The Birth of Christ Predicted in Deuteronomy

The Birth of Christ Predicted in Numbers
Num. 24:17

This morning we are going to continue to look at some Old Testament predictions about the birth of Jesus. Last week I pointed out to you that like all good literature, the Bible has a story line. It has an overarching theme. In a single sentence, the essence of the Bible is that “man, originally in union with God, fell, and needs restoration to spend eternity with his creator.” That story line starts in Genesis, reaches its climax at the birth of Christ, and is drawn to an end in Revelation when our enemy is thrown into the lake of fire and a new heavens and a new earth is created.

Last Sunday we were in the book of Genesis where the story starts, and we saw three specific predictions concerning the birth of Jesus. We started in Gen. 3:15 where we have the fall of man. As a result, God curses the serpent but assures Adam and Eve that eventually they were going to have a descendant who would deal a fatal blow to their enemy. Then we looked at the Abrahamic covenant where God reveals the scope of the promise in that “all the nations of the earth were going to be blessed” through this deliverer. And then we finished up in chapter 49 where Jacob is passing out blessings to his 12 sons. In the blessing he gives to Judah, he makes the point that the scepter, that instrument that indicates kingly power, was never going to depart from the line of Judah. This prediction introduced us to the concept of a kingdom being associated with the Messiah, it involves authority and submission. So as we worked our way through these passages we saw God giving more and more clarity, more and more depth and understanding to what started out as a somewhat vague prophesy concerning the birth of Jesus.

Now this morning we are going to be in the book of Numbers, which is where we see the next specific prophecy concerning the birth of Christ. I find it rather curious that there are three predictions in Genesis, none in Exodus and Leviticus, and then the next one is in Numbers. Is there something we can learn from this? I believe there is, and to help us see this, let’s think for a moment about the theme of each of these first five books of the Bible.

The theme of Genesis is “beginnings.” You have the beginning of humanity, the physical world, sin, family, human authority, etc. In Exodus, you have the book of “deliverance.” Just the name itself conveys this idea. The nation of Israel is in slavery in Egypt, and God delivers them. The book of Leviticus is the book of the “law.” Think about Levites, the tribe responsible for mediating the relationship between God and the nation. In our current study of this book you have seen chapter after chapter after chapter of rules and regulations concerning how God’s people were to relate to God as well as each other as well as how they were to relate to their surrounding culture.

But what about Numbers? What do you suppose the theme of this book is? The best way to understand Numbers is to think of it as the book of “failure.” It is basically a book that records episode after episode after episode of God’s people forsaking their God and engaging in blatant and defiant acts of rebellion. Interestingly, the golden calf incident isn’t in this book, that took place in Exodus, but other than that, Numbers takes the prize for bad behavior. This is why in the book of 1 Cor., when Paul makes the point not to act as bad as the children of Israel, he rattles off five episodes of particularly egregious behavior – and every one of them comes from the book of Numbers.

Now, to my way of thinking, if I were God, by the time I got to the end of the book of Numbers, I would be having serious second thoughts about this whole covenant with Israel thing. This nation has repeatedly demonstrated by their actions that they are more intent on pursuing their own pleasures than God’s promises. Yet it is in this context of repeated human failure that God chooses to give His people the next glimpse of their eventual Messiah.

That says something to me! That tells me that the promise of Gen. 3:15 is not dependent on man’s ability to live up to God’s expectations! Aren’t you grateful for that? Or as Paul puts it in 2 Tim. 2:13, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny himself!” This is the concept behind grace, and we see it in the book of Numbers, the book of failure in the desert, when God, using the prediction of a pagan fortuneteller, lets His people know that His plan is still on track. So let’s look at this prophesy in Num. 24:16-19.

Let me take a minute and give you the context of these verses. Moses and the nation of Israel are marching through the desert on the way to the Promised Land. In chapter 21, they come to the land of the Amorites, whose king is named Sihon. They ask for permission to cross his territory and promise not to touch anything in the country. All they want to do is use the king’s highway to cross his land – they even promise not to drink water from any of the wells. Sihon responds by drawing up in military array to do battle, and the Israelites soundly defeat him.

Next, Israel comes to the land of Bashan, ruled by a king named Og. Israel doesn’t even have an opportunity to negotiate with him, Og meets them with his warriors and is ready to do battle. They go to war, and Israel defeats Og and the armies of Bashan. In chapter 22, Israel comes to the land of Moab, and Balak, the king of Moab, is scared to death. He knew what had happened to Sihon and Og, so he hires a prophet by the name of Balaam to curse the nation of Israel. You’ve probably heard of Balaam, because there is a story about him and his donkey! But in Num. 22:6 we read, “Now, therefore, please come, curse this people for me since they are too mighty for me; perhaps I may be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse you is cursed.” So even though Balaam wasn’t a true follower of the God of Israel, he did have prophetic abilities and could curse and bless people.

