Christmas ‘Proofs – You – See’/Prophecy, Pt. 2
Study Guide, December 14, 2025
Pastor Clay Olsen
There are some rather unusual Christmas traditions around the world. In Sweden they set out their ‘Yule Goats.’ That’s right, Yule Goat…as tradition has it that this holiday goat would help ward off mischievous spirits and things all the while Saint Nicolas went about doing his thing. And that tradition goes clear back to the 11th century. Then, down under in Australia, they have their Surfing Santa’s tradition. Talk about a wet suit…the trick is keeping the hat on, right? And what would Christmas be like without this? Fruitcakes at Christmas. Supposedly, the tradition of ‘fruitcake’ started in Egypt. They weren’t celebrating Christmas, but they thought so much of their fruitcakes that they dropped them into pyramid tombs to have during the afterlife. What do you think…do you think ‘fruitcake’ will be at the Marriage Feast of the Lamb? I’m leaning more toward Fudge Ribbon Cake and such….But now, here is a really unusual Christmas tradition, and it goes on in Japan every year. It’s their Kentucky Christmas! This Christmas KFC is so popular that people have to order their Yuletide Feast of Family Chicken Buckets months in advance. “Merry KFC Christmas”, I guess…
And there are lots of other unusual Christmas traditions around the world, but what are much more fascinating and important are the many remarkable Christmas prophecies that are found in the Scriptures. And as we pointed out last time, these prophecies were not only intended to be recognized as realities soon to be, but also recognized as ‘Proofs -You – See!’ For these Messianic prophecies were given by God who alone can….well…let’s let God say it in His own words…“Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure.” Isa. 46:9,10 NASB
Only God declares the future things that will come to pass long before they do come to pass. But be sure of this: whatever God declares will come certainly will come to pass! Every prophecy that has already been fulfilled not only proves that God alone is the Sovereign Lord and that His Scriptures are absolute truth, but every prophecy that has already been fulfilled proves that every other prophecy that has not yet been fulfilled will be fulfilled exactly as God says it will.
And one of those fulfilled prophecies and yet to be fulfilled prophecies is what we began looking into last time. So let’s return to Isaiah chapter nine and we’ll first reread verse 6 and then we’ll continue. “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” That prophecy was fulfilled, of course, in the First Coming of Christ in His Incarnation. It’s also an example of how many of the Prophecies from Isaiah are like ‘mountain peak prophecies.’ For Isaiah saw several prophetic mountain peaks, but not the valley times in between. For example, after Isaiah predicted this First Coming of Christ he goes right on to the next ‘mountain peak prophecy’ and sees the Second Coming of Christ in verse. 7- “There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over His kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.” So Isaiah sees the Incarnation of Christ as the Savior of the world, and then he also sees the Coronation of Christ as the King of the world! And it’s like he is looking at back-to-back mountain peaks. But again, what is not revealed in this passage is the time in between these prophecies…or the time of the building of Christ’s world-wide Church and then the following testing and judgment times of the Tribulation period, which concludes with Christ’s return as the Conquering King and Lord of all over the Millennial Kingdom.
But thanks to Isaiah’s prophecies, we know the truths of both Jesus’ First Coming and His Second Coming, and we also know what Jesus is doing right now in this ‘Interval Period’ between them. We are living in the ‘Church Age’…the ‘Building of the Church Age.’ And every Christmas that we celebrate during this ‘Building of the Church Age’ is one Christmas closer to Christ’s return…first to gather His Church, and next to refine and redeem the remnant of Israel along with others who will become saved from every tongue, tribe, and nation on Earth. And upon the completion of the Tribulation, Jesus will then return to the Earth to establish His prophesied Kingdom on Earth. Even Linus was excited about this, as he said, “And this is what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown!” Well, yes, it’s about Jesus’ Saviorhood…available for all the Earth, and it’s also about His Lordship over all the Earth!
But in connection with Isaiah’s prophecy about Christ’s coming reign as King, the prophet injected something very fascinating. We know of the gifts that were brought to Jesus at His First Coming…gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Of course, the gold for His deity and absolute purity. The frankincense reflected the pleasant aroma offerings from as early as the Levitical offerings…and it also symbolized Jesus’ sinless life as a sweet offering to the Father. But the myrrh…that bitter herb, pointed to Jesus’ suffering in His sacrificial death, and was even part of the mixture of one hundred pounds of burial spices that Nicodemus brought for the burial at the tomb.
But now as Isaiah is prophesying about the glory of the Glorified King Jesus reigning in the restored Zion, he speaks of these same offerings being brought to the King…except for…well, let’s look. Isa. 60:6 – “A multitude of camels will cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; All those from Sheba will come; they will bring gold and frankincense, and will bear good news of the praises of the Lord.” So, what about the ‘myrrh?’ Why did they not bring the myrrh again? Because Jesus came once to die for the sins of the world…and in His death He finished the work of redemption. Now He lives forever as the Redeemer and King and Lord over all the Heavens and the Earth! From now on its ‘gold and frankincense’…it’s glorifying the King and glorying in His sweet aroma of His life and holiness!
