In our Bibles this morning, over to the book of Matthew, first book in the New Testament, Matthew chapter 1. Matthew chapter 1, and we'll read verses 18 to 25. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise, when as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, Before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. and she shall bring forth a son. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophets, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son. They shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. Then Joseph being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife, and knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son. And he called his name Jesus. Let's pray. Father, guide us now as we look at the Christmas story from the Bible. Help us to see it as it is and understand and help us to be all that you want us to be in these last days and for those who are here today or listening online that may not have come to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, help them to see it today and come to faith in Jesus Christ to be saved from their sin. We thank you, we love you, and we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. We want to look at what the Bible says on the Christmas story. It says, on this wise There in verse 18, now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise. And the Bible tells us very clearly that Mary was a virgin, verse 23, behold, a virgin shall be with child. And the Bible tells us there that when his mother, in verse 18, Mary was espoused to Joseph. We have to understand that the espousal back then was considered binding. It was not the marriage ceremony. It was a kind of an engagement, but it was very serious back in that day when they were engaged. It was almost the same as being married, but yet they did not come together. They were not living together just yet. That would come later. There was no sexual relationship. And the Bible tells us in this espousal period that she is found with child there and it very specifically says before they came together she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. And so we notice that this creates a problem for Joseph. She's found with child. We can go back to Luke chapter 1 and look at Luke chapter 1's account and as Mary is approached here, Luke chapter 1, and beginning in verse 26. Here the Bible says, and in the sixth month, that's when John the Baptist was, had been conceived there, and it says, in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin, espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, notice the espousal there, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary, two times now, and the angel came in unto her and said, Hail, thou art highly favored. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying and cast in her mind what manner of salutation should this be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, thou hast found favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the son of the highest. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father, David. and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end.' Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. So Joseph has this problem. This espousal was very binding back in that day and now we notice that Mary is pregnant. So the Bible tells us that he's thinking on these things. What should he do? He loves her. He thought about it. He was not willing to make her a public example. That would be under the law at that time. She would be taken out and stoned to death under the Mosaic law. So he was minded, he didn't want to do that, he was minded to put her away privately. That would mean she would be put in a place where she would, it was like a workhouse and like a slave and she would just be put away privately and he would leave her alone and that would be it. But the Bible tells us that while he thought on these things, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream saying, Joseph, Thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee, marry the wife. Go ahead and marry her, have the married ceremony. And so we noticed that we were told that two times there in Luke chapter one, and now another time here in the third time here in Matthew chapter one, three times we're told that she was a virgin. And notice verse 24. Then Joseph, being raised from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him and took unto him his wife. The marriage was performed. It took place. He would come and get her, and they would go and have the marriage ceremony. And they would be married. And he knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name Jesus. Notice that it was told by the angel in Verse 21, and she shall bring forth a son, thou shalt call his name Jesus. The name Jesus means savior for he shall save his people from his sin. It comes from the old Testament word, Joshua, which means Jehovah is salvation. So this name, Jesus is pointing to Jehovah God. Say, how do you know that? Well, Isaiah 7, 14 says, therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. And it's interpreted for us here in Matthew chapter 1 and verse 23. And behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son. They shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. Remember what? The Bible says in Exodus chapter 6 and verse 3, and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty. But by my name, Jehovah, was I not known to them. And in Revelation chapter 1 and verse 8, Jesus said, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is and which was and which is to come The Almighty, that's what that name Jesus means, Almighty God, Jehovah Almighty God. Call his name Jesus. We go over to Luke again in chapter 1 and just remind ourselves again of what we just read in the book of Luke chapter 1. It says in verse 31, it says, And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the son of the highest. