Advent Day 23: Luke 2:1-7

Read & Journal

Read Luke 2:1-7. Meditate on or journal about what you’ve read.

• As you think about the prophecies of the coming Messiah and all you’ve read and learned in the weeks leading up to today, what do these verses teach you about God’s character?

• How did God display faithfulness in Jesus’ birth?

• Jesus’ birth showed that God is a God who keeps His promises. How has God kept His promises in your life?

Ponder

Tranquil. Quiet. Peaceful. So often, those are the words we probably imagine when we think about Jesus’ birth. If you’re like me, you’ve probably found yourself picturing a calm, serene night. While Scripture doesn’t give us many details—Luke simply says in verses 6-7 that Jesus’ time had come and Mary gave birth to her firstborn son—we can theorize that it probably wasn’t the birthing experience Mary had envisioned. Few first-time mothers would long to go into labor far from home or relish placing their newborn in a feeding trough recently used by animals.

Jesus’ birth was humble. While the angels alerted the shepherds and later the wise men came in search of the Messiah, for the most part, Jesus came into the world quietly, without a lot of attention or fanfare. The promised Messiah had come, but not in the way the Jews had expected. The Jews wanted a warrior, a political leader to overthrow the Romans. They got a child, born to humble parents from a no-name town, with nothing “beautiful or majestic about his appearance” (Isa. 53:2).

Whatever the night of Jesus’ birth was like—calm, tranquil, serene—it was filled with peace because Jesus had come. Strife, war, oppression, sin—they all created conflict and brokenness, but in Bethlehem, a child was born. True hope, peace, righteousness and salvation had come into the world, and it would never be the same again.

In Bethlehem, the light shone in the darkness.

And darkness cannot overcome the Light.