| Luke 2:15- ‘”So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.’ “ |
Sometimes special significance gets woven into events. Such as when a girl wears her mother’s wedding dress for her own wedding. Her mother being deceased, she chooses to wed on her mother’s birthday in her honor, so as to feel her presence all the more. That would make it very special. I have been studying the birth and early days of Jesus recently. My wife and I are teaching Bible class at our church. The curriculum is called Journey Land. As I studied Luke chapter 2, I read it through each day for quite a few weeks. As I was putting the lesson together yesterday, I watched a well studied man explain about the shepherds that visited the manger scene. He believes them to be priests who were raising sheep for sacrifice in the temple. They were “in the same region.” Jerusalem and Bethlehem are but a stones throw from each other, 5.5 miles. These shepherds were with the flocks at night because it was lambing season, and they needed to protect the ewes. The angel appears to them and says “This will be a sign for you. The baby will be in a manger wrapped in swaddling cloths.” That is quite a sign. It would be like saying “you will find a dog wearing a king’s robe and crown.” First of all, a baby is not born in a barn, and is not laid in a feeding trough after birth, and is not wrapped in swaddling cloths, used to wrap new born lambs in. So, these shepherds had to go and see this child born in a strange place and in a strange way. Thirty years later, Andrew was with John the baptizer when Jesus walked by. John pointed him out saying, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” God is trying to tell us something in the manger. This baby is the Lamb of God! Of course! Wrapped in swaddling cloths, in a manger, in a barn. This is where a lamb would fit nicely. No ordinary lamb though. Father in heaven, thank You for this wonderful sign, in Jesus’ name, Amen!
– Jeff Beall
