A WORD TO THE WISE

12/15/91

A "WORD" TO THE WISE
JOHN 1: 1 - 5
(PAGE 1550 COME ALIVE BIBLE)
JESUS CHRIST'S birth set in motion a celebration that causes joy
and hope to dance through the Christian world to lift depressed
spirits.
In the next few days thousands of pilgrims will visit the place
of His birth in the little town of Bethlehem. On the spot of His
birth stands a large stone church. The stable in which He was
born was not a small thatched-roof barn like we tend to
envision. It was a series of interlocking caves in a hillside.
People and their animals slept in such caves in the winter to
keep warm.
In that subterranean stable God Almighty manifested Himself.
That baby was Immanuel, "God with us."
A spot in the cave that commemorates the place of His birth is
marked by a golden star, worn smooth by the gentle touch of the
hands of millions of pilgrims who have visited there. Above it
hangs an oil lamp symbolic of the eternal life Christ offers.
We have had the joy of visiting there many times. Every time is
a first time. Once while climbing the steps leading out of the
cave, a misty-eyed friend whispered to me, "I'm so thankful
Jesus was born. How wonderful that He came for me. I don't know
what life would be like for me if He had not been born."
That expression came from the grateful heart of one to whom He
had given a second chance called new life.
How humbling it is to stand in that grotto and think: "Here,
right here, the Word became flesh and came and dwelt among us."
Four different penmen undertook the challenge of sharing with us
insight regarding ...

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