This past week, a few others and I went to a couple of nursing homes to sing Christmas carols. A very creative friend of mine came up with the idea of arranging 14 of them to tell the Christmas story. It really worked beautifully. My role was that of a narrator.
In reading the stories behind some of these carols, it became clear to us what a wonderful, marvelous really, event this was. Think about it. A bunch of shepherds are out in the fields at night watching their sheep when an angel appears to tell them of the birth of Christ in nearby Bethlehem.
Angels aren’t an everyday occurrence for most of us, and angels themselves must be very frightening. After all, one angel killed 185,000 Assyrians in one night (2 Kings 19:35). So, this angel must have been quite a sight. In fact, Luke tells us they were very afraid. You tend to listen to a guy like that.
Then, to make matters even scarier, a whole army of these guys appears shouting, “Glory to God in the highest!” Since the first angel spoke of the babe born in Bethlehem, the shepherds went to see this child.
What child is this that an army of angels appears to announce His birth?
Matthew tells us soon after some “wise men” came from the east to visit this child, to see this king which was prophecied about more than 500 years earlier (Jer. 30:9). The wise men or “maji” were astrologers from Babylon and had traveled some 900 miles to see the king.
Remember the Israelites were captured by the Babylonians back around 586 b.c. During their captivity, Jeremiah had prophecied the coming Messiah, and Babylonian astrologers had been watching for a sign ever since. Just in case you think this is some sort of endorsement by God of astrology, please note their astrology took them to Herod who wanted to kill the child, not to Bethlehem to worship Him. That information was found in Scripture for them by one of Herod’s scribes.
Imagine the sight of these Maji, probably more than the three the song tells of, coming to this small town with their entourage. We live next to a small town called Dewey. The town is so small, they only have one employee at the post office. No mail is delivered. Everyone has a P. O. box. Dewey is a sort of modern day Bethlehem, a very unimportant, unnoticed, little community. Yet the King of kings was born in this hick town, Bethlehem, in as lowly a surrounding as could be imagined. This birth brought both hard working shepherds and very wealthy and influential men to see the miracle of His birth.
What child is this. The Holy Spirit says it best through Paul:
Philippians 2:5-11 (ESV)
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The Great God of the universe came to earth in the form of a servant, a man, willing to wash their feet, touch the lepers, cure the sick, and die violently, painfully, humiliated for our sakes.
There is a beautiful song written about 25 years ago entitled, “Mary did you know.” One of the lines of the song goes like this, speaking of Mary, “when you kiss your little baby, you’ve kissed the face of God.”
What Child is this? He was the Child mankind was waiting for since the fall. He is the man who forgives our sins and gives us peace. He is Christ the Lord.
Believers Armed and Dangerous 