And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manager; because there was no room for them in the inn.
Luke 2:6-7
I learned recently that Bethlehem in Hebrew means “House of Bread”. It is surely no coincidence that the The Bread of Life was born into that tiny town of House of Bread two thousand years ago.
This season, I am especially thankful for the wonderful gift from God to the world in the person of Jesus Christ. God did not share his jewels, gold, or wealth with us.. No, He shared what was most precious to Him and most needed by us – His own Son. He gave us, rebels, things, not of His mediocre store, not of his good, not of his very good, but of the singular best that He had to offer. That little Gift lying in a manger that day was the embodiment of true love!
While we remember the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, the story doesn’t end there. A baby was born to a virgin, angels announced his birth, shepherds and wise men came to worship him, end of story? No. Those are wonders, but why a festival and remembrance still after all these years? Historical yes, but celebrating a “nobody” little baby born in mysterious circumstances for it’s sake alone is lame.
You have to realize that it’s because of the rest of the story and who Jesus was that these anecdotes have not long ago have lost all meaning and drifting into obscurity. It’s because that baby was no mere baby. The baby was Emmanuel, the Savior of the World! It’s really the “non-historical part” – of the coming Savior and salvation – that still make it retain it’s meaning after all these years.
We need to know history, but history is only history. The belief that Jesus lived two-thousand years ago will not save you. Believing that He did miracles will not save you. Believing that he claimed to be God will not save you. Believing that He merely rose from the dead will not save you. That is history. You can check the historical records, and the veracity of each of these can be shown unquestionably established beyond a reasonable doubt. History does not make me a Christian.
Saving faith is the belief of things that can’t be proved – that Jesus came to save us from our rebellion, accepting that when Jesus said on the cross “Is is finished”, that it was true and our salvation was accomplished, and that the resurrection is proof that God accepted Jesus’s payment for our sins. We accept these things as true, not because we can prove them (we can’t), but on the basis of what we know about the character of God as displayed across time through the patriarchs, the nation Israel, and finally in the fullness time through the birth and life of Jesus Christ. It is on the basis of this historical record that we accept by faith what cannot be proved.
It is my prayer, that you will know not merely the historical Jesus, for all that that is; but also, that you will know Him today as the Bread of Life – spiritual bread for your soul. If you do not know Him, come today! There is room and the table is ready! He is waiting. Come and dine!
Painting: Rembrandt, “Adoration of the Shepherds”, 1646.