At this point, God himself appears to Balaam and explicitly forbids him to curse the nation of Israel. And so at four different times, Balaam blesses Israel, which sends king Balak over the edge. As we read in 24:10, “Then Balak’s anger burned against Balaam, and he struck his hands together; and Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, but behold, you have persisted in blessing theme these three times! Flee to your place now.”

So this brings us up to verse 16 where we see Balaam’s fourth and final vision, and he says, “The oracle of him who hears the words of God, and knows the knowledge of the Most High, who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down, yet having his eyes uncovered. 17 "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; a star shall come forth from Jacob, and a scepter shall rise from Israel, and shall crush through the forehead of Moab, and tear down all the sons of Sheth.” 18 "And Edom shall be a possession, Seir, its enemies, also shall be a possession, while Israel performs valiantly. 19 "One from Jacob shall have dominion, And shall destroy the remnant from the city."

Verse 17 is the one I want us to focus on, because Balaam, under the direct influence of the God of Israel, has a vision and sees a Person with a capital “P”. And even though Balaam has no clue about the significance of what he is saying, God is using this pagan prophet to flesh out His people’s understanding of their Messiah. Balaam makes six points about the Messiah, three of them had been previously revealed, but three are new.

The three familiar aspects of the Messiah are seen in the phrase, he “shall come forth from Jacob, and a scepter shall rise from Israel, and shall crush through the forehead of Moab, and tear down all the sons of Sheth.” This tells us that the deliverer of Gen. 3:15 will come from the family of Jacob, he will rule as a king, and he will be victorious over his enemies. Each of these dimensions was revealed to us in Genesis.

But note the three new elements. They are seen in the phrase, "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; a star shall come forth from Jacob.” What does this tell us about the Messiah?

1. First of all, He is still to come – “I see him, but not now.” In other words, the prophecy is still on track. The promise of Gen. 3:15 has not been rescinded, and even though there is all of the events in Exodus and all the events in Leviticus without a specific mention of this Messiah, a deliverer is coming, but He is not currently on the scene.

2. Secondly, He is from a different country – “I behold him, but not near.” This is similar to the previous point, but has the additional dimension that the deliverer will come from a different land. This is significant because there was a good chance that the people of Israel were looking at Moses or some other national leader as their deliverer. After all, Moses was a military man, he was a successful strategist, he had delivered them from slavery. And if they were looking to Moses, this prophecy of Balaam squelches the idea because their deliverer was not in the vicinity.

3. And finally, He will have a universal rule – “a star shall come forth from Jacob.” The significance of this point is that it is broadening the scope of the Messiah’s rule. Gen. 49 has already introduced us to the concept that the Messiah was going to function as a king, but kings have a limited realm, right? As Dr. Seuss tells us in the story of Yertle the Turtle, the king turtle was king over what? “All he could see.” That is why he kept building his throne higher and higher. That is the problem of kings, their realm is limited.

But now, we see that Messiah is a star that is coming forth from Jacob. The idea of an earthly, terrestrial kingdom is being supplanted now by a cosmic scenario. Whereas the earthly king had dominion over all people, and nations, and tribes and tongues to the extent that every person was going to bow and declare Him to be the Lord, now we see that the celestial beings as well are going to be under Messiah’s rule. This is why Paul says in Phil. 2:9-10, “Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth.” A star will come forth from Jacob.

So as we think about the significance of this prediction of the birth of Jesus that took place 1,400 years before Jesus was born, there are several things to focus on.
1. First of all, this is a tremendous testament to the supernatural nature of your Bible. Predictive prophecy argues strongly for divine authorship. If you are into statistics, the startling statistic is that there were over 300 prophecies concerning the birth of Jesus that were fulfilled when Jesus was born.

2. Secondly, as the Sovereign of this universe, God can use any instrument He wants to for His purposes, even a pagan fortuneteller. God did this with several pagan kings, most notably Cyrus and Artaxerxes, and here he is using Balaam. The lesson for us is not to despair in the face of our pagan surroundings. We would prefer to see godly people in positions of leadership and influence, but God is not limited to accomplishing His will only through godly instruments.

3. And finally, the fulfillment of God’s promises may be a long time in coming, but they are inexorable. They are certain. “I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near.” Followers of Christ have been saying for 2,000 years now, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” What are we to do in the face of what we perceive to be the reluctance of our Lord to return and take us away to be with Him forever? We affirm with the Apostle Peter that 9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. 11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! 13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. 14 Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, 15 and regard the patience of our Lord to be salvation.

Our Messiah was born 2000 years ago in Bethlehem, just like the Bible predicted. And based on that fulfillment we can look forward with certainty to His second coming.

Prayer: Father, thank you for the certainty we can face life with. Thank you for the stability you bring us in the midst of turmoil and upheaval. In the very same way you accomplished everything you promised at your birth, we believe that you will accomplish everything you promised about your coming again to take us to be with you for all eternity. So as we think about Christmas, help us to see beyond the birth of Jesus and appreciate the scope and magnitude of fulfilled prophecy.