Messiah in a Manger

 If a person doesn't believe in God - the 'Christmas story' sounds a bit crazy. - Immaculate conception, angels, God being born in the flesh...? If you don't believe in the supernatural; if you don't listen with 'spiritual ears' - it really makes no sense. It's like when I hear the mythology of ancient Greek 'gods' - Zeus and his lightning bolts, the trials of Hercules, Prometheus stealing fire from the 'gods'... People actually believed that? They're interesting stories, but they sound kind of silly to modern ears.

But that's how many non-Christians view the account of what we celebrate at Christmastime. I want to start us out with a passage from Matthew, but try and listen with both 'spiritual' and 'unspiritual' ears. I want you to clearly hear the account again - but also try to hear it as an 'unbeliever' might. This is from... Matthew 1:18-25 (NIV)...

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (19) Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and 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 be with child and will 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 had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Now, at Christmas time we remember this account of baby Jesus in the manger, but many would ask - 'How can you be sure that He was indeed The promised Messiah; the Savior of the world? How do you know that a baby in the manger was really God; that Jesus was God in the flesh; "God with us"...?'

You can't really prove it to someone who doesn't believe - but that doesn't mean there isn't plenty of evidence. Some of the best evidence is the fact that Jesus fulfilled hundreds of prophecies, some given hundreds of years before His birth. But despite that truth – most still doubt. But how did Jesus fulfill all of the Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah if He wasn't the Messiah?

There are several arguments that people have used to convince themselves that Jesus really wasn't this promised Messiah. Some say, couldn't it all have just been…

I. Coincidence?

I want to look again at a few verses we just read from Matthew...

Matthew 1:22-23 (NIV)

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: (23) "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" - which means, "God with us."

Some say, 'Sure Jesus may have fulfilled the prophecies, but maybe it was just chance or an odd twist of fate. Maybe he's just one of many people throughout history who have coincidentally fit that prophetic fingerprint.'

Is there a possibility that it could have just been coincidence that Jesus matched up with all the prophecies regarding the Messiah?

A mathematics professor named Peter Stoner did a peer reviewed statistical analysis, and found that the probability of fulfilling just 48 of the hundreds of Biblical prophecies and Messianic references was, and listen to this number, one chance in a trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion! - My mind can't even comprehend a number that big. That's a staggering statistic that's equal to the number of atoms in a trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion, billion universes the size of our universe!

Those odds alone say it would be impossible for anyone to fulfill all the Old Testament prophecies. Yet Jesus—and only Jesus throughout all of history—managed to do exactly that.

So the skeptic may then say, 'Okay, so coincidence may be out. But since the writers of the Gospels wrote their books after the Old Testament was written – couldn't they have just made up stories about Jesus in light of those prophesies? Couldn't the Gospels all have simply been...'

II. Written to fit?

'Couldn't the writers of the Gospels have just written their books so that it appeared that Jesus' entire life would fit the prophecies?'

For example, the prophecies of the Old Testament say the Messiah's bones would remain unbroken. And we can see this passage talking about the sacrificial Passover lamb in Numbers 9:12 (NIV)...

They must not leave any of it till morning or break any of its bones. When they celebrate the Passover, they must follow all the regulations.

Couldn't the Apostle John have simply read that passage and then made up this story about Jesus in John 19:32-33 (NIV)...

The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. (33) But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.

Couldn't John just have invented the story about the Romans breaking the legs of the two thieves being crucified with Jesus, and not breaking Jesus' legs?

And the prophecies also talk about the betrayal of the Messiah. The Book of Zechariah specifically mentions thirty pieces of silver - so maybe Matthew played a little fast and loose with the facts and said, yeah, Judas sold out Jesus for that exact same amount.

The big problem with this 'write to fit' argument is – when the Gospels were actually being written and then circulated, there were thousands of living eye-witnesses who had also seen what Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were writing. If the Gospel writers were fabricating facts to make things look better for Jesus – a fellow believer could have come forward and said, "Hey, that's a lie! I was there! We're trying to spread Jesus' message of righteousness and truth – how could you write those lies?" But they didn't.

What's more, the Jewish community of the time would have jumped at any opportunity to discredit the Gospels by pointing out falsehoods. They would have said, 'I was there, and Jesus' bones were broken by the Romans during the crucifixion'. But even though the Jewish Talmud does refer to Jesus in derogatory ways, it never once makes the claim that the fulfillment of the prophecies was falsified. Not one claim.

Besides, why would the Apostles have 'made up' seemingly fulfilled prophecies and then be willing to be put to death for following someone who they secretly knew was really not the Messiah?

So, Jesus didn't fulfill the prophecies by coincidence, the Gospel writers actually knew that what they wrote was true – but there's still other arguments... 'Maybe it wasn't the Gospel writers who were perpetrating a hoax', the skeptics ask, 'maybe it was Jesus Himself?'

The Gospels might not have been written to fit His life, but couldn't Jesus simply have…

III. Lived to fit?

Couldn't Jesus Himself have just looked at the prophecies and then lived His life in such a way to arrange all those things to fit? Maybe He even fooled the writers of the Gospels? We know He knew the Old Testament well as we see in Luke 24:27 (NIV)...

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

Surely Jesus would have read the passage from Zechariah 9:9 (NIV)...

Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Knowing that the Messiah would ride a donkey into Jerusalem; couldn't He have arranged to do exactly that so His life would fit the prophecies?

For a handful of the Old Testament prophecies, sure it would have been possible to do that. But there are so many others that would have been impossible to control. For instance, how would He control the fact that the Sanhedrin offered Judas thirty pieces of silver to betray him? How could He arrange for His ancestry, or His method of execution, or that soldiers gambled for His clothing, or that His legs remained unbroken on the cross? How would He arrange to perform miracles in front of skeptics? How would He arrange for His resurrection - coming back from the dead?

In the Book of Daniel, it foretells that the Messiah would appear a certain length of time after King Artaxerxes I issued a decree for the Jewish people to go from Persia to rebuild the walls in Jerusalem. That puts the anticipated appearance of the Messiah at the exact moment in history when Jesus was born. How could Jesus have possibly arranged the time and city of His birth?

According to the facts, the account of the baby born in Bethlehem and laid in a manger – that story isn't as crazy as it first sounds…

So What?

When you look at the evidence – there can be no doubt that Jesus was The prophesied Messiah, God in the flesh. Nothing in the world can take the place of truth. Author Randy Alcorn wrote, "Truth is not something we invent, only something we can discover. God reveals it to us in His Word." Truth itself is rooted in our eternal, all-powerful, and unchanging God.

Christianity is based on faith, but God doesn't ask us to blindly follow Him. Just as Jesus showed His disciple Thomas the nail scars in His hands when Thomas doubted, God gives us evidence, too. Jesus of Nazareth fits all of the prophecies – Jesus is the Christ; Jesus is the Messiah; Jesus is 'God with us'.

Now what you do with that information is up to you. As we celebrate Christmas – it can simply be a nice time singing carols and gathering with family and exchanging presents - OR - it can truly be an amazing celebration of the most amazing miracle ever! God loved us so much that He left the splendor of Heaven and was born as a little helpless baby in order to grow up and give His life for you and for me! That is what Christmas is all about... But before I pray and close us out, Denise is going to play "Silent Night" for us - and I want you to take the time to reflect and thank God for Jesus!

- And then I'll close us in prayer...

- Merry Christmas!