It didn't happen in December... It happened in September when the shepherds were still abiding in the fields by night and the freshly harvested crops were sufficient to feed all those travelers to Bethlehem for the tax census. Mary could never have made the trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem in winter. The December rains would have been cold and miserable. In addition, sheep do not graze in the Israeli fields in winter. Winter grain is grown in those fields and the sheep are penned up for the winter. A September birth would however follow the conception of Our Lord on or about December 25th. We don't know what day in September He was born, but we know the short trip to the Temple in Jerusalem for His dedication to the Lord was forty days after His birth, and before the early rains began in mid-October. When the Lord plans an event, He plans it with all the factors figured in so we can be sure the Son of God did not get wet or cold in His first weeks of young life. But let's go back to the night it happened - the night that Jesus, who was Jesus the Christ, was born... Luke tells us the beautiful story of angels that appeared to the shepherds who were abiding in the fields that night: "And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them and they were greatly afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men" (Luke 2:9-14). Swaddling clothes were bandage type strips of cloth that were wrapped around the infant to ensure straight growth of limbs and support for young bones. To not use the swaddling clothes was considered by many to be a form of child abuse. “The babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger” was a “sign” given by the angel to help the shepherds find and identify the Christ child. Jesus had just been born when the angel of the Lord proclaimed to the shepherds, “unto you (that means unto you and me too) is born THIS day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” There was no mystery surrounding this announcement. The angel of the Lord made no bones about whose birth it was. He was as literally specific as it is possible for any messenger to be. He brought this star-crowned, glory-covered royal proclamation from the throne of heaven and it was filled with God’s good tidings of great joy. Without a doubt it was being celebrated in heaven and at the same time attended on earth by a jubilant heavenly host praising God in the Highest. Heaven knew and heaven rejoiced that the Savior of the world had finally arrived. Earth would be slow to catch on – except for a handful that God showered His Grace upon – like the shepherds - Anna and Simeon at the Temple – and the wise men from the east that were now leaving and making their long journey across the Arabian desert, following the star. By the time they arrived, Jesus and Joseph and Mary would be living in a house in Bethlehem and Jesus would be a child of eighteen months to two years of age, and no longer an infant in a stable… The Messenger Gabriel had visited Mary nine months earlier, on the night when the Seed of a woman, promised in the Garden of Eden, was overshadowed and quickened to life by the Holy Spirit. The promise had made its 4,000-year pilgrimage through the generations of righteous sons of the tribe of Judah to its destination within the womb of a righteous young daughter of the tribe of Judah and the lineage of David. She was betrothed to Joseph, also of the tribe of Judah and the house of David. Joseph was the legal heir to the crown and throne of David and was therefore the elected father of the Messiah (as supposed) whom God had declared would be the eternal son and heir of David’s throne. On this occasion He would come as the lamb of God, but in a still distant age this rightful heir would ascend that throne as the lion of Judah, the King of kings. Meanwhile, the conception and birth of the Messiah would fulfill the promised event to all ages. The heavens would erupt with rejoicing and the kingdom of darkness would be shaken to its core. War had raged between these two forces for four thousand years and now heaven was about to release its most powerful weapon. In a few short years the head (authority) of Satan would be crushed and the men of earth would once again have access to the God who desired their redemption and fellowship. In the heavenly excitement of this event, Gabriel was commissioned to announce to Mary that she was the chosen vessel through whom the Son of God would be born. Gabriel said to her, “You shall conceive in your womb…” and the Holy Spirit would quicken the Seed (breath life into it) and indwell the Seed. And this in itself is a miracle for women do not carry seed. Men carry seed, but God had said in the Garden that “the Seed (singular) of a woman…” It had never happened before and would never happen again. It had to be a Seed that was not tarnished. It could come from no earthly man for the blood of the seeds of all men of all