As you wind your way through crowded shopping malls this week, pay attention to the music – because between Rudolf’s nose, Frosty the snowman, and Grandma getting run over by the reindeer, you will discover ancient words that have changed the world.
“O Little Town of Bethlehem” points to a tiny village outside Jerusalem. The prophet Micah, who lived 750 years before Jesus, said of Bethlehem, “From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.” So when “We three kings of orient are” – who were scientists and astronomers, not kings – arrived to look for a newborn Jewish king, they were directed to Bethlehem. Supernaturally, one of Micah’s contemporaries, the prophet Isaiah, made a different prediction. Isaiah predicted this promised child would come to bring light from “Galilee of the Gentiles” – an area in the northern part of ancient Israel that was often dominated by foreign powers like Assyria. It so happens that the village of Nazareth is right in the middle of this region.
So, two ancient prophets predicted that a deliverer and king would come from two different places.
Seven centuries later, Jesus was born in Bethlehem. His parents first fled to Egypt, and then settled in his father’s hometown in Galilee. Babies don’t get to choose their parents, or where they are born, or where they live in their infancy; yet Christians all over the world believe Jesus’ birth and early life help confirm his divine identity. He was both born in Bethlehem and known to be from Galilee just as the ancient prophets foretold.
Isaiah had a lot more to say about the one who was to come to deliver not only his own people, but all people. A prophet is someone who both speaks for God and who is also supernaturally enabled to envision the future. Isaiah predicted a child would be born of a virgin, as we sing in the carol “Silent Night.”
In chapter 53 of his writings, he predicted in painstaking detail how the promised child would die by being “pierced for our
transgressions.” This prediction was made before crucifixion became the normal means of execution in the Roman Empire, which did not yet exist. Skeptics, and even some liberal theologians, try to undermine the supernatural nature of these predictions – but they have quite a challenge. No reputable scholar would suggest that the words of Isaiah were written any less than hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. Though they debate both the date and number of authors of this biblical masterpiece, they must ultimately conclude it was written long before Jesus was born. One of the Dead Sea Scrolls from many years before the birth of Jesus preserves the ancient predictions.
Perhaps the greatest work of Christmas music of all time was written by George Frideric Handel. His inspiring work, “The Messiah,” was based primarily on the ancient words of Isaiah. In the Hallelujah Chorus, great choirs sing, “For unto us a child is born, a son is given . . . wonderful, counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, the prince of peace” Handel borrowed these words from Isaiah, chapter 9, and audiences have been rising to their feet in worship ever since.
As his time on Earth was drawing to an end, Jesus took his disciples up on the side of a mountain and asked them the most important question of all time, “Who do you say that I am?”
Peter, the disciple, said “You are the Christ, the son of the living God.” Peter knew that his friend was the deliverer and king whom the ancient prophets had foretold.
This week, hundreds of millions will celebrate his birthday. Merry Christmas to you and all you love.
