The first king from Judah’s line was David, in about 1000 B.C. God made amazing promises to David (2 Samuel 7:8-29; Psalm 89:3-37; Psalm 132). These promises were repeated by the prophets (Isaiah 11:1; Amos 9:11; Ezekiel 37:24-28). Jeremiah, for example, said,
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land (Jeremiah 23:5).
The New Testament was written over 600 years after Jeremiah. The book of Matthew begins:
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham (Matthew 1:1).
ERV: This is the family history of Jesus Christ. He came from the family of David. David came from the family of Abraham.
Israel’s laws about holding land caused Jews to keep strict records of each family line (genealogy). Therefore it was well-known among Jews that Jesus was from David’s family (Matthew 9:27; 15:22; Acts 2:22-36). Was it just by chance that Jesus came into that one nation, that one tribe, and that single family predicted by God?
The number of places in the world is beyond counting. Who could foretell the exact place of the Messiah’s birth? Yet the prophet Micah made an amazing promise: The great Ruler would come from the home village (1 Samuel 16) of His forefather David.
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for Me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days (Micah 5:2).
The mother of Jesus lived in Nazareth. Government rules forced her to travel many miles to Bethlehem. Her male child was born there, in the very village marked 500 years earlier by Micah (Matthew 2; Luke 2; John 7:42). Did this also happen by chance? Andrew and Philip knew that only God could say this and make it come true. They understood enough of the prophecies to be able to say, “We have found the Messiah.” However, some prophecies were more difficult to understand and accept.