Merry Christmas! Two years ago during the Christmas season I wrote a post called Incarnation: The Humility of Jesus. It’s still one of my favorite posts I’ve ever written, so I haven’t much wanted to try to top it, but this year I do have something specific on my heart to share.

I was listening a recent episode of the CBETS podcast featuring Pastor Isaac Bennett on the topic of how the first coming of Jesus points to the second. I listened to it at least three times, feeling my heart awaken to these ideas, and I feel this is a post worth sharing this year.

During the Christmas season, the church excels at focusing on the first coming of Jesus. We rightfully celebrate the story of God becoming flesh, being born in a humble manger, to live and die as a flesh-and-blood human. We meditate on the wonder of light breaking into darkness, God dwelling with man, Emmanuel, God with us. We imagine the world holding its breath, the silent night, midnight clear shattered by angel armies heralding the arriving King with songs of “Glory”. We enter into the anticipation and experience the profound joy of the Son of God entering into His creation, inaugurating a new era, a new kind of kingdom the world has never seen. It’s a beautiful season of anticipation, joy, and hope.

But it’s only the beginning of the story.

He didn’t come as a baby only to live, die, resurrect, and give us spiritual new life now, and the promise of heaven when we die. All of that is amazing enough, but the Christmas story (and even the Easter story) lays the groundwork for the ultimate climax of the story: the Day He comes back to rule and reign forever.

In fact, there are so many references to His second coming and Millennial rule hidden in plain sight right in our favorite Christmas passages.

“‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
(Matthew 2:6, cf Micah 5:2-4)

“But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days… And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth.”
(Micah 5:2-4)

Micah 5 promises that from Bethlehem will come a ruler and shepherd over Israel who will be great to the ends of the earth (see also Mal. 1:11) and will give Israel secure dwelling in the land. This has not happened yet; although Jesus is a spiritual King who gives spiritual peace now, the fullness of this is a promise for the Millennium.

“And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
(Luke 1:31-33)

Again, Jesus is not currently ruling and reigning on the throne of David, and He didn’t do that in His first coming. This will happen when He comes back.

“And Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord…He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.'”
(Luke 1:46-56)

Mary’s prophetic song celebrating God’s faithfulness is very eschatological. She celebrates His upturning the world’s power structures and fulfilling His promises to Abraham. Her praise isn’t necessarily about spiritual salvation for the whole world but about the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant and the Messiah who would establish the kingdom of Israel in its rightful place.

(For more about the Abrahamic covenant and its fulfillment when Jesus returns, read my post “What Are God’s Promises to Israel?“)

“And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.”
(Luke 1:67-75)

Zechariah declared that Jesus would be the Son of David who would deliver Israel from her enemies and fulfill the Abrahamic covenant. Again, this hasn’t happened yet. Both Zechariah and Mary were inspired by the Holy Spirit; they weren’t just confused about Jesus’ purpose. In the heart of God, the first coming is intrinsically connected to the second coming.

So as we meditate on Jesus’ first coming in the Christmas story, what insights can we glean to prepare our hearts to anticipate His future, final coming?

1. Jesus is human.

In our celebration of the Christmas season, one of the things we celebrate is the humanity of Jesus—the fleshliness of the babe lying in a manger. His newborn cry strikes our hearts, and His tiny feet with real baby toenails move us to awe. God took on flesh. This was the biggest change that had ever happened to the Godhead; God had never been human before. He had appeared in physical shape now and then, perhaps, in what we call the theophanies of the Old Testament, but in the incarnation, Jesus became human… forever.

Forever.

Ever since the Holy Spirit touched Mary’s womb and Jesus was conceived, He has been truly, fully human. He has DNA. He didn’t stop being human when He ascended, even as you and I won’t stop being human and turn into angels or some other species when we pass into the presence of God. Jesus is human— right now, at the right hand of the Father, a Jewish man with skin and arm hair is sitting in a throne. He is radiant in glory, to be sure—but human, nonetheless.

“This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
(Acts 1:11)

When He comes, He will be a real, physical, human King. His actual feet will kick up dust on the Mount of Olives (Zec. 14:4). His holy, glorified butt will sit on the real throne of David in Jerusalem (Ps. 132:11, Is. 9:7, Is. 16:5, Mt.19:28, Lk. 1:32).

When we meditate on the incarnation of Jesus as a baby, let’s also meditate on how that same human will one day descend from the sky to rule the earth as a real, human king.

2. The prophecies are trustworthy.

Defending on how you count it, there are somewhere around 300 prophecies in the Old Testament about the Messiah. (This list from Bible.org is a good starter.) When we study His life in the gospels, we are in awe at how precisely the prophecies were fulfilled. He really was born of a virgin (Is. 7:14). He really did enter Jerusalem riding on a donkey (Zec. 9:9). He really was offered sour wine to drink on the cross (Ps. 69:9).

In the first coming of Jesus, God proved that He was serious about fulfilling His Word very specifically and literally. Zechariah 9:9 (“Behold, your king is coming to you… humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”) wasn’t written just to give us the general truth that the Messiah would be humble. Of course, a whole point can be made about the humility of a king who rides on a donkey rather than a war horse, but the donkey wasn’t only symbolic. It was a was specific, literal detail that Jesus fulfilled in a specific, literal way.

In the second coming of Jesus, there are specific, literal details to be fulfilled. Jesus really will come riding on a white horse carrying a sword and wearing a robe spattered with the blood of His enemies (Re. 19:11-15, Ps. 45:3-5, Is. 63:1-6). His actual feet really will stand on the Mount of Olives and it will split in half (Zec. 14:4). He really will reign on the earth for an actual, literal 1000 years (Re. 20:2-7).