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father, David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom. There shall be no end. And then look at The last part of verse 35 there, it says, therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of these shall be called the son of God. Biblical Christmas, the Bible story of Christmas is that God, God himself came to this earth. God the son, Jehovah God came to this earth. to pay the price for our sin. There is some who say that they try to tell us that Christmas is pagan, and they tell us that it was started by the Catholic Church and the celebrations that we have and all, and that Christmas is just Christ's mass. It's a Catholic mass. But that's not true. What does mass really mean? in the compound word Christmas. Well, if you go to any authority dictionary, which I went to the 1828 dictionary, Webster's dictionary, it will reveal that the English term mass evolved from the Anglo-Saxon word masse, M-A-S-S-E, which derived in turn from the Latin missa, which is a form of the verb mitre, M-I-T-T-E-R-E, which means to send. Consequently, the root meaning of Christmas is to send Christ, or Christ is sent. That's the meaning of the word Christmas. And if you don't believe me, get your dictionary and check it out. It's there. I checked it out. And that's the meaning of Christmas. Christ is sent. We have the Savior. And that's what the Bible tells us here, God with us. So we go over to Luke's account in Luke chapter two, as we're looking at the biblical Christmas, what the Bible says about the story of Christmas. And in Luke chapter two, we have recorded for us the birth of Christ. It says, and it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria. and all went to be taxed, everyone into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem. Why? Because he was of the house and lineage of David. They all had to go back to register for this taxing in the city of their birth. to be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. This shall be a sign unto you. Notice the sign now. This shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude, the heavenly host, praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, They made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherd. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all things that they had heard and seen as it was told unto them. That's the Christmas story in the Bible. Of course, tradition has added many things to it. But you know, back in 1883, Alfred Edersheim, who was a Jewish Christian, he wrote a book. It's two volumes, thousands of pages, The Life and Times of Jesus, of the Messiah. was of Jesus, the life and times of Jesus the Messiah, that was the name of it, written in 1883. And he referred to the book of Micah, if you go back there, chapter 5 and verse 8, where it says, and in this 4th chapter and 5th chapter it's talking about Israel being restored to the land, that God will restore them and they will The Lord shall reign, verse 7, there. The Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion from henceforth even forever. And thou, it mentions in verse 8, and thou, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion, the kingdom, shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem. It mentions the tower of the flock. He wrote about this in that book and let me read you what he said. I'll just read it to you from the horse's mouth. He said that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem was a settled conviction. Equally so was the belief that he was to be revealed from Mignol Adar. Mignol Adar is the Hebrew word for the Tower of the Flock. This Migdal Eder was not the watchtower for the ordinary flocks which pastured on the barren sheep ground beyond Bethlehem, but lay close to the town on the road to Jerusalem. A passage in the Mishnah, the Mishnah is the oral law, is the writings of the Jews, leads to the conclusion that the flocks which pastored there were destined for temple sacrifices, and accordingly, that the shepherds who watched over them were not ordinary shepherds. The latter were under the ban of rabbinism on account of their necessary isolation from religious ordinances, and their manner of life, which rendered strict legal observance unlikely, if not absolutely impossible, The same Mishnik passage also leads us to infer that these flocks lay out all year round since they are spoken of as in the fields 30 days before the Passover. That is in the month of February when in Palestine the average rainfall is nearly greatest, thus Jewish tradition in some dim manner apprehended the first revelation of the Messiah from that Migdal Eder, Eder, where shepherds watched the temple flocks all year round of the deep symbolic significance of such a coincidence is needless to speak. So that's what he wrote. Well, there have been a lot of articles come out about this tower of the flock and some say that the Mishnah was written only, was 200 years after. the event. We don't really know of any writings of the actual time except we do. And that's the Bible. We have the Bible. We have the Word of God. So this Tower of the Flock, what was it? Well, Migdal Eder, the Hebrew word, better known as the Tower of the Flock or Shepherd's Field in Bethlehem. Bethlehem is the royal city of David, so named because David took the fort and the watchtower of the Jebusites on what was known as Mount Zion in Bethlehem and dwelt in it. That's 1 Chronicles 11, 7. Migdal-eder, shepherd's field, or the tower of the flock, is the traditional place where the royal flocks were