FRIDAY October 4th
Well, we need to continue our incredible story, by peeping into and looking at the scenes that happened firstly in and then around a little town in Bethlehem.
The little bundle of joy that Mary cradled in her arms was God in the flesh! The One who created all things is now cooing, the One who dispelled darkness and said, ‘Let there be light’, was now being carefully cared for under the light of an oil lamp in a stable, the One who had enjoyed fellowship in heaven with the Father and the Holy Spirit in eternity past, was now bringing delight to Mary and Joseph, what an incredible scene.
But a few miles away there were some shepherds tending their flock, when suddenly the dark sky was lit up, and Luke recounts for us in Luke 2, ‘And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.’
The joy that would have filled the hearts of Mary and Joseph was not only for them, but for the shepherds, and not only them as well, but as the angel said, ‘good news of great joy that will be for all the people’, and why, because this baby was to be the Saviour, and we have some more names for him, ‘who is Christ the Lord.’
I love the part of this narrative that says, ‘When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.’ In this are just seven words that I love ‘And they went with haste and found’, what did they find, yes, Mary and Joseph, but more importantly they found Jesus! Oh, that men and women today would make haste to find Jesus! But, then what did they do?
Well, it is in verse 17 ‘And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.’ They told others about Jesus! Yes, they had seen him, and they wanted others to know all about it, that that night a Saviour had been born.
And we who have seen Jesus spiritually, we who have come to know him and accept him as our personal Saviour, need to be as excited as the shepherds were, so that we too will make it known to others that a Saviour has been born, a Saviour has been given and his name is Jesus.
A couple of final thought from the scenes around Bethlehem, it continues to say that ‘the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.’ They went with hearts full of praise, glorifying God as they had discovered that what they had been told by the angels was real, true.
And we who have come to a saving faith have discovered that the redemption story is true, exactly as it says in the word of God, let’s be a God glorifying and a God praising people. With our lives and from our lips.
Then the account continues to say that ‘at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.’ Yes, whatever names Mary and Joseph would have liked to call their baby, they were put aside, what was of the utmost importance was obedience to what the angel had told them, and they called him Jesus.