So, the twelve words of Christmas break down into three stanzas; Born Unto You Today; Savior Being Messiah Lord; But where? The City Of David! “A poor casket to contain so great a Jewel!” (Yet big enough to contain the Prince of heaven and earth!) Micah 5:2 prophesied the Christos would be born in Bethlehem Ephrathah 700 years before His birth; “But thou Bethlehem Ephrathah, 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.” The least this verse teaches is His pre-existence. It’s a good thing Micah was specific because there were two Bethlehems in Israel; Bethlehem Zebulon 7 miles north west of Nazareth and Bethlehem Ephrathah 5 miles south west of Jerusalem and about 90 miles from Nazareth. Bethlehem in Hebrew means, ‘House of Bread’ how appropriate since Yeshua/Jesus was the, ‘Bread of Life,’ John 6:48. Rachel’s tomb is in Bethlehem, Ruth and Boaz made their home in Bethlehem and it was King David’s home town.

Bethlehem, a little scrubby, shepherd town on the outskirts of Jerusalem the capitol of Israel. Unless the angel had spoken it, the prophet foretold it, and the star had shown it to the wise men from the east; Who would have believed that the Savior of all mankind would be wrapped in swaddling cloth, and lying in a manger there to proclaim; “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to men” by ALL the angels in heaven. Heb. 1:6. The word ‘City’ (polei or polis) simply means an enclosed place, or a town with walls, or a city of one’s birth or a birth place. For me it was New Haven, CT; For my wife it was, Wilmington, DE. For Yeshua/Jesus it had to be in Bethlehem, in the ‘City of David,’ in the right line; at the right time, Gal. 4:4-5; and at the right spot, Micah 4:8 ‘Migdal Edar’ (The tower of the flock) Gen. 35:21; where prophecy told us to look for Him, Micah 5:2; and our faith also expected Him to be.

How moving should these moorings of our faith be to us! With the loss of them, all Christianity is lost! You see, prophecy should lead us to holiness, separation unto God, not just excitement about the last days and should we buy gold or silver or who is the anti-christ! Or are you pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib, or pan-trib, it will all pan out in the end. In all my teaching on prophecy I have yet to see it manifest itself in Holiness in believers lives, why? There are over 333 prophecies fulfilled in the first coming of Jesus Christ some scholars claim there are 456. So, we can safely to say there are over 300 precise, predictive, prophecies fulfilled by Jesus Christ in His first coming. The odds of a single man fulfilling only eight are astronomical, check out Josh McDowell’s book, ‘The New Evidence That Demands A Verdict.’

There is no question who King David was or what or where his city or birth place was, Bethlehem of Ephrathah and it’s still there today! The interesting thing was Miriam or Mary was not yet married to Joseph, they were just espoused or engaged, Matt. 1:18; Luke 2:5; They were not even cohabitating; Joseph had to go to the city of David to be registered and taxed because of Caesar’s decree, not Mary who was great with child, just Joseph. She just went along for the ride because she had nothing else to do. 🙂 90+ miles on a donkey, nine months pregnant, in the winter!  Sounds like fun! Which Bethlehem would you have picked if you were Mary and nine months pregnant and had a choice, Zebulun, 7 miles n/w; or Ephrathah 90 miles s/e? Men and their directions! Amen? 😦  They finally arrive in Bethlehem and there is no room for them in the inn, what a strange reception for the ‘Savior of the world.’ John 1:11, “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.” Room for everything but Christ on Christmas, how ironic! Did you make your heart a Bethlehem for the Son of God this year? Mark 8:20 says, “The Son of God has no place to lay His head,” was that true in your life this year? Did you go through Christmas and not spend 20 minutes with King Jesus, did you even read His story in Matthew or Luke? Don’t be too quick to condemn the Inn keeper, if Jesus knocked on our door this year and it was ‘The Lord’s Day’ on top of it, and we were just to busy to worship Him on His day, shame on that inn keeper, right?  Think of the implications of this scenario and how God brought it all together with His perfect timing. “But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, (not a man) made under the law; To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” By the way, ancient Roman law stated, once you were adopted, you could not be unadopted, or readopted again, it was permanent!

“The Twelve Words of Christmas,” ‘Born Unto You Today’ – ‘The Savior Messiah Lord’ – ‘ In David’s Own City.’ Christmas is the season when hope is born anew, as we rejoice in all He’s done and all He’s yet to do. Christmas is the reason we have a story to tell, to a lost and dying world so they won’t go to hell. Christmas is the treason this old world is guilty of, as they reject His grace and His matchless gift of love. Christmas is all about how one tiny, little, baby changed the whole wide world in one night. As Savior, He is worthy of your worship! As Christ, He is worthy of your dependence! As Lord, He is worthy of your obedience! As Jesus, He is worthy of all you can give Him! What did you give Jesus on Christmas this year? After all it was His birthday, was it not?  “Between The Lines”

“Happy Birthday Jesus, Thank You, for leaving Your heavenly splendor and coming to this dirt ball and taking on human flesh so You could die and pay the penalty for our sins so we could know the splendor of Your heavenly home. Help us to really understand and appreciate the meaning of Christmas.”

“Twelve Words of Christmas”  ‘Part Three’