Long ago, God made a wonderful and exciting promise to the world. Someday he would send his own Son to the earth. His name would be Jesus Christ. Hundreds of years before Jesus was born, God promised that it would happen!
God used a special way to tell the world about his wonderful promise. How do you think he told the world? Over the internet? By television? No, such things hadn’t even been invented then. God spoke to people long ago about what he wanted them to know and what he was going to do. Sometimes God told men to write down what they heard from him.
One of these men that God spoke to was Abram (later called Abraham). A very, very long time ago God told Abraham that he would become a father and then his son would become a father of many children, and then his children would grow up and have children. This would happen many times so that he would have many descendants. As many descendants as there are stars in the sky!
One of those descendants would be very special. He would bless the whole world. Who do you think that descendant might be? That’s right-Jesus!
Sometimes God gave his messages to prophets. A prophet is someone who has a special message from God. God would tell the prophet things and the prophet would tell the people. Some prophets also wrote down God’s messages and these are part of the Bible. (Hold up your Bible and show the Old Testament.)
Hundreds of years before Jesus was born, God told a prophet named Isaiah that a great ruler would someday come. God even told Isaiah that the ruler would first be a child and what kind of mother he would have.
Who do you think that baby will be? That’s right-Jesus! Isn’t that amazing! God knew that this would happen hundreds of years ago!
Later on, God spoke to another prophet. His name was Micah. God told Micah the name of the city town where the baby would be born. He told Micah that the special person who was coming would be born in the town of Bethlehem.
Who do you think that the special person would be? That’s right-Jesus!
Finally, when the time was very close, God sent an angel to tell a young woman named Mary that she was going to have a baby.
The angel also came to Joseph, Mary’s fiancé, while he was sleeping. The angel told Joseph to marry Mary and be a father to her baby.
God sent all these messages before Jesus was even born. God promised over and over that he would send Jesus. And guess what? God kept every one of his promises.
Jesus was Abram’s great, great, great….grandson-just like God had promised.
Jesus was a special child born to a special mother. Just like God told Isaiah.
Jesus was born in the city of Bethlehem. Just like God told Micah.
Mary had a baby and named him Jesus. Just like the angel said.
Joseph married Mary and took care of Jesus. Just like the angel told him to.
All of these promises were recorded in the Bible. The messages have been saved for hundreds of years. Now we can read the messages in our very own Bible. We are thankful that we have God’s Word, the Bible, to tell us about Jesus. God always keeps his promises!
Scripture References: Isaiah 9:6-7
Shalom Talk 