God Has a Plan!

The essence of God’s plan is that he would radically change mankind's destiny. To take every person from…Sinners to salvation…Enemy to friend…Wandering purposelessness to eternal destiny…Ultimately, from hell to heaven!

 

The Christmas story actually starts hundreds of years before the birth of Christ:

 

Isaiah 7:14 - (700 years before Christ’s birth) “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”

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• Immanuel = God with us

 

Concerning His Birth:

• Born of a woman (Genesis 3:15; Galatians 4:4; Matthew 1:20)

• Born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:18, 24, 25)

• Son of God (Psalm 2:7; Matthew 3:17)

• Descendant of Abraham (Genesis 22:18; Matthew 1:1; Galatians 3:16) Here it is determined that the Messiah would be a Jewish descendant.

• Son of Isaac (Genesis 21:12; Luke 3:23,34) Abraham had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael. Now God eliminates one half of the lineage of Abraham.

• Son of Jacob (Numbers 24:17; Luke 3:23,34) Isaac had two sons, Jacob and Esau. Now God eliminates one half of the lineage of Isaac.

• Tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10; Luke 3:23,33) Jacob had 12 sons and each became a tribe of the Hebrew nation. Now God eliminates eleven-twelfths of the lineage of Jacob.

• Family line of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1; Luke 3:23,32) Now God narrows it down even further by picking one family line out of the tribe of Judah.

• House of David (Jeremiah 23:5; Luke 3:23,31) Jesse had at least eight sons (I Samuel 16:10,11). God eliminates all of Jesse's sons except one, David.

• Born at Bethlehem (Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:1) Now God eliminates all the cities in the world except one, Bethlehem.

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ALL of  these were written at least 450 years before Jesus' birth - some up to 1500 yrs!