Chapter 1 (15 months before the
birth of Christ)
A Childless Couple
Conceives
During the rule of Herod, King of
Judea, there was a priest assigned service in the regiment of
Abijah. His name was Zachariah. His wife was descended from the
daughters of Aaron. Her name was Elizabeth. Together they lived
honorably before God, careful in keeping to the ways of the
commandments and enjoying a clear conscience before God. But
they were childless because Elizabeth could never conceive, and
now they were quite old.
It so happened that as Zachariah
was carrying out his priestly duties before God, working the
shift assigned to his regiment, it came his one turn in life to
enter the sanctuary of God and burn incense. The congregation
was gathered and praying outside the Temple at the hour of the
incense offering. Unannounced, an angel of God appeared just to
the right of the altar of incense. Zachariah was paralyzed in
fear.
But the angel reassured him,
"Don't fear, Zachariah. Your prayer has been heard. Elizabeth,
your wife, will bear a son by you. You are to name him John.
You're going to leap like a gazelle for joy, and not only
you—many will delight in his birth. He'll achieve great stature
with God.
"He'll drink neither wine nor
beer. He'll be filled with the Holy Spirit from the moment he
leaves his mother's womb. He will turn many sons and daughters
of Israel back to their God. He will herald God's arrival in the
style and strength of Elijah, soften the hearts of parents to
children, and kindle devout understanding among hardened
skeptics—he'll get the people ready for God."
Zachariah said to the angel, "Do
you expect me to believe this? I'm an old man and my wife is an
old woman."
But the angel said, "I am Gabriel,
the sentinel of God, sent especially to bring you this glad
news. But because you won't believe me, you'll be unable to say
a word until the day of your son's birth. Every word I've spoken
to you will come true on time—God's time."
Meanwhile, the congregation
waiting for Zachariah was getting restless, wondering what was
keeping him so long in the sanctuary. When he came out and
couldn't speak, they knew he had seen a vision. He continued
speechless and had to use sign language with the people.
When the course of his priestly
assignment was completed, he went back home. It wasn't long
before his wife, Elizabeth, conceived. She went off by herself
for five months, relishing her pregnancy. "So, this is how God
acts to remedy my unfortunate condition!" she said.
Chapter 2 (9 months before the
birth of Christ)
A Virgin Conceives
In the sixth month of Elizabeth's
pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean village of
Nazareth to a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended
from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin's name, Mary.
Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her:
Good morning!
You're beautiful with God's beauty,
Beautiful inside and out!
God be with you.
She was thoroughly shaken,
wondering what was behind a greeting like that. But the angel
assured her, "Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise
for you: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and
call his name Jesus.
He will be great,
be called 'Son of the Highest.'
The Lord God will give him
the throne of his father David;
He will rule Jacob's house forever—
no end, ever, to his kingdom."
Mary said to the angel, "But how?
I've never slept with a man."
The angel answered,
The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
the power of the Highest hover over you;
Therefore, the child you bring to birth
will be called Holy, Son of God.
"And did you know that your cousin
Elizabeth conceived a son, old as she is? Everyone called her
barren, and here she is six months pregnant! Nothing, you see,
is impossible with God."
And Mary said,
Yes, I see it all now:
I'm the Lord's maid, ready to serve.
Let it be with me
just as you say.
Then the angel left her.
Chapter 3 (Approximately 6-9
months before the birth of Christ)
Blessed Among Women
Mary didn't waste a minute. She
got up and traveled to a town in Judah in the hill country,
straight to Zachariah's house, and greeted Elizabeth. When
Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby in her womb leaped.
She was filled with the Holy Spirit, and sang out exuberantly,
You're so blessed among women,
and the babe in your womb, also blessed!
And why am I so blessed that
the mother of my Lord visits me?
The moment the sound of your
greeting entered my ears,
The babe in my womb
skipped like a lamb for sheer joy.
Blessed woman, who believed what God said,
believed every word would come true!
And Mary said,
I'm bursting with God-news;
I'm dancing the song of my Savior God.
