Babe in a manger

The babe in a manger.

"This very day, in the town of David, there was born for you a Deliverer who is the Messiah, the Lord. Here is how you will know: you will find a baby wrapped in cloth and lying in a feeding trough." Luke 2:11-12

Have you ever taken time to really think about this? Our manger decorations on front yards paint this quaint picture of a cute little baby with cute little animals around it, and we forget that this was no ordinary baby.

This baby was, and is, the Messiah, the Deliverer.

He was the long-awaited Messiah, Savior of Israel. He was to deliver His people. But He was also to be the light to the nations: "You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth." 

He would be known as Immanuel. Immanuel in Hebrew is actually two words that literally mean God with us. And that is who this baby is to me. He is God with me. He is the baby that became the man who said "Come onto me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." He is the One that said "I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." He is the One who came and lived with us, laughed with us, and cried with us. He became one of us so that he could deliver us from our sinful, dark ways. He is the light "that shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it." When I look at this baby, I am reminded that He is Immanuel.

He once asked his disciples "Who do you say that I am?" That question is still valid today. So, we must each ask ourselves "who do I say this baby is?"

Quotes are from Isaiah 49:6, Matthew 11:28, John 14:6, John 1:5, Matthew 16:15