Christmas is almost upon us once again. Many of us have large evergreen shaped
objects standing in one room of our houses, lights hanging up, wreaths, and
wallets perhaps a little smaller than they were a month ago. School is out and the kids are home (whatever
the age). With all this in mind, I would
like to provide some thoughts on this season from Scripture. I wish to provide an article on Christmas
and prophecy and then a follow up article on Christmas and Providence.
Immediately upon opening up your English NT the first scene
involving this Christmas season is Matthew chapter one. The narrative flow is fairly simple: an angel
appears to Joseph in a dream, relays verbal content about the Messiah's birth
(including OT quotation), he wakes up, time lapse, he names his son Jesus. (End chapter one).
Our concern in this narrative discussion is the verse quoted in 22-23,
where the angel quotes a prophecy first penned by Isaiah the prophet. Several facts are worth noting for our encouragement this Christmas season.
First, verse 22 records, "that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet." This formula, "that it might be
fulfilled" is repeated multiple times in the gospel of Matthew at least
sixteen times (multiple times from this same prophet). Repeatedly Matthew displays to his Jewish audience the fulfillment of their own scriptures in the Messiah.
Second, this same verse records the same mysterious dual
authorship concept "spoken of the Lord by the prophet." We could add in other scriptural texts to
flesh out a full theology of scripture but put simply, God revealed the
information to the human author and the human author wrote down this information in his own language. These two verses alone include the concepts
of revelation, inspiration and preservation.
Third, verse 23 is a quotation of the LXX (a Greek
translation of the OT Hebrew text). Note
the following from the underlying Greek text from Matthew 1:23:
Ἰδοὺ ἡ
παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ ἕξει καὶ τέξεται υἱόν, καὶ καλέσουσιν τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ
Ἐμμανουήλ,
Note the LXX translation in
parallel from Isaiah 7:14:
The only difference is the parsing of the verb "to call"
(the verb marked with a red font). In Mt
1 the verb is a future active indicative third person plural. In Isa 14 the verb is a future active
indicative second person singular. Check
out the surrounding context of each. See
if you can figure out which subject(s) might be singular and which plural? (I
realize some will be able to read the text and others will not). Note the audience and pronouns.
Fourth, concerning the OT quotation, the LXX helps to remove
any confusion. This is not just a young maiden
but a virgin who "shall conceive." Study this out on your own, Hebrew, Greek and English. For those of you using the RSV take note here and the follow up changes found in the ESV. (Please don't take this as a warning or endorsement of either English translation).
Lastly, we shall consider the name
"Immanuel." Matt 1:23 explains
for the reader the identification of this child, "God with us." This is one of many defining doctrines of
Biblical Christianity. This child was
not just a man, a good man, a good teacher, a perfect man only, or simply
"a" god, but this is the second person of the Trinity coming to
earth, God in flesh (Jn 1:14) "and the word became flesh and dwelt among
us." And don't forget this child
had a mission, "for he shall save his people from their sins" (Matt
1:21).
There are many more jewels in this text. I provided only a few. This is real prophecy fulfilled in scriptural terms. Mine out the details with a pick and shovel and make
them yours. Don't forget this research was done in seconds with Logos 6. You could do likewise with Bibleworks, Accordance, or a freebie called E-Sword.
Merry Christmas everyone!!!
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