ages had been tainted by the sin nature of the fall of Adam. There would be sixty-one generations from Adam to the “woman.” When the time came, the Holy and Almighty God of heaven and earth gave the signal, sent Gabriel to Mary, and the pre-incarnate Christ took the form of the Seed within the womb of “a woman.” Jesus was the 62nd generation from Adam – ten generations from Adam to Noah, ten generations from Noah to Abraham, fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen generations from David to the carrying away into Babylon and fourteen generations from the carrying away into Babylon to the birth of Jesus Christ (Matt: 1:17). You will have to go back into the Old Testament to count the generations as listed in Genesis from Adam to Abram (Abraham). Imagine if you can, this transfiguration from the majestic Word of God, the Prince of Heaven, the Creator, being transformed into the Seed that would become the visible, touchable, comforting Messiah, adorned with the flesh of His mother, affording Him the substance and title of Son of Man as well as Son of God. In time and in all corners of the earth, He would become the Redeemer that lives in the adoring hearts of a grateful humanity. Think of it, the Almighty God transformed into the image of man who was created in the image of God… As the Son of Man, Christ continually reaches down to our innermost being, understanding and sympathizing with our feelings, our temptations, our weaknesses and sorrows, bringing us nearer to God and God nearer to us who might not otherwise fully understand the nature of the flesh. As the Son of God, He is the caring, loving, powerful Savior who is well able to defend us from all our enemies, break our yokes, deliver us from temptation and forgive our sins, redeeming us from condemnation and spiritual death. He is the center of the Bible. Israel is the center of the earth but Jesus Christ is the center of earth’s history. The miracle of His birth could not be performed without Mary’s permission. The Holy Spirit is a gentleman. He does not take liberties with the will of men or women. As was customary, Gabriel would hear her response and determine her faith to believe his words, as Joshua had believed at Gilgal, or any lack of faith, as Zacharias had failed to demonstrate prior to the conception of John the Baptist. Messenger angels do not take lightly the questioning of their words for such angels do always stand in the presence of God and the word they speak is straight from the authority of His throne. Mary had not disappointed Gabriel. Indeed, every young daughter in every generation had dreamed of being the mother of the Messiah. When Gabriel knocked on Mary’s dreams and awakened her with the glorious word that she had found favor with God, her response was one we should all have rooted in our being: “Be it unto me according to thy word.” It is so literally clear I cannot understand how anyone cannot believe it. Such a miracle as this is often questioned and doubted in the closed minds of mere men, yet it is a literal miracle that is literally explained. And it is really no different from the former works of God who formed or spoke into existence all things. This miracle did not require a new creation. Seeds of reproductive likeness had been placed within every living creation: the tree and herb, fruit and fowl, man and beast. In the beginning this same Holy Spirit breathed life into Adam’s clay frame. When Adam received the breath of life, the seeds within him also sprang to life. It is no big thing for God who made the seeds of life to put life into those seeds. God is not limited in His wisdom or His power, and we don’t limit his power when we don’t believe, but we do limit our own ability to perceive and appreciate it. The power of the Holy Spirit that saturated Elisha’s bones, still present a year after Elisha died, exploded with the resurrection of a corpse that was hurriedly tossed upon those bones. You see, Jesus has promised that the Holy Spirit will not leave us nor forsake us – not even in the death of the body. As long as we are obedient and faithful, he will continue to saturate our bones just as He did with Elisha. He whisked away Enoch and Elijah, changing their mortal bodies into immortal bodies as they flew away. He gave supernatural strength to David who killed the bear and the lion with his own hands, and gave swift and direct passage of the single stone that killed Goliath. The Holy Spirit IS life and He breathes it forth for the Glory and fulfillment of the will of God. To reject the virgin birth is to reject the promises and the power of Almighty God. To dispute the purity and power of the untainted blood that flowed through the veins of Jesus is to blaspheme the holiness of the Holy Spirit, for He brought forth and quickened the Seed that was and is and will forever be the Son of God. Gabriel had also appeared to Zacharias, of the tribe of Levi, six months prior to his visit to