There was one extraordinary child born to an ordinary Jewish couple in Bethlehem 2000 years ago. Unlike any other child, everything that needed to be known about him was revealed long before he was born. Some scholars suggest there are more than 300 prophecies about him in the Old Testament that points to His birth, His ministry, His death and resurrection and His role in the church. These prophecies are specific enough that the mathematical probability of this extraordinary child fulfilling even a handful of them is staggeringly improbable. Situations like his birthplace, lineage, and method of execution were beyond his control and could not have been accidentally or deliberately fulfilled. Yet these details were clearly laid out before any of them ever find their place in the history.

The story begins in the announcement of the angel to Mary, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:30-35)

In this angelic announcement we find 05 amazing facts:

(1) Jesus is God.

“He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High”. (v32)
This is the unmistakable truth about the child to be born to Mary. One of the titles The Old Testament given to God is “the Most High” (El Elyon), and it refers to God’s surpassing strength, sovereignty and supremacy. Scripture speaks of God’s sovereignty:

  1. Over nations (Deut 32:8, Psa 47:2, Daniel 4:17, Daniel 4:32)
  2. Over nature and the created universe (2 Samuel 22:14 ‐18)
  3. Over the unrighteous (Psalm 7, 9 – punishment for enemies)
  4. Over the righteous (Psalm 21 – salvation)
  5. Over his own redeemed people (Psalm 46 – God the Refuge of His People)
  6. Over Satan and all his demons (Mark 1:27, 1 John 5:18)
  7. Over all disease (Exodus 4:11, Acts 10:38)
  8. Over death (1 Corinthians 15:54–58)
  9. Over every possible dimension -good and evil (Lamentations 3:37-38)

When angel announces Mary that the child to be born will be called the Son of God, it does not imply that God is a great God who begot a sub-god and Mary’s child is going to be a sub-god. The angel announces that this child bears the same character and nature and essence of the most high God. “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Hebrews 1:3). This child is Equal with God.

  1. Equal in Nature
    John 5:17-18, Jesus claims the equality with God by calling God (Most High) His Father.
    Mark 2:27, “The Sabbath was made for man (not for God)” (when Jews accused Him for breaking Sabbath)
  2. Equal in Works
    John 5:17, 19-22 “My Father is working until now, and I am working …….” He says whatever I do is exactly what God does. If you are going to accuse me for breaking your Sabbath then you accuse God. Tell God He broke your Sabbath because I’m only doing what God is doing.
  3. Equal in Power
    John 5:21, “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.” He says, I have the same power to raise the dead physically and spiritually that God does.
  4. Equal in Authority
    As the end of V21 (John 5), he says the son gives life to whom he wishes. He can make decisions. He can do as he pleases. He has equal authority.
  5. Equal in Judgment
    John 5:22, “The father judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the son.”
    John 5:27, “He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.”
    John 5:30, “I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge” God and Christ judge together, therefore they are equal in judgment.
  6. Equal in Honor
    John 5:23, “all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.”

(2) Jesus is Man

“behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son.” (v31)
God choose to send His son through the natural birth process of a human. He is to be born through the womb and the birth canal of a human woman like other babies, and Mary has to go through the normal nine months pregnancy period (Luke 2:6). This emphasizes the humanity of Jesus. This is a normal birth, but a supernatural conception. Jesus Christ was conceived by the work of the spirit of God, but he was born through the normal processes of the body of Mary. He is fully Man but He is fully God as well. Jesus was a real human being like us with a fully human body, a fully human mind, heart, and will.

(3) Jesus is Sinless

“the holy Child shall be called the Son of God”. (V35)
Angel said to Mary this is a Holy child, He will be absolutely perfect, holy and sinless! “who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). He never needed discipline; He never needed correction; He never needed forgiveness; He never needed salvation. He was not a recipient of grace, but the dispenser of grace.

(4) Jesus is the King

“the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” (V32)
This fulfills the prophecy of 2 Samuel 7:12-13. Both Mary and Joseph come in the Davidic line, and they carried royal blood, and Christ is indeed the rightful heir to the throne of David. Gabriel announces that the child to be born is the Sovereign king, the king of the universe.

(5) Jesus is the Savior

“you shall name Him Jesus.” (V31)
The Hebrew name Yeshua translates into Greek as Iésous. This is the name that the angel Gabriel commanded Joseph to name Mary’s child: “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21). There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Tim. 2:5). There is only one redeemer. There is only one dispenser of grace who is Jesus Christ.

Jesus, the determiner of human destiny

No one in the history has provoked discussions as Jesus of Nazareth. There have been so many attempts in the past to distort the character and the nature of the real Jesus in the Bible, and it still continues. For some, he is a myth, for some it is just a children’s storybook character. For others, he is an ancient hero, a revolutionist, a good man. Then there is a Jesus fashioned by those who seek within the Bible to their own gain.

Scripture tells us that we have all sinned; we have all committed evil acts (Romans 3:10-18). As a result of our sin, we deserve God’s anger and judgment. The only just punishment for sins committed against an infinite and eternal God is an infinite punishment (Romans 6:23; Revelation 20:11-15). There is no way a sinful human would be able to get away with this punishment by his own efforts, according to God’s terms. Knowing our utter helplessness God initiated a rescue plan for man to escape from His punishment. He sends His own Son to be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14), to be offered as a sacrifice on the cross for our sins (Hebrews 2:17). The child that was born on the Christmas day in Bethlehem, is no ordinary Child. He is the determiner of human destiny. “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed” (Luke 2:34).

It is what you do with Jesus Christ that determines whether you fall or rise again -Falling into a pit of hell, or Rising into the glories of heaven. The evidence about Jesus is compelling, so withholding belief in Him is to commit an immoral act. Unbelief in Jesus is judged by God not as an intellectual error but as a hostile act of prejudice against God Himself.

Recommended Reading:
Science Speaks, Peter Stoner and Robert Newman, (Online Edition: http://sciencespeaks.dstoner.net/)
100 Prophecies Fulfilled By Jesus by Rose Publishing
Other References: Dr. John Mac Arthur, Dr. R.C. Sproul, Strong’s and Hebrew Concordances