When our children were young our family had a tradition incorporated into each one’s birthday celebration. Sometime during the festivities (usually near the beginning) my wife and I recount that child’s “birth story”—the memorable and unique events etched into the day of their birth. Each child’s birth story is different and special, and, thankfully, each story has the same wonderful ending—God blessed us with another healthy addition to our family. Although their birth stories are unique, no one’s birth rivals the uniqueness of Jesus’. Consider how historically unique His birth was.
First, Jesus’ birth is unique because it kept promises God had made. On a few occasions throughout history, God had promised the birth of a child. And, as a result, babies such as Isaac, Samuel, and John the Baptist were born into this world. However, when you read the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1, you realize that Jesus’ birth kept the promises God had made to Abraham (Gen. 22:18), Isaac (Gen. 26:4), Jacob (Gen. 28:14), Judah (Gen. 49:10), and David (Ps. 89:3-4). Although hundreds of years had elapsed between the days God made these promises and the day He kept them, God kept His word. He still does today.
Second, Jesus’ birth is unique because it fulfilled predictive prophecies of the Old Testament. Isaiah prophesied of a virgin conceiving a child (7:14); Micah predicted the Bethlehem birthplace (5:2). The utter audacity of such predictions is breathtaking. No other religious book dares to foretell human events by hundred of years as does the Bible. No other religious book can make such daring predictions, for no other is from the One who knows and can declare the end from the beginning. The Bible’s predictive prophecies prove the existence of the one true God and His one and only inspired book; all others are false and fraudulent.
Third, Jesus’ birth is unique because of His parentage. In Scripture Jesus is referred to as “the Son of Man” and “the Son of God”. These statements are true because Jesus had a human mother (thus making Him fully human—the Son of Man/Humanity) and a divine father (thus making Him fully deity—the Son of God). Unlike Adam (who had no human parents) and all of us (who had two human parents), Jesus’ parentage was unique: He was Immanuel, God with us.
Fourth, Jesus’ birth is unique because of its solemn Messianic purposes. As God’s anointed prophet, He came to declare the unseen God (John 1:18). With His life He did (John 14:7, 9); therefore “see that you do not refuse Him who speaks” (Heb. 12:25). As God’s anointed priest, He came to save His people from their sins (Mat. 1:21) by being the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). With His sinless life, atoning death, and triumphant resurrection He did (2 Cor. 5:21); therefore “there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). As God’s anointed king, He came to be given the throne of His father David (Luke 1:32). With His ascension back to heaven He sat down on it (Acts 2:29-35); therefore “serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and you perish in the way when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him” (Psalm 2:11-12).
Finally, Jesus’ birth is unique because of its announcement. Prior to His birth, an angel informed Mary (Luke 1) and then Joseph (Mat. 1) of the coming Child. Once He was born, heavenly beings—angels (Luke 2) and a star (Mat. 2)—announced Jesus’ arrival into human history. Never before or since has there been such a birth announcement!
My family’s birth stories are full of sweet memories and happy endings; they are a wonderful way to remind the present of the past. Jesus’ unique birth story is truly majestic, incredibly compelling, and historically factual. To cloud it with nostalgia and sentimentality or to quarantine it to a certain season is most foolish. Like the noonday sun, His birth story brightly illuminates the faithfulness of God to His promises, the breathtaking precision of the Bible’s predictive prophecies, the fully human/fully deity nature of Jesus, the sobering and significant truths of His Messiahship and their personal implications and obligations for each of us, and the utter uniqueness of the One called Jesus of Nazareth.
