As you look around this week you will see more and more signs of Christmas. Our city Christmas Tree is up and decorated; we enjoyed a great celebration and parade. The stores are all decked out with Christmas. So all the “signs” of Christmas are in place.God has been in the business of providing signs from the very beginning. Signs that point to His truth and promises. After the flood, God gave a sign of the rainbow. Whenever we see a rainbow, that sign reminds us of His promise. God gave very dramatic signs to Pharaoh my Moses and Aaron. He gave the Prophets the ability to perform signs and wonders.So it makes sense that he would give a sign when it came to the most important birth in human history. Isaiah 7:14 says, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will name Him Immanuel.” The sign would be proof that the fulfillment of prophecy would be proof that God could be believed and trusted.We are familiar with the angel telling Mary what was going to happen, and her response. But when Joseph found out Mary was pregnant, he thought she had been unfaithful to him. Then an angel appeared to him, assuring him that Mary had done no wrong. Matt. 1:21-23 tells us the angel told Joseph, “She will give birth to a son, & you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child & will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” - which means, “God with us.” So both Mary and Joseph received signs that confirmed what they were told.There are many prophecies about the birth of Jesus. The Magi followed the star. They came to King Herod and announced that they came to worship the new born king. Herod asked the chief priests and teachers of the law where the Christ was to be born. They answered, “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written” (Matt. 2:5). This prophecy is from Micah 5:2, but in Micah there is one more line about the prophecy: “His times of coming forth are from long ago, from ...
