Center for Evangelists

At the time Jesus was born, sheep farmers were seen as low or little value by other people. The sheep that they bred would have probably been used as sacrifice animals in the temple in near-by Jerusalem. They were quietly getting on with their own business when suddenly an Angel appeared to them. It is not surprising they were afraid!

The Angel’s words to them told them of Jesus and his amazing birth and how they could recognise him in a very crowded town. Then the Angel was joined with many more angels singing and praising God.

This is only the second time in the whole Bible that a group of angels rather than one angel had appeared to people, so this proved that they had a very important message to give to them. We don’t know the names of the angels or how many there were of them, but in the Bible it says that there are millions of angels – so it would have been an amazing experience!

Being curious as to what the angels meant, they went down into Bethlehem, maybe leaving a shepherd or two behind to keep guard on the sheep.

When they had found and told Mary and Joseph what had happened to them, it says that ‘The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.’ The people they told probably weren’t just the people they saw on the way back to hills, but friends and relatives in Bethlehem and Jerusalem and the people they met in the temple when they took their sheep to be sold.

Luke 2:15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us

Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus was foretold by Micah 700 years before Christ’s birth. Micah named the exact town and Matthew records the event. Bethlehem is still standing today and both Biblically and historically is proven to be the actual place where Jesus was born.

The journey to Bethlehem took Mary and Joseph about 4 days. It was not an easy journey for a woman about to give birth. Tradition says she rode on a donkey but that is not in the Bible account. She may have had to walk that distance.

Today take a few minutes from your busy Christmas preparation and think about the obedience of Joseph and Mary. They were willing to sacrifice time, ridicule, and hardship to bring JESUS into the world.

Two humans that made a difference to everyone from that time for all eternity.

Luke 2:4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

Micah 5:2 But 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