Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.
Luke 2:14 (NIV)
EU•AN•GE•LION (YOO-AN-GEL-EE-ON) · εὐαγγέλιον — Good News
Luke 2:14
DAY 2 OF 6
The Promise Fulfilled
What’s the Connection?
Why Jesus? · 6 Days
Luke 2:14
The Promise Fulfilled
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HEBREW
שָׁלוֹם
/Shalom/(shah-LOHM)
Peace, wholeness, completeness
Imagine you’ve been working on a massive jigsaw puzzle for months—one of those 5,000-piece puzzles with an intricate, beautiful image. You’ve made steady progress, connecting sections here and there, but much of it still looks like scattered pieces without clear meaning.
Then one day, you find a crucial piece that suddenly makes a large section of the puzzle click into place. Patterns that were unclear become obvious, and you can see how dozens of other pieces fit together.
This is something like what happened when Jesus was born. For centuries, God’s people had been collecting ‘pieces’ of divine revelation—promises to Abraham about blessing all nations, prophecies about a coming king from David’s line, predictions about a suffering servant who would bear the sins of many, visions of a kingdom where justice and peace would reign forever.
The birth of Jesus was like finding that crucial puzzle piece that suddenly made the whole picture clear.
**The Abrahamic Promise (2000 BC)** ‘All peoples on earth will be blessed through you’ (Genesis 12:3). For centuries, this promise seemed impossible to fulfill. How could one small nation bless the entire world? The angels’ announcement that this birth brings ‘good news for all the people’ suggests Jesus’s birth begins the fulfillment of this ancient promise.
**The Davidic Covenant (1000 BC)** God promised King David that his throne would be established forever (2 Samuel 7:12-16). The angel’s announcement that the Savior is born ‘in the town of David’ and is ‘the Messiah’ suggests Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of this promise.
**The Prophetic Vision** Isaiah spoke of a time when ‘the wolf will live with the lamb’ (Isaiah 11:6-9). Jeremiah promised a ‘new covenant’ where God would write His law on people’s hearts (Jeremiah 31:31-34). The angels’ song of ‘peace on earth’ suggests Jesus’s birth inaugurates this prophetic vision.
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For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.
Isaiah 9:6-7 (NIV)
child is bornson is givenPrince of Peacepeace there will be no end
CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
How does Luke present Jesus’s birth in relation to Old Testament prophecy?
Closing Prayer
Help me to understand how Jesus’s birth connects to humanity’s deepest longings for peace, justice, and restoration. Show me how the ancient promises find their fulfillment in the child born in Bethlehem. Amen.
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