Posted on 12/14/2005 7:54:34 PM PST by Doctor Don
At Christmas time, I usually reflect on the elements of the Christmas story that I have heard all of my many years. I often search for some unusual approach to better understand a story that my mind and spirit cannot fully comprehend. I stand amazed and in great awe at what happened over two thousand years ago. What became of those shepherds who saw and heard the angelic multitude and knelt at the manger where the baby Messiah lay? Were their lives changed? What did they tell their grandchildren? The innkeeper? He surely witnessed the events in his stable. Did he accept the Christ Child? Will we meet him in heaven? The two or three or four wise men? Three gifts but how many men? To this day we do not know how many. As they returned to their distant lands did they become witnesses to the birth of the Lord Jesus? Were they the first evangelists? There were many descendants of King David in that little town on that mystical night because the Romans had ordered them there. Among that great throng how many people saw the wonderful display in the night skies over Bethlehem? Did they also hear the angels' chorus? Did they see the shepherds rush by them as they made their way to the stable where baby Jesus lay in a manger? Did they hear Mary cry out as she felt the birth pains as Jesus was born? Could they have heard the cries of the newborn King as He took His first breaths in the world of human kind? These are the questions I often ponder as I am caught up in the wonder of Christmas.
This year, I am captivated by a place.......the little town called Bethlehem where God chose to birth His Son, His only Son. Why did God pick this obscure village for the greatest event in human history? There were scores of other small places He could have chosen. Why did He make the Hebrew race the means to play out the most spectacular display of supernatural love and grace the world has ever seen? I simply do not know. The answer to all of these questions will remain unknown to us until we each pass into eternity in Heaven.
Three thousand years before the birth of Christ, Bethlehem was already a Canaanite settlement. These tribes settled in Palestine and built small villages usually surrounded by walls to ward off the attacks of raiders. One of these places was called Beit Lahama, better known today as Bethlehem. Built at an elevation of 2,600 feet, it has a moderate climate. Bethlehem is mentioned about fifty times in the Bible of which eight times occur in the New Testament. The narrative of the Old Testament mentions Bethlehem in the book of Genesis when Jacob, son of Abraham, and his family were enroute to the city of Hebron passing by Bethlehem. There Jacob's wife, Rachel, died giving birth to Benjamin and he buried her by the side of the road that leads to this day to Bethlehem. Her tomb remains an important shrine to the Jewish people even today. In the book of Ruth, mention is made of Ruth and Naomi and Boaz and Bethlehem...... Ruth's grandson was David of whose lineage Christ was born. In 1 Samuel chapter 16 we find the account of the prophet Samuel coming to Bethlehem to anoint the youngest son of Jesse, David the shepherd boy, to eventually become King of Israel. Micah, the minor prophet, prophesies in his book chapter 5 verse 2, "And thou, Bethlehem Ephrata, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah: yet out of thee shall He come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." How appropriate that the One who became the "Bread of Life" for all of us would be born in a town whose meaning is the "House of Bread"! 750 years later the Roman Caesar, Augustus, made a decree ordering a census in all of the provinces of the Roman Empire. That required that all of the people had to return to their ancestral homes. The decree brought Joseph and the now pregnant Mary from distant Nazareth of Galilee to Bethlehem, the City of David, thus fulfilling Micah's prophecy. Isn't it amazing how God manipulates the most powerful men of their times, even a Caesar, to accomplish His own purposes! In our own generation, He continues to work His Sovereign Will among the governments of our world.
In 1999, Jan and I had a most wonderful adventure to the Holy Land led by our close friend, Bill Bryan, who is Chaplain of Dallas Seminary and Charlie Dyer, now the number two executive at the Moody Bible Institute. Charlie is a licensed Israeli guide and has taken over fifty groups to Israel including many seminary groups for extended study times. They took our small group from Jerusalem past the Palestinian Authority check point, past Rachel's tomb, past the Manger Square and to the Church of the Nativity which encompasses the cave in which Jesus was born. We stooped to enter the famous door and came to the ornate altar used by the Catholic priests in their worship. We passed to the right of the altar and descended stairs beneath the altar until we came to the grotto, that is the remnant of the cave/stable where Christ was born. The actual birth site is marked by a 14 pointed silver star on the marble floor. There we wept as we, as a group, sang hymns of praise to our Savior. I shall never forget those very precious moments.
This Christmas, as has been the ageless tradition, the Church of the Nativity will be ablaze with flags and decorations. Worshipers from every continent will gather at Manger Square. On Christmas Eve, residents of Bethlehem and visitors alike will crowd the church's doorways and stand on roofs to watch the dramatic procession. Bethlehem formerly had a population that was one half Christian. I spoke with a Christian Arab man today from that city and he told me the number was down to 20% because of muslim terrorism. Galloping horsemen and police mounted on Arabian horses will lead the parade. They will be followed by a solitary horseman carrying a cross and sitting astride a coal-black stallion. Then the churchmen and government officials will follow. The procession solemnly will enter the doors of the church carrying an ancient effigy of the Holy Child into the church. Deep winding stairs lead to the grotto where the effigy will be placed.
Christian homes are marked by a cross painted over the door and each home will display a homemade manger scene at Christmas. A lighted star will be set on a tall pole in the Manger Square.
Bethlehem may not be a safe place for Americans, this Christmas. But it is not necessary to venture to David's city to worship the Christ Child. He is born into countless hearts every day the world over.
Now after I have told you this tale about the birth place of our Messiah, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ ......... I still feel incomplete..........my efforts are unfinished! I have not captured the wonder of that place..........or of that most wonderful event when God became a newborn baby destined to die for my sins! God help me........Father God help us all to, at last, understand what You were about on that first Christmas in that tiny place called Bethlehem and may our lives be forever changed!
In 1865 Phillips Brooks made a horseback journey from Jerusalem to Bethlehem where he assisted with the midnight service on Christmas Eve. Two years later he gave us these words:
"O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie! Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by. Yet in thy dark streets shineth the Everlasting Light! The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.
O Holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray. Cast out our sin, and enter in, be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell. O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel!"
A beautiful event and continuence of a promise and answers.Thanks and Blessed Merry Christmas to You.
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As Christmas nears, this is worth posting again!
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