Scripture Snapshots:
BIRTH OF JESUS-Part 1
Series 2 Lesson 1
Today, we are going to talk about the birth of Jesus, which we celebrate at Christmas time. I have three words that go along with Christmas. The first is anticipation. That means looking forward to something. Almost everyone looks forward to Christmas, and many people just cannot wait. The second word is preparation. It takes a lot of work to get ready for Christmas. People shop for presents and wrap them. There is the tree to decorate and cookies to bake. The weeks before Christmas are usually very busy as people prepare for that day. The third word is realization. That just means the day actually comes. Maybe you get up early and hurry to unwrap your presents. It can be very exciting. Sometimes you are disappointed, though, because you did not get what you wanted.
Those three words, anticipation, preparation, and realization, also apply to the birth of Jesus. Many people looked forward to His coming. God prepared for that day, and finally, Jesus was born. Today, we are going to talk about the wonderful day that Jesus was born.
People began looking for the Savior almost right from the beginning. God made Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden. He gave them only one rule ... “Do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Adam and Eve disobeyed, and God had to punish them and send them out of the beautiful garden. But, because He loved them, He made them a promise. He told them that one day He would send someone who would defeat Satan and would save them from the penalty of sin, which was death.
Throughout the Old Testament, God told men called prophets more about the coming Savior. They wrote these things down and shared them with others. Women hoped to give birth to this Savior, but God had someone special chosen for this task. At the end of the Old Testament, God stopped talking and was quiet for 400 years. No longer did He speak to prophets, but He was silent. When He finally spoke again, people should have noticed, but many did not.
God sent the angel Gabriel to talk to an elderly priest named Zacharias. He and his wife, Elizabeth, had always wished for children, but they had none, and were now getting old. Zacharias was afraid at first, but the angel assured him that he had good news. God was going to give them a son. He would be a prophet to announce the Savior to the world. Zacharias did not believe the angel at first, so the angel told him that he would not be able to speak until the baby was born. Immediately, Zacharias lost his voice. He returned home, and soon Elizabeth was pregnant. They were very excited.
Six months later, God sent Gabriel to the village of Nazareth to a godly young woman named Mary. She, too, was frightened by the angel, but he said, “Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.” God chose Mary to bear His Son, the Savior. Mary knew that it took both a man and a woman to have a baby, so she asked, “How will this be?” The angel told her that God would place the baby within her and that the child would have no earthly father. It would be a miracle that only God could do.
Mary was a godly young lady, but she is never worshipped in the Bible, nor are we told to worship her. The sin nature is passed from the father to his children. Jesus had no earthly father, so He was born without a sin nature. Mary knew that people might not believe her when she told them that the baby was the Son of God, but she trusted God and agreed to bear God’s Son. God placed Jesus in Mary’s womb, and He began to grow just like you did inside of your mother.
Mary was right about other people. Joseph was hurt because he thought that Mary had been unfaithful to him. Joseph and Mary were already engaged and planning on getting married. He did not know what to do. In those days, he could have had her stoned to death, or he could have just put her away by divorcing her. While he thought about what to do, God’s angel spoke to him in a dream and assured him that Mary was telling the truth. The baby she was carrying was the promised Savior. God could have told Joseph in advance, but for some reason, he allowed the struggle. Joseph and Mary got married, and he became Jesus’s earthly father.
When Mary was almost ready to give birth, a Roman soldier came to town announcing that everyone had to return to their hometown to register for a tax. Joseph’s hometown was Bethlehem, about 90 miles south of Nazareth, where they lived. Joseph and Mary set out on the long trip. Maybe she rode a donkey, but most likely she walked, as they were very poor. This had to be a very difficult journey. When a woman is about to have a baby, she does not want to take a 90-mile hike across a desert! The prophet Micah said that Jesus was to be born in Bethlehem and that trip fulfilled that prophecy. It was just one of many fulfilled prophecies about Jesus.
They may have begun the trip in a large group, but because Mary had to stop often to rest, they soon fell behind. When they finally reached Bethlehem, they tried to find a room to stay in, but all the available rooms were full. The innkeeper offered to let them stay in the stable out back, which would be some shelter from the elements. He may have even made them pay for staying there. It was while they were in the barn, perhaps that very same night, that Jesus was born. How Mary and Joseph must have marveled to be holding the Son of God in their arms.
The Bible tells us that on that night, there were shepherds watching their flocks in the nearby fields around Bethlehem. How boring that must have been. Suddenly, the angel of the Lord appeared in the sky. The shepherds were very afraid, as all of us would be. The angel said, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” Luke 2:10-12 The angel was then joined by many more angels who were praising God.
The shepherds were filled with wonder. They had just been told that the promised Savior had been born, and He was in a barn in Bethlehem. They quickly left their sheep and searched for the baby. They didn’t look in any house, but they went from barn to barn until they found the one with the baby in the manger, which was a place where hay was placed for animals to eat. Mary had wrapped Jesus in cloth and had placed him gently on the hay. The shepherds came in and adored the newborn baby.
The next morning, they went all through town telling everyone what had happened and about the Savior who had been born. Some people believed them, and they too searched for Jesus, but others thought they were crazy or were too busy to take time out for a baby. The shepherds returned to their fields praising God.