God took one good look at me, and look what happened—
I'm the most fortunate woman on earth!
What God has done for me will never be forgotten,
the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all
others.
His mercy flows in wave after wave
on those who are in awe before him.
He bared his arm and showed his strength,
scattered the bluffing braggarts.
He knocked tyrants off their high horses,
pulled victims out of the mud.
The starving poor sat down to a banquet;
the callous rich were left out in the cold.
He embraced his chosen child, Israel;
he remembered and piled on the mercies, piled them high.
It's exactly what he promised,
beginning with Abraham and right up to now.
Chapter 4 (Approximately 6
months before the birth of Christ)
The Birth of John
When Elizabeth was full-term in
her pregnancy, she bore a son. Her neighbors and relatives,
seeing that God had overwhelmed her with mercy, celebrated with
her.
On the eighth day, they came to
circumcise the child and were calling him Zachariah after his
father. But his mother intervened: "No. He is to be called
John."
"But," they said, "no one in your
family is named that." They used sign language to ask Zachariah
what he wanted him named.
Asking for a tablet, Zachariah
wrote, "His name is to be John." That took everyone by surprise.
Surprise followed surprise—Zachariah's mouth was now open, his
tongue loose, and he was talking, praising God!
A deep, reverential fear settled
over the neighborhood, and in all that Judean hill country
people talked about nothing else. Everyone who heard about it
took it to heart, wondering, "What will become of this child?
Clearly, God has his hand in this."
Then Zachariah was filled with the
Holy Spirit and prophesied,
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
he came and set his people free.
He set the power of salvation in the center of our lives,
and in the very house of David his servant,
Just as he promised long ago
through the preaching of his holy prophets:
Deliverance from our enemies
and every hateful hand;
Mercy to our fathers,
as he remembers to do what he said he'd do,
What he swore to our father Abraham—
a clean rescue from the enemy camp,
So we can worship him without a care in the world,
made holy before him as long as we live.
And you, my child, "Prophet of the Highest,"
will go ahead of the Master to prepare his ways,
Present the offer of salvation to his people,
the forgiveness of their sins.
Through the heartfelt mercies of our God,
God's Sunrise will break in upon us,
Shining on those in the darkness,
those sitting in the shadow of death,
Then showing us the way, one foot at a time,
down the path of peace.
Chapter 5 (Approximately 6
months before the birth of Christ)
Joseph Was Told About Mary's Pregnancy
Mary stayed with Elizabeth for
three months (likely until the birth of John the baptist)
and then went back to her own home in Nazareth.
Back in Nazareth, Joseph
discovered she was pregnant before they came to the marriage
bed. (It was by the Holy Spirit, but he didn't know that.)
Joseph, chagrined but noble, determined to take care of things
quietly so Mary would not be disgraced.
While he was trying to figure a
way out, he had a dream. God's angel spoke in the dream:
"Joseph, son of David, don't hesitate to get married. Mary's
pregnancy is Spirit-conceived. God's Holy Spirit has made her
pregnant. She will bring a son to birth, and when she does, you,
Joseph, will name him Jesus—'God saves'—because he will save his
people from their sins." This would bring the prophet's
embryonic sermon to full term:
Watch for this—a virgin will get pregnant and bear a son;
They will name him Immanuel (Hebrew for "God is with us").
Then Joseph woke up. He did
exactly what God's angel commanded in the dream: He married
Mary. But he did not consummate the marriage until she had the
baby. He named the baby Jesus.
Chapter 6 (Moments before the
first Christmas)
Pilgrimage to Bethlehem and the Birth of Jesus
About that time Caesar Augustus
ordered a census to be taken throughout the Empire. This was the
first census when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone had
to travel to his own ancestral hometown to be accounted for. So
Joseph went from the Galilean town of Nazareth up to Bethlehem
in Judah, David's town, for the census. As a descendant of
David, he had to go there. He went with Mary, his fiancée, who
was pregnant. (I believe the journey was tough, since Mary was
going to give birth soon).