Mary. Zacharias was husband to Elisabeth, daughter of the sons of Aaron, also of the tribe of Levi. Zacharias was a priest in the Temple of the Lord. He interceded with God for the people, but when Gabriel told him his wife Elisabeth would bear a son in her old age, Zacharias did not believe it. His words contradicted the words of Gabriel: “Whereby shall I know this? I am an old man and my wife is well stricken in years?” Zacharias didn’t believe the words of the angel – he wanted further proof. And he spoke all the reasons why it shouldn’t – or couldn’t – happen. Zacharias had a big doubt and his mouth was spewing out the doubt from the depths of his being. All this after Gabriel had said to him: “Your prayer is heard; and your wife Elisabeth shall bear you a son and you shall call his name, John.” That was the second problem for Zacharias. No one in the family was named John and it was customary to name a child after a strong and revered family member. Zacharias would have spoken again but Gabriel closed the vocal cords of this high priest who spoke against the words of the Almighty. Following nine months of forced silence, Zacharias was repentant and obedient to name the child John, even in the face of strong family opposition, and his vocal cords were loosed at last. Angels are offended by the doubt and questioning of their words and anyone who dares to offend will reap the consequences of their power. The angel of the Lord visited Joseph after he learned of Mary’s conception. Joseph was having a problem believing Mary, but being a just man did not want to embarrass her by divorcing her. They had entered into a betrothal that was as binding as a marriage contract and would require a bill of divorcement to break. He wanted to spare her any hurt and was thinking on these things when the angel of the Lord visited him in his sleep. He encouraged Joseph to have no fear in taking Mary to be his wife for that which was conceived in her was of the Holy Ghost. Joseph awakened from his sleep and immediately married Mary but did not consummate their marriage until after the birth of Jesus, as the angel had commanded. This would be a virgin conception AND a virgin birth. The chastity of Mary would preview the chastity of our Lord’s future bride – Mary in the flesh – the bride in the Spirit – the whole of Christ who was born of the flesh and of the Spirit… Joseph was chosen out of all the men of the earth to be an earthly father to the Son of God. Other than his continued obedience and reverence for God, his role as father, teacher, provider, caretaker, protector and disciplinarian is not expounded in the scriptures but those of us who have raised children know the ups and downs of such responsibility. Joseph must have been a very special man with a very special heart for God and he must have truly loved Mary with all his being. He also loved Jesus as his own and taught him well in the scriptures and in daily living. This is evident in all the parables and teachings Jesus shared during His ministry. Think of it – God wearing a diaper, suckling an infant’s meal, drooling milk, burping, speaking His first word, taking His first step, and knowing the delights of all infants and toddlers as they survey the wonders of God’s creation – plucking a strand of grass, seeing His first lamb, holding it in tiny arms, His first day at school in the Synagogue, His first visit to the Temple, holding his own with the doctors there. Think of the Creator of all things learning to make a chair, a table, earn a living, all while His countrymen suffered oppression at the hands of the Romans, the same Romans that would one day crucify this Son of Glory… Scriptures are filled with angel visitations to the prophets and to the elect, bringing a word from the Lord to the faithful, food to the hungry, guidance to the shepherds, destruction of the wicked and encouraging messages to the seeking. There are different ministries of angels and they all have their assignments whether we see them or not, hear them or not, or believe them or not. There are ministering angels who minister to the children of God continually, and there are messengers who do not come unless they are sent from the throne. Even these we should test with the Word, and if they do not confess that Jesus is Lord and came in the flesh, they are not angels of God. Rebuke them and turn away your ears. Once the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost, the Bible completed and the Word established in the earth, there has been little reported angelic manifestations other than those recorded in the New Testament and the very few reported since then. The descriptions, “Angel of the Lord,” depicts the special form God has chosen to manifest Himself to man and it is the visible form of Christ before His incarnation. Example: In Exodus, Chapters 3 and 4, God appears to Moses in the burning bush as the Angel of the Lord. Compare this recording with that of Acts 