The Christmas Story
Joseph and Mary were engaged to be married. They were both good people who loved and served God.
One day, God sent an angel named Gabriel to see Mary, Gabriel said to Mary, “Hello, blessed woman, The Lord is with you.” Mary was afraid because she didn’t know what the angel meant. But Gabriel said, “Don’t be scared, Mary, you have found favor with God. You are going to become pregnant and have a baby boy, and you are to name Him Jesus. He will be very great, and He will be called the Son of the Most High God. The Lord God will make Him King, and He will be King forever, and His Kingdom will never end.”
Mary asked, “How can this happen, it is impossible because I am not married, and I am a virgin.” Gabriel said,” God will send the Holy Spirit to you, and the power of God will cause you to become pregnant. So, the baby will be Holy and will be called the Son of God. Because you see, nothing is impossible with God.” So, Mary said to the angel, “I am the Lord’s servant, may everything you said come true.”
And then the angel left.
When Joseph found out that Mary was going to have a baby, he was brokenhearted. He did not know that the Baby was God’s son. So, he thought, “I will just break the engagement and never see Mary again.”
While he was thinking about this, an angel spoke to him in a dream. The angel said, “Joseph, don’t be afraid to marry Mary because her baby is God’s child. And she will have a son, and you are to name Him Jesus because He will save His people from their sins. “Jesus means “the Lord saves.” When Joseph woke from his dream, he married Mary just as the angel said.
Now, when it was almost time for the baby to be born, Joseph and Mary had to go to Bethlehem to pay their taxes. When they got to Bethlehem, there were a lot of other people there. The only place they could find to stay was a barn. So, Joseph took some hay and a blanket and made a bed for Mary to lie on. And that night in the barn, the Baby Jesus was born. After Jesus was born, they took some strips of cloth and wrapped the baby very tightly because newborn babies like to be wrapped tightly, and they used a manger for His crib.
That night, shepherds were staying in the fields nearby, they were watching their flocks of sheep. All of a sudden, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the bright light of God’s glory surrounded them. They were scared, but the angel said to them. “Don’t be afraid! I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem. And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
Suddenly, the angel was joined by a big group of all the angels in Heaven; they were praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
When the angels had gone back to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s go see this Baby that the Lord has told us about.”
They hurried to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. After seeing Jesus, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds’ story were surprised. The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.
And this was the First Christmas.
“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”
Galatians 4:4-5 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/gal.4.4-5.NKJV
Douglas & Deborah Huff
From Down Where the Pavement Ends
email-pavementendsministry@gmail.com
