That night in Bethlehem all creation stood still, almost breathless, as the protective father led his wife heavy with child to the barn back of the inn in which there was no room. Amid the animals they improvised a make-shift bed of hay. And soon the greatest event of all history occurred. Witnessed only by the parents and the lowing animals, a Baby was born whose birth would change the world forever. Then it was announced by an angel chorus to some shepherds. Shepherds? The first to know a Savior King was born? Yes, the earth-changing event of present and future history occurred with no fanfare except an angel chorus to shepherds guarding their sheep under a starry night.
How comforting it is that Christ was not born in a golden palace with all the trappings of royalty. That would have left so many of us out and made Him feel like a distant King. But we feel right at home with a Savior born in a manger heralded only by angels and shepherds. It was possibly symbolic and prophetic of the way the world would treat the Son of God. Denied even the comfort of a room in which to be born, He had nothing to recommend Himself except that He was the meek and lowly Savior sent to seek and save that which was lost. And the world's answer was to nail Him to a cross while He begged His Father to forgive them. And He is still pleading. That is the real Christmas story.
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