Prophecies about Jesus' Birth

Born of a Virgin

Prophecy

Fulfillment

Isaiah 7:14: “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”

Matthew 1:18,24,25: “She was found with child of the Holy Spirit …. Then Joseph ….. but he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.” Luke 1:26-35: “In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.  The angel went to her and said, ….. ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus…….’, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.’”

Some believe Isaiah referred only to a local situation where a young woman, still a virgin, was soon to be married and would later bear a child, fulfilling the prophecy. Others believe that the prophecy is exclusively Messianic and predicts that Mary, while still a virgin, would be the mother of Christ as Matthew explicitly claims. Still others see a double fulfillment in this prophecy; that is, predicting both a child described in Isaiah chapter 8 and the birth of Christ.[6] Many prophecies did have two fulfillments:  one quite soon, another much later.

Additional evidence for the Messianic aspect of this well-known prophecy is early Christian tradition, the build-up in the preceding verses, and the parallels between Isaiah chapter 9 and Isaiah chapter 11.[7] Other support for this conclusion is the name “Immanuel,” which means “God with us.” Since Jesus is God, that part of Isaiah’s prophecy was literally fulfilled. It should be noted that this verse was not identified as Messianic by early Jewish commentaries.

Family Line of Jesus

The bloodline of the Messiah is narrowed down through this line of prophecies. As a son of Abraham, the Messiah is a Jew, but He is also a son of Isaac, a son of Jacob, of the tribe of Judah (one of the twelve sons of Jacob), of the line of Jesse (the father of David) and from the house of David (the youngest of the eight sons of Jesse).

All texts above are widely accepted as references to the Messiah’s family line. Even early Jewish rabbinic writings concur, such as the Targum in Jeremiah 23:5 “And I will raise up for David the Messiah the Just.” This is one of the passages from which, according to rabbinic views, one of the Names of the Messiah is derived: Jehovah our Righteousness.[9] Throughout the Jewish Talmud are references to “Son of David” as the Messiah.

Lastly, we also hear the Jews dispute that Jesus was the Messiah because: “How can the Christ come from Galilee? Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from David’s family and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived’” (John 7:41-42)? This confirms that the Jews knew the prophecies about the bloodline as well as the birthplace (see below) of the Messiah.

Born in Bethlehem

Prophecy	Fulfillment
Micah 5:2: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah , out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel , whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”	Matthew 2:1: “Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea ”     See also Matthew 2:4, Luke 2:4-7, John 7:42.

Micah, a seventh century BC prophet, predicted the birth of the Messiah would occur in the village of Bethlehem . This tiny town was uniquely connected to David since it was both his birthplace and the home of Jesse his father (1 Samuel 15:16: “The Lord said to Samuel, ‘… I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem . I have chosen one of his sons to be king.’”). The birthplace of the Messiah would be a humble place, a town forgotten by the rich and the powerful. Bethlehem was, and is yet today, a forgettable village, hard to locate on a map.

There is also no doubt that the rabbinical authorities of the time of Jesus clearly understood Bethlehem would be the Messiah’s birthplace. This was confirmed by the magi’s visit with Herod on the way to find Jesus (Matthew 2:4-5), “When he [Herod] had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born.  ‘In Bethlehem in Judea ,’ they replied, ‘for this is what the prophet has written.’” Look also once again at John 7:41-42. The rabbinic traditions, oral and written, testify to the Messianic nature of Micah’s prophecy.[10]

 

Back to: Jesus' miracles
(1) Exhibit #3: Jesus fulfilled the Messianic prophecies	(2)  Prophecies about Jesus' birth
(3) Prophecies about Jesus' ministry and death	(4) Psalm 22 as Messianic prophecy
(5) Isaiah 53 as Messianic prophecy	(6) Probabilities and objections
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