0:00:04 > 0:00:07"The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son,
0:00:07 > 0:00:09"and they will call him Immanuel."
0:00:09 > 0:00:14"But to us, a child is born. To us, a son is given.
0:00:14 > 0:00:17"And the government will be on his shoulders."
0:00:17 > 0:00:20These are words that become so familiar at this time of year.
0:00:20 > 0:00:23An integral part of the Christmas story.
0:00:23 > 0:00:28And yet, they were written hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus.
0:00:28 > 0:00:32They're the words of prophets, people of faith who believed God
0:00:32 > 0:00:34had given them a message to bring to the world.
0:00:37 > 0:00:41Today is Advent Sunday and I love this time of year,
0:00:41 > 0:00:44a time of waiting and anticipation,
0:00:44 > 0:00:48when we look forward to celebrating the event the prophets spoke about -
0:00:48 > 0:00:52God sending his son, our saviour, into the world.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58And so I'll be exploring those prophetic words
0:00:58 > 0:01:02that foretold the birth of Jesus so many centuries ago
0:01:02 > 0:01:05and discovering what prophecy can mean today.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09We've also wonderful hymns from all around the UK
0:01:09 > 0:01:10to celebrate the Advent season.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22The Christmas story is surely one of the most loved in the world,
0:01:22 > 0:01:25an account of extraordinary events,
0:01:25 > 0:01:31of angels and stars and kings and shepherds and wise men.
0:01:31 > 0:01:36And at its heart, a little baby lying in a manger.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40But perhaps what is most remarkable
0:01:40 > 0:01:43is that many of the details in the story of Jesus' birth
0:01:43 > 0:01:46were predicted centuries earlier by the prophets,
0:01:46 > 0:01:49so the full story of Jesus doesn't begin with his birth,
0:01:49 > 0:01:52but with the ancient scriptures of the Old Testament.
0:01:55 > 0:01:57One of the things I love about the Bible
0:01:57 > 0:02:01is that it contains such a huge variety of literature.
0:02:01 > 0:02:07It's full of fantastic stories, history, poetry, songs and proverbs.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10And a huge chunk of it is prophecy.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15The prophets brought God's message to the people around them
0:02:15 > 0:02:19at that time, but they also spoke of a great hope for the future.
0:02:20 > 0:02:24It's a hope realised in a baby laid in a manger
0:02:24 > 0:02:29and celebrated in many of our favourite Advent hymns.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44The Bible is full of prophecies and actually,
0:04:44 > 0:04:47particularly the Christmas story is full of prophecies.
0:04:47 > 0:04:51Things like the fact that Jesus would be born from a virgin,
0:04:51 > 0:04:54that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem,
0:04:54 > 0:04:57that they would try to kill him and all the children around him.
0:04:57 > 0:05:01And then details of his life, about where he would grow up,
0:05:01 > 0:05:04how he would be treated by his family.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07Details about the crucifixion of Jesus.
0:05:07 > 0:05:13Unbelievable details about just what crucifixion would feel like and look like.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15But also, Jesus' resurrection.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18All of that is predicted in the Old Testament,
0:05:18 > 0:05:21700-odd years before those events.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24So prophecy is a great gift to the church because it helps us
0:05:24 > 0:05:28to know God's got a big plan for the universe, he knows what's going to take place.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32And those prophecies that were fulfilled in Jesus give us great confidence
0:05:32 > 0:05:36that God will keep his promises that are yet to be fulfilled in the rest of the Bible.
0:05:38 > 0:05:42Prophecy is when God speaks through a messenger
0:05:42 > 0:05:45and they are able to tell what God wants to say to his people.
0:05:47 > 0:05:49Many people look at the prophecies in the Old Testament
0:05:49 > 0:05:52and think they should find details of modern life in there,
0:05:52 > 0:05:57from barcodes to the European economic crisis to 9/11.
0:05:57 > 0:05:58And that's not how it works.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02It's not that God has put a message into a kind of time capsule
0:06:02 > 0:06:05that we dig up and it would only make sense to us now.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08Prophecy is not just all about foretelling,
0:06:08 > 0:06:13it's forthtelling, it's God explaining what he wants his people to do and how he wants them to live.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17But why would the people of that generation need to know
0:06:17 > 0:06:20that something was going to happen 700 years later?
0:06:20 > 0:06:23How you view the future affects how you live in the present, actually.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26If you think the future is terrible, you don't invest into it.
0:06:26 > 0:06:30People talk about us being a credit card generation.
0:06:30 > 0:06:34We store up great debts into the future because we know it's all going to be bad.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37But for me, knowing that God is one day going to sort out
0:06:37 > 0:06:42the future means that I want to work now to bring justice and peace.
0:06:43 > 0:06:48And it shows that the Bible is not really separatable into New Testament and Old Testament.
