The BIG REVEAL

Tonya enjoys watching those shows where homes are remodeled and others where tiny houses are built. Truth is, I get caught up in watching some of that too. It’s always exciting when THE BIG REVEAL happens, as it seems like it’s always MORE than what the homeowner or the viewer expected.

But the BIG REVEAL didn’t seem like a very BIG DEAL when the King of Creation stepped off the throne and put on human skin. I would have expected a parade, trumpets, and people packing the streets, as the King rode in on a powerful horse surrounded by a powerful army.

But as most of you know, that’s not how the story goes.

So today, let’s look at THE BIG REVEAL, the entrance of the Messiah whom the Jewish people had long been awaiting; and may we see this ancient story with fresh eyes.

PRAY Father, please help us to see this ancient story with fresh eyes. May You move among us today.

Luke 2:1–3 (CSB) In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole empire should be registered. This first registration took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So everyone went to be registered, each to his own town. 

Luke 2:4-5 (CSB)Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David, to be registered along with Mary, who was engaged to him and was pregnant. 

Engaged? They weren’t married yet?

According to Matthew’s account, they were married but did not make it official by consummating the marriage until after Jesus was born (Matthew 1:24–25), so Luke calls them engaged.

Bethlehem, the City of David

As we have made mention of several times before, Jesus would be born in the family lineage of King David to fulfill the promise of establishing an eternal dynasty (Psalm 89:3–4).

Further, the city of David is Bethlehem, where David was from, about 5 miles south of Jerusalem.

In fact, according to Matthew’s gospel (Matthew 2:4–6), many of the religious leaders in Jerusalem expected the Messiah to be born in Bethlehem as prophesied by Micah 5:2. We see this in...

Matthew 2:6 (CSB) And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah: Because out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.” [see Micah 5:2]

Bethlehem: Beth = house; lehem = of bread. As Jesus later refers to Himself as “the bread of life” (Jn 6:35) , we could say that “the Bread of life” was born in a small town called “the house of bread.”

Here’s another interesting parallel: Bethlehem is the place where Kind David was a shepherd for his father’s sheep (1 Samuel 17:15). So this small town of Bethlehem is the place where the prophesied Messiah would be

born into the family of King David and

shepherd His Father’s sheep - the people of Israel! How appropriate!

Luke 2:6-7 (CSB) While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. Then she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him tightly in cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

The text doesn’t imply that this is the couple’s first night in Bethlehem. They likely had been there several days.

NO GUEST ROOM?

Mary & Joseph weren’t denied entrance into an “inn” as the KJV wrongly renders this term (Gr. katalyma).

The Greek term here is better translated as guest room as it is here in the CSB.

The same Greek word here (kataluma) is again used by the same writer (Dr. Luke) only 1 other time - referring to use of the guest room for the Last Supper Passover meal (Lk 22:11, also mentioned in Mk 14:14).

BUT, WHAT ABOUT THE MANGER?

(You ask great questions!)

There WAS a manger present - a feeding trough - as the text says. But this wasn’t because Mary and Joseph were stuck in a stable.

Instead, they were likely in the home of a family member, staying on the bottom floor where the animals were kept at night, as the guest room was already taken.

Archaeology has demonstrated homes of that time were built on a one or two-level plan, where the bottom level was multi-functional as a kitchen, dining & living room during the day, but where the animals came in for safety and warmth in the evening. The main bedroom & guest room were separated by walls or located upstairs (compare the room for Elijah in 2 Kgs 4:8–10).

So, as the guest rooms of homes weren’t available, Joseph and Mary slept near animals in the home, which accounts for the manger to which Jesus was laid after He was born.

Think of the insignificance of this most significant birth!

The King of Creation who made the universe (Jn 1:3 and Col 1:15-16), now puts on skin and lies in a feeding trough!

I like what Luci Shaw, in her beautiful poem “Mary’s Song,”:

Quiet he lies whose vigor hurled a universe. He sleeps whose eyelids have not closed before.*

* Luci Shaw, Listen to the Green (Wheaton, IL: Harold Shaw, 1971), p. 66.

God in a BOD? The KING of Creation in feed trough?

THIS is the BIG REVEAL?

Well, there’s a little more to the story. It’s now time to awake the most powerful people in all of Jerusalem and let the know the King has come!…OR NOT.

Instead, God chooses to invite some less than respectable people to THE BIG REVEAL.

Luke 2:8–9 (CSB) In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 

You think?!? Angels in the Scripture aren’t fat little naked babies playing harps! Angels who don’t appear as humans, are conquering warriors whose faces shine like lightning, creatures who have been known to put people to death!

And these angels are appearing, not to pure priests, but stinky shepherds - people who in general were considered dishonest and unclean.

Yet, as Robert Stein writes:

“They represent the outcasts and sinners for whom Jesus came. Such outcasts were the first recipients of the good news.”*

*Robert H. Stein, Luke, vol. 24, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 108.

So here we have stinky, sleepy shepherds now terrified for what is about to happen next. Will this mean their death?

Luke 2:10-12 (CSB) But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger.”

Luke 2:13–14 (CSB) Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people he favors!

Luke 2:15–16 (CSB) When the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the manger.

Can you imagine this moment? The people in house were likely excited about the birth, but while Mom is recovering, and Joseph is overwhelmed with emotion…there’s a KNOCK at the door! Who could that be…a neighbor, a family member? NOPE! Stinky shepherds whom they had never seen before…what could THEY want?

Luke 2:17–19 (CSB) After seeing them, they reported the message they were told about this Child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and meditating on them.

What was reported that amazed them so much?

The angels? Maybe.

That these shepherds knew of the birth and were able to find them? Granted…that’s pretty incredible.

BUT - MOST LIKELY, the message that amazed them is WHO the angels proclaimed this Baby to be! It’s the BIG REVEAL! The newborn in the manger is…

Luke 2:11 (CSB) Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord.

Sinners need a Savior…and The Promised One is HERE!

And THIS IS THE WAY…to forgiveness. THIS IS THE WAY to hope!

John 3:16 (NET) For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

This is why Luke 2:20 says the stinky shepherds went home praising God, because God had REVEALED Himself to them! And they had HOPE in WHO JESUS WAS!

Is that TRUE of YOU?

Will WE return home with the same wonder that they did? We will have the same hope & joy as we enter this Christmas season…and beyond?

SING - JOY TO THE WORLD