therefore raised and cared for. The first time Migdal-eder is mentioned in the Bible is in the account of Rachel, who died after giving birth to Benjamin, the youngest son of Jacob. And Israel journeyed and spread his tent beyond the Tower of Adar, records Genesis 35. So let's go back there and look at Genesis 35 and notice this because we have the Bible record. And so often we look over the Bible record in Genesis chapter 35 verse 21. Now this is very significant to understand in Genesis 35 and we'll begin in verse 16. It says, and they journeyed from Bethel and was but a little way to come to Ephrath. And Ephrath there is the place where Rachel is going to die, it says, And Rachel travailed, and she had hard labor. And it came to pass, when she was in hard labor, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not, thou shalt have this son also. And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, for she died, that she called his name Benomi, but his father called him Benjamin. And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephra, which is Bethlehem. And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day. And Israel journeyed and spread his tent beyond. It means he went on from there beyond the tower of Adar. So it was this tower of Adar by where she was buried. And if you go to Micah chapter 5 and verse 2, back to the book of Micah, Chapter 5, I hope you'll stick with me on this. It's a little bit of technical, but I want you to see it because it's so important. Micah chapter 5 and verse 2, but thou Bethlehem Ephrathah, the place where Rachel died. Though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me who that is to be ruler in Israel. whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting. Notice that Micah 4, 8 told us that even the first dominion, the kingdom, shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem, the ruler in Israel, whose goings forth, talking clearly about Jesus, indicating that it was this tower of the flock where Jesus was born. This area is on the outskirts of Bethlehem, is also mentioned in the Talmudic writings. According to the Talmud, all cattle found in the area surrounding Jerusalem as far as Migdal Ader were deemed to be holy and consecrated and could only be used for sacrifices in the temple, in particular for the peace and Passover sacrifices. There was a special consecrated circle around the city of Jerusalem. So this means that the shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem who first heard the good news from the angels were not ordinary shepherds but served in the sacrificial system of the temple. And so that is important for us to see that the Bible tells us that very clearly. And let me give you this here. If this is true, Jesus then was not born in a dirty stable with animals all around. This place at the Tower of the Flock, the bottom level was where they brought in the animals to be inspected. And it was very close there to Bethlehem. The Bible does not tell us that there was any argument with the innkeeper. It does not tell us that Jesus was sent to a stable behind the inn. The Bible just tells us that she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger. Well, the shepherds, they're given the sign. You'll find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. No direction. You go to this, there were probably a lot of stables around Bethlehem. You go to this particular stable, no, they knew. Shepherds were the shepherds who kept the flocks for the sacrifices. And swaddling clothes in a manger, they would know what it was talking about, to lay them in a manger. It was not a wooden manger, it would have been a stone manger back in that day. And this place was kept very clean. according to the rabbinic rules. The priest was to inspect the lambs. There would be no imperfections. There would be no broken bones. There would be no defects. It would have to be a perfect sacrifice. It was also their job to swaddle the newborn lambs in linen when they came forth and to clothe them in white. And it would be most unlikely for just anyone to give birth to a baby in this royal facility. It was David's City of David. But Mary and Joseph were of the lineage of David. They would have the right to go to that place. And the shepherds there and the priests there who worked in that place would not be able to withstand them. So it seems very likely since the Bible gives us that place in Micah 4, 8 and indicates that the Ephrata was the place of his birth. And we have Rachel there very clearly spelled out for us in scripture, the place where she was born and right there at the Tower of Hader, the flock. where the flocks, where the sheep were kept. And Mary and Joseph, they would have known of the place, so would the shepherds. So when there was no room in the inn, where could this baby be born? Well, that would be the most likely place for them to go. They would know that it would not be filthy and dirty there. And when John the Baptist came on the scene, what did he say? Behold the Lamb of God. which take it away to send the world. John the Baptist, by the way, was of the priestly tribe. So we have a priest prophet proclaiming the Lamb of God has come. So when the announcement was made by the angels, they would know exactly which manger. It would only mean their manger at the tower of the flock. And what did they say? Let us go now and check out all the stables around." They said, no. Let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass which the Lord hath made known unto us. Shepherds knew just where to go. He would be born in the very place where thousands upon thousands of sacrificial lambs were laid and inspected and found perfect for sacrifice. There's another interesting thing here and it's from the Promised