The Christmas Story
The Christmas Story
Whether you’ve heard of the Christmas story before or not, we're glad you're here! While we call it a “story”, it really is a true event that happened in history. While we often make it sound like a sweet little fairy tale we hear every year, it really is a breathtaking miracle full of romance, war, adventure, and suspense! Read this blog to learn about the birth of our Savior!
Mary and the Angel
The Christmas story starts with Jesus in the womb. If you look in Luke 2:26, you’ll see that GOD sent one of His angels, named Gabriel, to a city called Nazareth. Gabriel went to a virgin named Mary. Mary was a virgin who was not yet married, but was planning on marrying a man named Joseph. Gabriel came to Mary and said “Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.” (Luke 2:28 KJV) The angel then says to Mary in verse 31 “And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. (32) He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the LORD God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: (33) And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.”
Jesus’ Birth
Mary and Joseph lived in the city of Nazareth and not soon before Mary was ready to give birth to Jesus, Cesar Augustus ordered that everyone had to go to Bethlehem to be taxed. So Mary and Joseph packed up their things and started on the long journey to Bethlehem.
When they got there, because of all the people who came from all over the world to be taxed, all of the inns were full. The only place left for them to go was a barn behind one of the inns. They made their way to the barn and “ On that night Mary delivered her first born son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger.” -Luke 2:7
A little ways away there were shepherds watching over there sheep and angels appeared to them and said “For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior which is Christ the Lord.” -Luke 2:11
They made their way into the city and when they found Mary, Joseph and the baby, they sang praises to God.
Why He Came
Jesus came as a baby so that years later he could die on the cross for your sins. Now I know what you might be thinking: Why did Jesus come as a baby and not just come when it was time for Him to die? I don’t think there is really an exact answer to that question but here is my theory… I think that He came as a baby so he could be born from a virgin to show that he can use even a small town girl in amazing ways. The other reason I think He came as a baby is so that He could grow up and be a testimony to everyone He was around. But like I said at the beginning, the main reason Jesus came to earth is so that He could grow up and one day die on the cross and take the penalty for everyone’s sins.
The Wise Men
Unlike many of our nativity scenes show, the wise men were not actually present at the birth of Jesus. Jesus was actually two years old when the wise men finally met Him. Jesus lived in Nazareth at the time, which means the wise men were most likely traveling from somewhere near northern Syria. (The Bible only states that they traveled from afar.) The wise men found Jesus by following a star. We call this star, “The Christmas Star” They followed the star until they found the toddler Jesus with His mother, Mary, and His Earthly father, Joseph. Typical nativity scenes show three wise men at the scene of Jesus’ birth, however, the Bible never states how many wise men there were. There could have been hundreds!
The wise men brought Jesus three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Each of these gifts symbolized something about Jesus. Gold was a precious gift that only the rich could afford. This symbolized that Jesus was a king on Earth, just as He is a king in heaven. The frankincense symbolizes deity, or that Jesus is God. Despite being away from God on Earth, Jesus is still God because of the Holy Trinity. The final gift was myrrh. This was an incense that was used when a loved one dies. The myrrh symbolized Jesus dying on the cross, and Him rising again.
Christmas is not just a story, but a true event about our wonderful Savior and His birth!