It should not seem remarkable to us that the coming of Jesus was accompanied by signs. Given the impact of his incarnation, it would be strange if nature and history had not somehow marked it. The star of wonder is only one kind of sign--the visible kind people talk about for a while, but which fades from memory when the sign itself fades. A more enduring set of signs is recorded in the scripture: the foretelling of this event and the many ways in which apparently accidental details fulfill prophecy. The birth in Bethlehem to the house of David, for example.

Such signs also surrounded the birth of the messenger who prepared the way for the Christ. John the Baptist was a miracle child, born, like Isaac, to parents past child-bearing age. Even this would not serve as a sign except it was accompanied by an announcement by the angel Gabriel, who foretold John's role.

Signs are not proof; they are pointers. One must have "eyes to see and ears to hear" in order to perceive through signs the divine purpose. When Zechariah, John the Baptist's father, heard Gabriel's good news, he did not believe because it was contrary to nature. An additional sign cured his unbelief - he was mute until John was born.