7:30. In Genesis 18:1-33, the pre-incarnate Christ walks into Abraham’s camp with two accompanying angels. These heavenly travelers were immediately welcomed as guests though at first Abraham did not know who they were. This is a good example of Hebrews 13:2, which says: “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers; for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” This would apply in Abraham’s case, and would also alert us to God’s visiting – as a guest – one of His saints. After walking with Abraham on the road to Sodom and confiding his plans to him, the Angel of the Lord (the pre-incarnate Christ) left him. But, you will also remember how Lot – hours later – welcomed the remaining two angels on assignment into his own home and treated them with food and kindness, not knowing at the time that they were angels, sent there to destroy Sodom. In Acts 12:5-10 we see how the Angel of the Lord (the resurrected Christ) freed Peter from prison and certain death. Later, angels on assignment would free Paul and Silas from prison. Centuries before, He had freed the Hebrew children out of the fiery furnaces of Babylon and in that episode appeared unto Nebuchadnezzar as a Son of Man (Son of God in the form of man). There are many more occasions in both the Old and the New Testaments and these are delightful assurances to those of us that believe. Angels were created a little higher and far more powerful than men, but infinitely lower and less powerful than God who created them. Their office is to serve God and to honor Him and His commands as they minister to and defend the men of earth. The expression, “Angel of God” refers to a manifestation of God Himself as seen in Genesis 22:11-12 and the aforementioned Exodus reference. See also Jacob at Penuel (Gen. 32:24-30) and Joshua at Gilgal (Joshua 5: 13-15). The word “angel” is also used to denote any messenger of God, including prophets, priests and rulers of the church (Rev. 1:20). There are ministering angels who minister to the saints and there are warrior angels who do battle with the enemies of God. Then there are Messenger angels. Don’t ask me what they do between messages. I haven’t any idea but I would imagine that such archangels as Gabriel would be busy with affairs of the heavenly government. Michael is the guardian archangel over Israel and commander of God’s army. The Holy Spirit commands all angels as He monitors the universe that includes heaven and earth. Angels have their appointed assignments and are not idle. We can be thankful for these helpers and encouragers. I have had my own encounter as described in a previous article in this column entitled, “The Angel of the Lord Encamps.” You may read it any time. This Christmas Season, remember that the timing of Christ’s birth is not as important as the factual reality of His birth. Avoid contention with those who try to humanize or dispute it. Like Mary, keep the Words in your own heart and never let them go. It is believed that Mary, in her old age, was the source of Luke’s detailed description of that event and the events that surrounded it. Luke, as the historian/physician who traveled with Paul, would have gone straight to the one source that had the facts. And Mary, who kept all these things in her heart, would have gladly shared them with Luke who was loyal and committed to following Christ. Remember too that angels walk among us. Their nature is such as men might be when the power of sin and death are finally put down and men become, as Jesus said, “like the angels of heaven.” They are great in numbers, powerful in strength, obedient only to God, and they are magnificent in their activities. They appear according to the need and the circumstance, and their appearance may be as a human or as an angel. They have the ability to show themselves visible as either man or angel and they have the ability to make quick and effective decisions. They are intensely interested in the affairs of men and are the heavenly cheerleaders that urge us on. Above all, believe! Believe the Word that IS the Word of God. If we can believe that the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ redeems us from the power of sin and death, if we can believe that His shed blood cleanses, justifies and sanctifies, and if we can believe that He is coming again in power and great glory, then it should be only natural to believe in the power and purity of His virgin conception and birth. We of faith know it is so – just because God said so! And that is sufficient to those of faith. To those that doubt – you have no faith. And without faith it is impossible to please God. May the peace of God and the love of Christ be poured out to you and yours for a joyous Christmas Season. And may that same peace and love and joy be shed abroad to others as they see the living Christ through you. Then they too will know, our God is real… Joan Krempel
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