Baby

“A baby is God’s opinion that the world should go on,” wrote poet Carl Sandburg in his book Remembrance Rock. But there are people who dislike babies. One writer called babies “an alimentary canal with a loud voice at one end and no responsibility at the other.” She forgot that we all got our start by being born, and if it hadn’t been for caring people who received us, we would not have survived into adolescence and adulthood. Let’s not be too critical of babies.

The Jewish theologians knew that their Messiah was to be born into the tribe of Judah, although they wished that He would come some other way. The first messianic prophecy in their Scriptures calls the promised Redeemer the “offspring” or “seed” of the woman (Gen. 3:15). The Magi asked where the king of the Jews was to be born, and the chief priests and teachers knew the answer—in Bethlehem of Judea (Matt. 2:1–6; Mic. 5:2). The king the Magi were searching for wasn’t a conqueror on a throne. He was a child in His mother’s arms.

If a twenty-first-century public relations firm had been assigned to program the coming of Jesus into the world, the staff would probably not have opted for the birth of a baby in a smelly cattle stall. A hero leading a victorious army would receive much better news coverage, or a radiant figure descending from heaven in clouds of glory; but Jesus came as a baby. In His birth, His life, and His death, Jesus failed to live up to the expectations of society, and society today is still disappointed. Imagine, God coming as a baby!

Society Worships Bigness

Which city has the tallest building, the biggest stadium or arena, the largest population? Who pastors the biggest church? Which nation has the biggest army? Who manages the biggest budget? When God planned to send salvation into the world, He chose to send His Son as something small—a baby. And He arranged for Him to be born in the “little town of Bethlehem,” a village the prophet Micah called “small among the clans of Judah” (Mic. 5:2).

But small is powerful. When God wanted to establish the Jewish nation, the channel through which His Son would enter the world, He sent a little baby to a barren elderly couple. That son, Isaac, fathered Jacob and Jacob fathered the boys who grew up and founded the twelve tribes of Israel. God deigns to be called “the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.” It all started with a baby.

When His people were in bondage in Egypt and God needed a deliverer, He sent a baby boy to a devout Jewish couple, and Moses grew up to become that deliverer. Several generations after Israel had conquered Canaan, the people turned to idols and the light of God’s truth grew dim. God sent a baby boy to Hannah and Elkanah, and Samuel grew up to lead the nation back to God. God brought two widows to Bethlehem—Naomi and Ruth—and Ruth married Boaz and in time gave birth to Obed. Two generations later, Obed’s grandson David was born, and God used him to reestablish the kingdom that King Saul had almost destroyed. Jesus would be born of the family of David. Yes, babies are small, but they are God’s best answers to the needs of the world.

Society Worships Power

The people of Israel were under the iron fist of the Roman Empire and had no freedom or power. Throughout the centuries, a godly Jewish remnant had prayed for the Deliverer to come and bring the power they needed to find freedom. Finally, He came—as a baby!

But look carefully at the demonstration of that baby’s power. Because of Jesus, Caesar Augustus had to issue a decree that would bring Mary and Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem, where the prophet said He would be born. Because of Jesus, a host of angels came from heaven to welcome His birth with their praises. He drew the shepherds from their flocks to the manger where they worshiped Him. Because of baby Jesus, a wonderful star moved from its place to guide the Magi to the home where He was, and they gave Him gifts. So powerful was this baby that His birth greatly disturbed Herod the Great and stirred the whole city of Jerusalem.

But Jesus is no longer a baby in a manger. He is the exalted King of Kings and Lord of Lords, “far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given” (Eph. 1:21). Every title, including president, king, emperor, emir, Mikado, raja, shah, sultan, czar, CEO, Führer, duke, earl, baron, senator, congressman, member of Parliament, maharajah, Secretary of State, Lord High Commissioner, mayor, and even Caesar. The authority of Jesus is the greatest of all.

When we claim His promises, when we yield to His Holy Spirit, when we pray and when we obey, we share in that authority and accomplish His purposes on this earth. “In this world you will have trouble,” He told His disciples. “But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). The world looks at Christians as inferior underlings, but Jesus sees us as unbeatable overcomers.

Society Worships Wealth

Babies are rich in potential but poor in possessions, no matter how many lovely gifts people may bring them. A baby cannot own property, inherit an estate, or sign a check. Babies don’t even know they are babies. In time, they learn who their parents and siblings are and what the family is worth, but not a cent is theirs until they are old enough to inherit.

