THE HISTORICAL MESSAGE OF CHRISTMAS
THE PROMISE OF THE BIRTH OF THE MESSIANIC SEED
IN A MANGER, IN THE FULNESS OF TIME, CAME THE SEED!
The first promise of a messiah, a deliverer, an atoner, a redeemer, came immediately after man first sinned. All who have believed God’s promise that he would one day send a Seed to deliver them from their inherited condition, and restore them to his fellowship, have been saved by grace down through the ages of man following the Garden of Eden. When the Seed came, he was to crush the power Satan had gained over man by the condemnation sin bondage separating him from God. But in so doing he was to suffer in his own flesh when he stepped on Satan’s head.
Genesis 3:15 – And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and HER SEED; IT shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise HIS heel.
At first, Adam and Eve naturally assumed that as soon as Eve brought forth a Seed, that firstborn would be the promised redeemer.
But when Cain murdered Abel that idea went up in smoke. So they then believed that Seth must be the promised Seed. But when he had a seed named Enos the question naturally arose, which is the Seed, Seth or his seed. Then they realized that this seed might be further on down the line in time. So what would you do? I would start calling upon the name of the Lord to send the Seed, and would trust in his promise until the Seed came on the scene. That is what men have done, are doing, and shall continue to do, but now we know his name, and a lot more about him.
Genesis 4:25,26 – And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me ANOTHER SEED instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.
[26] And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: THEN began men to call upon the name of the Lord.
Romans 10:13 – For whoso ever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Acts 4:12 – Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Romans 10:17 – So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
The promise of a Seed in Genesis 3:15 told what the Seed would do, and Genesis 3:21 presented a picture of how the Seed would do it.
Genesis 3:21 – Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
The guiltless bodies and blood of the innocent animals, that were slain to provide the KAPHAR (atonement) covering for their sinful condition, pictured the sinless body and blood of the Seed that would one day come to give his life to provided an eternal covering for all their sins. When he came he replaced the picture with the real thing, his body and his blood, and, in so doing, swept away all the sins of the believers in the past, in the present, and in the future. It was through the forbearance of God that the remission of the sins of all believers in the Old Testament occurred when Christ paid the price for their sins and imputed his righteousness to them. It is the same Jesus who took away sins yesterday, who takes them away now, and will take them away tomorrow.
Romans 3:25,26 –Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; [26] To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
John 8:56-58 –Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.
[57] Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? [58] Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
Hebrews 13:8 – Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
At first, very little detail was provided about the Seed who would one day come to deliver those who believed God’s promise of his coming. But as the centuries and generations passed, God began to fill in the details of his characteristics, the bloodline through which he would come, and the work he would perform to redeem mankind.
In the time of Abraham, the Seed was identified as one who would bless all the nations of the earth through the line of Abraham.
Genesis 22:18 – And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
Just before Jacob’s death the Seed was identified as the ruler who would come through the line of Judah, and be typed as “Shiloh.” The scepter was a staff carried by a ruler as a symbol of his kingship and law giving authority, which was often held between his knees, resting between his feet, when he sat on his throne. When the Seed comes again at his Second Advent he will replace the tabernacle, which was a type of him, and once rested at Shiloh. He will be the spiritual Lion of Judah to whom all the peoples of the earth will gather. The Seed will “tabernacle” among them, and the Feast of Tabernacles will be fulfilled.
Genesis 49:10 – The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
Amos 9:11,12 – In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: [12] That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the Lord that doeth this.
Ezekiel 37:24-28 – And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. [25] And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever. [26] Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. [27] My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. [28] And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.
And the Seed shall also be the tabernacle dwelling among men in the age following the millennial age – the everlasting age of all the ages.
Revelation 21:3 – And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
Isaiah 33:20-22 – Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof
be broken. [21] But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby. [22] For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us.
In the time of Moses, the Seed was identified as God’s spokesman that would speak directly for him, and those who would not hearken to the Seed would suffer the consequences of rejecting it.
Deuteronomy 18:18,19 – I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. [19] And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require
it of him.
By 700 B.C. the Seed was identified as coming from the line of David, and that he would be born of a virgin. Furthermore, the Seed was to actually be Immanuel,
God living with us, according to Isaiah. And, according to Micah he was to be born in Bethlehem, the city of David, and was to be a ruler over all of Israel. Isaiah gave the first classic outline of the Seed’s personal greatness and the greatness of his rule and kingdom.
Isaiah 7:13,14 – And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? [14] Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Micah 5:2 – But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
Isaiah 9:6,7 – For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. [7] Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
By 600 B.C. Daniel described the details of what would be accomplished by the Seed from the time of his first coming to his Second Advent. He also gave the clearest picture of the Seed’s kingdom, and his saints living in it, during his earthly reign of 1000 years.
Daniel 9:24 – Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
Daniel 7:13,14,27 – I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. [14] And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. [27] And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.
By 520 B.C. Zechariah identified the Seed as the BRANCH out of David and the stone upon whom the omnipresence of the Spirit of God would dwell.
Zechariah 3:8-10 – Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH. [9] For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. [10] In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree.
By 430 B.C. Malachi identified the Seed as the Lord who would come to the temple as the messenger of the covenant, and also indicated that a messenger would precede him, announcing to prepare for the Seed’s arrival. We now know that messenger who came before him was John the Baptist. It was also Malachi who warned us what it would be coming on the earth just before his Second Advent, and what would follow it.
Malachi 3:1 – Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts.
Malachi 4:1,2 – For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. [2] But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
4 B.C. – The messenger of the Seed is born of Elizabeth, some six months before the face of the Seed appears in a manger in Bethlehem.
Luke 1:76-80 – And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; [77] To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, [78] Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, [79] To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
[80] And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.
Luke 1:30-33 – And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. [31] And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. [32] He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: [33] And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
Galatians 4:4 – But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
Galatians 3:24 – Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
TO BE CONTINUED