The Sign

The Sign

The following two portions of scripture are of course very familiar to the Christian world and even the non-religious world as well. They often form the backdrop of the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. 

Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Matthew 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

Each of these verses portray the miraculous birth of Jesus. Isaiah prophesied of a virgin birth for Jesus 700 years before NT Matthew records the same prophecy as affirmed by an Angel of the Lord.

In Matthew 12 and 16, Mark 8 and again in Luke 11, the Pharisees and Sadducees appealed to Jesus to offer them a Sign that he was indeed the one sent from Heaven. Little did these self righteous religious Jews realize that they had missed a “Special Sign” conveyed by Almighty God to his prophets centuries earlier!

But there is another Biblical reference to a special “Sign” concerning another prophecy about the birth of a Son of Israel. 

Prophecy of a Special Sign

Luke 2:12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

The “virgin birth” of Jesus represents the victorious fulfillment of the Genesis 3:15 prophecy concerning the battle between the “seed of the Woman” and the “seed of the serpent.”

God utilized the “virgin birth” to became a human being in order to bring salvation to the world. It is the story of the greatest gift ever given! And the “sign of the virgin birth” was a Sign to Israel and indeed the whole world, that God had totally won the “seed war,” that had resulted from Satan’s “War in Heaven!”

The “virgin birth” of Jesus was a significant Sign in and of itself, but Luke is referencing another very special “Sign!”

Luke 2:8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

This, the most amazing and miraculous birth of all time, was heralded by angels, who spoke to a select group of men who provided sacrifical lambs for the Temple sacrifices. Little did they know that they were being told that the One just born was THE Lamb of God!

Bethlehem

Why had the angels come to this particular group of shepherds? Because, these shepherds near Bethlehem were quite special. They were tending lambs destined for Temple sacrifice. 

As it turns out, the very location of these shepherds was quite near the place where Christ was born. It also marks the site of an ancient prophecy; the amazing prophecy of  the birth of the Lamb of God; in Bethlehem!

Why had Joseph and Mary come all the way from their hometown of Nazareth, when she was in the late stages of her pregnancy? 

It was not only Herod the Great, who was alarmed by the rumors of a king born in Bethlehem, but also Herod’s masters back in Rome! Matthew records that Herod was alarmed by men from the East, seeking the newborn king of Israel. Unquestionably, the presence of stately men from Persia would not only alarm Herod, but also Caesar! Thus all of Jerusalem would have been on edge!

Because their registration was decreed by the bureaucrats of the Roman Empire. The genealogies of both Joseph and Mary were both came out of the line of Judah. Joseph’s ancestry, the royal genealogy of Jesus listed  in Matthew, descended through King David, himself. 

Bethlehem, the city of David, was the place where the Roman magistrates had located themselves for the Roman census to receive those who were of the tribe of Judah.

Mary’s genealogy, recorded by Luke, served to provide the legal genealogy of Jesus official right to rule over the House of David. 

Thus, the census mandate of Romes Caesar Augustus was in essence a declaration that the entire Empire be forced to register at designated locations, was not intended so much for taxation, but rather for the purpose of identifying any claimant among the Jews to a legal authority to rule in territories under Roman dominion!

Mary, the was a descendant of David, had the right of primogeniture and kingship for her offspring. Luke’s account (in verse 4), says this very thing. The young couple this came to the City of David, Bethlehem, to register as members of the royal tribe of Judah.

Therefore, Caesar Augustus; seeking to enforce the regal appointment of Herod the Great as the “King of the Jews” sought to intercept any contenders to a royal throne in Judah; thus unwittingly making “Bethlehem” ground zero in the ages old “seed war.”

The Tower of the Flock

This particular location was a landmark in God’s overall providential plans! Micah the prophet had centuries earlier picked up on the magnificent symbolism and foreordained plan of God to use the “Shepherd fields” of Bethlehem to bring to the world the long awaited “seed of the Woman” and of course his own sacrificial Lamb! 

Micah 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (Mic. 5:2).

Ephratah denotes “fruitfulness.” Bethlehem means house of bread. Speaking in context about Bethlehem, the prophet Micah lays out the distant future in a prophecy of the coming Kingdom. He refers to that time period as “the last days.” Then, he goes on to say the following:

Micah 4:6-8 In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; 7. And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever. 8. And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.”

Herein from Micah, we have a prophecy that describes a mysterious location, and a strange edifice, a “Shepherds watchtower,” that is presented as a significant “Sign” to understanding the birth of the Messiah. 

Micah wrote these words in the 8th century, BC, long before Israel’s captivity in Babylon, and the later scattering of Israel. And also of special note is that verses 9-13 describe Israel’s long “time of travail,” as a woman with child, in the world, but foretells of a regathering of a remnant of Jews into the ancient homeland in the Last Days; resulting in the reign of Zions true King; the one to be born in Bethlehem!

Thus, we discover that the strange, but very unique “Shepherds watchtower” that sat overlooking the flocks of Bethlehem was in fact a centerpiece of an ancient drama. In fact, it is said that this Tower was still in existence in the days when a young shepherd boy named David watched over his flocks in the same fields.

From the days of Jacob, the father of the twelve tribes of Israel, even to the present, God’s will has traced out an immense plan. That plan centered upon Jesus Christ, the most important person in all history, the Son of the Living God; and whose destiny it was to be born in Bethlehem Ephratah!

Shepherds Tower of Eder

Back in Genesis chapter 35, God directed Jacob to travel with Rachel from Bethel down to a place called Bethlehem. Before reaching Bethlehem, Rachel travailing in childbirth died, with Jacob burying her in Ephratah, a “Shepherds field” just outside Bethlehem!

Genesis 35:19 And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.

20. And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day.

21. And Jacob (Israel) journeyed and spread his tent beyond the Tower of Eder!

In Hebrew, the term “tower of Edar” is migdal eder. Its literal meaning of this title is “tower of the flock.” It is quite likely the very place where Christ was actually born, as described by Luke’s Christmas story. 

The Big Sign

This Migdal Eder was not the watchtower for the ordinary flocks which pastured on the barren sheep ground far, far beyond Bethlehem, but lay close to the town, being prepped for sacrifice, in nearby Jerusalem.

It was these “special lambs” that routinely were wrapped in “swaddling bands” for the sake of protection from bruises or injury to be shipped on up to the Temple Mount for sacrifice!

At a precise moment in the timeline of human history, and in the City of David, Bethlehem, the Lamb of God came to the House of Bread at the Tower of the Flock!

In fact, the prophecies of Micah and Luke foretell of the Lamb of God, not only being born in Bethlehem Ephratah, but laid in rock hewn lambs manger, and wrapped in the typical swaddling bands of prospective sacrificial lambs to be sent up to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, only five miles to the north 

Is it not amazing how the very location mentioned here by Micah the prophet for the birth of Israel’s Messiah was marked out for the future fulfillment of prophecy; and was predicated upon the promises Almighty God made way back in Genesis? 

Focus on the Bible

December 29, 2021

by: Darrell G. Young