He lived to die, that you might live and enjoy life abundantly today.
Born To Die
Luke 2:12
12And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.
12And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.
You are probably familiar with the story of
Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. The Bible says that when the time had come, Mary “brought forth
her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a
manger”. (Luke 2:6–7) But have you ever wondered why the angel told
the shepherds that the Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger
was a “sign”?
A manger is actually a feeding trough for
livestock. Do you know what a feeding trough in those days looked like? I have
seen a similar one at Solomon’s stables in Meggido, Israel. It is basically a
big rectangular block of stone with the trough hewn out of it. So baby Jesus,
who was wrapped in swaddling cloths, was placed in such a stone trough.
But why was that a sign? Because if you have
seen the empty tomb of Jesus at a place called The Garden Tomb in Jerusalem,
you would have noticed that the place where His body was laid, inside a tomb
hewn out of rock, resembles a stone trough. The Bible says that after Jesus’
crucifixion and death, Joseph of Arimathea took Jesus’ body, wrapped it in
linen and laid it in a tomb hewn out of a rock. (Mark 15:43–46)
Can you see the similarities? Wrapped in
swaddling cloths and laid in a manger, the baby Jesus would one day be wrapped
in linen and laid in a tomb! That was the sign. It pointed to Jesus’ death.
Jesus was the only child in all of humanity
born to die. Once you realise that, you will realise how much God loves you.
You will realise
that He gave up His Son for that one purpose, and that Jesus was willing to
come for that one purpose — to die for your sins and mine. Can you imagine
living your life knowing that you are just qualifying yourself to die on the
cross to save the world? That’s the life that Jesus lived. He lived to die,
that you might live and enjoy life abundantly today!
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