Saturday, December 21, 2013

Merry Christmas



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!

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