The Messiah. The Savior. For hundreds - maybe thousands - of years, people were waiting for the Lord to be born. Why? Because the Old Testament has many prophecies of the event.

It starts in Genesis 3:15, where the Lord admonishes the serpent in the Garden of Eden:

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Genesis 3:15.

There's the well-known one from Numbers 24:15-24, when Balaam blesses Israel:

He hath said, which heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the most High, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open: "I shall see him, but not now. I shall behold him, but not nigh. There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth."

In Micah 5:2, there's this one, in which Bethlehem is identified as the place where the Lord will come from:

But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

In Malachi 3:1-4, there's a prophecy that includes both John the Baptist and the Lord:

Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to this temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifer of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.

In Isaiah, there's another prophecy of John the Baptist, and the Lord:

"A voice is crying -- in a wilderness -- Prepare ye the way of Jehovah, Make straight in a desert a highway to our God." Isaiah 40:3.

Then, in Isaiah 9:6-7, we have perhaps the best-known one of all:

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

There are many other prophecies besides these. But Malachi was the last of the Jewish prophets, and for perhaps 500 years after his death, the records are silent.

Three hundred years before the time of Jesus Christ, the armies of Alexander the Great swept through Israel, and it became part of Alexander's empire. After his death, three of his generals divided the empire amongst themselves, and Israel became a borderland between the Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires. Greek culture became popular, threatening to swamp the Jewish culture that had been somewhat restored after the return from Babylon. Then there was again a brief independence under the Maccabees, but soon Judea came under Roman rule.

Somehow, through all these upheavals, there was still a remnant of good people who were waiting for the Messiah, and - when the time came - they were receptive. Mary was. Joseph was. The shepherds were. The wise men were. Zacharias and Elizabeth were. In the temple, Simeon and Anna were. So, there were a few, who knew the prophecies, and had not lost faith that they would someday be fulfilled.

3183. 'And her nurse' means from the innocence belonging to that affection, that is to say, which also they sent away, or separated from themselves. This is clear from the meaning of 'a nurse' or wet nurse, as innocence. Sucklings and those who suckle them are mentioned frequently in the Word, where they mean the first state that young children pass through, which is plainly a state of innocence. For as soon as anyone is born he is brought into a state of innocence. This state then serves as the basis of all other states and is the inner core of them all; and this state is meant in the Word by 'a suckling'. After he has been brought into a state of innocence he is led into a state of affection for celestial good, that is, into a state of love towards parents, which with them exists in place of love to the Lord; this state is meant by 'a young child'. After that he is led into a state of affection for spiritual good, which is mutual love, or charity towards those who are children like himself, which state is meant by the expression 'boys'. When he grows up further still he is led into a state of affection for truth; this is meant by the expression 'young men'. Subsequent states however are meant by 'men' and at last 'old men'. This final state, which is meant by the expression 'old men', is a state of wisdom which has the innocence of earliest childhood within it, and so the first state and the last are united. And when he is old, being so to speak a small child again yet one who is now wise, that person is led into the Lord's kingdom.

[2] From this it becomes clear that innocence is the first state, which is that of 'a suckling'. A woman who suckles an infant other than her own also means innocence therefore, for the state of giver and receiver, as with the one who acts and the other who is acted upon, is perceived as being similar. The reason why here it is said that they sent away 'the nurse' or wet nurse too is so that the affection for truth might be described, that is to say, that it sprang from innocence; for it is not the affection for truth unless it has innocence within it, 2526, 2780, 3111. Indeed it is by means of innocence that the Lord flows into that affection, doing so together with wisdom since true innocence is wisdom itself, see 2305, 2306; and those who possess it are seen in the eyes of angels as infants or small children, 154, 2306.

[3] That 'a suckling' in the Word means innocence is also evident from other places, as in David,

Out of the mouth of infants and sucklings You have founded strength. Psalms 8:2; Matthew 21:16.

Here 'infants' stands for celestial love, 'sucklings' for innocence. In Jeremiah,

Why are you committing great evil against your own souls, to cut off from you man and woman, infant and suckling from the midst of Judah, so that I cause no remnant to be left to you? Jeremiah 44:7.

Here similarly 'infant and suckling' stands for celestial love and its innocence. When these cease to exist no remnants exist any longer, that is, no good or truth that has been stored away by the Lord in the internal man remains any longer, remnants being good and truth stored away there by Him, see 1906, 2284. For when innocence perishes so do all goods and truths, for innocence comes directly from the Divine Himself, and so is the essential element in them. In the same prophet,

The infant and the suckling faint in the streets of the city. Lamentations 2:11.

Here the meaning is similar. In the same prophet,

The sea monsters give the breast, they suckle their young; the daughter of My people is cruel, the tongue of the suckling has cleaved to the roof of its mouth for thirst; the little children begged for bread, none held it out to them. Lamentations 4:3-4.

Again 'suckling' stands for innocence, 'little children' for affections for good. In Moses,

Outside the sword will bereave - and out of the chambers terror - both young man and virgin, and suckling together with old man. Deuteronomy 32:25.

'The sword will bereave young man, virgin, and suckling together with old man' stands for the fact that falsity will destroy the affection for truth and the affection for good, and also innocence together with wisdom. In Isaiah,

They will bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters will be carried on their shoulder; and kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your wet nurses. Isaiah 49:22-23.

'Kings as foster fathers' stands for intelligence, 'queens as wet nurses' for wisdom, which, as stated above, is the wisdom that goes with innocence.