Jesus Christ is Born
Today's Headline
Jesus Christ Born in Bethlehem
Angels Sing Glory to God in the Highest
BETHLEHEM-- Today Jesus Christ, Savior, Messiah and the Lord, was born in the city of Bethlehem. He was the first born son of the virgin Mary. She gave birth in a manger because there were no rooms left at the local inn. Mary had gone to Bethlehem with her betrothed Joseph because of the Roman Census ordered by Caesar Augustus emperor of the Roman Empire. The baby wrapped in swaddling clothes was named Jesus as declared by an angel who had previously visited Mary.
Shortly thereafter, an angel appeared to a group of nearby shepherds who were watching their flocks that night. After informing the shepherds of the birth of the child, a large number of the heavenly host appeared in heaven, praising God and singing "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests." The shepherds then traveled to Bethlehem where they told townspeople what they had witnessed, a child laying in a manger. People who spoke with the shepherds later said that they were spreading word about the child throughout the area. These same people said that they were amazed at what the shepherds had told them. One witness said, “Today is the day a savior was born.”
Please stay tuned as this is a developing story.
Many years ago, in high school, I considered going into journalism as a career. In addition to taking four years of English classes in high school, I also took two years of journalism. I was on the school paper and eventually became an editor. One of the things I learned back then was how to write a good news article. You need to have an immediate impact on the reader in the first few lines of the article. The other important thing was you had to inform people about the who, what, when, where and why of the story. Remembering this, I thought, what would a newspaper reporter today write about the birth of Jesus. Considering our society today, and our media, I am not sure this would make the front page. Nevertheless, it seems like it would appear somewhat like what I have written above. The Bible describes this in Luke 2:1-20. Here is a portion of that.
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
Luke 2:1-7
Returning to the newspaper article above let us look at the who, what, when, where and why of this story. First we have the who.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14
No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
John 1:18
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16
The who of this story is Jesus Christ. First, Jesus Christ is the one and only Son of God. God sent his only Son into this world through this miraculous birth that occurred in this small town in Judea. Second, Jesus is the savior of this world.
That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.
1 Timothy 4:10
but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
2 Timothy 1:10
Third is that Jesus Christ is the Messiah for the people of Israel.
This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:
Matthew 1:1
and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.
Matthew 1:16
"Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer. Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus.
Acts 3:17-20
Finally, Jesus Christ is the Lord.
"You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.
John 13:13-15
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38-39
But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Romans 10:8-9
The second question we need to answer in this article covers is the what. That is the miraculous birth of Jesus which came through the virgin Mary. This event set in motion God’s plan of salvation. When Mary was first approached by an angel, she asked how this will be.
"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
Luke 1:34-35
This virgin birth had been foretold many years ago by the prophet Isaiah.
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
Isaiah 7:14
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" (which means "God with us").
Matthew 1:22-23
The when of this story was set by God to occur at just the right time. The Roman empire probably started doing census counts in the sixth century BC with King Servius Tullius. However by this time in the history of the Roman empire, people were very well connected through Roman roads and transportation. According to what is now called the Roman Method of taking a census, they did not ask everyone to come to Rome to check in. They sent census takers all over the empire to survey the people. They usually did this every five years to ensure that they could collect taxes from everyone in the empire. In this specific year, a census was decreed by the reigning Caesar August. Joseph took Mary to Bethlehem because it was where his family had originated. God directed all these events so this birth took place at just the right time. There is also the determination of the number of generations that had occurred previous to Jesus birth as mentioned in Matthew.
Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.
Matthew 1:17
The next question is the where of this story. At the time of Jesus birth, King Herod asked his advisors where the king would be born.
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him." When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written: "'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.'"
Matthew 2:1-6
Many years before, there was a prophecy that described where Jesus would be born. Not only that but it also said that this ruler would have origins from ancient times. This connects directly with the genealogy of Jesus that is found in Matthew 1.
"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times."
Micah 5:2
Finally we have probably the most important part of the story, the why. Why did Jesus come into this world?
.For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
John 3:17
And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
1 John 4:14-16
Jesus came into this world to save. He was born humbly in a manger to be the Savior. He came to give his life for us so that we could be saved and have eternal life. By going to the cross and paying for all of our sins, we were able to be forgiven. When he died and then three days later rose from the dead, he gave the gift of eternal life to those who believed. This is the true story of Christmas that because of God's love for us, he gave us the most precious gift of all, his son, on that Christmas day so long ago. Long before any of us had ever received any gift, God gave us the greatest gift.
I hope that all of you have a great Christmas this year.