“The night before…”


BIBLE READING: Luke 2
                                                                                    
            If you are reading these devos on the day they are published, then you are reading this on Christmas Eve. So many people are busy today with family events, cooking, or (hopefully not) last-minute shopping. There is the feel in the air of the little children and the anticipation of Santa’s arrival tonight, and the excitement that brings of Christmas morning.
When my first child was born, as with any person, my life was changed forever. From that day on, everything changed. I’ve often thought back about what life was like the night before that day. Sure, I have a lot of memories of life without kids, but I find myself pondering, “What was I doing in my “final hours”?” A Thursday night was the final night that I would spend without children... (not to make it sound like a death sentence) but the only thing I remember about that time of life was that Thursday night was Survivor night. I always watched that show. I probably sat there as if it were a normal night just like any other. Unbeknownst to me, my life was going to completely change in the next 24 hours.
It makes me wonder. What kind of night were Joseph and Mary having the night before Jesus was born? They had been visited by angels of the Lord (Matthew 1:20; Luke 1:26-27). They knew that Jesus would be special and that He was going to be the Son of God (Luke 1:30-33). But as they sat in the manger that night, they had no idea that their lives, and the fate of the entire world was about to change within the next 24 hours. It is said so simply in Luke 2:6-7: “So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them at the inn.” A simple beginning for what would be eternity-changing. It compares with the way Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross is described: “...they crucified Him...”. What a glorious birth, life, example, death, burial, and resurrection that Jesus had!


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