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 Giving of real substance was established by God from the very
beginning.
Even before the sin committed by Adam and Eve had caused their
ejection from the garden paradise in which they lived, God began the
rescue by promising one who would be presented to mankind as the
ultimate sacrifice to bind the sin-wound caused by that first
rejection of God the Father. God further demonstrated what He meant
by shedding the blood of an animal to use the coat to cover the two
naked sinners as He banished them from the garden. God's story began
to unfold from that time forward.
Cain had raised vegetables that were pleasant to see and tasteful to
eat. It was from his own labor that he offered those vegetables to
God as a sacrifice. Abel had listened intently during his life and
somehow had discovered that shed blood was the sacrifice that
pleased God. When the smell of the burn-offered lamb Abel had
sacrificed reached God's senses, He was pleased. Cain's sacrifice of
his own labor was not acceptable.
Abraham walked to the place of offering where his faith was to be
tested to the limits. As he and Isaac walked toward that place, the
inquisitive Isaac observed that there was wood for the altar, fire
to enflame the wood on the altar, but where was the lamb for
sacrifice? Abraham knowing all too well the answer to that question,
simply said, "God will provide a lamb for sacrifice."
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When the chosen people of God had been enslaved for 400
years, their days of captivity were over on the morning after the Lord
passed over the households where He saw the blood of the lamb on the
doorpost of the family home. He saw the blood and the family inside
was safe.
The priests lined the burning altar by the hundreds as the lambs
without blemish were being quartered and burned as a sacrifice for
the people. And on one day each year, a lamb was the atonement lamb
for an entire nation. Indeed, even the high priest needed the blood
of that lamb to have his sins pushed back.
What is this gift of the blood of a perfect lamb, covering the sins
of an individual, then entire families and later an entire nation? Early on the first Christmas morning, somewhere in Bethlehem Judea,
in a small stable, a cave really, among the animals, a baby was
born. That baby's name was Jesus; He had been promised throughout
the ages, His life had been promised by the prophets, even so
detailed as to where He was to be born.
After growing to adulthood and following His Heavenly Father's every
detail, He was announced by John, "Behold, the Lamb of God." Here
was the covering to mankind's sin, the sweet savor of Abel's
offering, the answer to Isaac's question, the freedom of enslaved
families, the atonement of a nation and indeed, the atonement of
all mankind.
Is it any wonder that Jesus was born in a stable? How could it be
otherwise? After all, where else would the Christmas Lamb be born?
[By JIM KILLEBREW]
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