0:06:48 > 0:06:49It's one book.
0:06:49 > 0:06:54God makes promises in the Old Testament that he fulfils in the New Testament.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57Who were the Old Testament prophets? What sort of characters?
0:06:57 > 0:06:59They were an amazing group of people.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02They were made up of all sorts of different groups of people.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06Some of the prophets did write down their prophecies
0:07:06 > 0:07:09and some didn't, people like Moses and Deborah in the Old Testament.
0:07:09 > 0:07:14But even what God asked them to do was not just speak a message,
0:07:14 > 0:07:15but to live it out.
0:07:17 > 0:07:22A lot of the Old Testament prophecies were made during really dark and difficult times.
0:07:22 > 0:07:23In the Book of Isaiah,
0:07:23 > 0:07:27the nation of Israel feels like just a tiny little nation surrounded
0:07:27 > 0:07:31by these military superpowers and getting bashed about by them.
0:07:31 > 0:07:34And for God to say, look, it does feel really dark now, but the light is coming
0:07:34 > 0:07:37and you might feel alone, but actually I'm going to come,
0:07:37 > 0:07:42I'm going to live amongst you as a man, I'm coming, Emmanuel, God with us.
0:07:42 > 0:07:48It gave the people great hope, and even in some of our Advent hymns that we like to sing,
0:07:48 > 0:07:50My favourite is O Come, Emmanuel.
0:07:50 > 0:07:56It's an interesting mix because it's a very dark song, it's very sombre, it's in a minor key,
0:07:56 > 0:07:59it reminds me of a grunge record made by Nirvana or somebody.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03And yet the words, you know, "Come, come, Emmanuel, come, God,
0:08:03 > 0:08:05"Come into this world of darkness."
0:08:05 > 0:08:09That seems to really capture some of the ways the prophets worked.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13Into this difficult time, God makes a promise of hope and help to his people.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47We may remember the prophets of the Bible mostly by what they said
0:10:47 > 0:10:49and what they wrote down, but above all,
0:10:49 > 0:10:52these were men and women of action for God.
0:10:52 > 0:10:56Even if what they said was unpopular and sometimes controversial.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01At Advent, we prepare for the coming of Jesus,
0:11:01 > 0:11:06who often drew opposition himself through his bold words and actions.
0:11:06 > 0:11:10Asha Rogers volunteers for the Christian charity SPEAK.
0:11:10 > 0:11:15As an organisation, they campaign and pray on issues of global justice
0:11:15 > 0:11:19and so sympathise with the recent protest outside St Paul's Cathedral.
0:11:20 > 0:11:25'I think SPEAK is about living with the Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other.
0:11:25 > 0:11:30'And about trying to develop a faith and theology which seeks to integrate the two.'
0:11:30 > 0:11:33Prophecy is kind of about holding up a mirror to society
0:11:33 > 0:11:37and saying, this is what you look like. God's not happy about that.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40So in a way, you could be seen as a modern-day prophet?
0:11:40 > 0:11:43I guess so, if you kind of look at it from that way, yeah.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46And I think we've got a prophetic message about the kind of society
0:11:46 > 0:11:48and the kind of world God wants to see.
0:11:48 > 0:11:52The people who started it were really passionate about creating
0:11:52 > 0:11:56a movement of young people across the nation, really,
0:11:56 > 0:11:59who were going to be equipped to bring about social,
0:11:59 > 0:12:02political and spiritual transformation in their generation.
0:12:04 > 0:12:05I'm not actually camping here.
0:12:05 > 0:12:11But SPEAK as an organisation has signed the petition of Christian solidarity for the protest.
0:12:11 > 0:12:15And as an organisation, we really support the right to peaceful protest.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19Quite a lot of our campaigns really object to corporate greed
0:12:19 > 0:12:23so the actual principle of the camp, we're really in support of.
0:12:24 > 0:12:28One campaign we did last year in particular was all about the arms trade.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31We made an enormous cardboard tank,
0:12:31 > 0:12:35which I was quite impressed at, it was a good creative effort.
0:12:35 > 0:12:40And then gave it as a present to the Government.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42So we have another campaign that we've done.
0:12:42 > 0:12:44We got cloth squares
0:12:44 > 0:12:50and we got people to write down their prayers and their campaign messages
0:12:50 > 0:12:53so we could make a big skirt and then we had too many.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56We made a big dress, which is actually a marquee
0:12:56 > 0:12:59and it can fit 300 people inside.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01So we take it on tour to different places.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05I do believe change is possible.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08And I think at the heart of my understanding of the kingdom of God
0:13:08 > 0:13:11is that God is the one who holds all things together
0:13:11 > 0:13:15and he's given us this promise that he is never going to leave us
0:13:15 > 0:13:18and that he will bring everything to restoration.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21And the amazing thing about that is he gives us
0:13:21 > 0:13:24an active invitation to be part of that.
