Program Transcript
Episode 13: Unto Us a Chid is Born. Christmas Prophecy Fulfilled.
Heather M R Olsen
We are going to slow down for a couple of episodes and talk about prophecies and miracles surrounding Jesus’ beginnings. I will call this a Jesus unit with more to come.
We completed the Covenant series ending with the New Covenant.
We talked about the wedding at Cana in the Gospel of John, as Jesus’ first miracle or Sign (remember sign of the covenant), inaugurating His ministry here on earth.
But before we enter into Jesus’ official ministry and proofs of His death and resurrection, we cannot gloss over the Season of Hope and Joy as we celebrate the Incarnation, the New Covenant inaugurated at the Birth of the Messiah, our Rescue Plan finally initiated.
Remember God’s curse and prophecy in the Garden,
Genesis 3:15
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your seed and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
With this birth story, God has put His Great Reversal into motion.
Let’s begin with the birth of the Messiah as recorded in Luke’s Gospel. Commentators believe Mary, who “treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19) relayed the details to Luke, as any mother would share about her child, reflecting on the birth. Luke is the only gospel writer to record the actual birth. Remember Matthew begins with Jesus’ genealogy (see the New Covenant podcast). Mark begins with Jesus’ baptism and entrance into ministry, and John goes back to Genesis and begins as Genesis began, “B’reshit” or “In the Beginning”, establishing Jesus’ presence at Creation, as The Word, HaDevar in Hebrew, who came to earth as God in the Flesh and made his dwelling among us.
This messianic Birth has prophecy written all over it.
The Messiah would be born of a virgin, as stated in,
Isaiah 7:14 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel.
We are already wise to God’s use of the word “sign,” as proof of a covenant.
We already parsed the Hebrew name, Immanuel, God with Us.
The Messiah had to be born of a human woman, to become a human. And yet, He had to be sin free so was conceived by God through the Holy Spirit.
More prophecy. The Messiah would be born in Bethlehem,
Micah 5:2
“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.”
This non-descript, little town of Bethlehem was the home of Ruth, her son Jesse, and her grandson, King David. We read about each of them in the Davidic Covenant and Jesus’ genealogy as recorded in Matthew 1.
Bethlehem, or Beth-lechem, is Hebrew for “House of Bread” where our Bread of Life was born. Also, the town of Bethlehem historically was surrounded by wheat fields, used for the making of bread.
We know that the Messiah had to come from the tribe of Judah, the King of Kings to rule over Israel. And his origins were established at the beginning of time, being with the Father at Creation. Besides the Micah passage, we can read about this in
John 1:1-3, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
Not only has this Bethlehem prophecy come to fulfillment, through Micah but Isaiah prophesied in
Is 11:1-3 that A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—
3 and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.
This Messiah would come from the Davidic line as stated in another Isaiah prophecy,
Is 9:6-7 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.
The Angel Gabriel was the messenger in the Birth narratives. His Hebrew name is Gav-riel which means “mighty man of God” or “Mighty One of God.” Remember “El” אל is a prefix/suffix or stand alone meaning God. “Gab” comes from the verb גבר “gabar”, meaning “to be mighty.”1
Gabriel is one of two named angels in the Bible and though not named an arch angel, we learn in Luke 2:19 “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.”
Jesus’ human but not biological father, Joseph or Yosef, was told by the Angel of the LORD that Mary or Miriam had conceived by the Holy Spirit. “[Miriam] will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” (Mt 1:20-22). Yosef and Miriam were in the middle of the three-part Jewish wedding series – the Eyrosin – the yearlong engagement season, where Joseph would be preparing their future home. As already learned, it would take a public divorce to end this engagement, and the actual wedding ceremony had not yet happened.
Due to this declared Roman census, Joseph was required to travel to his hometown, Bethlehem. Both he and Mary were of the line of David, and we already know this was David’s hometown. The journey to Bethlehem from Nazareth where Mary and Joseph were living is currently 150 km or 93 miles (thank you Google maps) but that is with modern roads. A day’s journey during biblical times would be between 20-25miles or 32-40 kilometers.2 Yet imagine a young woman in her third trimester bumping along the non-paved road. Many scholars believe the census journey would have taken up to a week.
This young child would be wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed in a manger. Unlike the mangers of our nativity scenes, ancient near east mangers were comprised of rectangular, hollowed out stone. See the photo accompanying this podcast on the website.
These swaddling clothes were not only used to warm the newborn, but also how temple lambs were wrapped so as not to be blemished in their clumsy newborn state. Further, the shepherds who received this first birth announcement by the thousands of angels, were underlings of society, creating picture language that the Messiah had come for everyone, not just those the world deemed important. Additionally, these shepherds were believed to be “temple shepherds” who were watching flocks set aside for temple sacrifices. SO not only was the Christ Child swaddled like a newborn sacrificial lamb, but He was also visited by the very Shepherds who were raising these temple sacrifices. In the Gospel of John, John the Baptist calls Jesus the Lamb of God twice (John 1:29, 36) “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” In the book of Revelation, Jesus is continually referred to as the Lamb.
