What’s So Special About The Birth Of Jesus?
Good News – December 2009 – Grace & Truth Magazine
A CHRISTMAS MESSAGE
What’s So Special About The Birth Of Jesus?
Isn’t it fascinating the way Jesus’ birth was announced to the world of His time? What’s really fascinating is that it wasn’t announced “to the world” at all!
If you could search the ancient Judean archives, you’d find no special mention of that singular birth, though His name might appear in a city registry among hundreds of others. But no official significance would be given to this birth over others. Most people went to bed that night unaware of Him.
It would be like Noah’s ark sliding down the snowy slopes of Mount Ararat into the sea, or the Titanic rising to the surface of the Atlantic and sailing into New York harbor, with no one saying a word and no news media alerted – and you only hear about it 30 years later! Is that incredible, or what?
But Jesus’ birth was indeed announced – just not to the whole world. Before He was born, a few interested Persian astrologers got the news via a bright new star in the sky. They traveled for weeks in a slow, plodding, camel caravan over hundreds of miles of desert, to greet the newborn One with rich gifts (Mt. 2:11). And peasant shepherds, on a Bethlehem hillside at night with their resting sheep, heard it from a chorus of angels (Lk. 2:13-14).
Forty days after the miraculous virgin-birth, a wise old prophet got a long-awaited glimpse of the miracle baby, and a faithful old widow who practically lived in the Temple ran with the news (Lk. 2:25-38).
All this while provincial Bethlehem – the site of this cosmically-significant event – oblivious to pending prophetic fulfillment, hung out a cold “no vacancy” sign and forced the unique newborn to lay in a cattle feeding “cradle” (Lk. 2:7). Makes you think of a secret society spreading the word in dark-alley whispers only to those with the password. Not too far from the truth.
God has a habit, a policy actually, of keeping His best secrets from those who are not really interested. He feels that what He has to share is worth our undivided attention (Ps. 25:14; Ps. 145:18; Heb. 11:6). And rightly so!
Today of course, the news is out – all about Jesus’ virgin birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension – and it has been broadcast for centuries around the globe. Yet even today, it is meaningful only to those who take it seriously and are willing to trust their lives and future to its truth (Jn. 5:24).
This news, of course, is the gospel – which means “good news.” And it’s the “power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16 NIV). Amazing? Yes! Unbelievable? No!
Isn’t it ironic that though this Man was born and lived most of His life in relative obscurity, He left a mark on history like no one else ever did? We date our letters, checks, documents, social events and our very lives from His birth, and split all of history into two significant periods – “before” and “after” Christ.
Though He lived only 33 years on earth, never traveling more than 150 miles from His birthplace, today His name is better known than ever, and is universally recognized. His name is even vilified and desecrated more than any other in all kinds of careless oaths, vulgar epithets and filthy statements.
Jesus Christ never wrote a book, yet there can be no doubt that more books have been written about Him than any other figure in history. He never founded a university, led an army, held public office, nor did any of the other things that make men famous.
None of the places significant in His life – neither His birthplace, His childhood home, the place of His crucifixion nor His tomb – are identifiable for certain, though religious and commercial interests claim to identify them for their gain. Yet His life and words have impacted and transformed more lives than all the leaders, events, movements and revolutions in history ever will.
This Jesus Christ is worth your time and effort to get to know Him. Won’t you open a Bible and start today? We can tell you more.
By Bill Van Ryn