Christmas Eve

Immanuel, God With Us

At Pentecost, He became God in us. At Calvary, He became God for us. At Bethlehem, He became Immanuel, God with us. Luke records that the angel Gabriel visited Mary.

Luke 1:30–33 NLT

30 “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”

The coming of Christ altered human history like nothing before or since. For the first time in history, the message of hope was for everybody. No one was excluded.

Yet, Mary and Joseph could not celebrate openly. The world saw a child to be born out of wedlock. As her cousin, Elizabeth, celebrated the coming birth of Jesus’ cousin, John the baptist, Mary and Joseph had to remain guarded and alone. Jesus, Yeshua, meaning “He is Salvation,” born into a world that needed Him but did not want Him, even before he was born.

Mary, Did You Know?

Jesus is Born

Luke 2:1–6 NLT

1 At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. 2 (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. 4 And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. 5 He took with him Mary, to whom he was engaged, who was now expecting a child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born.

The incredible providence of God is shown in these six verses. Joseph was a descendants of King David of the tribe of Judah. The Roman Emperor, Augustus Caesar, ordered that a census was to be taken for the reason of taxing families and family estates. Everybody had to return to their ancestral homes to register for the census. Well, it turns out King David had called Bethlehem home. As descendants, Joseph and Mary had to make the journey from Galilee to Bethlehem. How awesome is our God! How worthy of our praise tonight! God used the Romans who were hated and the non-religious to orchestrate the birthing place of Jesus Christ. Man can not alter the will of God.

Almost 700 years before Jesus was born, God told the Prophet Micah that the Savior would be born in Bethlehem.

Micah 5:2 NLT

2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf.

We read in Luke that Mary gave birth to Jesus.

Luke 2:7 NLT

7 She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.

There is no lodging available. Luke is not referring to a single inn with a grumpy innkeeper, Luke is telling us that nobody would allow Joseph and Mary to stay with them or to give birth at their homes. Nobody wanted to help them. We know that they returned to Bethlehem because that is where their ancestral home was. What this means is that they had family around them. Yet, Joseph and Mary found themselves alone.

Jewish law dictated that a family that has a child out of wedlock be excommunicated from the temple for 10 generations. Before His birth, Jesus was hated and cast out of society. Born poor and of no reputation. Born into a world of sin and corruption. There was no hospital, there was no midwife, there was no doctor. There were no fine linens or clean blankets to wrap the baby in. They were not in the home of friends or family.

God’s greatest miracle was performed in a quiet and lonely place. Where Jesus Christ was wrapped in rags and laid in a feeding trough. His welcome to this world. His humble beginnings. The proof of His love for you this night. His agape love.

Song

The Angel Visits the Shepherds

Luke 2:8–12 NLT

8 That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”

Somewhere in a field outside of Bethlehem there were shepherds tending to their flocks. Shepherds dedicated their lives to their flocks. They slept outside under the stars so that they could protect their flocks and care for their sheep.

Shepherds were considered to be lowly by society. It was near impossible for them to attend services at the Temple because they had a job to do and that was to take care of the sheep. They were frowned upon because it was difficult for them to observe the cleanliness laws of the Jews. They didn’t have a place to go to get cleaned up because they had to stay with their flocks.

As lowly and dirty as people viewed shepherds, they were the first people whom God revealed the birth of our Savior. God chose to reveal himself through an angel, his gift of hope and unending love to those that society viewed as the least of these.

Luke 2:11 (KJV) “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” God’s messenger has just declared something so incredible that 2000 years later people are still trying to wrap their mind around it. Unto you a child is born. Unto you the Savior is born. Unto you Christ the Lord is born. The Christmas message, the reason for the season, all of it wrapped up in one statement: unto you the Savior is born. As believers, as brothers and sisters in Christ, the foundation of our faith begins in that one statement. What a great joy, what an awesome love.

The angel then says to the shepherds “go and find him, seek him.” The angel told the shepherds what to look for. A baby wrapped in strips of rags laying in a feeding trough.

They were not going to find but one baby in a feeding trough wrapped in strips of rags anywhere else in the world let alone Bethlehem. And just the fact that the Savior born unto us would be wrapped in strips of cloth so closely associated with death was prophetic in and of itself. You see newborn babies were not wrapped in strips of rags. That was done to those that died. Another prophecy that would later be fulfilled.

Song

The Shepherds Find Jesus

The shepherds did not hang out and discuss what to do, they rushed to Bethlehem, just as the angel had instructed. And they found Jesus, in a feeding trough, a manger, wrapped in strips of cloth. The shepherds were overcome with joy when they saw exactly what and who the angels were talking about. And they worshipped Him.

You have to know that Mary and Joseph were given peace that night. Others had been told by the angels exactly what they had been told. People that Mary and Joseph did not even know come running in to worship Jesus as the Son of God.

These common, non-religious shepherds were worshipping God. They were praising the name of the Lord for what they had heard and seen. God had spoken to them and they had received the message. They obeyed God's instructions to seek out the Messiah; therefore, they had been privileged to see the Messiah. They had reason to praise God. (How many hear and see, yet never respond and never praise God?) The first human beings to share the message that salvation had come to us that night were considered lowly and dirty by society.

Song

God’s Promise Fulfilled

With no place to lay their heads, nobody coming to help, God’s greatest show of mercy and grace. The night that heaven and earth collided. There was the quiet swishing of animal tails in a cave behind an inn. The cry of a baby, our savior. The exhausted Mary filled with joy and hope. Joseph tenderly caring for and loving both. Our savior breathed his first breath of life on earth. 2000 years ago, on a silent night in Bethlehem.

Silent Night

Communion

As we take communion tonight, let us reflect on God’s incredible providence, mercy, and amazing grace. On the agape love given to us this night. Let us remember His body broken for the remission of our sins, and His blood poured out for us all, that we may be called into the courts of the kingdom of God as His blessed children. Being counted as brothers and sisters of the hope of the world, Christ Jesus. Will you come?

Closing Prayer