The Wonder Of Christmas Series

I cannot explain to you fully how God performed the miracle of the virgin birth. Millard Erickson says, “Next to the resurrection, the most debated and controversial event of Jesus’ life is the virgin birth.” And many brilliant minds have had trouble grasping this pivotal teaching of scripture. Many have refused to accept it as real. Some accept it but have had trouble explaining its significance. The virgin birth is a tough teaching of scripture to understand. Like the ten-year old girl, who was becoming quite knowledgeable about the Bible because of her grandmother’s teaching. And one day she asked her grandmother. "Grandma which Virgin was the mother of Jesus? The Virgin Mary or the King James Virgin?" But I want to tell you that I believe in the virgin birth 100 percent because I believe in a God who can do anything. I mean if God can create this universe by simply speaking it into existence then I say a virgin birth is really no big problem.

Verse 6 “While they were in Bethlehem the time came for the baby to be born. And she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” When Joseph and Mary arrived in Bethlehem, Mary must have been experiencing labor pains and they knew they must find a place to rest. Now Bethlehem was a small town and probably had very limited space for visitors. With a census going on, the town was packed and the local innkeeper was most likely very overwhelmed by the crowds. There was no room for Mary and Joseph in the local inn.

Frank Shaut Jr. told me that he arranged for him and his wife Heather to honeymoon in the beautiful Poconos in Pennsylvania. The town nearest the Poconos is a small village Bethlehem, PA. And so Frank called to reserve a room but he was told that the only hotel in Bethlehem, PA was full for a convention and the only rooms available even close to the Poconos were way over in all of places but Nazareth, PA. Frank had to give Heather the disappointing news that there was no room in the Bethlehem inn.

And there is nothing worse than traveling all day and stopping in a town only to find out there is no place to stay. The hotels are all booked and you are exhausted. Likewise Mary and Joseph had to be exhausted and so they found the only place where they could rest – a nearby stable. It would have to be the place where their baby would be born.

This stable was probably adjacent to the inn. Perhaps the innkeeper suggested to Joseph and Mary that they could stay there. It most likely was the inn’s stable where guests left their donkeys and animals as they traveled. It was a place they could rest their animals and feed them for the night. Dr. Lewis Foster suggests that the stable was most likely a cave and that is was understandable that Joseph and Mary stayed there because it would provide them the protection they needed from the night. A smelly, dark, moldy stable full of animals would have to do.

But what is most striking is that verse 6 tells us that after Mary gave birth she wrapped the infant Christ child in cloths and place him in a manger. A manger is no more than a feeding trough for animals. Straw was probably placed in the manger to make it snug but it was no crib for a bed as the song “Away in the manger” says. It was far from the best place to put a newborn baby. The manger was a place that animals had licked and ate out of. And although it might have been clean, Jesus’ first night on earth was spent in a very unsanitary environment. The Son of God began his life in a feeding trough for animals. Ironically his life would not end much better on a dirty wooden cross. From a manger to a cross. And neither place: the manger of Bethlehem nor the cross of Calvary was really fitting for God in flesh.