WONDER IN THE MANGER

“And this will be the sign to you: You will find a BABE wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a MANGER” – Luke 2:12

The Reason for the Season and the Story of Redemption centre around the WONDER IN THE MANGER: “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a BABE wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a MANGER” (Lk.2:11-12). An angel preached the first sermon of this Joyful season to frightened shepherds. After announcing that a Saviour had been born in Bethlehem, the angel told them how to find the baby. At the culmination of series of amazing events that marked the birth of Jesus: “Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Lk.2:19). The mother of Jesus pondered on the Wonder in the manger!

This angelic message was the best news anyone ever heard! A Saviour was born! The Messiah had come! The Lord from heaven was there; and in Bethlehem, no less! God was invading human history in the form of a tiny, seemingly helpless baby! But the God of Specificity provided “the sign” on how they’ll find the baby.

Our key Verse reveals three vital truths about the Wonder in the Manger:

His Humanity – “You will find a babe” – an infant; a new born child. Christ came into the world just as we all did! His physical birth was normal, not spectacular. The miracle of the virgin birth occurred at the moment of conception nine months earlier. In the wisdom of the incarnation, although He was fully and truly God from all eternity, the Son of God took on true humanity when He was conceived in Mary’s womb and born in Bethlehem! This is the central truth of Christianity: God has entered human history in order to provide for our salvation! He had to become like us in order to save us. There was no other way.

His Helplessness – “wrapped in swaddling clothes.” The Lord from heaven entered this earth as a tiny, helpless baby. New infants were crudely wrapped in strips of cloth to protect them from the harsh elements. This binding of baby Jesus reflects events years later, when He would stand before the Jewish authorities, bound like a common criminal. Falsely accused, He replied not. Reviled, He refused to answer in kind. He stood before His accusers with His hands tied, awaiting the verdict of death. It is no coincidence that He entered the world as He left it – bound and helpless – that we might be set free!

His Humility – “lying in a manger.” A manger was like a stable or feeding-trough; a circle of stones around a hollowed-out cave in the side of a hill. That sounds like a foreboding of His ultimate death! The Saviour was born a stranger in an open stable, and died naked on a cross in the humiliating view of humanity.” The baby lying in an exposed stable, resting in a feeding-trough was God’s appointed “sign” to all of humanity. God has come to the world in a most unlikely way. He “made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men” (Phil.2:7). If we were there, and had no other information, we would have concluded that this was just a baby born to a poor, homeless, young couple.

The message of the manger is: God chose to enter the human race through the babe born in humble contexts! Though the world missed the sign, “without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh” (1Tim.3:16a). The Jews wanted “a sign,” but they weren’t expecting a baby in a manger. God gave them a sign and they missed it. They wanted something spectacular and were looking for a political messiah who would deliver them from Roman domination. Even Herod’s scribes knew Micah 5:2, yet they didn’t recognize Him when He came. Humanity could not see the divine in the ordinary! It was too simple then and for many people, God’s Sign is still too simple to be true!