Dec 23rd - swaddling

I realise that these blogs haven't been terribly Christmassy this year.  Partly I think that's because Facebook is showing me all the previous years' blogs every day and I don't want to repeat myself.  partly it's because it is hard to find something new and inspirational to say about a story we all know so well.

Until......  😇

Don't you just love it when you think you have squeezed every last possible drop of Truth out of a scripture and that there is no alternative interpretation to be had and then God blows you away with yet another layer??   Well that's what happened yesterday when I read something a friend had posted on Facebook .   It was about the shepherds.

Apparently the shepherds in the nativity story weren't just any ordinary shepherds.  The guys who raised sheep in the lands around Bethlehem were tasked with providing the sacrificial lambs for the
temple in Jerusalem.  So these guys would take particular care of their flocks and as soon as the ewes were ready to give birth would lead them to some caves where they would be sheltered and safe.  There the ewes would give birth and the shepherds would asses the male lambs, picking out those which were perfect and wrapping them up in swaddling cloths so that they would not get dirty or injured.  Because the lambs which were to be presented for sacrifice had to be utterly perfect without any blemish or fault.

So when the angels appeared in the sky and told the shepherds ' and this shall be a sign to you'   - well, it really was a sign specifically for them.  A hint that only they would fully appreciate.    They were told to go and look for a baby ' wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger' .........

Jesus came as the lamb of God.  Just like the lambs which, for generations. had been born in order to be offered as a sacrifice, Jesus was born in a cave and wrapped in sheets of cloth.  He was the one who was destined to be the last sacrifice.  Once and for all.

I've read and heard about the shepherds for fifty years and never heard that before.  Yet another layer of profound meaning.  Another fascinating detail.   Just LOVE it when God shows a deeper glimpse.
As we wait patiently ( or impatiently if you are my children) for tomorrow night  and the dawning of Christmas morning let us be full of wonder at the fact that however much we think we know there is always so so SO much more of God and His story to see and understand.   Spirit of Revelation open our eyes to see even more truth and Good News from Your word this coming year.