Daily devotion – The wonder of Christmas
Luk 2:7
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
Bethlehem – a cave, a barn, a stable, not the Bethlehem Hilton. That’s the true story of Christmas. Today, when a couple are thinking of the location for the birth of their child, their minds are centred on the most secure and sanitary maternity hospital they can afford.
It’s pretty hard to come up with or think of a place that would be worse for the birth location of a child other than a stable, or barn or cave – a place where farm animals are housed. The stable in Bethlehem was about the least desirable location to have a child.
But the location of Jesus birth actually symbolized His life on earth, from the cradle to the Cross. The fact that there was no room for Him in the inn was indicative of the reception Jesus would receive throughout His entire earthly ministry.
Later on we read in John’s Gospel, “And everyone went to his own house.” In direct contrast, the next sentence reads, “But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.” – John 7:53- 8:1.
Everyone went home for the evening, but Jesus went to sleep out in the open air on the Mount of Olives. Remember Jesus said to someone who was seeking to follow Him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has NOWHERE to lay His head.” – Luke 9:58
Jesus could have been born in the most elegant palace on the richest road in all of Rome. He could have come from aristocratic parents who boasted of their pedigree or great learning. He could have had the finest clothes and the most exclusive schooling. Instead, He was brought to us in a tiny manager in a place where farm animals were kept.
This is the real story of Christmas – 2Co 8:9 “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.”
This is the wonder of that child and the glorious love of our Heavenly Father revealed to us.
Jesus went from the throne of Heaven to a feeding trough! From the presence of angels to a stable filled with animals.
The Word unable to speak a word!
Christmas is amazing in its story and elegance, I pray that as we are now just four Sundays away from Christmas that each week you take time to dig in to the most amazing wonder of the birth of the Son of God, who came to save us from our sins!