“In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.” (Luke 2:1-7 ESV)
I know you have wondered why. We have read devotionals, listened to songs, and heard messages from preachers asking why! Why did God choose to provide salvation in the manner in which he did? We know that it was no “spur of the moment decision bathed in raw emotion.” God promised it from the day we humans tore the fabric of God’s Kingdom, and then revealed it in prophecies and shadows over thousands of years. Why?
Why did God choose to bring salvation through a humble family?
Why did God choose to enter time and space through a young girl who we can all imagine was questioned and doubted by family?
Why did God choose the stage of a stable to make his entrance into the salvation story?
Why did God choose to have His Son grow up as a normal child and teen and encounter all the embarrassment we remember as children?
Why did God choose to have His Son endure ridicule and rejection when He deserved to be honored?
Why did God choose to restore His family and creation through the horror and ignominious process of a death by crucifixion?
Why does God continue to allow people to hurl slurs at Him and rely on His church to glorify Him day after day?
I am sure I cannot provide the answers deserving of these questions. However, I think there is a simple answer for each of the above, and all our questions in totality. God chose to save creation this way, because no one would have ever thought He would! Man sees this story and says, “No way!” If there is a God, he would not make his appearance in the aroma of manure! Others believe God is too holy and too grand to come in human form. Some who claim to follow the God of Abraham cannot accept that God would ever come that close to people. All this is beneath a supernatural God who created the world!
Maybe God chose this way to save the world for no greater reason than you and I have a hard time believing it. When I think of it that way, it makes it all the more majestic! You think about that!
Merry Christmas from everyone at Mission Services!
