One of the remarkable things about the birth of Jesus is how God spoke about this throughout the Old Testament. God does not dwell in time the way we do, and we are told that His plan of salvation was thought of even before the creation of the world. (Rev 13:8) He gave many ‘clues’ about this plan throughout history, from the first promise of a rescuer in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:15) to things which only really became clear once Jesus was born.

Yesterday we saw that Isaiah spoke of the virgin birth hundreds of years before it happened. (Isaiah 7:14) The star which features in the journey of the Magi was spoken about in Numbers 24:17. The place of Jesus’s birth (Bethlehem) was prophesied in Micah 5:2. The suffering which Herod would inflict on young boys because he could not bear the idea of another king is spoken of in Jeremiah 31:15. It’s always worth reading the footnotes in the Gospels as they often remind us of the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecies and help us to ‘connect the dots’ in the Christmas story.

The birth of Jesus was not just something God decided to do at the last minute, nor was it an accident or something that was unplanned. God knew that people needed rescuing and that we couldn’t manage it by ourselves. He knew that He had to intervene. (Isaiah 63:5) The good news of Christmas is that we now can be reconciled to God, all because of the birth of Jesus; as the song says, ‘And man will live forever more because of Christmas Day.’ (‘Mary’s Boy Child’)

Having said that every birth is special, what’s so special about the birth of Jesus that we remember His birthday every year?

When a member of the royal family has a baby, there’s usually a lot of interest in the event, far beyond the ties of family and blood. When a baby is born to a ‘celebrity’, there is similarly a lot of attention given because of who the child’s parents are. The birth of Jesus is special because His birth is unique. He was not conceived in the usual way, through the sexual union of a man and a woman. An angel appeared to Mary, who was a virgin, and told her she would conceive and have a baby, which astounded her since she definitely knew the facts of life! When she asked how this could be, she was told, ‘The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.’ (Luke 1:35)

The birth of Jesus is special because He is both God and man. It is this which makes Him uniquely able to save us, because He was born without sin. All of us do wrong things and disobey God, just as Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden, but Jesus, because He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, was without sin and therefore could stand in the gap between all humanity and God. The ‘virgin birth’ is absolutely essential to God’s plan of salvation and was something He spoke about hundreds of years prior to it happening (‘Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.’ Isaiah 7:14) We can’t ever fully understand this or explain it, but we can be very grateful for this miracle which paves the way for our salvation.

The Old Testament order of books in Western Bibles may well seem unhelpful in outlining the coherent story of God. The Jews grouped their writings together as ‘the Law’ (the first five books of the Old Testament known as the ‘Torah’ or Pentateuch), ‘the Prophets’ (which include some of the historical books such as Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings as well as the major and minor prophets) and ‘the Writings’ (including Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah and 1 & 2 Chronicles.) This helps us to see God’s story from the beginning of creation through to the return from exile. By ending with 1 & 2 Chronicles, we see a summary of Judah’s history with the hopeful conclusion of Cyrus’ proclamation to rebuild the temple (2 Chron 26:22-23), leaving the Old Testament on a ‘cliffhanger’, so to speak, as the people were left waiting for the true temple proclaimed in the Gospels, Jesus Christ. Just as the last book of the Jewish Old Testament begins with a genealogy, so the next book (Matthew’s Gospel) begins with a genealogy – this time connecting the Old Testament to the awaited Saviour.

The Torah contains the story of the beginnings of the world, the creation of man and the problem of sin, the story of how Israel came to be and charts their fortunes, establishing the worship of Yahweh as the one true God. The law and religious codes for God’s people are given here. The prophets show how Israel left God’s ways and were challenged to repent and return through these spokespeople from God and what happened throughout history. The Writings contain poetry, philosophy, history and stories and are still chanted publicly in the synagogue during the religious festivals of Sukkot, Purim, Passover, Shavuot and Tisha B’Av.

The scope of the Old Testament therefore covers a much longer time period than the New Testament and can be difficult for us to relate to with a modern worldview. Nonetheless, we see how the Bible as a whole speaks of God’s story in history – a story that is continuing through the ages!

Christmas can be a poignant and painful time for many people, particularly those who have lost loved ones during the year and who face their first Christmas without them. I’m very aware also that for every miracle of new life this year, there will be those who have miscarried or lost children or who are unable to conceive and who struggle at this time of unalloyed joy. The Bible is realistic about the pain of childlessness. The Nativity story in Luke’s gospel begins with the apparently unconnected story of an elderly couple named Elizabeth and Zechariah who, despite being old and having been married a long time, had no children. ‘Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly’ (Luke 1:6), we are told, but it seemed that this counted for nothing, because they still did not have what they longed for: a child. There are many people who will relate to that feeling and who are struggling with a sense of helplessness and hopelessness at this time, and maybe even feeling bitter and resentful towards God.

God intervened miraculously in this situation (much to their surprise!), and the result was a son, John the Baptist, who would go before Jesus ‘to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.’ (Luke 1:17) This reminds us that God is able to step into our ordinary, everyday lives and do amazing things, but it also reminds us that we serve a God who knows all about suffering and pain. The joy and wonder of Christmas can never be divorced from its purpose: God, sending a Saviour who would die on the cross for our sins. This is not a time for superficial, artificial joy. It’s a time when we celebrate the birth of the One who would be ‘a man of suffering and familiar with pain.’ (Is 53:3)

It’s been wonderful to host two parties for the Parent & Toddler group which meets twice weekly at church. We had about 20 children at each party and it’s lovely to have spent time this term getting to know new families. On some occasions, we have parents and grandparents attending and we even have a great-grandma coming along. We very much value the generations and family spirit within the group.

Here are some photos from the parties held last Friday and this morning.

I’ve chosen the word ‘Nativity’ to describe the ‘N’ of ‘Advent’. ‘Nativity’ is a word that everyone knows is associated with Christmas (probably from the idea of the ‘Nativity play’ at primary school, when the Christmas story is acted out by young children), but it’s not a word they would use in any other context. ‘Nativity’ refers to the birth of a person (from the Latin word ‘nativus’), and there’s a sense in which every birth should evoke awe and wonder in us.

We talk about the miracle of birth, and if we stop and think about conception, pregnancy and birth, we will indeed be filled with awe and wonder. At the Parent and Toddler group which meets at church, we have seen a number of babies born this year and it’s fantastic to see these babies brought to the group – and also to see how the toddlers react to them. My 2-year-old granddaughter loves to gaze at the babies and stroke them; she senses there is something precious before her and talks in a quiet, soothing way to them (quite unlike her usual boisterous manner!)

As we prepare to remember and celebrate the birth of a very special baby, let’s celebrate also the births of every child we know this year and be grateful for the miracle of birth.