Merry Christmas
The Bible consists of sixty-six books which
are divided into one thousand, one hundred, eighty-nine chapters. These
chapters are further broken down into thirty-one thousand, one hundred
seventy-three verses.
And out of these thirty-one thousand, one hundred
seventy-three verses exactly one hundred are devoted to telling the story of
Jesus’ birth. In fact, all of the details of the first Christmas, the stable,
the manger, the star, the shepherds and wise men, all of it can be found in two
chapters, one in the book of Matthew and one in the book of Luke. Two of the
four gospels completely ignore the events surrounding His birth. The simplicity
of the Christmas story stands in sharp contrast to extravagant Christmas
celebrated by many Christians.
Christmas was costly as well. It cost Mary and Joseph the
comforts of home during a long period of exile
in Egypt to protect the little Babe. It cost mothers in and around
Bethlehem the massacre of their babies by
the cruel order of Herod. It cost the shepherds the complacency
of their shepherds' life, with the
call to the manger & to tell the good news. It cost the wise men a long journey and expensive gifts & changed lives. It cost the
early apostles & the early church persecution and sometimes death. It cost
missionaries of Christ untold suffering & privation to spread the good news. It cost
Christian martyrs in all ages their lives for Christ's sake. More than all
this, it cost God the Father His own Son—He sent Him to the earth to save us.
May we as believers rise in celebration of
the Newborn King and His incredible sacrifice for us!
No comments:
Post a Comment