Biblical prophecy

THE PROPHET PREDICTED THE MESSIAH’S BIRTH IN BETHLEHEM

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“The Savior – yes, the Messiah, the Lord – has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!” (Luke 2:11)

Micah is not a book in the Bible that gets a lot of attention. Yet, there is in Micah an awesome prophecy about the birthplace of the Messiah. Let me add that the prophet Micah lived some seven hundred years plus before Jesus Christ.

Here is Micah’s prophecy of the birthplace of the Messiah:

“But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are little to be among the clans of Judah,  from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from old, from ancient days.”  (Micah 5:2)

In commenting on this passage from Micah, Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., a distinguished Old Testament scholar, states: “The Messiah is the great Ruler who will come one day. According to his human heritage, he will descend from the family of David who lived in Bethlehem and will be born in that same town, even though he has a divine line of descent that takes him clear back to eternity. He will be both human and divine. What a mystery!” (The Messiah in the Old Testament, p. 154).

Matthew cites this prophecy of Micah as being fulfilled by Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem (see Matthew 2:6). How far back in time is the origin of this great ruler and Messiah? Saint John provides the clearest answer:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. *** And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us….” (John 1:1; 1:14)

And the prophet Isaiah, a contemporary of Micah, adds his own prediction about the extraordinary credentials of the future Messiah, saying:

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)

 A dispute among Bible scholars is whether the Hebrew word “olam” in Micah 5:2 refers to an ancient time in temporal history or to an everlasting time in eternity. Clearly, Walter Kaiser, Jr. sides with the interpretation that points towards eternity. But from a Christian perspective the dispute is somewhat moot because we know that Jesus (as both man and God) descended from the ancient line of David, and also from his eternal generation as the Word of God. In either case, at a minimum, the prophet Micah correctly foretold the birthplace of Jesus in Bethlehem and his descent from the ancient line of David. Under either scenario Micah’s prophecy of the Messiah to be born in Bethlehem is quite remarkable! Moreover, Micah 5:4 demonstrates that with the fulfillment of the prophecy the Messiah’s dominion and greatness shall extend “to the ends of the earth,” a prediction of the greatness of the Messiah (see Pulpit Commentary).

Tom Mulcahy, M.A.

Image/painting (used with permission): From Wikipedia: “Detail from the distinguished Nativity scene, painted on paper sheets glued on wood paneles, was made by Francesco Londonip (1723-1783) around 1750. It is on display in the Capella del Presepe in san Marco church in Milan. This kind of presepe was rather common in the past, but only few such specimens survived to us. This one is remarkably well preserved, and it was carefully restored a few years ago. Picture by Giovanni Dall’Orto, April 14 2007.”

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ISAIAH’S PROPHECY OF A DIVINE CHILD AND KING CAME TRUE!

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“Look! The virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call him Emmanuel,” which means “God with us.” (Matthew 1:23; Isaiah 7:14)

The prophecy of a new born King in Isaiah 9, whose attributes “reveal a mysterious union of divinity and humanity” (Christ in Prophecy, p. 91), is really quite remarkable by way of its ultimate and perfect fulfillment in the person of Jesus Christ. The prophet Isaiah, who lived some 700 years before Christ, wrote the following words:

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined. You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil.  (Isaiah 9:2-3) ***
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.” (Isaiah 9:6-7, ESV)

On pages 93-94 of Christ in Prophecy, renowned Catholic Bible scholar Dr. Paul Heinisch explains how this prophecy of a child with Divine attributes finds its “perfect understanding” in the “second Person of the Blessed Trinity…become Incarnate.” He states:

“Did the prophet’s oracle come true? St. John [in his Gospel] heralded the incarnate Son of God as ‘the Light that shines in the darkness but which the darkness did not comprehend and as the ‘true Light that enlightens every man’[John 1:5; 1:9]. *** Jesus refers to Himself as ‘the Light of the world’ [John 8:12]. ***
On the plains of Bethlehem angels announced the birth of the Prince of Peace [Luke 2:14]. ***  Considered together, the attributes listed in Isaias find their fulfillment in Jesus, and in no other descendant of David. Only Jesus was God and man. Before Pilate he acknowledged being king of the Jews and then added: ‘My Kingdom is not of this world.’ The spiritual character of His kingdom has already been expressed in our oracle, a kingdom not founded or dependent upon the power of arms, but upon justice and righteousness, a kingdom of peace enduring forever. There likewise is a connection between the Light before which ‘darkness and the shadow of death’ must flee and the name ‘Wondrous-Counsellor,’ for in the Messianic kingdom new doctrine and revelations are to be expected. Over this kingdom God is supreme. He rules through the Messiah who accomplishes His commands.”

CONCLUSION: Jesus, true God and true man, is the only possible fulfillment of Isaiah’s magnificent prophecy of a child and king who shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace. The child born of the holy Virgin is to be called Emmanuel, “God is with us” (see Is. 7:14; Matthew 1:23). He is “the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6), and a light of revelation to all the nations (see Luke 2:32).

Tom Mulcahy, M.A.


Source: For a fuller explanation of the fulfillment of this prophecy, see Christ in Prophecy by Dr. Paul Heinisch (The Liturgical Press), wherein he also explains the prophecy’s relevance “to the age and circumstances in which it was composed,” although its perfect fulfillment can only be in the Messiah (see, for example, Matthew 4: 12-17).

Image: The Virgin of the Lilies by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1899, Public Domain, U.S.A. (at Wikipedia).


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