Parson to Person - The Lord paints for you

How do you paint a picture of something you?ve never seen? If you had never seen a waterfall, how would you paint falling water? Or worse, what if you were asked to paint a picture of someone you had never seen?

I wonder if it would look like them? Probably not. Nobody knew 500 years before Shakespeare was born where he would be born or what he would do. No one predicted Napoleon?s birth 250 years before he was born. Yet God used about 20 different ?artists? who had never seen the person they were ?painting? to describe him perfectly so no one would miss him when he came.

Moses predicted Christ would be born of a virgin and crush the head of Satan. Genesis 3:15, ?. . . the seed of the woman will bruise your head.? Isaiah 7:14 revealed, ?Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel.? Jeremiah predicted, ?The Word has created a new thing in the earth, a woman shall compass a man.? (Jeremiah 31:22)

God performed a biological miracle to fulfill the numerous prophecies spoken thousands of years before it happened. Matthew records the details, ?When as his mother, Mary, was engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.?

No wonder Isaiah said 700 years before it happened, ?For unto us a child is born, a son is given. And the government will be upon his shoulders. His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father.?

There are 333 prophecies concerning the birth, the life, and the death and resurrection of Jesus, with 456 details. Unthinkable!

Daniel predicted when it would happen. Micah predicted where the birth would be. Five hundred years before a Governor decided to take a census of all his citizens and make them go to the place of their lineage, the prophet Micah said that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem. But Mary lived in Nazareth, about 70 miles from Bethlehem. It just so happened that Joseph, her husband to-be, had to go to Bethlehem because he was of the seed of David. And ?whala,? Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

How could over 300 predictions just happen to come to pass in one person? His name was even foretold. He was to be called Jesus - because it meant ?Salvation of Jehovah.?

Though God painted a perfect picture of who to look for, most missed him. God coming in human form was hardly noticed! How could that happen? It?s no different today than it was then. We get caught up in our own lives and problems and our heartaches, and we miss seeking out the ?Savior? who came to help us.

This Christmas, open your heart to see and know the one who came to save you, his picture is unmistakable!