It’s Christmas season…the time we celebrate the birth of Jesus, our Savior.  I’m reminded, though, that when Jesus first came, most people missed it.

Today, we have Christmas carols, twinkling lights, decorated homes…and of course Black Friday…to remind us that Christmas is on the way.  Though that first Christmas did not have these same signs, there were plenty of other signs!  The Old Testament prophets predicted the Messiah’s coming, and the fulfillment of those prophecies were clear signs of His arrival.  Here are some examples:

Prophecies About the Birth of Jesus	Prophecy	Fulfillment
Born of a woman.	Genesis 3:15	Matthew 1:20
Born in Belthlehem Ephrathah.	Micah 5:2	Matthew 2:1
Born of a virgin.	Isaiah 7:14	Matthew 1:22-23
Come from the line of Abraham.	Genesis 12:3, 22:18	Matthew 1:1
Descendant of Isaac.	Genesis 17:19, 21:12	Luke 3:34
From the tribe of Judah.	Genesis 49:10	Luke 1:32-33
Would be called Immanuel.	Isaiah 7:14	Matthew 1:23

All those signs…yet so many missed it.  The people of Bethlehem missed it.  The innkeeper missed it.  The scholars missed it.  Only a handful of people got it.

As we celebrate the season of Jesus’s first coming, I just wonder if we are aware of the signs of His second coming?  Just as faithfully as Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of His birth, He will fulfill the prophecies concerning His return.

• You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars…For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.  (Matthew 24:6-7)
• For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  (1 Thessalonians 4:16)
• But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. (Matthew 25:31)
• From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” (Revelation 19:15-16)

Yes, celebrate the season of worship to our Savior, but be aware that end time prophecies will soon be fulfilled with the same certainty that prophecies of His birth were fulfilled!  Do we “get it?”