CHRIST IN PROPHECY …Bill Thoughts For Today…

Understanding important truths from the Bible….

Matthew 2:5-6

⁵ They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet:

⁶ ‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah,
Are by no means least among the leaders of Judah;
For out of you shall come forth a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.’”

Certain prophecies found among Old Testament writers, though they are plain, are not as striking as others.  The two that I find the most overwhelming are the one quoted above and the Melchizedek prophecy in Psalm 110:4 The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind, “You are a priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek.”  Neither of these are what you think of when you consider their mention or importance given to them at their writing.

It is at least somewhat incidental that Bethlehem would be the birthplace of a descendant of David.  In a tribal society the home place of an important ruler might even have been expected to be at some time the birth place of one of his descendants.

What makes this prophecy so interesting and arresting is the providential background by which it was fulfilled.

The arrangement of events; a government tax, a pregnancy coming to term, the relation of Joseph to David, and the Magi’s search are convincing just because of the complication involved.  Relieve this narrative of any of those named circumstances and the event would not have happened or if it did happen, would not have made the news of that day.

So in the same way a great event in 2100 BC is duly reported.  But for a century or more, it is never mentioned.  Then in a somewhat casual way, it is a prophetic certainty in a Psalm of David.  But this again is not mentioned or explained for another thousand years.  When of a sudden it is explained as a centerpiece of Jesus ministry.  He is a priest after the order of Melchizedek.  There is nothing that can account for this but Divine Inspiration.  I do not believe men’s minds work like this.

The Scriptures state that Mary was a virgin mother.  For we who are Christians that is a cardinal truth.  But we cannot prove it.  The holiness from birth of Jesus is cardinal truth.  But it is not demonstrated other than by the resurrection.  He was born our King.  But it is a prophecy which is necessary and provable.  Jesus was to be born in Bethlehem and Jesus was born in Bethlehem.  God, by this predestination so coordinated the events of history that all the world became a witness to the birth of our Savior King.

The Magi are denied.  Herod’s horrible decree is denied.  The star is denied.  Denial is the only solution to this otherwise overwhelming certainty of the birth of Jesus.

The great Bishop Butler wrote of undersigned coincidences.  He was describing events that were in the Scriptures which had no other explanation than that they were true.  In the confluence of events which make this account so true take any one of the contributing facts out and it no longer is possible.  From Divine perspective it is by Sovereign design and the Christian can both see this and believe it.

I reckon we need here the poet.

We three kings of Orient are;
Bearing gifts we traverse afar,
Field and fountain, moor and mountain,
Following yonder star.

Born a King on Bethlehem’s plain
Gold I bring to crown Him again,
King forever, ceasing never,
Over us all to reign.

Glorious now behold Him arise;
King and God and sacrifice;
Alleluia, Alleluia,
Sounds through the earth and skies.

Refrain:
O star of wonder, star of night,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.

                                                                                                              John H. Hopkins, Jr. 1857

Please look at John 20:31.