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Before I was involved in producing this web site, I believed that the account of the birth
of our Messiah, Savior and King, Christ Jesus, was the Christmas Story. Technically, this is incorrect. This
account in the Holy Scriptures is the story of the Nativity.
Christmas, on the other hand, is the celebration of Nativity story. What you will read below is the
account of the Nativity as translated in the New Living Translation. It is my prayer that you receive blessings
from reading this account.
In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Glalilee,
to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. Gabriel appeared
to her and said, "Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!"
Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. "Don't be frightened, Mary," the
angel told her, "for God has decided to bless you! You will become pregnant and have a son, and you are to name him Jesus.
He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his
ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever, his Kingdom will never end!"
Mary asked the angel, "But how can I hae a baby?" I am a virgin."
The angel replied, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of hte Most High will overshadow you.
So the baby born to you will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. What's more, your relative Elizabeth has become
pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she's already in her sixth month. Ror nothing is impossible
with God.
Mary responded, "I am the Lord's servant, and I am willing to accept whatever he wants. May
everything you have said come true." And then the angel left.
A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town where Zechariah lived. She entered
the house and greeted Elizabeth. At the sound of Mary's greeting, Elizabeth's child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was
filled with the Holy Spirit.
Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary. "You are blessed by God above all other women, and your
your child is blessed. What an honor this is, that the mother of my Lord should visit me! When you came in and greeted me,
my baby jumped for joy the instant I heard your voice! You are blessed, because you believed that the Lord would do what
he said"
"Oh, how I praise the Lord.
How I rejoice in God my Savior!
For he took notice of his lowly servant girl,
and now generation after generation will call me blessed.
For he, the Mighty One, is holy,
and he has done greath things for me.
His mercy goels on from generation to generation,
to all who fear him.
His mighty arm does tremendous things!
How he scatters the proud and haughty ones!
He has taken princes from their thrones
and exalted the lowly.
He has satisfied the hungry with good things
and sent the rich away with empty hands.
And how he has helped his servant Israel!
He has not forgotten his promise to be merciful.
for he promised our ancestors - Abraham and his children -
to be merciful to them forever."
Mary stayed with Elizabeth aobut three months and then went back to her own home.
Now it was time for Elizabeth's baby to be forn, and it was a boy. The word spread quickly to her neighbors
and relatives that the Lord had been very kind to her, and everyone rejoiced with her.
When the baby was eight days old, all the relatives and friends came for the circumcision ceremony. They
wanted to name him Zechariah, after his father. But Elizabeth said, "No! His name is John!"
"What?" they exclained. "There is no one in all your family by that name." So they asked the baby's father,
communicating to him by making gestures. He motioned for a writing tablet, and to everyone's surprise he wrote, "His name is
John!" Instantly Zechariah could speak again, and he began praising God.
Wonder fell upon the whole neighborhood, and the news of what had happened spread throughout the Judean hills.
Everyone who heard about it reflected on these events and asked, "I wonder what this child will turn out to be? For the hand
of the Lord is surely upon him in a special way."
Then his father, Zechariah, was filled with the Holy Spirit and gave this prophecy:
"Praise the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has visied his people and redeemed them.
He has sent us a mighty Savior
from the royal line of his servant David,
just as he promised
through his holy prophets long ago.
Now we will be saved from our enemies
and from all who hate us.
He has been merciful to our ancestors
by remembering his sacred covenant with them,
the covenant he gave to our ancestor Abraham.
We have been rescued from our enemies,
so we can serve God without fear,
in holiness and righteousness forever.
Andyou, my little son,
will be called the prophet of the Most High,
because you will prepare the way for the Lord.
You will tell his people how to find salvation
through forgiveness of their sins.
Because of God'd tender mercy,
the light from heaven is about to break upon us,
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
and to guide us to the path of peace."
John grew up and became strong in spirit. Then he lived out in the wilderness until he began his public
ministry to Israel.
Now this is how Jesus the Messian was born. His mother, Mayr, was engaged to be maried to Joseph. But while
she was still a virgin, she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her fiance, being a man, decided to break the
engagement quietly, so as not to disgrace her publicly.