Jesus wasn’t born in a comfortable house, surrounded by loving people. He was born in a cattle stall surrounded by strangers and farm animals. His foster father, Joseph, was a carpenter, a man too poor to bring a lamb for a sacrifice (Luke 2:21–24). When Jesus was grown and busy in ministry, He had no place of His own to lay His head. He borrowed boats so He could travel. He borrowed a little boy’s lunch so He could feed a crowd of thousands, He borrowed a donkey for His “Palm Sunday” presentation in Jerusalem, and He borrowed an upper room for His last Passover. He even borrowed a tomb so He could be properly buried after dying on the cross.

“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,” wrote the apostle Paul, “that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9). He was rich in heaven and became poor on earth so that we who are poor might trust Him and receive heavenly riches. What a paradox! And the spiritual riches we have in Christ never lose their value, cannot be stolen from us, and keep multiplying to enrich our lives more and more. God’s children share the riches of His wisdom (Rom. 11:33), grace (Eph. 1:7; 2:7), and mercy (2:4); in fact, the riches they have in Christ are so vast they are unsearchable (3:8). Paul described believers as “poor, yet making many rich” (2 Cor. 6:10), and Jesus said to the suffering saints in Smyrna, “I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich!” (Rev. 2:9).

The riches of this world are uncertain (1 Tim. 6:17), but the riches we have in Christ are eternal.

Society Wants Instant Results

“Ears pierced while you wait.” The jeweler who put that sign in his store window didn’t know much about writing but he certainly understood his customers. Most people today belong to the Now Generation and what they want must be delivered immediately. Instant gratification and prompt performance are absolute essentials or they will take their business elsewhere.

But the Lord doesn’t operate that way. He can grow a mushroom overnight, but it takes decades to grow the mighty oak and centuries for a sequoia. He waited twenty-five years before He sent baby Isaac to Abraham and Sarah, and more than four hundred years before He sent Moses to deliver Israel from Egypt. Centuries passed before the promise of Genesis 3:15 was fulfilled in the birth of Jesus, and how many years have come and gone since Jesus promised to come again? The sooner we learn that God isn’t in a hurry, the more peace we will have in our hearts and the more effective our lives will be. We don’t want to follow the hyperactive crowds around us. We want to “imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised” (Heb. 6:12).

The word for this priceless attitude is hope. When new parents look lovingly on their precious baby, their hearts are filled with hope, for every baby is a vote for the future. The question that was asked about eight-day-old John the Baptist may be asked about any new baby: “What then is this child going to be?” (Luke 1:66). Unfortunately, there are people today who consider babies nuisances, and some of them don’t hesitate to interrupt the hidden miracle occurring in a mother’s womb. The Jewish people have always welcomed babies and valued them. “Sons are a heritage of the LORD, children a reward from him,” wrote King Solomon. “Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them” (Ps. 127:3–5). David said that daughters were “like pillars carved to adorn a palace” (144:12). Proverbs 17:6 reminds grandparents, “Children’s children are a crown to the aged.”

Dr. Luke recorded the story of our Lord’s conception, birth, and presentation in the temple, and then skipped to His twelfth year and then to His thirtieth year when He began His public ministry (Luke 2:41–52; 3:23). Were those unmentioned years unimportant years? Of course not! They were simply unrecorded years, a time when the Father was preparing His Son for three years of sacrificial ministry, climaxing in the cross, the resurrection, and the ascension. The Father didn’t think it a waste of time to invest thirty years in equipping His Son for the most important work ever accomplished on this planet. The Father’s words after Jesus’ baptism tell us that Jesus successfully passed every test: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17).

The beautiful words of Phillips Brooks come to mind.

O holy Child of Bethlehem,

Descend to us, we pray;

Cast out our sin and enter in,

Be born in us today.

We hear the Christmas angels

The great glad tidings tell;

O come to us, abide with us,

Our Lord Immanuel.

 See: Immanuel, Virgin Birth

Bethlehem

The Bible mentions two towns named Bethlehem, one seven miles northwest of Nazareth in Zebulun (Josh. 19:15; Judg. 12:8–10), and the other five miles southwest of Jerusalem in Judah, the Bethlehem where Jesus was born. That Bethlehem is mentioned nearly thirty times in the Old Testament and has a rich history that relates directly to Jesus Christ and helps us better understand Him and what He came to do for us.

Bread

Bethlehem means “house of bread,” and Ephrathah means “fruitful,” because the land around Bethlehem was very productive. It was common knowledge among the Jews that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (John 7:42). Seven centuries before Jesus was born, the prophet Micah wrote, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times” (Mic. 5:2).

