Luke 2.  Matthew 1.  Anyone with even the least bit of Biblical study will probably recognize the content of these passages.  Around December, they are read and quoted frequently.  Of course, these two chapters relate the "Christmas story," and they are certainly gems of Scripture in themselves. But the story of the Nativity began long before the inn stable in Bethlehem.

In fact, the story actually commences in the first book of the Bible, Genesis.  Right after Adam and Eve fell to sin, God declared war and ultimate victory over Satan, telling the devil that "her (Eve's) seed...shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."

From that point on, the Old Testament focuses on God's redemption plan, building up to the birth of the Messiah, and ultimately His victory over death on the cross.

During Jacob's final days, recorded in Genesis 49, he prophesies about the future of his sons' descendants, the twelve tribes of Israel.  To his son Judah, Jacob says, "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."

But virtually all of the prophets of the Old Testament spoke of the Redeemer who was to come.  Moses, Isaiah, Malachi, Ezekiel, Hosea, Zechariah, David, Jeremiah, and Daniel, among others, all predicted His coming.  Isaiah even gave the unusual statement that "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14).

If you read the books of the New Testament carefully, you will find many, many references to O.T. prophecies that have been fulfilled.  The New Testament writers quoted numerous words of Scripture from the prophets and the Psalms that were fulfilled in the life of Jesus Christ.  He makes this claim Himself in many of those verses.  One of the most obvious examples is Luke 4:18-21, when Jesus reads from the book of Isaiah and claims that "this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears."

And just to make sure we didn't miss anything, the Lord used the words of David in Psalm 40 to say, "Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me."  In Matthew 5:17, Jesus says, "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."

Phillip also recognized Jesus' place in the Old Testament Scriptures when he preached to an Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-40).  The eunuch was reading from Isaiah 53, and Phillip used Isaiah's words to explain Jesus' sacrifice on the cross.

So, in a sense, Christmas was celebrated long before the Word became flesh and was laid in a manger in Bethlehem.  Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Daniel, David -- they all celebrated, in anticipation, the arrival of the Messiah, the Savior, Emmanuel.  Many of them even could have made the same Christmas cards we have today -- the Old Testament describes Bethlehem and the virgin birth long before Augustus ordered his census.

Unlike the Old Testament figures, we have the privilege of looking back and seeing how God fulfilled His promise of a Redeemer by sending His Son to earth as a child.  We have confidence in knowing that God did send His Son to earth as a man, in order to offer Him as the complete sacrifice for our sins.  But, like the prophets, we too look forward to the coming of the Lord to earth.
 

Here are a few more Scripture "gems" of God's promise:

"I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth."  (Numbers 24:17)

"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. 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." (Isaiah 9:6,7)

"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." (Micah 5:2)

"And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD."  (Isaiah 11:1,2)

"The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken."  (Deuteronomy 18:15)