Christmas Present

Matthew 2:8-9 tells of the wise men following the star until it stopped over the place where Jesus was born, while Luke 2:8-15 tells of the angel appearing to the shepherds, then joined by a great company of angels. This episode combines those parts of the story along with the fact that there would have been numerous stars in the night sky to begin with.

The purpose of this episode is to point out that many things that God put into place for the birth of Jesus to take place as it did. God knew long, long beforehand that Jesus would need to come to earth and be crucified for mankind’s sins. Throughout the Old Testament, beginning with the Garden of Eden, there are hints of the coming of Jesus.

From our limited viewpoint, it is sometimes hard to determine when God put certain people in place to do certain things, or whether he just worked within what was happening anyway. Certainly, the births of John and Jesus were miraculous, but the census and King Herod were circumstances and people easily used.