DECEMBER 4 THE BIRTHPLACE OF JESUS By Jonathan Bubar Dean of Ministries, Word of Life Bible Institute
And you, O tower of the flock, The stronghold of the daughter of Zion, To you shall it come, Even the former dominion shall come, The kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem. (Micah 4:8) So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). And Jacob set a pillar on her grave, which is the pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day. Then Israel journeyed and pitched his tent toward the tower of Eder. (Genesis 35:19-21) But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting. (Micah 5:2) One of my favorite details of the Christmas story centers on the place where Jesus was born. As a child, I imagined a stable out behind an Inn somewhere in the city of Bethlehem, but I don’t believe that is what happened. When we first see King David, he is tending his father’s sheep outside the city of Bethlehem. David twice risked his life for these sheep because these weren’t ordinary sheep. These were sacrificial lambs bred for perfection to be offered for the sins of the people. Now, fast forward 900 years later. Mary is great with child, and there is no room for her and Joseph, so they brought her to Migdal Eder, “the tower of the flock,”where the precious sacrificial lambs were born. The swaddling clothes were there to swaddle the lambs and worked great for the newborn Jesus. When the angels appeared to the shepherds outside Bethlehem, they weren’t ordinary shepherds. They were temple shepherds watching over the temple flock. They knew exactly where to find the child of whom the angels sang. In John 1:29, John the Baptist sees Jesus approaching and cries out, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” What a wonderfully appropriate reference to the One born as the prophets foretold, in the tower of Eder, born as a sacrificial Lamb to suffer and die in my place. That’s the real story of Christmas. More than gifts, trees, family, and Hallmark movies, we celebrate the birth of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
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