“At last the time has come.” Mark 1:15
Do you struggle with planning ahead? As the Christmas season arrives how do you handle planning activities? How is your time management?
Did you know God is a planner?
Here is the good news about Christmas. God planned the night of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem hundreds and hundreds of years before it happened. And He has a great plan for our lives too!
Let’s look at the facts.
Scholars discovered out of the more than 300 prophecies fulfilled in Scripture a total of 109 separate and distinct prophecies were fulfilled in the first coming of Jesus.
A science professor by the name of Peter Stoner has calculated the odds of just 8 of those prophecies being fulfilled accidentally in the life of one person. He concluded that the odds are 1 in 10 to the 17th power. That’s the number 1 with 17 zeros after it.
100,000,000,000,000,000.
I’m a visual person and so I love the visual Peter Stoner gives to help me grasp the amazing wonder of this probability. Here is how he describes this number.
Fill the state of Texas knee deep in silver dollars with one of those dollars having a black checkmark on it. Then you take 10,000 bulldozers and let them just kind of mix up the silver dollars really, really, good for 10 years. Next blindfold a guy and turn him loose in that sea of silver dollars in the entire state. The odds that on the first draw he would reach down and pick up one of those silver dollars with the black checkmark on it is 1 in 10 to the 17th power!
One of the scriptures you can find the birthplace of Christ prophesied is in 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.”
God was so specific that he names precisely which Bethlehem he planned.
You see, there were two Bethlehem’s in Israel at that time, one in the north near the Sea of Galilee and the other in the south near Jerusalem. This prophecy says the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem Ephrathah, meaning the Bethlehem near Jerusalem.
One Pastor described it this way.
If I were to ask a person where he was born and he said to me “Springfield,” I would have to ask, “Which Springfield?” That’s because there’s a Springfield in almost 35 states of our nation.
The prophecy in Micah 5:2, written 500 years before Jesus’ birth, specifically names the town where the Messiah will be born. And there are 108 others in Scripture just like this one with details about the coming Messiah.
This week in your daily Quiet Moments with God read a few of the listed prophecies below to encourage you of the Great God and Ultimate Planner you serve and worship. Christmastime is the best time to get reacquainted with the Word of God.
Isaiah 7:14 and 9:7 Fulfilled in Mathew 1:1,6,23
Jeremiah 23:5 Fulfilled John 7:42
Micah 5:2 Fulfilled in Matthew 2:1-2 /Luke 1:26-35/2:4
There is no way any human being could make these prophecies happen.
“With people that is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26
God had a plan before the beginning of time.
The Ultimate Plan. The baby born in a manger came to save the world.
Be encouraged this Christmas season and ask God to open your eyes to the fresh new plan he has for your life. It doesn’t matter to God who you are, where you live, what you do or what you’ve done in the past. He has a great plan for your future.
“For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11
God has a perfect track record. Every prophecy of the coming Messiah in the Bible has been fulfilled.
God has completed every detail.
God has perfect timing.
God can be trusted.
If God fulfilled 109 prophecies of the coming of Christ, he can fulfill His plan for you too!
This Christmas, seek to follow Jesus Christ in a new refreshing way.
When you give Him permission to move in your life with His plans and not yours
you will never be the same!
It truly is the most wonderful time of the Year!
Share your comments and encouragements in the comment section!
