Advent-ure Day 5: A Child Will Come

The Bible teaches in the Old Testament that a child would come - a Messiah would be born to redeem fallen humanity.  In Isaiah 7, we see an example of one of those Biblical prophecies pointing to the coming of this special person:
14Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.

Born of a virgin - how improbable, but remember, with God, all things are possible!   This child would come, He would actually be born, and called, Immanuel, which we're told in Matthew means, "God with us."  God in the flesh, His Son sent to earth so that we could be reconciled to Himself - that is the meaning of Christmas.  In order to qualify to pay the penalty for sin, Jesus had to be sinless, a perfect sacrifice.  Because He was God, He had the capacity to walk that way; because he was a man, He could stand in our place.  We rejoice - the child came, He grew, He died, and He is risen, so we could be raised to new life.

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The coming of Jesus signified the fulfillment of hundreds of prophecies written about Him.  And, we see that the Kingdom of God would be ushered in by a...child, according to Isaiah chapter 9:

6For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.7Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
He would be a Child, a Son, who is described as someone divine, even to the point of being called Mighty God and Everlasting Father. He was described as someone essentially of the same nature as God Himself! But, we're told He would reign on the throne of David - as it was set up at the time, a monarch's son would ideally inherit the throne, so the assumption could be made that this Child, this Messiah, would be of the lineage of David. Jesus was an incarnated King. God and man together, a King who would reign, but not in an earthly manner, but over a spiritual Kingdom!