As the Christmas season draws near to its conclusion next week, CBN is offering a thought-provoking new podcast series to explore how Old Testament prophecies pointed to the birth of a savior in a manger hundreds of years before it even happened. The four-part series aired its first episode December 6, entitled “Bible Prophecy Fulfilled: The Nativity and Origins of Jesus.” Episode 2 aired the following week on December 13, highlighting the prophetic news shared with Mary, Joseph, and Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist. Episode 3 will air December 21, with a focus on “Old Testament predictions of Jesus, written centuries before the nativity.”

The series features a bevvy of theologians and pastors including CBN’s Billy Hallowell, apologist Ray Comfort of Living Waters, Pastor Greg Laurie, Joel Smallbone of the band For King & Country, Pastor Shane Idleman of Westside Christian Fellowship in California, author and theologian Jeff Kinley, and motivational speaker Jesse Bradley of Just Choose Hope.  The contributors all offer their own perspectives of the ways the Old Testament and New Testament coincide, with a focus on powerful witness of the Bible.

Comfort stated the prophecies of the Old Testament solidify the trustworthiness of the Bible. “If someone wants credible evidence the Bible is God’s Word all he has to do is take some time to study the prophecies, because only God knows the future. We [don’t] know tomorrow’s forecast; we haven’t got a clue. They just take a stab. But God’s Word predicts the future before it came into being, and it establishes [His] divine fingerprint all over Scripture. So, prophecy is wonderful,” he said.

The connection Jesus makes between the Old Testament and New Testament has fascinated theologians for centuries, with many pointing at the sovereignty of God’s will. Ligonier Ministries describes the prophecies of Christmas as something that “lies deep in the Old Testament.” “At every turn, Jesus was fulfilling a role that was shaped by more than a millennium of prediction. No aspect of the Messiah’s ministry of redemption was without anticipatory reflection. At the moment of Jesus’ birth, the entire scope and focus of the Old Testament came into sharp relief: ‘But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born  under the law’ (Gal. 4:4).” The overall effect is a reminder of God’s love. “From eternity, the Lord has loved His people. Christmas is the visible demonstration of it; Calvary, the cost of it; resurrection and ascension, the triumph and effectiveness of it.” “Jesus and the Prophecies of Christmas” can be listed to here.