found in Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 1:26-38, the two gospel accounts of Jesus’s virgin birth.  Matthew’s account explains,

“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:  “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).  (VS 22-23)

Many prophetic passages have two interpretations – one for the present and one for the future.  The prophecy of the virgin birth in Isaiah 7:14 is one of these dual-interpretation prophecies.  In this passage, Isaiah tells King Ahaz of Judah that God has promised to destroy Judah’s enemies.  As a sign that this promise was true, Isaiah predicted that a virgin or young woman (in Hebrew, “almah”)  would give birth to a child.

History only records one genuine virgin birth, and that is the birth of Jesus – which was the second and more important interpretation of Isaiah’s prophecy.  This more profound fulfillment would not be understood until after Jesus was miraculously born.

A complete list of all the messianic prophecies that we fulfilled in Jesus Christ would be too long for this book.  As we noted earlier, Bible scholar Alfred Edersheim identified 456 Old Testament verses that Jewish rabbis viewed as messianic prophecies.  Let’s take a brief overview of just a small number of them.

PROPHECIES OF MESSIAH’S BIRTH AND EARLY CHILDHOOD

Micah 5:2 predicted that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem; fulfilled in Matthew 2:4-6.

Hosea 11:1 predicted that the Messiah would be called out of Egypt as a child; fulfilled in Matthew 2:14-15.

PROPHECIES  OF MESSIAH’S FORERUNNER, JOHN THE BAPTIST.

Isaiah 40:3-4 promised that a forerunner would come to announce the Messiah; fulfilled by John the Baptist in Matthew 3, Mark 1, Luke 1 and John 1.

Malachi 4:5-6 promised that the Messiah’s forerunner would come in the spirit of Elijah; fulfilled by John the Baptist in Matthew 11:10-15.

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Hosea 11:1 ~ ~ When Israel was a child, I loved him,  And out of Egypt I called My son. (prophesy)

Matthew 2:14-15 ~ ~ When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt,  and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.” (fulfillment)

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2 Chronicles 20:15

Do not be afraid nor dismayed……for the battle is not yours, but God’s

1 Corinthians 8:6

…We exist for Him…

Job 5:9

He who does great and unsearchable things – marvelous things without number.

Isaiah 65:24

It will also come to pass that BEFORE THEY CALL I will answer while they are still speaking, I will listen.

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