Story: The Birth of Jesus

The word nativity comes from the Latin word nativis meaning birth. Over the years, the word nativity has taken on the meaning of the account of the birth of Jesus Christ.

The place of the Nativity was prophesied centuries before Jesus’ birth. We can see this prophecy in the book of Micah, chapter 5, verse 2…“But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village in Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel will come from you, one whose origins are from the distant past.”

Why was Jesus born in Bethlehem when His mother and earthly father were from a town called Nazareth? There was at that time in history, a census taken by the Roman ruler. The main objective of the census was to levy a tax on the Jews. To do this, each Jewish male had to register in his own ancestral town. Joseph was from the line of King David, and David was from Bethlehem, so Joseph would register in Bethlehem of Judea as it is the hometown of his tribal lineage.

Bethlehem was a small hill town sitting on a ridge near the Judaean desert. Bethlehem is about 6 miles south of Jerusalem and about 65 miles south of Nazareth, where the young couple lived.

In those days traveling from Nazareth to Bethlehem was a 6-day journey.

I can’t imagine making a rough 6-day journey, ready to give birth. And making the journey on foot or on a donkey!

The terrain is hilly, rocky, rough, and dotted with low shrubs and trees of the Middle East.

Bethlehem means house of bread and was known to be the location where the sacrificial lambs were born and raised to be eventually sold for slaughter as offerings to God for sin.

Just think how amazing God is. Jesus, the sacrificial Lamb Of God who took away the sins of the world, was born in the house of bread . Jesus, the Bread Of Life.

If we look for God, we certainly can find him in the most marvelous ways.

The town of Bethlehem sits on a pretty steep hill and, during the time of Jesus’ birth, must have been filled to overflowing with the descendants of David to be counted in the census.

The Book of Luke says that Mary and Joseph could not find room in the inn. However, the word inn is a poor Greek translation. Yes, the Greek word kataluma can be translated as an inn, but it can also be translated as a guest room.

So we must put the verse into the context of the entire chapter and also look at the norms of the day.

A Roman (who occupied Israel) or a foreigner would certainly stay at inns in the time of Jesus, but Jews would always stay with family. It’s more likely that Mary and Joseph stayed with extended family during their time in Bethlehem.

They also did not stay in a barn or an outside structure as we see today. Most Jews kept their livestock in the back of the ground floors of their homes or in an adjacent cave or dugout area underground.

Scripture tells us in the book of Luke…

“While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.”

Jesus was laid in an animal feeding trough that would have probably been filled with hay or soft grasses. This trough was called a manger.

The Greek word for manger is phatne a feed box, a cattle crib, or a stall. The young couple laid God in the flesh in the best place they could find… a manger!

Are you asking yourself, “How do we know that this was the exact spot where Jesus was born”? Great question!

Here’s how we can be somewhat certain that this spot is close to if not “THE” spot of Jesus’ birth.

When Jesus was resurrected from the dead and then ascended into heaven, His believers would congregate in certain places like where Jesus was born, where He lived, where He performed certain miracles, where He died, and places like that to have worship services. They continued gathering and worshipping in these same places for centuries.

Eventually, Constantine’s (emperor of the Roman Empire) mother, Helena, a devout Christian, traveled to the holy land in the second century to preserve the holy sites that were important to believers of Jesus Christ.

She built huge churches on top of these sites marking the spots early Christians believed to be historic and holy.

It did change how these sites looked in Jesus’ time but also saved them from becoming wiped away by progress. So we have a good idea today where, for example, Jesus was born.

The nativity scenes we see today, although a good reminder of why we celebrate Christmas, are, for the most part, historically incorrect!

As we discussed earlier, Jesus was not born in a barn or a structure like the ones depicted in nativity scenes today. Jesus was probably born in a back, ground-level room of a relative home where they kept the animals or in a connected dugout or cave next to the main house.

We also see the manifestation of angels in manger scenes. There might have been angels at the Nativity, but they were not visible. The angels of the Christmas story appeared to the shepherds not far away in a field. You might be interested in reading their Christmas account; MEET ME IN SHEPHERD’S FIELD.

The shepherds left their flocks and came to the home of Joseph’s family to see the Christ (Greek word for Messiah, Anointed One).

We also often see wise men and camels around a manger scene, but they, too, are not historically correct. The wise men came searching for the baby King from the East after He was born. We are not quite sure exactly when they came and worshipped Him, but it was certainly not the night of Jesus’ birth. 

As we celebrate Christmas, the thing we all should remember about the Nativity is wrapped up in John 3:16-17…

“FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE SENT HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON THAT WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WOULD NOT PERISH BUT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE. FOR GOD DID NOT SEND HIS SON INTO THE WORLD TO CONDEMN THE WORLD BUT TO SAVE IT.”

God in the flesh came from Heaven to planet Earth to live a perfect life at a specific time in history so that He could die in our place for our sins! This is God’s perfect plan showing His never-ending love for us and desire for us to be with Him through all eternity!

This is the real story of the Nativity!

May we joyfully celebrate the perfect plan of God and the completed work of our Savior, Jesus Christ, this Christmas.