THE BIRTH OF CHRIST

In connection with the above enigma we wish to insert a few remarks in season.

Christ’s birth was foretold in the Old Testament. It was prophesied that He was to be born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem. For we read in Micah 5:2, that Bethlehem should be the place of His nativity.

This was the scripture which the scribes went upon when with the greatest assurance they told Herod where Christ should be born, Matt. 2:6, and hence it was known among the Jews that Christ should come out of the town of Bethlehem where David was. John 7:42.

Bethlehem signifies the house of bread, the fittest place for Him to be born, who is the bread of life, and, because it was the city of David, by a special providence it was ordered, that He should be born there, who was to be the Son of David, and his hear and successor forever.

It is called Bethlehem-Ephratah, both names of the same city, as appears in Gen. 35:19. It was little among the thousands of Judah, not considerable either for the number of the inhabitants or the figure they made. It had nothing in it worthy to have this honor put upon it; but God in that, as in other instances, chose to exalt those of low degree. Luke 1:52. Christ would give honor to the place of His birth, and not derive honor from it. Though thou be little, yet this shall make thee great, and, as St. Matthew records it, thou art not the least among the princes of Judah, but upon this account art really honorable above any of them. A relation to Christ will magnify those that are little in the world.

He was also to be born of a woman, in the fulness of time. Therefore will He give them up as we read in Micah 5:3. He will give up His people to distress and trouble, and will defer their salvation which has been so long promised and expected, until the time, the set time, that the blessed virgin, who was to be the mother of the Messiah, shall have brought Him forth at Bethlehem, the place appointed. Though the out-goings of the Messiah were from everlasting, yet the redemption in Jerusalem, the consolation of Israel must be waited for, Luke 2:25-28, until the time that the Virgin Mary shall bring forth and in the meantime, He will give them up. Divine salvations must be waited for, until the time fixed for the bringing of them forth.

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