TEEN TREE OF LIFE
The Birth of Our Savior
Part 1
December 15, 2019

Before you begin, ask yourself a very important question: Do you believe that Jesus Christ died on The Cross for all of your sins? If you answered yes, you will need to be sure that you are filled with The Holy Spirit. How do you do this? You name your sins to God The Father in His Son’s Name. This is called Rebound. As a Christian, you must rebound any time you sin. This is taught in 1JOHN 1:9: If we confess [name] our sins [directly to God], He [God] is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, if you have never believed that Jesus Christ died on The Cross for all of your sins, all you have to do is say to yourself that you believe in Him and you are saved! The Bible verse which teaches us this is ACTS 16:31: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”

The true meaning of Christmas is the celebration of the Birth of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. As Christians, our focus should be on the Person Who was born and His Purpose in coming. That is what Christmas is all about!

Have you ever thought about how every human being is born condemned under the death penalty? This is called Spiritual Death and it’s the penalty of the sin which Adam was warned about in the Garden: Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” (GEN 2:15-17) When Adam and the woman (our original parents) ate the forbidden fruit, they died spiritually.

Spiritual Death is defined as separation from God and it means being helpless, with respect to having a relationship with Him. All humanity experiences Spiritual Death at the moment of physical birth because they are imputed with Adam’s original sin and possess an inherent Old Sin Nature. The problem of Spiritual Death was resolved by the substitutionary spiritual death of Jesus Christ on The Cross. God made it possible to avoid Spiritual Death by offering freedom and eternal life when He sent His Son, Jesus Christ. And we were freed from the death penalty. JOH 3:16-18 tells us: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten [uniquely born] Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten [uniquely born] Son of God.
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Each one of us is guilty and helpless to save ourselves. Despite what other religions may teach, God’s Word tells us that there is no ability we possess or any work we can perform to redeem ourselves. All a person has to do to be saved is taught in ACTS 16:31: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” And although His Death at Calvary is how we’re saved, it wouldn’t have happened without His Birth!

The first seven verses of LUKE 2 tell the story of Jesus Christ’s Birth: Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child. While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. (LUK 2:1-7) The location of Christ’s birth was Bethlehem of Judea, the city of David. This was because Joseph was a descendant of King David.

Now, did you ever wonder why the place of His birth was in a manger? Well, history teaches us that Bethlehem was a very prosperous town when Christ was born. On the morning of His Birth, we can assume that people were already out and about. Vendors were positioning themselves on the corners of the most heavily traveled streets to sell their wares. Store owners were unlocking the doors to their shops in preparation for a busy day of sales. The owner of the inn, where Mary and Joseph were turned away, had probably awakened earlier than most of the businessmen that morning. He had to have been super busy because, as Scripture tells us, his inn was full. Did you ever wonder if while the innkeeper ran around getting things ready for his customers, if he thought about the young pregnant woman on the donkey that he had turned away the night before?

And imagine what was going on that morning in the manger in which Our Beloved Lord and Savior was born! What if, by chance, someone had wandered past it, on the outskirts of Bethlehem, that first Christmas? What a strange scene they would have come across!! Off to one side of the manger was a group of shepherds, sitting silently on the stone floor, no doubt in amazement at what had happened the night before. Their night watch had been inter¬rupted by an explosion of light from heaven and a symphony of angels calling them to this very manger in Bethlehem: In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.” So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger. When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child. And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them. (LUK 2:8-20) No wonder the shepherds were silent that morning in the manger. Wouldn’t you have been speechless?

LUK 2:8-20 tells us that the shepherds were given the “Good News” that Salvation from God was brought down to man. The angel brought the “Good News” to the shepherds but remember, Salvation was provided for all people. When you wish someone, “Merry Christmas,” it should be a wish for him or her to know the greatness of Salvation through faith in Christ. This is the kind of faith the shepherds had, and it motivated them to go into Bethlehem where they found Mary, Joseph and The Baby Jesus – just as the angel had told them they would.

The angel’s announcement to the Shepherds was obviously of great significance because it contained knowledge that they would have known from the Old Testament. One such verse is ISA 7:14 (The Message Bible): Watch for this: A girl who is presently a virgin will get pregnant. She’ll bear a son and name him Immanuel [God-With-Us]. Their response to the angel’s message – going immediately to the manger – proves they knew their Bible doctrine!

The angel’s message contained clues that the shepherds could identify. One was that The Savior was born in the city of David. While that potentially could have been just a reference to the location of His birth, so they could later find Him, the location itself is significant. There are two places referred to in the Bible as the city of David. One is in 1CHRO 11:5: The inhabitants of Jebus said to David, “You shall not enter here.” Nevertheless, David captured the stronghold of Zion (that is, the city of David). The stronghold in Jerusalem that David captured from the Jebusites was thereafter called the city of David. This location is also called the stronghold of Zion. It was where David built a house for himself and his family in Jerusalem. It’s also the place where many of the kings of Judah were buried.

The other city of David is identified in LUK 2:4 (see above) as Bethlehem in Judea. It is the ancestral home of the house and family of David: Now David was the son of the Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, whose name was Jesse, and he had eight sons. And Jesse was old in the days of Saul, advanced in years among men. (1SAM 17:12) Bethlehem, which means “house of bread,” was a name used for cities in other places; so this particular Bethlehem is also identified in the Hebrew Scriptures as Bethlehem Ephrathah since that is the name of the clan that had settled there and of which David’s family was a part.

The shepherds would have understood the reference to being born in the city of David as meaning that this Savior could be of the lineage of David and possibly even the One fulfilling the prophecy in MIC 5:2: “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.” Any doubt about this was removed when the angel specifically said that this Savior was Christ, The Lord.

{to be continued}