One Silent Night

My Christmas 2021 Gift to My Readers

A child was born, lain in a manger and the strangest things happened. An angel appeared in the sky and told some shepherds about the baby's birth. Then more angels appeared and sang about the babe. How odd! This was just a baby being born during a census; one more person to count, another mouth to feed. Why would angels do this? Why this child? Why this birth? It's not as if the child was someone special. Why was it that angels from heaven came to sing about this child's birth?

This child, this angels-sang-of child, born of a young lady and her espoused husband, having been forced to stay in the equivalent of a barn, also got special treatment from a star and wise men! How could this be? A star appeared in the sky and guided three guys - some call them kings, some rich men, some wise me, does it matter? - to where the baby was. It took them a while to get there, but they found him by following this star and brought him presents. We're not talking a Gameboy, or Legos here, we're talking gold, frankincense and myrrh! The gold, it is said, represented the child's kingship; the frankincense, the baby's priesthood; and the myrrh, His sacrificial death. These guys, these men bearing gifts, followed a star, found the child, gave Him their gifts then were warned in a dream to not return to the king who told them to tell him where the baby could be found so the king would be able to worship him, too. The men had already had the warning so they disobeyed the king and went to their home another way. Why? The warning came because the king was going to kill the child! The wise men not returning was protecting the child based upon a dream. Why would a star move across the sky and stop above where the baby was? Why would these men want to bring a stranger's child, someone they never knew, didn't have a relationship with, were not related to, expensive gifts? And why would a dream given to them by God protect the life of this one child? We know that the king did kill thousands of babies after he realized the wise men did not return to tell him where to find the child the star led them to. The wise men did the right thing because of a dream. Why? How?

A child! A child's birth brought about these strange events. His later life (days later as well as years later) had many, many more strange events, but His birth was just weird. Even before He was born, His mother was visited by an angel who told her she would become pregnant without "knowing a man"! Later when she visited her cousin, who was also pregnant but was much older than she, her cousin's baby "leapt in her womb" when she entered and spoke! This baby, born one quiet night, who slept on hay started His life so amazingly. Why this child?

Why was it not like an ordinary pregnancy and birth? Why was this child's beginning so remarkable that it had to be recorded? Why was this child's birth the moment that history changed so completely that we started using A.D. when this child died thirty-three years later at the hands of his persecutors? Why do so many people follow and believe in Him all these years later? Why, as a grown man, did His followers stick with their belief in Him so completely that they continued to preach His teachings even to their own assassinations?

A child born to a young mother and gifted the gifts of kings and sang of by angels. There must be a reason all of this happened. There must be something special about this child to bring about such amazing things. Could it be that the reason was that He truly was the "Son of God, King of Kings, Messiah" and that the truth is He is all He claimed to be? Remember, God agreed, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased."

Remember the older stuff is on Page Deux or on the Storage pages.