Many great stories feature a chosen one, somebody long foretold by prophecies who will solve our problems. For me, the most prominent one is Neo in the Matrix. Many are looking for this chosen one for a long time, foretold by the oracle. And then he finally arives and saves the humans from the machines. Similar concepts are repeated in many other movies, such as Harry Potter, Dune, Star Wars or Kung Fu Panda. What makes these stories so great is the hope connected to this chosen one. Wouldn’t you love it to be in a story with a Chosen one? Or to even get to know the Chosen one?

If so, I have great news for you, because Christmas is all about this Chosen one. Many think Christianity started with Jesus, which is kind of true, but also very wrong. Jesus didn’t start Christianity from nothing, he is the long foretold Chosen one from the Jews, known to them as Messaiah (altough Jews generally don’t accept him and are still waiting).

And he comes with many prophecies, all made hundreds of years before he was born. For example, about 2000 years* before he was born he is said to come from the tribe of Juda, about 800 years before he was born he is said to be born in Bethlehem and about 550 years before he was born the year when he should be born was revealed **. Besides that, there are soo many more prophecies which Jesus, and only Jesus fullfilled.

Some might argue that thes prophecies are quite vague or that they could relatively easily been faked by the Gospel writers. I partially agree, of course we can’t verify that Jesus was born in Bethlehem or that he was indeed from the tribe of Juda, so indeed these are somewhat empty prophecies. However, the people from Jesus time could, and we do not see any challenges of these prophecies. Jesus is questioned for other reasons, but these points are not questioned. Additionally, there are much better prophecies which show the accuracy and prophetic nature of the bible.

However, there’s one improtant aspect where Jesus differs from the typical Chosen story we see in movies. A big part about the charachters which eventually turn out to be the chosen ones is that they don’t know this. They, as well as the other people have to figure out that they are chosen. Not so with Jesus, before being an adult he appears to know that he is the Son of God as he sees God as his Father (which was a new thing back then).

But so what about this chosen one? If he arrived, why do I still have soooo many problems? Why is the world still in shambles and climate still changing, biodiversity declining etc***? The reason is that you are looking for the wrong type of a Chosen one. Jesus didn’t come to save this world, but to save us, the humans. This world will eventually die because of physics and increase in entropy. But Jesus opens the way to the next world where we get to live forever, and to walk with the Chosen one for all eternety.

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*The exact dates of all these prophecies are debated. But the exact date is irrelevant. Any dates one might reasonably choose is centuries before Jesus was born and hence good enough for this purpose.

**This prophecy is somewhat more complex. But in short, in the book of Daniel it is revealed that the Messiah will come 70*7 years after the start of Jerusalems reconstruction. We don’t know either the date of Jesus birth very precicely nor when Jerusalem was reconstructed/when the decree was given. However, 490 years fits very nicely, so I’m happy to give it the benefit of the doubt. If you care about the details, please have a look here: https://jewsforjesus.org/learn/the-messianic-time-table-according-to-daniel-the-prophet

***The jews had similar questions, they expected the messaiah to deliberate them from the roman empire, which Jesus didn’t. Which is probably one of the main reasons why Jesus was rejected by his own people.