“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
It’s Christmas Day! The day we have all been waiting for. Unless you’re really, really good, you likely will have already gotten up, peeked in your stocking and maybe opened gifts with your family. You may have even eaten a large meal. Maybe now you’re taking a few minutes to check your email and give some attention to your devotions for the day. Whether you’re reading this at 8 a.m. or 8 p.m., it’s still Christmas Day. A day you’ve been waiting for. Christmas comes every year so at most, you’ve had to wait 364 days for Christmas.
The people of Israel had to wait hundreds of years for the first Christmas. From the time King David was first promised that his son would be the Messiah and would reign forever, it had been many generations. Now that day had finally come. Normally, when a royal birth happens, especially a future King, it’s a pretty big deal. There are grand proclamations that come from out of important palaces in important cities. The whole community might stand outside the walls of the royal palace to hear the great news officially announced. But this first Christmas announcement was quite different. It wasn’t in the city of Jerusalem outside the palace walls, it was in the fields of rural Bethlehem. The audience wasn’t the whole city gathered, it was a few sleepy shepherds in the middle of the night making sure their sheep were safe from predators. The one making the announcement wasn’t the royal page or member of the court of Jerusalem, it was an angelic messenger of God.
News of the Messiah’s birth went largely unnoticed for many years. It would take several announcements from God “a voice from heaven saying, this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.” Eventually, his few disciples understood that he was the Messiah. What finally sold many people was his death and resurrection. The Bible says that one day “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord” (Messiah/king). On this Christmas Day, let us be sure that we not only hear and believe the Good News that at long last the promised Messiah was born in a manger in Bethlehem over 2000 years ago, but that he died for our sins and God raised him up from death and clothed him in immortality, he has ascended to the side of God and will come again to reign over all. One day every knee will bow, but for today, be sure that you are bowing and giving your allegiance to King Jesus, and be sure to share this news with everyone you know.
Merry Christmas!
-Jeff Fletcher
Reflection Questions
How was God’s plan for a Messiah different from what many people expected? What do you love about how God brought about His plan for a Messiah? What does His plan reveal about Him?
Does your holiday festivities show that you are celebrating that Jesus is Lord? How are you bowing before him and confessing that he is Lord – yesterday, today and tomorrow?
How can you share the good news of great joy? Who needs to hear it?
As we read through Luke, Joshua, and Psalm, let’s continue to be like Luke in carefully examining scripture. Let’s take note of the important details so that we will know the exact truth about what we are learning, like in Luke, as he lays out the facts surrounding the birth of Jesus, including when he was born, where he was born, and who was ruling and present at the time. We are left with evidence that he is indeed the Lord’s Messiah, born under the law of Moses during the first census that was taken during the reign of Quirinius as governor of Syria.
Those details are important.
As we read Joshua, let’s look for parallels between what happens there and what happens in the New Testament, like the women, daughters in the line of Joseph, who came directly to Joshua to ask for an inheritance. He granted it to them. I relate it to all the passages about women in the New Testament who are always surrounding and supporting Jesus and his ministry. Jesus grants many of them their petitions, even the ones I assume were unspoken.
As we read through Psalm 102, let’s consider what was going on in David’s life at the time of his writing. Let’s remember that although it was prophesied from an early time in his life that he would be king, he spent most of his life on the run for his life. When he finally became king, he committed one (or two) of the gravest sins with grave consequences, yet, he was still known for being a man after God’s own heart. I imagine this was due to the constant love and respect he had for God in loving and respecting the LORD’s first anointed king, King Saul, as we see him time and time again showing mercy to him.
Think of a time in your life as a Christian when you were so distraught that you forgot to eat, or drinking your wine mixed with your tears, before getting up, and carrying on, praising God for his compassion, graciousness, and consistency in your life with fear (reverence). Remember that our Lord Jesus told us that in this life, we will have trouble. If you haven’t experienced distress in this way, praise God! But know that we can expect it, especially if we’re doing our part in God’s plan of salvation, serving the word. We’re promised the age to come after enduring this age and all that that entails for the sake of the salvation of others. If we’re working for him, we may also have a target on our backs like David did. But we can take courage. Jesus has overcome the world, and so can we through him, by imitating him when met with hardships.
Notice now in Joshua that even though the children of Israel were promised the land they were conquering, with Joshua as their leader, that they still had much work to do before they were able to rest in the land that was promised to them. In order to even step foot in the land promised them, they had to drive the current residents out. Many times they failed to drive them out completely and dwelt among people who were not God’s people. Often this caused many of them to stumble.
I relate this to sin under our new covenant through Jesus. Although we are promised the kingdom of God at the end of our life race, we still have much work to do. For one, we must drive out the sin from our lives completely, not allowing it to dwell with us. If we don’t, we may end up with a snare that costs us our lives. Thank God for repentance and forgiveness of sins.
Now let’s switch gears back to Luke chapter two. There is so much detail that shouldn’t be ignored. These details, along with the parallels between both of the major covenants, can grant us an even greater understanding of what this life is all about if we go through it all carefully. But again, the result of all the knowledge gained should lead us into new creatures, people who are made in the image of God, who become new in the image of Christ, to the glory of God if we belong to him.
The second chapter of Luke is full of people who I admire for their Godly character. I have no doubt that God hand selected them all to receive the best gift, being eyewitnesses of their Messiah Jesus.
Like unto Mary, the angel of the Lord came to a group of highly favored shepherds, bringing good news of great joy for all people. Not only one angel, but a multitude of heavenly hosts came, praising God before them for what he had done. If I am understanding their message correctly, I would say that they were among the men with whom God was pleased. It is my strive at the end of this life to hear those words from my Lord Jesus when I get the chance to meet him face to face.
