Take Time and Make Time to Check Out the Factual Details Regarding the Birth of Jesus Christ

When there is so much bewilderment and confusion, and even serious and dangerous questioning, concerning the birth Jesus Christ, regarding what actually happened, it is good to take time to check the details and to examine the facts.

The birth of Jesus is rooted in history and grounded in Scripture and is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy in so many various ways and aspects. Do take time to read the accounts in the books of Matthew and Luke in the New Testament. I write ‘New Testament’, because there are many people these days who do not know where the books of Matthew and Luke are.

Luke, a medical doctor, gives us facts surrounding the confinement and what happened immediately prior to and following the birth.

Mary and Joseph had travelled some eighty miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem. It had been prophesied that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem of Judea. Note it does not say The West Bank!

Everyone must admit that it is very difficult to arrange the place of your own birth, but Almighty God reassured that His Son would be born according to the authentic word of the prophet Micah.

Joseph looked for a place to stay but Bethlehem was crowded because of the census which was being carried out. It is significant to understand that Joseph looked for a room in the equivalent of a one star hotel.

Financially, Mary and Joseph were not rich. In other ways they were very rich indeed, but somehow few people would regard that as being real wealth. It is. It is real wealth which will never be taken away. This is why it can be so important to invest in the poor and to invest in ministries which serve those who are poor.

There were no inquiries at five star hotels for dear Joseph.

He was given the equivalent of a pub car park! It was a place where the animals were housed.

Jesus Christ was born in such a setting and there was no midwife present to take the baby and wash the newly born baby and return the babe to mother. Mary and Joseph had to do everything themselves. The baby was wrapped in medical bandages and not the nice swaddling clothes idea with which many have been raised.

Doctor Luke tells the story accurately and all this information he must have heard from Mary some years later.

We announce the birth of newly born babies, by placing notices in newspapers.

Almighty God announced the birth of His Son through a sky full of angels and he announced it to shepherds.

Shepherds were regarded as untrustworthy at that time. They were not allowed to give evidence or be a witness in a court of law. Their word could not be relied upon. Here is God announcing from the highest to the lowest that His Son had been born.

The message of the angels was that a Saviour had been born. A Saviour saves people from their sins. Many want to be saved and rescued from their problems and pains and sicknesses and circumstances. Jesus Christ came primarily to rescue men from their sins!

The word Bethlehem means house of bread. This is where the bread of life was born. But there is more. In Bethlehem lambs were bred for sacrifice and slaughter in the Temple in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is only six miles north of Bethlehem.

Here is the birth of Lamb of God in Bethlehem and some thirty three years later Jesus would be sacrificed and slaughtered on Calvary’s Cross in Jerusalem. How can any one consider all of this to be co-incidence?

The shepherds went and saw Jesus just as it had been told to them by the angels. They saw Jesus Christ when He was but a few hours old.

The shepherds went around Bethlehem speaking of everything that had happened but to many it was just of pasting interest. They were not all that bothered.

The shepherds, we read, returned praising God, and Mary pondered all these things in her heart. She remembered the details of these past nine months and so was able to recount it all to Luke some years later.

Where is baby Jesus now? He grew up to become a man. He was crucified and raised from the dead. He ascended, returning to His Heavenly Father when He had completely fulfilled the work He had been sent to do.

The record of what happened is so simple. There is no exaggeration. It is written up by a medical doctor who was used to keeping records and being precise and accurate, and Almighty God arranged it all.

The risen living Jesus is seated at the right hand of God the Father and he continues to choose and call men today to serve Him.

What is your reaction? What is your response? That is what is so vitally important.

Sandy Shaw