The birth of our Lord Jesus Christ is one of the most significant moments of human history.  Often the birth of Jesus and the first Christmas recorded in the gospels is only viewed as a 2000-year-old event. As we approach this Christmas season, let us remember that Christmas did not begin with infancy narratives in the Gospel of Matthew or Luke. Christmas didn't start in Bethlehem or Jerusalem.   The real Christmas story was God's idea which goes way back before the foundation of the world. God who is love had crafted a love story through the beautiful gift of Christ His only begotten Son. Ephesians 1:4 declares this beautiful truth. “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love”. It was God's eternal plan before the foundation of the world to send Jesus to save His people from their sins.

Yes, Christmas was God's idea. Christmas was not God's second thought. In fact, the Christmas story begins before the beginning of the earth. The prologue to John's Gospel further points to this truth, Christ the divine Logos before the beginning of time. Based on the Gospel of John verses 1:1-3 and John 1:12, we learn about the eternal sonship of Christ and His human incarnation. Christ, who dwelled in heaven above with all His glory, is the one who became flesh and dwelt among us. This incarnation of Christ is the beautiful Christmas story, ordained before the foundation of the world.

God's chosen people Israel longed to see the Messiah's birth.  For centuries believers read the prophecies in the Old Testament regarding the first Christmas and looked forward to the Messiah. Their wait was long, which carried through many centuries continuing all the way to Jesus’ birth.  The testimony of Simeon in Luke 2:24-30 gives us a clear example. Simeon held the baby Jesus and proclaimed he had seen his Saviour and David's Lord. New Testament authors and Jesus himself highlighted this truth. Jesus said, “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.” “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:56, 58b) “For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. (John 5:46)   In John 5, verse 39, Jesus asked the disciples to “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”

Jesus is not only the fulfilment of all the Old Testament prophecies concerning Him, but He is also the perfect fulfilment of the law and the prophets -- the entirety of the Old Testament Scriptures.  Jesus did a Bible study with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Luke 24:27).   Those two disciples were downcast because of Jesus’ death.  He wanted them to see God was working out a plan and that plan had not changed from the beginning.  Jesus showed the other disciples the same incredible truth. “And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.” (Luke 24:44). Jesus is the central figure not just of the New Testament but also the Old Testament. 

For the next three weeks, we will look into the prophecies concerning Jesus Christ's first coming in the Old Testament.  Scholars have counted roughly around two hundred and forty such prophecies concerning the first coming of Jesus. Let me highlight a handful of such prophecies.

Let's begin with Genesis 3:15, which is the first prediction in the Bible about the birth of the Lord Jesus.  This prophecy speaks of His birth, and it also speaks of the purpose of His birth which is to die and ultimately defeat Satan. Genesis 3:15 is known theologically as the protevangelium, the first promise of a coming Redeemer for Adam's fallen race.  God curses the serpent (Satan) in Genesis 3:15 which is a foretelling of what will be the history of humanity.   While uttering a curse upon the serpent, God also prophetically announces the first promise of the gospel. The gospel is spoken in Scripture for the first time from the Creator and Redeemer himself.

Genesis 3:15 mentions two seeds: “thy seed and her seed” – the seed of Satan and the seed of the woman. The prophecy here concerns “the seed of the woman” not “the seed of man”. The seed, all through history, is always traced through the male line, with one exception to the rule – Jesus Christ.  Christ was born without a human father being the “seed of the woman”. When Jesus was born to virgin Mary, God fulfilled the prediction. Galatians 4, verse 4 reminds us of this fulfilment too. “But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.” Note also Isaiah 7:14a, “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Matt 1:23 and Luke 1:27 reveal the virgin birth, and as shown, the revelation of this miracle goes back to Genesis 3:15. The virgin birth of Jesus Christ is a fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith.

Christ is the seed of the woman, and in Genesis 3:15, and He will one day crush Satan. “And I will put enmity between thee (the serpent) and the woman, and between thy seed (the serpent) and her seed (the woman); it (the woman's seed) shall bruise thy (Satan) head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” In this prophecy, a descendent from the seed of women would crush the serpent's head. At the cross, our Savior's heel was bruised, but Christ will ultimately destroy Satan's head at the Second Coming of Christ. The hostility and struggle which begins in Genesis 3:15 goes all the way to the revelation. The seed of the women will give the accuser of the brethren and father of lies, Satan, a fatal blow, he will be defeated and cast into the lake of fire (Rev 20:10).

Genesis 3:15 places us in one of two categories. You belong either to the seed of the serpent or to the seed of the woman. To which group do you belong today? Without Christ, you are without hope (Eph. 2:12). Christmas season is a reminder of the blessed hope through Christ Jesus.  Christmas reminds of God's agape love for the fallen, sinful man.   Let us praise His name and worship whenever we think of Christmas - God's eternal love for us through Jesus.

                                                                                                                        To be continued…………

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