God could have come to this earth guns a blazin’ with his angel armies. He could have magically appeared in his full force and power as a super giant. The truth is, God could have come in absolutely any way he wanted. And what he chose was to come as a baby. A human in flesh and blood, in it’s most vulnerable and helpless state.



Okay, so God chose to come as a helpless baby of human birth, but he still could have chosen any family in any circumstances. He could have chosen a King and Queen in a palace. He could have chosen a wealthy family. But instead, he chose two teenagers, engaged to be married, who God intentionally orchestrated to be traveling when the birth is to happen.



God could have chosen anything, and this is what he chose. So totally unlikely. And yet so totally what had been prophesied hundreds of years before.



Isaiah 7:14, written 600 years before Jesus, “The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘god is with us’).”



Micah 5:2, written 700 years before Jesus, “A ruler of Israel will come from Bethlehem.”



There are more than 300 prophesies in the Old Testament perfectly foretelling the details of the coming Messiah’s birth. The probability of one person fulfilling just 48 of those Old Testament prophesies to the point that Jesus did is 1 out of 10 to the power of 157. That’s 157 zeros, there’s not even a number for how crazy that is. This is similar to the odds of winning 22 lotteries … in a row. And that’s for only 48 of the prophesies. There are over 300, and Jesus perfectly fulfilled every single one of them.



I’m a person who comes by faith naturally. It’s in my nature to believe easily. But my husband is not. He’s a 5 on the ennegram. He’s extremely intelligent. He’s a researcher. He’s a ‘show me the proof’ kinda guy. I asked him how in the world he believes in Jesus without seeing and he said, “it’s harder to believe there’s nothing. Look around. You can’t tell me this all came from nothing. And the proof is there. It’s otherwise impossible. Every prophesy is fulfilled in Jesus.”



And so it happened just as told hundreds of years before, God came to save us through his son Jesus, and he came in Bethlehem.



Bu Mary and Joseph lived in Nazareth. Nazareth is 90 miles from Bethlehem. But in God’s great design, just as he said hundreds of years before, his son would be born in Bethlehem. Look at the details of what God did to get pregnant Mary to the chosen destination just in time for Jesus’ birth.



The Roman emperor, Augustus ordered for a census to be taken throughout the Roman empire. For everyone to be counted properly, they had to return to the town where their family was from. Joseph was from Bethlehem, so although the timing was extremely inconvenient for Mary, they walked for days to Bethlehem for the ordered census.



Let me tell you, God was in the census! God was in the timing that seemed so inconvenient! God was in every detail, aligning his divine purposes. That’s what God does. He works behind the scenes in ordinary ways you would never know, to align us for the unfolding of the absolutely extraordinary. He IS IN YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES. He may not have created your circumstances, but he can work in them. He IS IN THE UNFOLDING OF THIS DIVINE TIMING. God knew you would be right where you are at this exact moment and he wants to align your next steps to be in position for his extraordinary purposes.



Even when it doesn’t make sense, you can trust him.