Jesus’ birth story has captivated billions of people for more than two millennia, as the Bible details a loving God’s decision to send His Son to die for the sins of humanity — and live again.
From the manger to the cross, the journey has shaped and molded every facet of human history. One of the most compelling realities surrounding the nativity narrative is Jesus’s birth was foretold long before the manger, with the Old Testament including important prophecies pointing toward Christ.
In fact, this promised Messiah is mentioned throughout the Scriptures, with specific details — including His birth in Bethlehem — noted hundreds of years before angels visited Zechariah, Mary, and Joseph.
CBN News explores this reality in a new, four-part holiday podcast, “Jesus and the Prophecies of Christmas,” a show diving deep into the incredible prophecies at the heart of the manger story. Each episode centers on a different piece of the prophetic puzzle surrounding Jesus’ birth.
The first episode of “Jesus and the Prophecies of Christmas” — featuring for King & Country’s Joel Smallbone, Greg Laurie, Jeff Kinley, Ray Comfort, Jesse Bradley, and Shane Idleman — explores the role and power of biblical prophecy, Jesus’ presence throughout the Old Testament, and why the baby in the manger was a fulfillment of God’s promises to humankind.
Listen to this powerful first episode:
Smallbone opens the show by proclaiming he’s captivated by the reality of “God coming to earth in the most vulnerable state, as a baby.”
“God, in all of His majesty and magnificence, is like, ‘I’m going to come into this tiny being, living and breathing being, and I’m going to do this because I have such great love for these creatures that are made in My image that I want to … offer hope, and healing, and redemption to this … sort of species that has kind of gone awry,'” he said. “And I just think it’s got all of the layers of an incredible story, and … I believe it just so happens to be a true story, which makes it even more … magnificent.”
Kinley, a prophesy expert, notes the Christmas story is told yearly “with great emotion” — and with good reason. For him, the most compelling part, though, is the Creator’s decision to show such sacrificial love for His creation.
“Here is the Creator of the world coming to be a creation, if you will,” he said. “He’s the God-man, 100% God, 100% man, and yet He submitted Himself to creation.”
Kinley continued, “He was born into a world that He Himself created. He was laid upon straw, presumably, that was made by Him. All the things that He made, He submitted Himself to it.”
This idea that Jesus proffered Himself to creation is fascinating — and one of the most remarkable aspects of the nativity story are the pieces of evidence backing this claim.
“If someone wants credible evidence the Bible is God’s Word all he has to do is take some time to study the prophecies, because only God knows the future,” apologist Ray Comfort notes in “Jesus and the Prophecies of Christmas.” “We [don’t] know tomorrow’s forecast; we haven’t got a clue. They just take a stab. But God’s Word predicts the future before it came into being, and it establishes [His] divine fingerprint all over Scripture. So prophecy is wonderful.”
Ultimately, Kinley, Comfort, and other theologians and pastors believe biblical prophecy — defined as a prediction of what’s to come — is tried, true, and verified.
It’s the glimmers of Jesus’ birth in the Old Testament — written hundreds of years before the nativity narrative — they believe offer some of the most compelling evidence of Scripture’s authenticity.
Listen to episode one of “Jesus and the Prophecies” of Christmas — and tune in tomorrow, Dec. 14 (subscribe here) for the next installment — an episode set to explore key figures in the nativity story and how they reacted to the prophecies given by God and angels.
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