But we do have to make a prophetic stop in Bethlehem, because when it comes to proof of the truth of prophecy…Micah’s prophecy of where the King and Savior would be born is rock solid proof…or ‘manger solid proof’ we should say. Micah 5:2: “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.” NASB And note that Micah’s prophecy of this exact location of the Messianic King’s birth was given 700 years before Jesus’ birth. What are the odds of that happening? Right…they are countless! But also notice the set-up of this birth of the King.
‘Bethlehem, Ephrathah, Judah’: This reaches back for the Messiah’s origins in connection with Jesse and David. Isaiah presented the same truth by comparing the Messiah to a branch springing from the stump of Jesse (Isa. 11:1). Look at this regal description of the Messianic King: “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And He will delight in the fear of the Lord, and He will not judge by what His eyes see, nor make a decision by what His ears hear; But with righteousness He will judge the poor, and decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, and faithfulness the belt about His waist.” Isa. 11:1-5
This ‘Branch’ identity was a prophesied identity that was also given to Christ the King by Zechariah, 520 years before Jesus’ birth. And about 80 years before Zechariah the Prophet Jeremiah said this: “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; And He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, ‘The Lord our righteousness.’” Jer. 23:5,6 NASB How wondrous are the revelations of all of these prophecies as they just roll up upon one another to declare and to prove to the world exactly ‘Who’ the Messiah would be and that the one and only Savior of the world would also be the one and only God and King over all the world…each in its time, of course.
But again, this Messiah King would come from the lineage of David and from this remote village called ‘Too little to be among the clans of Judah.’ Even this was a statement of how inauspicious Bethlehem was, as Clans designates the military and political subdivisions of a tribe consisting of about a thousand men each. Remember, like David was described as being the least of his brothers, so Bethlehem played only a very limited role among Judah’s clans.
How like our God to choose the most insignificant place in Israel to bring forth the most pre-eminent Person in the world. And it’s just like our Lord in how He delights to choose the weak and despised things of this world to shame the wise and strong, that man may boast in the Lord alone.
And yet, in the midst of this prophecy of where the place of Jesus’ birth would be, Micah also included that statement that highlighted just ‘Who’ it would be that would be born there. ‘His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.’ And when you add this ‘Who’ to the ‘where’…that His days are from all eternity…well then, all those who knew the Scriptures also realized that this prophecy just moved into ‘Yahweh’ territory. For the ‘One whose going forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity’ can only belong to the One who revealed Himself to others as the Eternal One, as ‘Yahweh’. And ‘Yahweh’ means: “I am Who I am.’
Remember, it was Moses who asked this: “Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” God, furthermore, said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations.” Ex. 3:13-15
Just think: The One who appeared to Moses in the burning bush in the Sinai appeared one night in a manger in Bethlehem…and that same One was ‘Yahweh.’ And later when some Jewish leaders asked Jesus who He was Jesus made it quite clear who He was. Jn 8: 56-58: “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” Jesus revealed that He was and is the One whose goings are from long ago, from the days of eternity, as He is ‘Yahweh!’
In the works of Dr. Abraham Meister, he writes that the name of God, ‘Yahweh’ can be translated nine different ways, and then it becomes clear who Jesus Christ is:
“I am who I am…I am who I was…I am who I will be. I will be who I will be…I will be who I am…I will be who I was. I was who I was…I was who I am…I was who I will be.
And that amazing description can then be paraphrased as: “I am He who was never called into existence, who always is, who exists of Himself, the immutable One, the self-evident One, and the eternally present One.”1
And this is the One we also are blessed to be able to also call ‘Our Savior, who is Jesus Christ, the Lord.’ Remember, even in the Old Testament God was identifying Himself as our only Savior. Isa. 43:10,11: “Before Me there was no God formed, and there will be none after Me. I, even I, am the Lord, and there is no Savior besides Me.”
Amazing prophecies to be sure…or ‘proofs-you-see!’ And one of the reasons God gave the world so many proofs that He alone is God and that He alone is the Savior is so that all would do what both the Prophets of the Old Testament and the Apostles of the New Testament called for people to do. Joel 2:32: “But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” And from Rom. 10:13: “For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
God made the prophetic proofs very clear so that the Gospel message would be very clear so that all would know who the Messiah would be and that the Messiah would also be God, and so that they would then call upon the name of their Savior and God to become saved and to then be able to live forever with their Creator and Redeemer…with their ‘Yahweh’.
- Norbert Lieth, How Prophecy Was Fulfilled at Christmas, p.8