0:13:24 > 0:13:29I think SPEAK's real uniqueness is in being hopefully a prophetic voice to the church,
0:13:29 > 0:13:33but also we want to disciple the church into really understanding justice issues
0:13:33 > 0:13:38and really seeing that as something that is not separate from faith, but it's really at the heart of it.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25'Gerald Coates is founder of Pioneer,
0:16:25 > 0:16:30'one of the new church networks which has over half a million members in the UK.
0:16:30 > 0:16:34'He believes prophecy is part of his ministry today.'
0:16:36 > 0:16:38I've never been one for titles,
0:16:38 > 0:16:40so I don't go round calling myself a prophet,
0:16:40 > 0:16:43but yet, I've always wanted to speak on God's behalf.
0:16:43 > 0:16:44Over many years,
0:16:44 > 0:16:47I discovered I was praying with people
0:16:47 > 0:16:50at the end of meetings or in my home,
0:16:50 > 0:16:54and then they would say to me, "How did you know all of that?
0:16:54 > 0:16:58"How did you know I was struggling with this? Had doubts about that?"
0:16:58 > 0:17:03And of course I didn't know, and I'm suddenly aware there is someone else at work here.
0:17:03 > 0:17:05This HAS to be God.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10If you look in the Old Testament, which is the first part of the Bible,
0:17:10 > 0:17:12there are hundreds of prophecies,
0:17:12 > 0:17:16particularly about the most important person in the Bible, Jesus Christ, the Son of God -
0:17:16 > 0:17:18celebrating his birth this Christmas.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22Gerald, how would you define prophecy?
0:17:22 > 0:17:26Summing up prophecy in 10 or 20 words is impossible,
0:17:26 > 0:17:31because you have to go back to a God who speaks, in Creation,
0:17:31 > 0:17:33through scripture, through prophets,
0:17:33 > 0:17:37through his Son, and today, in words and in actions.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40What do you mean about God speaking to you?
0:17:40 > 0:17:41Do you actually hear his voice?
0:17:41 > 0:17:44It is something you see, something you feel,
0:17:44 > 0:17:49and you just know this is the voice of God.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53We can see a film and be spoken to, because we get the message.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56We hear a piece of music - "That music really spoke to me," and so on.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59So God speaks in all sorts of ways.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02Prophetic words and actions are just another way God speaks.
0:18:02 > 0:18:04Let me give you an example.
0:18:04 > 0:18:08I was in an event and I'd just bought myself
0:18:08 > 0:18:13a little microphone lapel badge. It probably cost me 75p.
0:18:13 > 0:18:16There was somebody speaking, he's quite well known,
0:18:16 > 0:18:20and I really felt God say, "I'm going to use this guy in television,
0:18:20 > 0:18:24"and I want you to give him your lapel microphone badge
0:18:24 > 0:18:27"as a sign that he's going to be involved with the media."
0:18:27 > 0:18:31And so I went to him and I told him why I was giving him this badge
0:18:31 > 0:18:35and I would be praying that he would be a success in mainstream media
0:18:35 > 0:18:38and will be able to speak for God.
0:18:38 > 0:18:40And then I received a phone call a few days later
0:18:40 > 0:18:44and his car had been stolen, his wallet, his cards and his jacket.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47Everything had gone except for his briefcase,
0:18:47 > 0:18:53which he opened up and there inside was the little lapel microphone badge.
0:18:53 > 0:18:57The guy's name is Steve Chalke, and within months,
0:18:57 > 0:19:00he'd signed a major contract with a major television company,
0:19:00 > 0:19:06and so much has come out of that he's now in and out of Downing Street,
0:19:06 > 0:19:10and raised huge sums of money for charities, because of the profile he had.
0:19:10 > 0:19:15Those sort of things, they raise the sense of the presence of God and God's care for me
0:19:15 > 0:19:18in a way that few other things can.
0:19:21 > 0:19:26# Said the night wind to the little lamb
0:19:26 > 0:19:32- # Do you see what I see? - Do you see what I see?
0:19:32 > 0:19:36# Way up in the sky, little lamb
0:19:36 > 0:19:41- # Do you see what I see? - Do you see what I see?
0:19:41 > 0:19:45# A star, a star, dancing in the night
0:19:45 > 0:19:50# With a tail as big as a kite
0:19:50 > 0:19:55# With a tail as big as a kite
0:19:57 > 0:20:02# Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy
0:20:02 > 0:20:06# Do you hear what I hear?
0:20:07 > 0:20:12# Ringing through the sky, shepherd boy
0:20:12 > 0:20:16# Do you hear what I hear?
