Lining Things Up

Happy Sunday, and Merry Christmas! Thank you for joining me today. When I look at the Christmas story, I am amazed at how everything lines up just perfectly. The Prophecy from the Old Testament is spot on. Some Scholars say that there are more than 300 prophecies about Jesus in the Old Testament; we will look at just a few today.

In the 1950s, Peter Stoner was the chairman of the Department of Mathematics at Pasadena College. He was a strong Christian, and he was very passionate about biblical prophecy. Along with the help of hundreds of students, Stoner looked at eight specific prophecies about Jesus. His group came up with probabilities for all eight of the prophecies happening. The conclusion was that the prospect that anyone would satisfy those eight prophecies was one in 10 to the 17th power, or one in a hundred quadrillion.

Let me quote the study. He said, "Let us try to visualize this chance. If you mark one in ten tickets and place all of the tickets in a hat and thoroughly stir them up, and then ask a blindfolded man to draw one, his chance of getting the right ticket is one in ten." He then says, "Suppose that we take 100 quadrillion silver dollars and laid them across the state of Texas. They will cover all of the state two feet deep." That is staggering: the whole big state of Texas covered in silver dollars two feet deep.

He then says, "Now Mark one of the dollars and stir the mask thoroughly over the state. Blindfold a man and tell them that he can travel as far as he wishes, but he has to pick up the one silver dollar, the one that is check marked. What chance would he have? The same chance that the prophets would have of writing these eight prophecies and having them all come true in one man." I'm a bit of a math nerd, and this fascinates me.

Every Christmas I am amazed at the prophecy that surrounds Jesus's birth. Let me share just a few with you. From Micah 5:2, and it was written 700 years before Christ, we read, "But you, Bethlehem Africa, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me the one to be ruler of Israel." Born in Bethlehem.

Isaiah 7:14, also written around 700 BC, tells us, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: behold, the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel." In Psalm 72, and Psalm was written over a hundred year, a thousand years before Christ's birth, we're told that Kings would, from the East, would come and bring gifts. There are many others; I just mentioned a few.

If you look at the first chapter of the Book of Matthew, you'll find "the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ." Many times we just skip over all those names. The genealogy couple covers a couple of thousand years. You'll recognize lots of names if you read it. What impresses me is that through these Generations, God is lining things up for the birth of Jesus.

Galatians 4:4 puts it this way: "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law." I do like how the New Living Translation begins that verse. It begins, "But when the right time came, God sent his son." According to the scriptures, Jesus came at just the right time. All of the prophecy was fulfilled.

There's no doubt about it. There shouldn't be in anyone's mind that this is the son of God. God's plan was absolutely perfect. Let me ask you this: do you agree that everything about the birth of Christ was perfectly planned? If so, do you believe that God can line things up today in your life, in my life?

I sure do. I have so many stories about that, but just this weekend Genie and I will be in Nashville to visit our son, his family. When our son was in college, he wanted to change schools. I had a friend from college that called me out of the blue just to catch up; we hadn't spoken in years. We went to Mississippi State together, and that's another lining things up story, how a Georgia Boy like me ended up at Mississippi State. It was God's doing.

But my friend called me out of the blue, and he told me that he was a vice president at a college I'd never heard of, Greenville College in Greenville, Illinois. They had a major that my son was very interested in, and so he transferred there. While there, he met his wife Stephanie, and as a result they have two perfect children that I'll get to see this weekend.

All through our lives, God lines things up. We all have our stories, but look for it. Review what he has done for you. Have no fear. Trust God. Merry Christmas.

Pray with me. God, thank you for lining things up for us to be together today. As we reflect on our lives, we should be grateful people that we have been exposed to the truth, the story of Jesus. Father, it's miraculous: the prophecies, the love that made you come for us. Help us to celebrate. Thank you for lining us up. In Jesus' name, amen.

God bless. Merry Christmas.