Linus stood on the stage and quoted from the most famous Christmas passage of all time, Luke 2:1-16, which begins: "And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed."
It is hard not to love that amazing "A Charlie Brown Christmas," and Linus could not have picked a better passage to use.
He could have, though, picked other passages. And, surprisingly to some, not all of them would have even been in the New Testament.
Matthew 1:20-23 tells us that Jesus was born of a virgin. But the Old Testament said it first, 700 years before it happened. Isaiah 7:14 says, "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."
Chapter 2 of Matthew tells us that the newborn king of the Jews would be born in the most unlikely of places. Not the capital city of Jerusalem, but the backwoods hamlet of Bethlehem.
But Micah the prophet said it first, 500 years before it happened. Micah 5:2 says, "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."
Once again in Matthew chapter2, we find wise men from the East following a star to worship Jesus. But how did they know about that star? They could thank Moses who, around 1,400 years before Jesus, recorded the words of Balaam. Numbers 24:17 says, "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."
It was Matthew chapter 2 again in which we see the madness of Herod that led him to destroy the babes in and around Bethlehem in his attempt to destroy Jesus. But it was Jeremiah that first mentioned it, around 600 years before it happened. Jeremiah 31:15 says, "Thus saith the Lord; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not."
Luke 2:4 tells us that Joseph, the adoptive father of Jesus, was of the tribe of Judah. Studying the genealogies, we learn that Mary was as well. As Jacob was dying nearly 2,000 years before Jesus, he said this in Genesis 49:10: "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."
This was the oddest thing when spoken; Judah was the fourth born, not the firstborn. For Jacob to prophesize that his first three children would be bypassed in the ruling line of Israel was not at all the normal way of things. And yet, David, the second king of Israel, was from the tribe of Judah, the ruling line was established to his seed forever, and Jesus came directly through that line through the birth of his mother and the adoption of his father.
Jesus' entire life was like that. His crucifixion is described in great detail throughout the Old Testament. Psalm 22:18, written a thousand years before it happened, specifically foretold the soldiers parting the garments of Jesus and gambling for them. Verse sixteen of the same Psalm foretold his hands and feet being pierced. Isaiah 53 vividly describes the crucifixion with such accuracy that it could have been written by Matthew or John.
Christmas was not a spur of the minute thing. Before there ever was an us, it was already determined that the Son of God would be born, live, and die for us. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Merry Christmas!
Bo Wagner is pastor of the Cornerstone Baptist Church of Mooresboro, N.C., and the author of several books that are available at wordofhismouth.com. Contact him at 2knowhim@cbc-web.org.