A Saviour is Born Part 2
Memory verse
Luke 2:11
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord
Bethlehem was a small city. All around it were hillsides and grazing land where shepherds led their sheep through the day. Many of Abraham’s race were shepherds. They usually spent many nights and days with their flocks in order to protect them from wild beasts and to look after them.
The same night that Mary and Joseph found the stable to sleep in, the angel of the Lord appeared to some shepherds who were watching over their flocks. A great light shone around them. The shepherds were afraid when they saw the angel and the bright light. Then the angle spoke to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be the sign unto you; ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger,” Luke 2: 10-12.
Then suddenly a great host of angels came to join the one who had made the announcement. They seem to fill the entire Heaven. They praised God saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.” Then the angels went away as suddenly as they had come. The bright light faded and the shepherds were left alone with their sheep. They said to one another, “Let us go to Bethlehem and see this for ourselves.”
Bethlehem was all dark as the shepherds hurried down the narrow little streets. How would they find the baby? All they knew was that he was wrapped in swaddling clothes and his mother had used a manger for His cot. The Bible does not tell us how they found Him or how long it took them, but they did find Him with His mother, Mary and her husband Joseph.
In the stillness of the night God’s own dear Son had been born there in the stable with the cattle to welcome Him. Mary and Joseph had wrapped the baby in swaddling clothes and laid Him in the manger on the soft hay.
Perhaps Mary and Joseph were surprised to see the shepherds until they told them about the angel’s visit and the message he gave them, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour who is Christ the Lord.” As they knelt there by the make shift crib their hearts praised God for sending His anointed One, Christ the Lord.
After the shepherds had seen the baby and talked with Mary and Joseph, they left the stable and started back to where they had left there flocks. But they did not keep this wonderful news to themselves. They stopped everyone they met to tell them about the angel’s message and the baby in the manger.
The people they talked with perhaps wondered about what they said, no doubt others thought they had had too much wine. But the Bible does not record that any of them went to see for themselves or to worship the new born Saviour. But the shepherds went back to their sheep praising God for all they had seen and heard. They never forgot that night and the message the angel brought.