[Music] though it may not always look like it this is no ordinary town long ago a prophet foretold what would take place here and then centuries later it happened just as he said it would the bible says that only god knows the future so if we are told what will take place before it happens then that’s not man but god who is speaking to us [Music] just before 700 bc the old testament prophet micah prophesied but you bethlehem out of you will come from me one who will be ruler of israel around 700 years later the new testament declared micah’s prophecy fulfilled when jesus was born in bethlehem in regards to jesus being born in bethlehem early historical sources outside the bible include justin martyr and origen origen talks about local people of bethlehem taking christians to this site in bethlehem and pointing out that this was where the savior god of the christians was born in about 150 a.d justin martyr wrote that jesus was born in a certain cave in about a.d 248 origen also wrote of jesus that there is shown in bethlehem the cave where he was born caves were often used as a place to keep animals and are commonly found near ancient houses when the time came for mary to give birth the gospel of luke says there was no space left in the guest room in the house and so the text implies that jesus was born among animals since afterwards he was laid in a manger used for watering and feeding animals therefore the details in luke’s gospel fit well with the early tradition that jesus was born in a cave so we know this much for certain the cave which would be a lot like this cave that justin martyr and origen wrote about is the same cave that then later in about 326 a.d emperor constantine builds a church over the top of to commemorate this cave as the birthplace of jesus now this church stands for a long time but eventually it’s destroyed and then just after 5 30 a.d emperor justinian rebuilds this church and uh with many repairs and restorations this is the church that has still stood until today some fifteen hundred years later currently archaeologists are digging in bethlehem next to the church of nativity this is the southwest corner of the church of nativity and here in front this is where we’re digging we’re sinking a trench down to early levels and we have without doubt partly dating from the time of jesus what we’ve been able to prove up till now is the existence of a village from the time of jesus this is very important the earliest copy of micah’s bethlehem prophecy was found preserved on a dead sea scroll fragment in this cave and dates to 125 bc therefore the fragment containing the prophecy of where the messiah would be born is over a hundred years older than the event that fulfilled it when jesus was born in bethlehem the church of the nativity is built on the site traditionally where jesus was born historically it’s got really good credibility as being the place where jesus family lived and he was born right here so there’s no question without doubt it’s a historical event that jesus was born in bethlehem it’s also known without doubt that centuries before this historical event micah accurately foretells it what this means is that the bible is telling us accurately the future it’s telling us what is going to happen before it happens no man knows the future this is impossible with man only god knows the future and so it shows us that god is speaking to us through the bible and therefore this evidence that we’ve covered not only speaks to the historical accuracy of the bible it also speaks to the authority of the bible as god’s word [Music] [Music] you