Prophecies and Christmas
One of the most difficult aspects of the Bible for scoffers to ignore is fulfilled prophecies, of which there are many in the Bible. Those regarding the birth of Jesus are found in several Old Testament books, all the way back to the protoevangelium of Genesis 3:15. (Even his death on a cross was prophesied in Psalm 22:12-18, long before the Romans even existed.) It is impossible for Jesus to have fulfilled prophecies by accident , and many were usually not known until after his Resurrection. Prophet Isaiah by Fra Bartolomeo, 1516 In Isaiah 7:14, for example, we read that Jesus would be born of a virgin. Micah 5:2 tells us of his birthplace. Old Testament scribes knew the prophecies, which helps belie the claim of scoffers that they were written down afterward to make Jesus look good. (If you study on it, that's ludicrous even on the surface to claim that a holy God who hates lying would condone such a practice.) Many prophecies were fulfilled at the birth of Jesus. There are als...