As he considered this, he fell asleep, and an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. "Joseph, son of
David," the angel said, "do not be afraid to go ahead with your marriage to Mary. For the child within her has been
conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from
their sins." All of this happened to fulfill the Lord's message through his prophet:
Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
She will give birth to a son,
and he will be called Immanuel (meaning, God is with us)."
(Isaiah 7:14, 8:6 & 10)
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord commanded. He brought Mary home to be his wife, but
she remained a virgin until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.
At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decree that a census should be taken throughout the Roman
Empire. (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was gevernor of Syria.) All return to their own towns to register
for this census. And because Joseph was a desendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David's ancient
home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with him Mary, his fiance, who was obviously
pregnant by this time.
And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave bith to her first child, a son.
She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the village inn.
That night some shepherds were in the fiels outside the village, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly,
an angel of the Lord appeard among them, and the radiance of the Lord's glory surrounded them. They were terribly frightened,
but the angel reassured them. "Don't be afraid!" he said, "I bring you good news of great joy for everyone! The Savior-yes,
the Messiah, the Lord-has been born tonight in Bethlehem, the city of David! And this is how you will recognize him: You will
find a baby lying in a manger, wrapped snugly in strips of cloth!"
Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others-the armies of heaven-praising God:
"Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and peace on earth to all whom God favors."
When the angels had returned to heaven the shepherds said to each other, "Come on, let's go to Bethlehem!
Let's see this wonderful thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
They ran to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. Then the
shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherd's
were astonished, but Mary quietly treasured these things in her heart and thought about them often. The shepherds went back
to their fields and flocks, glorifying and praising God for what the angels had told them, and because they had seen the
child, just as the angel had said.
Eight days later, when the baby was circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel even
before he was conceived.
Then it was time for the purification offereing, as required by the law of Moses after the birth of a child;
so his parents took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. The law of the Lord says, "If a woman's first child is a
boy, he must be dedicated to the Lord." So they offered a sacrifice according to what was required in the law of the
Lord-"either a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons."
Now there was a man named Simeon who lived in Jerusalem. He was a righteous man and very devout. He was
filled with the Holy Spirit, and he eagerly expected the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit had revealed to
him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord's Messiah. That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. so when Mary
and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required, Simeon was there. He took the child in his arms
and praised God, saying,
"Lord, now I can die in peace!
As you promised me,
I have seen the Savior
you have given to all people.
He is a light to reveal God to the nations,
and he is ghe glory of your people Israel!"
Joseph and Mary were amazed at what was being said about Jesus. Then Simeon blessed them, and he said to
Mary, "This child will be rejected by many in Israel, and it will be their undoing. But he will be the greatest joy to many
others. Thus, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul."
Anna, a prophet, was also there in the Temple. She was the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher, and
was very old. She was a widow, for her husband and died when they had been married only seven years. She was now eighty-four
years old. She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshipping God with fasting and prayer. She came along
just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and she began praising God. She taled about Jesus to everyone who had been
waiting for the promosed King to come and deliver Jerusalem.
When Jesus' parents fulfilled all the requirements of the law of the Lord, they returned home to Nazareth
in Galilee. There the child grew up healthy and stong. He was filled with wisdom beyond his years, and God placed his
special favor upon him.
Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise
men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, "Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We have seen his star as it
arose, and we have come to worship him."
Herod was deeply distrubed by their question, as was all of Jerusalem. He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law. "Where did the prophets say the Messiah would be born?" he asked them.
"In Bethlehem," they said, "for this is what the prophet wrote:
'O Bethlehem of Judah,
you are not just a lowly village in Judah.
for a ruler will come from you
who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.' "
Then Herod sent a private message to the wise men, asking them to come and see him. At this meeting he learned the exact time when they first saw the star. Then he told them, "Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!"
After this interview the wise men went their way. Once again the star appeared to them, guiding them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! They entered the house where the child and his mother, Mary, were, and they fell down before him and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. But when it was time to leave, they went home another way, because God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.
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