A Silent Night in Bethlehem

On that silent, holy night in Bethlehem, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The angel Gabriel announced to the young teen, Mary, living in the village Nazareth, Galilee She would be with child and give birth to a son, the Son of the Most High and given the name Jesus (Luke 1:31). Though she wondered how this could happen, she submitted herself to the message and her Lord. “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said (Luke 1:38). Nine months later, Mary and her fiancé Joseph travel eighty-five miles to the small hamlet of Bethlehem, to register for the imperial census. They make their way to the stable delivery room. When Mary’s labor was over, Joseph delivered the infant and the Son of God appeared.  Ken Gire described it this way:

“The Messiah has arrived. The Son of the Most High God umbilically tied to a lowly Jewish girl . . . the divine Word reduced to a few unintelligible sounds. For the first time, his eyes fix on his mother’s. Deity straining to focus. The Light of the World, squinting. Tears pool in her eyes. She touches his tiny hand. And hands that once sculpted mountain ranges cling to her finger. .  . And so, with barely a ripple of notice, God stepped into the warm lake of humanity. Without protocol and without pretension. Where you would have expected angels, there were only flies. Where you would have expected heads of state, there were only donkeys, a few haltered cows, a nervous ball of sheep, a tethered camel, and a furtive scurry of curious barn mice . . . Thus, in the little town of Bethlehem . . . that one silent night . . .  the royal birth of God’s Son tiptoed quietly by . . . as the world slept.” (Moments with the Savior, p. 31)

That’s it. That’s Christmas. Deity in diapers! The royal king born in a stable that He might be born in our hearts to reign in our lives. “Hallelujah! And He shall reign forever, and ever, and ever!”

 “O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.”

 Have a blessed Christmas!