NATIVITY By Mike Herron

all creation.’ (Col 1:18 NIV) The God who always existed began his human life as a firstborn infant child of Mary.

7b She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. (NIV) ‘She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger…’ (NLT) This is a premonition of Luke’s future account of Christ’s burial; ‘ Then he took the body down from the cross and wrapped it in a long sheet of linen cloth and laid it in a new tomb that had been carved out of rock.’ (Lk 23:53 NLT) ‘ A manger is a feeding trough used for cattle, sheep, donkeys, or horses.’ 6 The use of this word is evidence that the nativity took place in the portion of a dwelling that was used for animals. Because of the crowded conditions in Bethlehem brought about by the census, there were no guest rooms, ‘ kataluma’ referring to a public inn or a room in a private dwelling. Today the birthplace is purported to be in a cave carved out of stone that was made to shelter the animals below the inn where the guests would have stayed. While Augustus walked the promenades of his palaces, the Son of God was born with the very animals he had created. ‘The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master’s crib (manger); but Israel does not know, my people do not consider.’ (Isa 1:3 NKJV) Jesus would one day ride the donkey’s colt into the cheering crowds of Jerusalem to later become the Lamb of God, the Scapegoat for our sins and the fulfillment of the young sacrificial Ox. Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth and Zecharias along with the animals were the only ones in Israel who knew and considered the tremendous importance surrounding the birth of Jesus. God was soon to announce the arrival of His first born Son in a spectacular manner.