One of my pastors from recent years coined a term I love and have used quite often as I read God’s word
”SANCTIFIED IMAGINATION”
My sanctified imagination runs rampant around this time every year. I love all the hidden gems and nuances of that first Christmas Eve and all the events surrounding the days when Christ left the THRONE OF HEAVEN and came down into the mess humanity had made of His creation. My sanctified imagination takes me soaring with the Spirit of that Christmas past over 2000 years ago and I see them traveling up and down the hills of Israel. Mary big with CHILD. The journey would have taken around a week from Nazareth to Bethlehem, approximately 90 miles. Pregnant moms everywhere sympathize with her predicament. Scholars claim is they averaged a 2.5 mph pace for roughly eight hours a day it would have taken around four days. Why I find this fact mesmerizing is beyond me, again I just follow where my “sanctified imagination” takes me.
“A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; and she was with child; and she *cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. And his tail *swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she *had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days. And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”
Revelation 12:1-9 NASB1995
It has been a war waged from before the beginning of time, but it was also a war won before the beginning of time. Satan battled Jesus before time began wanting usurp Jesus Throne. It will never happen and can’t happen. It is written.
We don’t think of these verses as Christmas verses, but my mind wanders there on this journey with the Spirit of Christmas Past. Was that manger was that cave dwelling the God’s hiding place for the birth of THE CHILD? It truly wasn’t the ostentatious palace dwelling place where kings and princes should be born. It was a cave used for birthing the Temple sheep. It wasn’t clean or sanitized like our current nativity scenes are. It was a mess. It smelled like sheep dung, but it was safe. It was a shelter for this royal birth. That dragon would never think to look in the caves of Bethlehem for THE CHILD.
Their journey to Bethlehem was arduous, filled with perils. The hills were known to hide outlaws and predators, but God had a plan. Every bit of the story holds hidden treasures. They are hard to mine because we read this story with our modern day mind set. The manger was a stone water trough the sheep licked from to quench their thirst. LIVING WATER was laid to rest where animals drank from. At this time 2024 years ago Joseph was scrambling for a place for Mary to give birth. Bethlehem was filled to overflowing. These were his people. He was from the line of David. This was Joseph’s ancestral tribe and believe me David sired many descendants! That is why there was no room for them. All of Joseph’s people showed up in Bethlehem to as required by Caesar Augustus. And of all the moments of all the time, this is when the birth pains began for Mary. They are taken to this sheep cave.
Mary prepares the swaddling cloths. Interesting thing, in these birthing caves the Bethlehem shepherds used to inspect and keep the lambs perfect and pure without spot or blemish so they can be used as Temple sacrifices, inside these caves shepherds had shelves they put swaddling strips of cloth so they could wrap these new born lambs to keep them spotless. Did Mary use those shelves to store her swaddling cloth to wrap THE CHILD in?
Where did she get these cloths? Some stories from ancient past claim when Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth at the beginning of her pregnancy, Zechariah and Elizabeth sent her home with used priestly robe of Zechariah. I don’t know. The Bible doesn’t say. Could it be possible that our Great High Priest was wrapped in swaddling cloth that came from a priestly robe? Oh the story that would make. I don’t know, but I do know God had that whole night planned out.
“If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”
1 Peter 1:17-21 NASB1995
Merry Christmas Eve 2024
So good great insight!