God always fulfills His promises precisely and completely. We can take His Word at face value and put our hope in it.

3. Prophetic information is given.

It’s fascinating to look at the Christmas story and see how individuals responded to the prophetic information about Jesus’ coming.

• Mary saw an angel and believed and acted according to its message.
• Joseph had a dream and believed and acted according to its message.
• Zachariah saw an angel and first doubted, was disciplined, and then believed and acted on its message.
• Elizabeth (and the baby inside her) recognized Mary’s child and believed and acted on this recognition.
• The shepherds saw angels and believed and acted according to their message, even preaching the news far and wide.
• Simeon received a prophetic promise and believed and acted on its message
• Anna recognized Mary’s child and believed and acted on this recognition, even preaching the news far and wide.
• The magi saw a star, understood its reference to prophecy, and believed and acted on its message.
• Herod heard of the prophecy and believed and acted on its message (less positively!).

“For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.”
(Amos 3:7)

Not only was there abundant prophetic information already available in the Scripture about the birth of the Messiah, but God gave clear and specific prophetic information to a number of people. He wanted His Son to be recognized, even though His goal at the time was still relative anonymity compared to the global drama of the second coming!

God loves partnership. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees in their day for missing the signs of what God was doing in their generation (Mt. 16:2-3). God really, really wants people to recognize what generation they’re living in and respond accordingly.

4. Preparation is necessary.

A few people played preparation roles in Jesus’ first coming, including John the Baptist, Simeon, and Anna. John the Baptist was born roughly the same time as Jesus, and while Jesus was in Nazareth learning to be a carpenter, John was out in the desert being prepared to be “the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord.'” (Mt. 3:3) He lived a lifestyle of prayer, fasting, and no doubt study of the Scriptures and learning to hear God’s voice. He served very clearly as a forerunner for Jesus’ ministry, calling the people of Israel to repent and receive Him.

Simeon and Anna did not live to see Jesus’ ministry as an adult, but they were among the few to recognize Him as a baby. Simeon had received a promise from the Lord that He would not die before he saw the Messiah, and he lived in faith and anticipation. He isn’t described as a priest, but was merely an ordinary man “righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.” (Lk. 2:25) He had prepared his heart for the coming of the Messiah, and God gave him the great gift of seeing it with his own eyes and prophesying over His family.

Anna’s life is even more extraordinary. She was married (likely as a young woman) for only seven years before her husband died, and she spent the rest of her life single, completely focused on God.

“She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.”
(Luke 2:37)

Because she had cultivated a lifestyle of prayer and fasting in the house of the Lord, she was also prepared to meet and recognize the Messiah, and she then became a messenger, spreading His name to anyone who would listen.

In the drama of the second coming, too, God is raising up those who will live with intentionality and focus, prepared to prepare the way. He is coming soon, and He is looking for those who live with prayer and fasting in His house like Anna, set their hearts on the consolation of Israel like Simeon, and be bold messengers prepared in the wilderness like John.

5. He comes in an unexpected way.

Though some did recognize and agree with what God was doing in their generation, many missed it because they didn’t know what to expect. Jesus visited His own hometown and was rejected because they were incapable of reconciling the boy they had watched grow up with their vision of a conquering warrior Messiah. (Mt. 13:53-58) There was a certain level of pride and confidence in their own expectation that didn’t allow them to see the unexpected thing God was doing right under their noses.

From our 21st century perspective, we shake our heads at their short-sightedness because we can clearly see the kid from Nazareth as the Son of God. We have acclimated to the gentle, lowly picture of Jesus, the exact picture Israel was not expecting. We see Him more as the meek and lowly lamb rather than the mighty warrior king… and therefore we run the risk of missing Him the second time.

Israel’s expectation of a mighty, delivering warrior wasn’t wrong; they just didn’t understand the timing. He had to come first as a sacrificial lamb. But if we forget that the warrior really is who Jesus is, and see Him only as “so lowly, meek, and mild”, we may find ourselves making the exact reverse of the mistake that Israel made the first time.

In any generation, we don’t want to be those who are out of alignment with His plans. Let us be like Simeon, Anna, John, Elizabeth, Joseph, and Mary, who had tender hearts open to agree with what God was doing. This is why preparation in a lifestyle of prayer, fasting, and the Word is so crucial.

6. God desires nearness.

Ever since the Garden, the heartbeat of God has been for nearness with us. He has longed for no separation. The incarnation was dramatic proof of that– Emmanuel, God with us. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He lived a lifetime among us, a pure representation of the heart of the Father. He got close, broke bread with us, had friends and best friends, and opened His arms to all who would come.

In His second coming, again His deep heart cry is for intimate nearness. He wants to be back on the ground here with us. When God created the earth, His desire was to dwell on it with us, forever. Sin interrupted that plan. The incarnation was a foretaste, paving the way. The second coming is the fulfillment of His dearest dream.

“Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am…”
(John 17:24)
“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.'”
(Revelation 21:3)

This is what He wants.

The incarnation–Christmas, the first coming–was Phase I. Phase II will be more glorious than we can imagine.

As we celebrate and meditate on the Messiah born for us, let us celebrate and meditate also on the same Messiah coming for us, to make all the wrong things right, fulfill every promise, and to be with us forever.

Emmanuel.

Come, Lord Jesus.