The Nativity
What It Means To Us
By
Rev.Dr. Leslie Mary Trombly
Copyright(c)2007
Biblical References: Matthew 1-2, Luke 1-2
Most of us know the story of the Nativity, but for those who do not, then I suggest you read Matthew chapters I-2 and Luke Chapters 1-2. For those who know the story of the Nativity, I would like to tell you what it means to all of us.
First of all, since the Lord, our God, loved us and the sacrifice of lambs every year at Passover was significant of the redemptive power from sin, God decided that it was not enough.There had to be one and only one sacrificial lamb that would cover all sin, albeit past, present or future for mankind. That sacrificial lamb would come in the form of His son. He wanted mankind to know that he loved us so much that he was willing to sacrifice his only begotten son (John 3:16) as that lamb of sacrifice. So a plan was made. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit already existed in heaven, so God called His son before him and explained what He was going to do.His son understood and wanted to do whatever His father willed him to do.
Now this would not have been needed had Lucifer who once held the highest place, next to God, had not gotten jealous and wanted to overthrow God and ended up being tossed out of heaven to earth and sin began with this incident. God explained to His beloved son that living on earth and in the flesh was not going to be an easy task, but he would come to know what his human creations had to go through so he would understand. God told his son that his human creations were always saying that He had no idea as to what they were going through and often asked him to come down to earth and see what it was like. He also explained to his son that once he became flesh, he would forever remain both flesh and spirit. God was going to solve both issues of Him having understanding what it was like to be in the flesh he created and the sin of mankind. His son would be his mediator between himself and his creation.
This is something that would always be with the birth, life and death of his son as the sacrificial lamb. The Holy Spirit would be the comforter to His children after His son's death and resurrection until such time the world would face the tribulation and the Holy Spirit is called back to heaven at that time.With this heavenly plan in effect, God set about choosing his handmaiden to carry His son. He chose a pure and chaste young girl from Nazareth where she lived with her parents. She worshipped God and was righteous in His sight.She would be the wife of Joseph, whose lineage went back to King David. This was spoken of by the prophets of the Old Testament concerning the birth of Christ. When God sent his angel, Gabriel to tell her that God had chosen her to be the mother of His son, she was afraid. When Gabriel explained it to her, she said that she was the handmaiden of the Lord and it would be unto her to do as God willed.
Joseph of course had a hard time accepting the fact that his espoused wife was pregnant with a child, was still pure and untouched until an angel of the Lord told him that is was true and he was to name his son, Jesus. He went to Mary and told her that he would not put her away because the angel of the Lord came to him and told him what Mary had told him was the truth and that he was to call him, Jesus. Mary was elated and relieved that Joseph, whom she loved, was going to still be her husband and help to raise the Son of God.
When the decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all should be taxed and each one had to return to his own place of birth for this, Joseph and Mary set out on the long journey to Bethlehem, where Joseph was born. Once there and having done what was required by Caesar Augustus, they went to find a place to rest, because Mary's time of delivery was at hand. Every place they went there was no room and they ended up in a stable in a cave near the outskirts of the city. It was a stable used for sheep in the cold of winter. Joseph cleaned it up and placed some hay in a manger so the baby would have a place to lay his head.
The birth of Christ brought shepherds and three wise men of the east to worship him. The three wise men brought Jesus, gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. Each on representing a certain event in Jesus' life that would take place. Gold was a symbol of kingship, a symbol of power. Frankincense. was the priestly gift. Frankincense, a particular type of incense, was used in religious ceremonies to give honor to that which was considered holy. Myrrh is an ointment which was used to heal, but was also used to embalm the bodies of the dead. This gift symbolized Christ's death on the cross. This was the hard, the bitter gift. It was a symbol that Christ would be willing to do the hardest task that God would call him to do.
The nativity and the birth of Christ was the beginning of an everlasting hope and promise for the people of God that our sin had a source of redemption and the hope and promise of eternal life when we accepted the gift of Salvation that his son's death would bring 33 years later. With out this birth of Christ and his willingness to become the one and only sacrificial lamb for the sins of mankind we would remain lost and with no hope of redemption. The old way of the sacrificial lamb for sin, didn't absolve sin because to those who committed sin, they knew that even if they sinned again, they would sacrifice the spotless lamb for it the next Passover.
God had to come up with a plan that One sacrificial Lamb would cover all sin in the world and the answer was with his son; as stated above in the beginning. Without the birth of God's beloved son, we would not have a Gift that we could chose to accept to save us; but also the promise of eternal life with him would never be. When someone asks you what does the Nativity mean to you - you can tell them , "Salvation and Everlasting life". God made it so that one sacrifice covered all sin and it could be accepted or rejected by his creation because he had given them all free-will to choose. Nothing else will save you or me or the family down the street.
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