
CHRISTMAS PROPHECY
January 2025
Dear Friends,
The Gospel of John opens with these words: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him not one thing was made.” These verses tell us that Jesus lived with God the Father long before He came to earth to be our Savior.
Shortly after Adam and Eve fell into sin, God gave to them the first promise of Christ’s coming in the words of Genesis 3:15: “And I will put enmity between you and your woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” The first prophecy foretells that Jesus will win the victory over Satan.
God established the covenant of grace with Abraham in Genesis 12:3: “And I will bless them that bless you, and curse those who curse you, and you and all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” We too have been blessed because God kept His promise to Abraham and sent Jesus to be born as our Savior.
King David, who was an ancestor of Jesus, wrote in Psalm 16:10: “For you do not give me up to Sheol, or let your faithful one see the Pit.” Long before Jesus was born His victory over death and the grave was already foretold.
The prophet Isaiah foretold many things about the coming Messiah. In Isaiah 7:14 we read: “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and she shall name him Immanuel.” And in Isaiah 9:6 we read: “For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon His shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
When the wise men followed the star in search of the Savior, they came to Jerusalem and asked King Herod, “Where is He who had been born King of the Jews?” Herod called the chief priests and the scribes, and inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him what the prophet Micah had foretold hundreds of years before, found in chapter 5:2-5, “But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has brought forth; then the rest of his kindred shall return to the people of Israel. And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth; and he shall be the ONE of peace.”
On that night long ago when Jesus was born, there was no room in the inn. The innkeeper who offered his stable as a shelter to Mary and Joseph that Christmas night didn’t know that the child who was to be born and to sleep in a manger there, was the Lord of lords and the King of kings. And yet the birth of Christ is the most important date, the central date in history.
Whether the 25th day of December which we now observe as Christmas Day is actually the day on which Christ was born isn’t absolutely certain. During the 6th century, a Roman monk named Dionysius established that Christ was born in the 753rd year of Rome. This year he called 1 A.D., that is, the first “year of our Lord..” In the 16th century a more careful study showed that Dionysius had made a mistake of about 4 years in his calculations, for Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea before the death of Herod and it was now established that Herod died in the 750th year of Rome just before the feast of the Passover. Because of this mistake, we must keep in mind that Christ was born about the year 4 B.C. in terms of our present calendar.
The letters, “B.C.” stand for the words Before Christ. When we talk about events that occurred before Christ was born, we give the date and then add the words Before Christ. If we write the date, we add the letters “B.C.” For example: Abraham lived about 2,000 years B.C.; Moses lived about 1,400 B.C.; Solomon built the temple about 970 B.C.
The last book of the Old Testament, Malachi, was written about 400 B.C. None of the people who lived before Christ was born could celebrate Christmas Day as we are able to do. They could only look forward to the time that Christ was born. It must have been much harder to have faith in those days than it is today. They had to believe that in the fullness of time, God would keep His promises and send the Messiah. Our calendar helps us to remember that Christ has come.
The letters, “A.D.” stand for the Latin words, Anno Domini, which means “In the year of Our Lord” or “After Christ.” The dates we use to designate the years before Christ grow smaller and smaller as they approach the date when Christ was born. The number of the years on our calendar grows larger and larger. For example, Jesus was crucified about 30 A.D.; the apostle Paul was converted about 38 A.D.; Constantine, who helped to spread Christianity in Europe lived about 300 A.D.; Martin Luther nailed his theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg in 1517 A.D.; and we are living in the year 2025 A.D.
All of the dates of history before Christ’s birth pointed forward to the time of His coming. All of the dates of history since the first Christmas long ago remind us that we are living in the YEAR OF OUR LORD. They point forward to the time when He will come again.
Galatians 4:4-5 states, “And when the time had fully come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”
And this is God’s will concerning the Savior born in Bethlehem, that the news of His coming should still be made known even as the shepherds made it known when they had seen the child. For this is the good news of all the ages, that God did keep His promise made through prophets, and that the Savior of the world had come. And we have more to tell than shepherds did. For we have God’s own written story of the Savior’s life and death. From the pages of the Bible we can hear Christ speaking to us as He spoke to His disciples and to all His followers. This is the joy of Christmas - that God’s gift to us is a Savior who was born and lived and died for us. Who is risen from the dead and ascended into heaven for us, and who will come again to take us to be with Him forever.
The story of Christmas really began in eternity. Before the world was created and time began, God the Father designated that His Son would be the Savior of the world. And when the right time came, God sent His son, born of a woman, that He might save sinful humankind, that He might save you and me, This is the story of Christmas.
Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, at this Christmastime, into Epiphany which is January 5th, and in this New Year, 2025, please prepare our hearts to receive You, prepare our hands to serve You, prepare our mouths to speak for You, and may the great joy of Your coming be with us now and always. Amen.
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Some biblical New Year's resolutions include:
- Growing in faith: Pray for God to reveal ways to grow in faith, and devote time to reading the Bible, spending time with God, and being with other believers.
- Living in a humble way: God calls us to live within our means and manage what he gives us.
- Forgiving others: Forgive others as the Lord forgave you.
- Loving others: Love the Lord with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself.
- Taking care of yourself: Honor God with your body, knowing that it is a temple of the Holy Spirit.
- Praying: Pray David's prayer every morning, asking God to create a clean heart and restore a sense of being brand new.
- Giving your time and attitude to the Lord: Commit to making a difference at home, in the workplace, and at church.
- Giving generously: Give generously on every occasion.