Isaiah 9:6-7

A child is born. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, as John 1:14 states. Yet Isaiah also prophesied that a Son would be given. You and I know that although technology now exists to “pre-order” the sex of a child, there was no way of knowing the sex of a child in biblical times—outside of God revealing it—until he or she was born. Yet several times in the Old Testament, God revealed people and events that His people were to be on the lookout for.

Such was the case with the Lord Jesus. In fact, there are more than forty prophecies foretelling His arrival and the purpose for which He was coming.

The Israelites were on notice to be watching for Him. Yet when He came, He did not come in the way they expected, which caused many of them to reject Him. We must be careful not to discount or discard God’s work in our lives simply because it does not align with our own expectations. He rarely moves in the ways we expect Him to. As someone once said, “You don’t always see Him coming, but upon reflection, you can see where He has been.”

Jesus was rejected in His time, yet vindicated in the years that followed, with the ultimate vindication coming when every knee bows and every tongue confesses that He is Lord.

Consider the words of Jesus:

“To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, and they say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’ For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”
—Luke 7:31–35 (NASB1995)

As John explains:

“God sent a man, John the Baptist, to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light. The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him.”
‭‭John‬ ‭1‬:‭7‬-‭11‬ ‭NLT‬‬

A Son was given. Whose Son? God’s Son. This Scripture highlights the dual nature of Jesus’ existence—that He was both fully God and fully man. A child was born because a body was required to be sacrificed to redeem mankind. Consider Hebrews 10:4–7:

“For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. That is why, when Christ came into the world, He said to God, ‘You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings. But You have given Me a body to offer. You were not pleased with burnt offerings or other offerings for sin. Then I said, “Look, I have come to do Your will, O God—as is written about Me in the Scriptures.”’”
—Hebrews 10:4–7 (NLT)

Yet a Son was given who would reestablish His rule here on earth in the hearts of mankind.

When we take the time to consider the incredible convergence of events that took place at Jesus’ birth, we can only arrive at one absolute truth: He is the Savior of the world.