While they were there, the time
came for her to give birth. She gave birth to a son, her
firstborn. She wrapped him in a blanket and laid him in a
manger, because there was no room in the hostel. (I believe that
this moment was a joyful one).
There were sheepherders camping in
the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep.
Suddenly, God's angel stood among them and God's glory blazed
around them. They were terrified. The angel said, "Don't be
afraid. I'm here to announce a great and joyful event that is
meant for everybody, worldwide: A Savior has just been born in
David's town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. This is what
you're to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a
manger."
At once the angel was joined by a
huge angelic choir singing God's praises:
Glory to God in the heavenly heights,
Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.
As the angel choir withdrew into
heaven, the sheepherders talked it over. "Let's get over to
Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has
revealed to us." They left, running, and found Mary and Joseph,
and the baby lying in the manger. Seeing was believing. They
told everyone they met what the angels had said about this
child. All who heard the sheepherders were impressed.
Mary kept all these things to
herself, holding them dear, deep within herself. The
sheepherders returned and let loose, glorifying and praising God
for everything they had heard and seen. It turned out exactly
the way they'd been told!
Chapter 7 (8 days after the
first Christmas)
Meeting with Simeon and Anna
When the eighth day arrived, the
day of circumcision, the child was named Jesus, the name given
by the angel before he was conceived.
Then when the days stipulated by
Moses for purification were complete, they took him up to
Jerusalem to offer him to God as commanded in God's Law: "Every
male who opens the womb shall be a holy offering to God," and
also to sacrifice the "pair of doves or two young pigeons"
prescribed in God's Law.
In Jerusalem at the time, there
was a man, Simeon by name, a good man, a man who lived in the
prayerful expectancy of help for Israel. And the Holy Spirit was
on him. The Holy Spirit had shown him that he would see the
Messiah of God before he died. Led by the Spirit, he entered the
Temple. As the parents of the child Jesus brought him in to
carry out the rituals of the Law, Simeon took him into his arms
and blessed God:
God, you can now release your servant;
release me in peace as you promised.
With my own eyes I've seen your salvation;
it's now out in the open for everyone to see:
A God-revealing light to the non-Jewish nations,
and of glory for your people Israel.
Jesus' father and mother were
speechless with surprise at these words. Simeon went on to bless
them, and said to Mary his mother,
This child marks both the failure and
the recovery of many in Israel,
A figure misunderstood and contradicted—
the pain of a sword-thrust through you—
But the rejection will force honesty,
as God reveals who they really are.
Anna the prophetess was also
there, a daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher. She was by
now a very old woman. She had been married seven years and a
widow for eighty-four. She never left the Temple area,
worshiping night and day with her fastings and prayers. At the
very time Simeon was praying, she showed up, broke into an
anthem of praise to God, and talked about the child to all who
were waiting expectantly for the freeing of Jerusalem.
Joseph, Mary, and Jesus went back
to Bethlehem for quite some time until one day, they met a group
of scholars.
Chapter 8 (Soon after the first
Christmas)
The Scholars/Magi arrives in Jerusalem and meet Herod
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem
village, Judah territory— this was during Herod's kingship—a
band of scholars arrived in Jerusalem from the East. They asked
around, "Where can we find and pay homage to the newborn King of
the Jews? We observed a star in the eastern sky that signaled
his birth. We're on pilgrimage to worship him."
When word of their inquiry got to
Herod, he was terrified—and not Herod alone, but most of
Jerusalem as well. Herod lost no time. He gathered all the high
priests and religion scholars in the city together and asked,
"Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?"
They told him, "Bethlehem, Judah
territory. The prophet Micah wrote it plainly:
It's you, Bethlehem, in Judah's land,
no longer bringing up the rear.
From you will come the leader
who will shepherd-rule my people, my Israel."
Herod then arranged a secret
meeting with the scholars from the East. Pretending to be as
devout as they were, he got them to tell him exactly when the
birth-announcement star appeared. Then he told them the prophecy
about Bethlehem, and said, "Go find this child. Leave no stone
unturned. As soon as you find him, send word and I'll join you
at once in your worship."