That Jesus, the Bread of Life (John 6:33–40), should be born in the “house of bread” is no accident. The Father sent manna from heaven to sustain the people of Israel in the wilderness but He sent Jesus to give life to the whole world. It cost the Lord nothing to send the manna each morning, but it cost Jesus His life on the cross to give the bread of life to a world of lost sinners. Eat the bread of this world and you will always hunger, but receive Jesus and feed on Him and you will never hunger. His earthly life as the incarnate Son of God began at “the house of bread,” and our eternal life begins when we trust Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life.

Sorrow

When Jacob and his family were traveling back home to his father, Isaac, Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel died in childbirth near Bethlehem, then called Ephrath (Gen. 35:16–20). She gave birth to a son whom she named Ben-Oni, “son of my trouble,” but Jacob gave his son a different name, Benjamin, “son of my right hand.” Rachel already had one son, Joseph, and she had previously said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I’ll die!” (Gen. 30:1). God took her at her word.

Jesus is Ben-Oni, “a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering” (Isa. 53:3). But He is also Benjamin, “the Son of God’s right hand.” Ben-Oni speaks of suffering, but Benjamin speaks of glory. He could not be glorified until first He was crucified. Jesus identified with the sorrows and suffering of this world and today He gives grace and mercy when we come to His throne and ask in faith (Heb. 4:14–16).

Love

One of the greatest love stories in history is that of Ruth and Boaz, and it takes place in the town of Bethlehem. The account is recorded in the Bible in the book of Ruth. Ruth and her mother-in-law, Naomi, both of them widows, came to Bethlehem where they hoped somehow to begin a new life. While Ruth was gleaning in the harvest fields, Boaz, the lord of the harvest, saw her and fell in love with her. He was a wealthy near kinsman to her deceased husband and was therefore able to redeem her from her poverty. They married, and God sent them a baby boy whom they named Obed, who ultimately was the grandfather of David the king.

Jesus is our Lord of the harvest. He loves us and paid the price to redeem us from our spiritual poverty. “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Eph. 5:25). Salvation isn’t a commercial transaction; it’s a love relationship between the believer and the Savior. Love came down to Bethlehem to set us free from our sins.

Thirst

A neglected but important event in the life of David is recorded in 2 Samuel 23:13–17. While Saul was king and David was in exile, David was with his men in the cave of Adullam and longed for a drink of water from the well in his boyhood home of Bethlehem. He didn’t issue an order; he simply said under his breath, “Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!” The Philistines held Bethlehem at that time, but three of David’s mighty men, wanting to please their leader, broke through the lines, secured the water, and brought it to David. But David refused to drink it. “Is it not the blood of men who went at the risk of their lives?” he said, and he poured it out as a drink offering to the Lord.

Bethlehem is not only a house of bread but also a place where spiritual thirst is quenched. Jesus said to the woman at Jacob’s well in Samaria, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst” (John 4:13). The last invitation in the Bible says, “Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life” (Rev. 22:17). Jesus came to Bethlehem to satisfy the thirst in the heart of everyone who is tired of the cheap substitutes the world offers.

Hope

For forty years the prophet Jeremiah had warned the people of Jerusalem and Judah that judgment was coming, but the people refused to obey and abandon their idols. The Babylonian army did arrive, looting and destroying the city and the temple. They also took thousands of Jewish exiles to Babylon.

The town of Ramah, about five miles north of Jerusalem, was one of the stopping points for the exiles. Jeremiah gave them this message from the Lord: “A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more” (Jer. 31:15). As they trudged along, the people would recall Rachel’s death at Bethlehem when she was giving birth to Benjamin. She died to bring Benjamin into the world, and now his descendants were going into exile. Was it worth it? Matthew quoted this verse and applied it to the slaughter of the little boys in Bethlehem (Matt. 2:16–18).

But Jeremiah didn’t stop simply with noting the sorrow of the exiles. He also promised them that Israel would return to their land and establish the nation and the temple again. “This is what the LORD says: ‘Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded,’ declares the LORD. ‘They will return from the land of the enemy. So there is hope for your future,’ declares the LORD. ‘Your children will return to their own land’” (Jer. 31:16–17). God kept His promise and the nation was restored.

If Jesus had not been born there, the town of Bethlehem would have been remembered only for tragic events—the death of Rachel, the exile of the people of Judah, the death of the innocent little boys. But Jesus Christ is “our hope” (1 Tim. 1:1), and God “has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Pet. 1:3). The Advent season is a time of joy because it is a time of hope. If the promises were fulfilled when Jesus came the first time, surely the promises of His second coming will also be fulfilled.

 See: David, Herod the Great, Innocents