Though we love to celebrate Christmas on December 25th, I think most of us know that this was not likely the Messiah’s birthdate. In fact, in the ANE due high infant mortality rates, birthdays were not generally recorded nor celebrated. All that said, there is more and more evidence that the Messiah’s birth would have been nearer the end of September or early October. I will cover this in detail during our springtime Feasts of the LORD series. But shepherds being out in the fields during the winter rainy season was unlikely. Additionally, the Romans, being very efficient, would have more likely required a census during a time when the Jews would already be traveling during one of the three pilgrimage festivals.
So pregnant Miriam and her betrothed, Yosef, make the multi-day trek to the town of their roots to register for this census.
As we know per Luke, she goes into labor while traveling and they need to find a place to stay. Many manger scenes are not only the wise men and shepherds and cattle, but it is a wooden barnlike structure with the wooden manger. The text in Luke says that “She gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no guest room available.” (Luke 2:7).
The mention of firstborn indicates Jesus as being the double portion, the priority son. But language such as cloths and manger indicate more than humble beginnings for this soon to be King of Kings. Again, the first guests, the shepherds, also indicated humble beginnings. This Christ Child did not come in pomp and circumstance, but quietly slipped into this world by means of a young woman and her soon to be husband.
On day 8 after his birth, per Jewish custom, Jesus was circumcised and officially named. Scripture doesn’t tell us where this B’rit milah, his circumcision – nor the naming ceremony occurred, but we do know that Joesph was told by an Angel of the LORD that he was to name this child Yeshua, Jesus, Salvation, because He would save His people from their sins. Remember parsing the Hebrew name Yeshua?
The holy family was obedient to God’s commands and followed them meticulously. There were 2 other post-birth ceremonies named in Luke’s Gospel, all in obedience to God’s commands through Moses.
This second & third ceremonies would require travel to Jerusalem, both occurring at the temple. One would be the dedication of the firstborn together with a sacrifice. On this same pilgrimage, would be Miriam’s purification, 40 days after childbirth, when her bleeding had stopped, per God’s command as recorded in Leviticus 12.3
Consequently, Miriam and Josef took the 2 ½ hour walk to the Temple Mount, again, thank you Google maps where Yeshua was dedicated. It is here the family encounters prophets Simeon and Anna. Both prophesying about his child: words such as “my eyes have seen your salvation” “he is the redemption of Jerusalem” “a revelation to the Gentiles” “my eyes have seen your salvation.”
All of these Jewish customs were commanded by God in accordance to His Torah – His teachings/instructions.
Therefore, Jesus from birth fulfilled the Torah, one command at a time.
We don’t know where the young family physically went after this, but when the Magi arrived, as talked about in podcast 1, he was in a house as a young child. These Magi came from the east, towards God, and following an extraordinary star. This star eventually stopped over the place where the child was. Though this prophecy refers to Jesus in general, the star motif struck me.
Numbers 24:17
“A star will come out of Jacob;
a scepter will rise out of Israel.”
After the magi visited, an Angel of the LORD came to Joseph again, this time warning him to take the child and his mother to Egypt, to stay there until Herod died and they were told to return home (Mat 2:13). This fulfilled the prophecy in Hosea 11:1, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
After hearing about the child from the Magi, Herod went on a rampage looking for this new King and like the days of Moses, when an edict went out to kill all baby boys, Herod issued a similar decree to kill babies 2 and under in Bethlehem.
After some undisclosed amount of time, after Herod’s death, Yosef was again visited in a dream and told that it was time to move his precious family back to Israel. Archelaus was reigning in Judea, so Yosef didn’t go back to the region Judah but instead to quiet Galilee, this town called Nazareth. This fulfilled yet another prophecy as explained by Matthew, that he would be called a Nazarene, though we don’t have reference where this prophecy was recorded. (Mt 2:22-23) We do have,
Isaiah 9:1 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan. Jesus and His family settled in Galilee.
I just gave you a lot of facts about the birth story, tracing the journey, birth, circumcision, flight to Egypt, then the young family settling in Nazareth, in the Region of Galilee. This was a lot of head knowledge, but proofs of the Messiah birth. That being said, there can be a lack of heart in the head knowledge, so now that we have the prophecy down, I will read to. you the Birth Story.
Luke 1:26-38
The Birth of Jesus Foretold
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[b] the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”
38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
Matthew 1:18-25
18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
Luke 2:1-40
The Birth of Jesus
2 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
21 On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.
Jesus Presented in the Temple
22 When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord” (Leviticus 12:), 24 and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”
25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31 which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory of your people Israel.”
33 The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
36 There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 38 Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
Matthew 2:1-23
The Magi Visit the Messiah
2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people, Israel.’ [Micah 5:2]”
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
The Escape to Egypt
13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
18 “A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.”
The Return to Nazareth
19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”
21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.
We will leave young Jesus settled with His family in Nazareth.
“For no word from God will ever fail.”
Shalom my friends.
A blessed celebration of the Incarnation to each of you.
**Heather!
©2024 Heather M R Olsen, Illumination: Hebrew Insights. All rights reserved. 
- https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Gabriel.html ↩︎
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day%27s_journey ↩︎
- Life Application Study Bible: NIV. Zondervan; Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 2021, pg 1722.
All embedded Scripture is from the BibleGateway.com. ↩︎