Chapter 9 (Soon after the first
Christmas)
The Scholars/Magi worship Jesus
Instructed by the king, they set
off. Then the star appeared again, the same star they had seen
in the eastern skies. It led them on until it hovered over the
place of the child. They could hardly contain themselves: They
were in the right place! They had arrived at the right time!
They entered the house and saw the
child in the arms of Mary, his mother. Overcome, they kneeled
and worshiped him. Then they opened their luggage and presented
gifts: gold, frankincense, myrrh.
In a dream, they were warned not
to report back to Herod. So they worked out another route, left
the territory without being seen, and returned to their own
country.
Chapter 10 (Likely less than 2
years after the first Christmas)
Flee to Egypt
After the scholars were gone,
God's angel showed up again in Joseph's dream and commanded,
"Get up. Take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt. Stay
until further notice. Herod is on the hunt for this child, and
wants to kill him."
Joseph obeyed. He got up, took the
child and his mother under cover of darkness. They were out of
town and well on their way by daylight. They lived in Egypt
until Herod's death. This Egyptian exile fulfilled what Hosea
had preached: "I called my son out of Egypt."
Herod, when he realized that the
scholars had tricked him, flew into a rage. He commanded the
murder of every little boy two years old and under who lived in
Bethlehem and its surrounding hills. (He determined that age
from information he'd gotten from the scholars.) That's when
Jeremiah's sermon was fulfilled:
A sound was heard in Ramah,
weeping and much lament.
Rachel weeping for her children,
Rachel refusing all solace,
Her children gone,
dead and buried.
Chapter 11 (Not more than 12
years after the first Christmas)
Joseph, Mary, and Jesus returns to Nazareth
Later, when Herod died, God's
angel appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt: "Up, take the
child and his mother and return to Israel. All those out to
murder the child are dead."
Joseph obeyed. He got up, took the
child and his mother, and reentered Israel. When he heard,
though, that Archelaus had succeeded his father, Herod, as king
in Judea, he was afraid to go there. But then Joseph was
directed in a dream to go to the hills of Galilee. On arrival,
he settled in the village of Nazareth. This move was a
fulfillment of the prophetic words, "He shall be called a
Nazarene."
Chapter 12 (12 years after the
first Christmas)
They Found Him in the Temple
Every year Jesus' parents traveled
to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover. When he was twelve years
old, they went up as they always did for the Feast. When it was
over and they left for home, the child Jesus stayed behind in
Jerusalem, but his parents didn't know it. Thinking he was
somewhere in the company of pilgrims, they journeyed for a whole
day and then began looking for him among relatives and
neighbors. When they didn't find him, they went back to
Jerusalem looking for him.
The next day they found him in the
Temple seated among the teachers, listening to them and asking
questions. The teachers were all quite taken with him, impressed
with the sharpness of his answers. But his parents were not
impressed; they were upset and hurt.
His mother said, "Young man, why
have you done this to us? Your father and I have been half out
of our minds looking for you."
He said, "Why were you looking for
me? Didn't you know that I had to be here, dealing with the
things of my Father?" But they had no idea what he was talking
about.
So he went back to Nazareth with
them, and lived obediently with them. His mother held these
things dearly, deep within herself. And Jesus matured, growing
up in both body and spirit, blessed by both God and people.
And at the same thing happened
with John the Baptist, the child grew up, healthy and spirited.
He lived out in the desert until the day he made his prophetic
debut in Israel.
Epilogue (12 years after the
first Christmas-approximately 30 years after the first
Christmas)
The Bible didn't tell anything
else until about 30 years after the first Christmas. John,
Zachariah's son, out in the desert at the time, received a
message from God. He went all through the country around the
Jordan River preaching a baptism of life-change leading to
forgiveness of sins, as described in the words of Isaiah the
prophet:
"Prepare God's arrival!..."
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