The Birth of Jesus

["Click here for Matthew's account"]
["Click here for Luke's account"]
["Click here for John's account"]

The birth of Jesus is mentioned in three of the Gospels. Matthew's account begins with the betrothal of Mary to Joseph, Joseph's dream and his decision not to know Mary until after the child was born and to call Him Jesus. Mark has no account of the birth of Jesus. John simply declares that "The Word" was made flesh. For the birth story, we will look at the account found in the Gospel of Luke, the first 20 verses of Chapter 2.
"In the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman and made under the Law." Notice the "time" when Jesus was born. He was born at the height of the Roman Empire. Augustus was Caesar and there was peace in the entire Middle East. He was born when Judaea had become a providence of that empire and therefore, subject to Roman taxing.
He was born in Bethlehem in Judaea, which was the equivalent to the old Kingdom of Judah. It was the southern most division of the Roman Province of Western Palestine, the other two being Samaria and Galilee. This was prophesied in Micah 5:2, the Scribes understood this (Matt. 2:5) and so did the common people (John 7:42). Bethleham was called "The City of David" because it was where David was born.
Being of the House of David, they went to Bethleham to comply with an order from Caesar that all subjects of the empire be registered and enrolled according to their families. The purpose was to extract from all subjects some evidence of their loyalty by the payment of some small tribute. The Jews had for some 2000 years been doing this to preserve a memory that had long gone. But this enrollment also served to get Joseph and Mary to the city where it was prophesied that the Messiah would be born.
Notice the circumstances of His birth:

He was wrapped in "swaddling cloths", just as other children were, as if He could be bound by the conformities of this world.
He was born at a Inn, signifying a temporary stay, indicating that this world was not His home.
He was laid in a manger, indicating the poverty of his parents, the manners of the day and the first of many humiliates that He took upon Himself for our sins.
The circumstances of his birth caused many to say, surly this cannot be the Son of God, but when we see the birth attended by Angels, we must surly say that this can be no other than the Son of God.

John records his birth as "The Word Made Flesh". His record was to establish Christ's credentials, not referring to any particular scripture, but rather proclaiming His Messiahship, His Sonship with God, His Beginning, His purpose and His Salvation. John, writing to Gentiles, believed that this is all we need to know about Jesus up to the time of the start of His ministry.
Let us establish first, that Christ is "The Word". This term is particular to John's writings but not without foundation for Jews were taught that the word of God was the same as God. Christ was "The Word", for by Him, God has in these last days, spoken to us.
There are 4 things John would have us to know about Jesus:

He existed in the beginning. Christ was before the world began. He, being one with God, knew no beginning but Has always been.
He co-exists with God. This is the first inference of the Trinity. This reconciliation between God and man, was from the beginning.
He is the origin of life and light. All living things receive their life from Him. Matthew Henry says, "The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord and it was the "Word" that lighted that candle.
Not everyone will receive Him. This speaks of divine revelation. Nature communicated before Christ, the Holy Spirit communicated after Christ. The "eternal word" was in the Old Testament prophesies, but few received it. The "eternal word" became flesh, but few received Him either.

The "eternal word" is preserved for us in the Bible but few truly receive it for the carnal sinful man cannot comprehend the things of the Spirit whether prophesied, spoken or written. It is, therefore, necessary for the Spirit to enlighten before the word can convict and save. We, of ourselves, are totally unable to receive or believe without the action of the Holy Spirit. This was John's way of announcing the birth of Jesus.
Only Luke in Chapter 2 verses 8 through 20, records for us the story of the shepherds. Here we see that though His arrival did not command any earthly celebration, it was heralded by a far greater celebration, that of heaven. Its interesting to note here that God first announced the coming of Christ to Jewish people and a little later, we will see in Matthew, He announced the coming to Gentile "Wisemen". This was an indication as to how the invitation of the Gospel would be given. Notice to what Jewish people the Angel was sent. It was not the Chief Priests or Elders as we might have thought, but to shepherds out in the field watching over their flocks. We are told that the Angels arrived quite unexpectedly and the shepherds became quite afraid. The Angels calm their fears, gain their confidence and then tell them the "good news". Notice the "universality" of that first announcement, "It shall be good news to ALL PEOPLE." Then immediately they proclaim His three functions, Savior, Christ and Lord, and if that was not enough to identify Him, they told them that He was the one that was "foretold" by the Prophets, "The Promised One". Then they tell them where He can be found.
We believe the shepherds had a two-part function:

When they went and found the Christ Child, they told Mary and Joseph of the appearance of the Angels and what they had been told and surly this must have been a great encouragement to them both to have reiterated what they had been told some 9 months before.
The second function of the shepherds was to tell everybody that would listen, all that they had heard and seem, and that was exactly what they did, but notice the results, the people "wondered" but never inquired any further. Of course considering what followed, it perhaps was a good thing that nothing more was noted and for the next 18 months only a few of God's chosen people knew where He was or who He was.

Note: Mary made the events of the night a matter of private meditation.

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