THE SIGN

Luke 2:12 NKJV 

And this will be the sign to you: 

You will find a Babe 

wrapped in swaddling cloths, 

lying in a manger.”

Sometimes we see old feeding troughs made into ponds or planters, but have you ever wondered what the ‘sign’ meant and why Jesus was wrapped in swaddling cloths and then laid in a manger, a feeding trough?

I heard a Jewish Rabbi explain that the shepherds in those fields were not ordinary shepherds but Levitical shepherds who were caring for the sheep which would produce the lambs for sacrifice in the temple. The sheep about to deliver, were taken to the caves in the village of Bethlehem where the lambs were born and then wrapped in swaddling cloths so they had no blemish before their sacrifice.

Then we read Mary gave birth to Jesus, possibly in one of those very caves where the lambs were born, and she wrapped Him in swaddling cloths just like the sacrificial lambs, and laid Him in a manger, one of the feeding troughs, which reminds us Jesus is the Bread of Life, the source of every spiritual and physical need we will ever have.😊

God was revealing to the Shepherds that His sacrificial Lamb had been born, that the Saviour, the Messiah, had been born that night in Bethlehem. No wonder the shepherds were the first to know about Jesus’ birth and how significant it is to us. God had prophesied for centuries that Jesus would be the Lamb of God born to take away the sins of the world and that night His plan became manifest. Glory to God!

It’s the message of Christmas - we’ve been given a Saviour, if we’ll receive Him, because He is the only way to Heaven. Jesus humbled Himself, identified with us by becoming a vulnerable human baby, He volunteered to be God’s sacrificial Lamb for us, and it says Mary pondered all these things in her heart.

How awe inspiring it all is, and may God bless us as we ponder these things in our hearts on the lead up to Christmas morning.😊Amen.

Photo: Jw-k on Unsplash