Too often when the accounts of the Lord's birth are read from Matthew and Luke the centrality of Israel and God's prophetic promises to that people are overlooked. It's even worse than that, Not only are the promises to Israel overlooked, the tremendous truths connected to God's plan for the Earth and the Land and the Nation are explained away, spiritualized, or usurped. Christmas is wholly Jewish. Christmas is built on God's prophecies from the foundation of the ages.

The Lord Jesus is the hope of the Gentiles, but when it comes to the plan for the Earth and the Kingdom, the blessings for Gentiles will come through a redeemed and cleansed and forgiven Israel. These truths are all over Matthew's and Luke's accounts. In the current age, we do not look for earthly blessings or an earthly kingdom (we look to God's plan for the "far above the heavens," Ephesians), but God's prophecies seen in the nativity accounts will come to pass. What Israel failed to see in 4 B.C., the Virgin of Israel (Jeremiah 31) will see in an age to come.