Skeptics Lose Either Way On Christmas Prophecy Fulfillment

Critics often argue that Old Testament passages that have been taken as prophecies fulfilled by Jesus were actually about Old Testament figures rather than about a messiah or Jesus in particular. But even if Jesus only fulfilled the passages in a secondary or typological sense, the close alignment between Jesus' life and those prophecies offers significant evidence for Christianity. It's highly unlikely that Jesus' life would naturalistically line up with all of the passages in question, which are so unusual and significant. I've made this point before, at Eastertime, with regard to passages like Isaiah's Suffering Servant prophecy. We need to keep the same principles in mind in the context of Christmas.

Even if passages like Isaiah 9 and Micah 5 weren't intended to be messianic, Jesus' alignment with the passages would need to be explained. Skeptics are wrong in what they often argue about the intention of those Old Testament passages. But even if we granted their reading for the sake of argument, Jesus' secondary fulfillment of the passages would provide substantial evidence for Christianity.