But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:10-12).
Oh how easy to spot this sign! The heavens parted, angels appeared, clear instructions were given, a well explained journey embarked upon and the sign was found quickly, right?
Was it that easy? In our twenty-first century mindset, finding Jesus in the manger is easy. It’s the only manger most of us have at home, and usually it’s part of a prized nativity scene, placed in a central location with high visibility at Christmas time.
But in reality, 2000 years ago there was more than one manger in Bethlehem. It would have taken some dedication to find this particular manger with a baby in it, in the middle of the night. Maybe not as easy a sign to find as we first thought!
Sweet Baby Lamb of God.
Here’s something you might not know. Bethlehem is in close proximity to Jerusalem. At that time, this region was dedicated to the raising of sheep, specifically for the purpose of becoming Passover lambs. The lambs for those special Passover sacrifices were generally provided from within an 8 kilometer (5 mile radius) of Jerusalem. That placed Bethlehem in sacrificial lamb raising territory.
At birth, these lambs would be inspected by the attending shepherd. In this particular region of Israel, these shepherds would have had training in the law and prophets enabling them to separate and set apart the unblemished lambs from birth.
History tells us that these brand new little lambs would be wrapped in strips of cloth and laid in a stone manger trough so that they could be approved by a rabbi as being ‘without blemish’, and clearly destined to be raised as a sacrifice to cover sin.
Inevitably, these particular shepherds would have known what it meant to find the Saviour-Baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. God and angels beckoned them to see first-hand, shortly after His birth: the swaddled Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world. How incredible!
And this will be a sign to you. Luke 2:12.
The Infant Son wrapped in strips of cloth was the sign that pointed the shepherds to God and to His unfolding promise of salvation. The shepherds hadn’t yet seen or heard of the boy Jesus teaching in the temple at 12 years, or seen Him riding on a donkey’s foal into Jerusalem at age 33.
But at His birth they saw the Sign that began the unfurling of their experience of God’s Messiah, and all that He would become. What a beautiful unfolding from unknown to known. Was this sign only for these shepherds?
No, it was for the world the angel had prophesied. So, what about the other shepherds … there must have been other shepherds. By the sheer volume of sheep needed for temple sacrifices, there would have been a lot of shepherds in the nearby region. Didn’t they see the angels and hear the announcement too? Why didn’t everyone see the sign?
Sometimes we can just miss signs. It doesn’t mean the signs aren’t there, or are invisible to some people … they’re simply not noticed. Let me tell you a story from my own life.
Maps, signs, and going places.
A number of years ago we were on a long car trip. My husband was driving and I was having what felt like a well-deserved break from being behind the wheel. Feeling entitled, I closed my eyes and ignored the map on my lap. At some point later I looked up, and realized something was off with our navigation.
My simple question was, “What’s going on, how did you miss the sign?” And the response was, “I didn’t know I had to look for that sign. I only read the road signs that I need to see.”
My brain tends to over-think things and I groaned, “How do you know they’re not the signs you’re looking for when you’re not even looking at them?!”
Of course, it’s a common human problem to miss things. We’re all imperfect and we do miss road signs sometimes. Thankfully the road is still there, the journey still unfolds, and the destination still exists.
But here is the beauty of God’s love toward us. There is much more mercy from God if we miss a sign from Him, than our travel map gives us for missing a landmark. If we miss a sign from God, He is still God and He is still faithful to fulfill His promises!
The calm, deep love of God mercifully reaches out to us, even when we don’t notice what seems like obvious signs to others. In fact, God loves to redeem – not just people, but their lives too. In His paradigm He is constantly drawing us to what His signs are pointing us to anyways, which is Himself.
There is no fear of missing out.
Don’t worry! He will open our eyes to the next sign that He wants to show us, and even re-awaken our hearts to signs that He has shown us in the past. With this knowledge, both comfort and healing come. When we humbly ask Him to show us the way and we wait for Him and His timeline, He will direct our path.
The shepherds that didn’t see the angels and the swaddled Baby that glorious night still had access to God’s Salvation plan through the Messiah. Yes, they didn’t see the sign the first time around but still, that didn’t change their purpose or destiny or the rich resources that God was willing to give them.
Oh, but for the ones who saw the sign from God; the Child wrapped snuggly, can you imagine how this moment changed their lives forever? How their level of hope and expectation rose? What if they tracked with Him as He grew up, and began His public ministry? Can you imagine how just seeing Him again would stir their hearts deeply to remember what they had seen and felt that Holy night?
The Father longs to announce to us what He is doing (Isaiah 42:9).
Even when there is a lull; we aren’t sure what He’s saying and we aren’t sure what to keep our eyes open for, we can still wait with an expectant heart. Those who wait for the Lord will have their strength renewed and those who hope will not be disappointed (Isaiah 40:29-31, Romans 5:5).
As always, the focus here is on the Father. Jesus points us to the Father, the Holy Spirit guides us to Him as well. The signs (person, place or thing!) that He gives direct us to Him. They highlight the intentions of His good, kind heart.
And all the while, keeping our gaze on Him will transform us and sustain us right through to every breakthrough and healing.
Happy Advent Season to you!
With Love, Jenn
You’ve just enjoyed reading a segment of Chapter 8 in my brand new book: Signs From God. Discover God’s Messages in your everyday life for healing, direction and transformation. Available in both paperback and e-book format exclusively from Amazon.
Copyright (c) 2020 Jennifer Bryant-Choong. All Rights Reserved.
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