Today's Reading: Luke 2:6-7

Devo Author: Sam Hannon

Date: December 19, 2022

I will never forget when the time came for our first child to be born. After many months of preparation, a couple of weeks of anticipation, and 12 hours of slow labor, the doctor told my wife, Amy, and I that it was finally time for our baby to be delivered! We were both excited and nervous. This moment was the result of much prayer. It was something we had hoped for and dreamed of for many years. And in this moment, it would become reality. The time had finally come and our lives would never be the same.

Mary and Joseph experienced this moment. While in Bethlehem, the time came for the baby to be born (Luke 2). It certainly wasn’t the preferred hour or place to give birth, but the chosen time did not wait for proper housing or until they returned home to Nazareth. Despite their circumstances, the hour had arrived. You know the story… Jesus entered the world in a stable, was placed in a manger, and was celebrated by local shepherds. It is the most famous birth story of all time. Far from home and in less than ideal conditions, the Savior was born. His time had come. It was both unconventional and divinely orchestrated.

That line: “the time came for the baby to be born” is loaded with theological and historical significance. It is an hour anticipated in eternity past. A moment sovereignly chosen in the heavens. A time that changed the course of human history. That is why still to this day, the world pauses to commemorate the occasion of the birth of Jesus.

Think about what occurred in that moment in Bethlehem… the Incarnation, the Virgin Birth, the Trinity, the Davidic Covenant, and the Christological prophecies of old all converged in the manger as the Son of God took on flesh and came to dwell among us. In that moment, God’s plan to redeem us was put into motion. This wasn’t just the birth of a baby—this was the birth of the Savior. This is why the angels sang, the stars shined, and the shepherds bowed. For that hour, that moment had been coming for thousands of years…

Genesis 3:15 was pointing to this time and this Child. For the child of Mary was the promised offspring of Eve who would crush Satan, the enemy of our soul.
Genesis 12:2-3 looked forward through time to the day when that promised seed of Abraham came to bless the world.
2 Samuel 7:11-16 was pointing to that hour. A son of David came to reign on the throne forever.
Isaiah 7:14 and 9:6 were pointing to that minute. A child was born, a son was given. He was born of a Virgin and called Immanuel.
Micah 5:2 spoke of that night when a ruler would emerge from Bethlehem to rule over Israel. The hour was no coincidence and neither was the location.
Matthew 1:20-21 pointed to that time when the son of Mary and Joseph would come to save us from our sins.
Luke 1:26-33 was pointing to that hour as Mary was promised to give birth to a son whose kingdom would never end.

When Luke 2 says: “The time came for the baby to be born.” It is describing an epic moment. An hour anticipated over the ages. A culmination of God’s purposes and plans. It was a holy night… a night divine. So, pause with me today and drink it in. Glory in the providential work of God in bringing good news for all the people.

But don’t forget… on that night in Bethlehem, the clock began counting down to another specific point in time, a different hour, an hour of darkness also anticipated in eternity past. Once again, the time would come… for the babe in the manger would become the man on the Cross. The one born in Bethlehem would be lifted up on a hillside just outside of Jerusalem. Jesus spoke of this coming hour in Mark 14:41b (NIV): “...The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners.”