It’s almost Christmas!
Many of us will read in Matthew 1 and 2 and Luke 1 and 2 in the next few days. If you do, I encourage you to slow down and picture what you read. One new way to look at the story might be to start off a few chapters later in Matthew 5 when Jesus is teaching on blessings, a passage often called “The Beatitudes.” Notice how the characters in the Christmas story—from Mary and Joseph to Simeon and Anna—exhibit the characteristics that Jesus exalts in His teaching: meekness, mercifulness, pureness of heart, a hunger and thirst for righteousness, and so on.
Amazing, isn’t it, how the sermons Jesus gave as an adult complement so well the story of His birth? It’s as though God, in the way He sent His Son to earth, was giving an illustrated message of some of the principles and truths Jesus would later live and teach.
It was no accident that the King of kings and Lord of lords entered the world the way he did. The details of Jesus’ birth are a precious communication from God to us, a message full of grace, hope and love.
Many of us will read in Matthew 1 and 2 and Luke 1 and 2 in the next few days. If you do, I encourage you to slow down and picture what you read. One new way to look at the story might be to start off a few chapters later in Matthew 5 when Jesus is teaching on blessings, a passage often called “The Beatitudes.” Notice how the characters in the Christmas story—from Mary and Joseph to Simeon and Anna—exhibit the characteristics that Jesus exalts in His teaching: meekness, mercifulness, pureness of heart, a hunger and thirst for righteousness, and so on.
Amazing, isn’t it, how the sermons Jesus gave as an adult complement so well the story of His birth? It’s as though God, in the way He sent His Son to earth, was giving an illustrated message of some of the principles and truths Jesus would later live and teach.
It was no accident that the King of kings and Lord of lords entered the world the way he did. The details of Jesus’ birth are a precious communication from God to us, a message full of grace, hope and love.
“In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” Hebrews 1:1-3 NIV
Your Turn: What scene or characters in the Christmas story most capture your imagination