0:20:16 > 0:20:21# A song, a song, high above the tree
0:20:21 > 0:20:25# With a voice as big as the sea
0:20:25 > 0:20:30# With a voice as big as the sea
0:20:32 > 0:20:37# Said the shepherd boy to the mighty king
0:20:37 > 0:20:42- # Do you know what I know? - # Do you know what I know?
0:20:42 > 0:20:46# In your palace warm, mighty king
0:20:46 > 0:20:51- # Do you know what I know? - # Do you know what I know?
0:20:51 > 0:20:54- # A child - # (A child shivers in the cold)
0:20:54 > 0:20:58# Let us bring him silver and gold
0:20:58 > 0:21:02# Let us bring him silver and gold
0:21:11 > 0:21:16# Said the king to the people everywhere
0:21:16 > 0:21:20# Listen to what I say
0:21:20 > 0:21:25# Pray for peace, people everywhere
0:21:25 > 0:21:29# Listen to what I say
0:21:29 > 0:21:34# The child, the child, sleeping in the night
0:21:34 > 0:21:39# He will bring us goodness and light
0:21:39 > 0:21:47# He will bring us goodness and light. #
0:22:00 > 0:22:04"The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light.
0:22:04 > 0:22:07"They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death,
0:22:07 > 0:22:11"upon them hath the light shined."
0:22:11 > 0:22:16Light - at this time of year, it seems that everywhere,
0:22:16 > 0:22:20there are glimmers of light piercing through the darkness,
0:22:20 > 0:22:22from the most extravagant decorations
0:22:22 > 0:22:24to the smallest candle flame.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27It's such a powerful symbol.
0:22:27 > 0:22:32Jesus called himself the Light of the World, and centuries before,
0:22:32 > 0:22:37the prophets used the language of light to express their hope.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39Is there prophecy still to be fulfilled?
0:25:39 > 0:25:42Yes, lots of the prophecies made in the Bible are yet to be fulfilled.
0:25:42 > 0:25:45For example, one talks about a time
0:25:45 > 0:25:48when the lion and the lamb can lie down together.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52Zoo-keepers are not obeying that prophetic word yet,
0:25:52 > 0:25:55because it's not true yet. There will come a time
0:25:55 > 0:25:59when God will get rid of all injustice, all disease,
0:25:59 > 0:26:04all evil, all brokenness - in fact, at the end of the Bible, it says,
0:26:04 > 0:26:06God will come and wipe away every tear.
0:26:06 > 0:26:08There's a lot of tears in the world right now,
0:26:08 > 0:26:12so we're still waiting for these promises to be fulfilled.
0:26:12 > 0:26:16It's interesting, because Advent not only looks back
0:26:16 > 0:26:19to the first coming of Jesus - it looks forward
0:26:19 > 0:26:22to the time when Jesus will come again,
0:26:22 > 0:26:24and we call this the Second Coming
0:26:24 > 0:26:26and it won't be that he will be born in a stable,
0:26:26 > 0:26:30and we'll wonder if we've missed it. He will come again, on the clouds,
0:26:30 > 0:26:33appearing to us, so that every knee shall bow,
0:26:33 > 0:26:37everyone will see him as he truly is, the King of Heaven.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39When that comes, then this new phase of history begins,
0:26:39 > 0:26:42when the lion can lie down with the lamb,
0:26:42 > 0:26:44and every tear will be wiped away.
0:30:08 > 0:30:13Heavenly Father, who spoke through the prophets long ago,
0:30:13 > 0:30:17help us to hear Your voice today.
0:30:17 > 0:30:23Give us the strength to stand up for truth and for justice in Your name.
0:30:23 > 0:30:25And at this time of Advent,
0:30:25 > 0:30:29remind us of the one the prophets were waiting for,
0:30:29 > 0:30:33Your son, Jesus Christ, Light of the World, Prince of Peace.
0:30:33 > 0:30:35Amen.
0:30:39 > 0:30:43I know there's so much more to explore about prophecy, but for me,
0:30:43 > 0:30:45the more I discover, the more wondrous
0:30:45 > 0:30:48the story of that first Christmas becomes.
0:30:48 > 0:30:53And as we go into Advent, looking forward to all that's ahead,
0:30:53 > 0:30:56we leave you with an adaptation of Mary's words of praise
0:30:56 > 0:30:59when she found out that she was to have a son,
0:30:59 > 0:31:03and he would be the fulfilment of all the prophets had predicted.
0:33:26 > 0:33:31Next week, Sally explores the significance of the birth of Jesus,
0:33:31 > 0:33:34when God came to share our humanity,
0:33:34 > 0:33:36with readings by Julian Rhind-Tutt
0:33:36 > 0:33:40and seasonal hymns from All Saints Church, Cheltenham,
0:33:40 > 0:33:43plus music from Libera, Mary-Jess
0:33:43 > 0:33:45and Only Men Aloud.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:34:02 > 0:34:05E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk