| “And thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:2). |
| On this date of the year many people traditionally celebrate the birth of the Lord Jesus. We do not really know the exact date of our Lord’s birth into this world, and the Bible does not tell us. We are never asked to celebrate the Lord’s birth, but rather we are asked to remember Him in death. Solomon could say in the book of Ecclesiastes, “A good name is better than precious ointment; and the day of death than the day of one’s birth” (Ecclesiastes 7:1). The birth of our Lord into this world was a wonderful event, but it is His work on the cross, and His death, that have settled the matter of sin before a holy God. |
| In our verse for today, we are again reminded that the birth of the Lord Jesus was prophesied long before He appeared in this world, and we are even told the place where He would be born. When the time came, the Lord allowed the whole of the Roman world to be set in motion, for a census that was taken that year. As a result of this, Joseph and Mary had to journey to Bethlehem, and there the Lord Jesus was born. |
| However, as our verse also reminds us, the Lord Jesus was “from of old, from everlasting.” He was God, and had no beginning as the Son of God. He had a beginning as a man, for He had never been a man before, but as God His existence was from everlasting. But as God He could not die, so He became a man, in order to be able to suffer and die. And He will remain a man for all eternity, to be able to enjoy our company! |