When the shepherds heard these words, they went straight away to see what was made known to them. That is faith. After they fellowshipped with the new parents, they went away with the response that we should all endeavor to have after an encounter with our Messiah, which was to glorify and praise their God for all that they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them.
Next comes Simeon, the man looking for the consolation of Israel, a devout and righteous man, with holy spirit upon him. He got what he was hungering and thirsting for when he held the Lord God’s Christ in his arms. His response was to bless God, the one who gave him what he promised him, for eyes to see God’s salvation in the face of Jesus, who would be a light of revelation to the gentiles and the glory of God’s people Israel.
Then we’re told about Anna, the prophetess, who chose to remain devoted to God’s work in the temple. Day and night she served the Lord God with fasting and prayers, after being widowed for years. At the age of 84, she met her Messiah Jesus. At that very moment, her response was to give thanks to God. She then continued speaking of Jesus to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.
Looking at the child Jesus, we can see how he grew in wisdom. He didn’t know what he didn’t know. He had to seek it and obtain it. When he was only 12, he spent his time listening to teachers in the temple and asking them questions. He made it his business to be about his father’s business. That’s the heart of someone thirsty for the word.
The result of Jesus’s studying was a young child who had great understanding of the word, someone who had an answer that I can only assume was correct when corresponding with those well versed in the word, as they were astonished by his answers. He continued to increase in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
And finally, there is my favorite person, save Jesus, Mary, his mother. Her response to all of those Godly people and their words, including her son, was to treasure the things spoken about her son in her heart.
-Juliet Taylor
Questions
What are some petitions or unspoken prayers that Jesus grants to the women during his earthly life?
What else could we relate the work of the children of Israel to with the work we must do under our New Covenant through Jesus besides driving out the sin in our lives?
What characteristic do you admire the most about those who got to witness Jesus in the flesh, face to face before their death?
Tending sheep, especially overnight, was a pretty thankless job, and took a toll on a lot of those who did it. Shepherds were not very well thought of by those who had more respectable agrarian jobs, or those who worked in the city.
But God chose them to be the first ones to know the messiah is born. They saw him in the manger after the angels made their Christmas announcement!
Old people who spend their days alone can sometimes be weird.
In fact, some of the best people are the old weird people who spend most of their time in prayer to God. The family of Jesus are accosted when they take him to be consecrated on the eighth day. Simeon and Anna may have been well respected, but they were still both older, and both a little weird.
But God chose them to be among the first to share the message of the Messiah. They spoke the message, Simeon ready for death, knowing the Messiah had come!
The story of Jesus is full of unexpected moments like this. You didn’t see shepherds shouting out with joy, speaking to all who would listen. You didn’t see Simeon and Anna stopping families to talk on the way to the temple. You didn’t see a twelve year old boy going toe-to-toe, blow-for-blow with the religious scholars of the day.
But God chose these moments, these people, these places, to give us a clue that in the rest of Luke we’re going to see unexpected moments.
With the familiarity of the passage at Christmas, it may seem common place. But as you read Luke 2 today, remind yourself again just how radical *and strange* the birth of Christ was. May you find comfort in the fact that no matter if you are
Old
Young
Weird
Normal
Or even stinky
God is choosing you to believe in Christ this Christmas. It is up to you to choose to believe.
-Jake Ballard
Reflection Questions
What do you find most surprising in Luke 2?
Do you believe in Christ? How will that change your day, season and life?
Luke chapter 2 begins with the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the little town of Bethlehem. Caesar Augustus ordered everyone to be registered, so Joseph and Mary traveled from the town of Nazareth to Bethlehem, which is where he was to be registered because of his lineage, the lineage of David. When they were in the small town of Bethlehem, Mary gave birth to Jesus and laid him in a manger because there was no room in the inn.
The location of Jesus’ birth at first may seem insignificant. However, the small fact that Jesus was born in the little town of Bethlehem is extremely important. It is important because of the words of Micah 5:2: “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient of days.” Here, it is recorded that there will be a ruler of Israel born in Bethlehem, whose coming forth is from of old. We know that the ruler talked about in Micah is Jesus! Jesus is the fulfillment to this prophecy!
The date of the writing of Micah was about 700 BC, about 700 years before Jesus was born! One of the best ways to prove that the Bible is true is that there were many prophecies written in the Old Testament that were fulfilled later on in the Old Testament or in the New Testament. Jesus being born in Bethlehem is just one of many examples of a prophecy in the Bible being fulfilled. Prophecies being fulfilled hundreds of years later is a great way to defend the authority of the Bible.
It is very appropriate that we are reading about the birth of Jesus at the beginning of December, as the birth of Jesus Christ is the reason of the season of Christmas! The weeks leading up to Christmas and Christmas itself has been my favorite time of the year. Everybody seems to be in a holly jolly mood, we get time off of work/school, the exchanging of gifts, and especially time with family are all reasons to enjoy the holiday season. We can get so wrapped up in the festivities of the holiday season that sometimes we forget the true reason for the season. I urge you to not let the festivities of the holiday season cause you to forget about the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Sometimes even the innocent joy of hanging out with our families can cause us to miss the true reason of the season. While enjoying the holiday season, put your focus on the birth of our Lord and Savior.
I hope you all enjoy this Christmas season, and most importantly, I hope you remember and focus on the reason of the season – the birth of Jesus Christ!
Seek Grow Love 