Land Ministries and they said this, here are the meanings of the names involved in the account of Rachel. Bethel, where they left, means house of God. Israel, the name of Israel, means God prevails. Rachel means you. E-W-E, the lamb. Benomi means son of my sorrow, but Benjamin means son of the right hand. And the person who wrote this article said, I immediately saw a parallel between both of these births recorded in scripture, both in Bethlehem, both related to the Tower of the Flock, Mignol Ader, Rachel, the ewe, is carrying her little lamb who leaves the house of God to be born in Bethlehem, the house of bread. When children were born in biblical times, they were often named by the circumstances in which they were born. Knowing that she would be dying, Rachel named her little Lamb, Benomi, son of my sorrow. But Israel, God prevails, renames him Benjamin, son of the right hand. In a striking parallel, we see Mary carrying the son of God himself, a gift straight from the house of God. He is born as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world in the place called Bethlehem. He called himself the bread of life, born in the house of bread. when Joseph and Mary took Jesus to the temple for his dedication around 40 days old, according to law, Simeon makes a statement to Mary. And let's look at that in Luke chapter 2 and verse 34. And Simeon blessed them and said unto Mary, his mother, behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel and for a sign which shall be spoken against. Yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also, and the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." And of course, that would bring, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also, this child would become the son of sorrow for Mary, just as Benomi was for Rachel. But all the love of the Father that said no, although there would certainly be sorrow, that is not how he will be named. He is the son of the Father's right hand. God's accuracy is so incredible. I pray we can all slow down and realize what gift we have been given in Jesus our Messiah and rejoice in his provision for us. May God bless you abundantly. a good little article there from Promised Land Ministries. And when you put it all together and you look at what the Bible says, well, there's not the things that we normally take with the tradition of how we celebrate Christmas. We don't know how Mary actually got there, how they traveled, although most pictures put her on a donkey. We don't know that for sure, but it could be. There's no argument with the innkeeper. That's not recorded. There's no dirty stable. And also, we know that there was no wise men at the birth. If you look in Matthew chapter 2, in Matthew chapter 2, most of our manger scenes have the wise men there. But in the scripture, they didn't come to the tower of the flock where the lambs were born for sacrifices. No, they're in Bethlehem. They come to Jerusalem and they're to find out, they're following the star in chapter 2, and they come to Jerusalem to find out. And they say, where is he that is born king of the Jews? They were looking for him to be the king. For we have seen a star in the east, and there come to worship him. And Herod, verse 3, when Herod heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And so he gathered all the chief priests and scribes and people together and demanded them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, in Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet. These Jews, they knew. These priests, they knew. But they refused to believe. And thou, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah, for out of thee shall come a governor. that shall rule my people Israel. Then Herod, when he had privately called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. He went, when did you see the star, first see it? Because that would be the time when he was born. So, and he sent them to Bethlehem and said, go and search diligently for the babe? No, for the young child. And when you have found him, bring me word again that I may come and worship him. And when they had heard the king, they departed and lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them till it came and stood over where the young child was. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come in the house, they saw the young child come into the house, not where the manger was. They saw not the tower of the flock. They saw the young child. with Mary, his mother, and fell down and worshiped him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed in their own country another way. And Herod's really upset then in verse 16. Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth and sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem and all the coasts thereof. Notice this, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. So Jesus was somewhere between a year and two years old by this time when the wise men came. And the wise men, we know, it's another message to go into the wise men, really. If you go back to the book of Genesis you can find that Abraham, all of the sons of his concubines, he sent them to the east and so it could be these who came to worship when they saw the star. They were familiar with the Bible prophecy of the star to appear, a scepter and star. So I got through all of that, tried to get through it quickly for you and I hope I didn't go too fast but I wanted you to see that The Bible is so amazing, it tells us where Christ was born, the Tower of the Flock, the place where the sacrificial lambs were slain. Same place, because he would be the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. And we have a lot of tradition, but the real answer, and I have, there were some who were skeptic of this, that I, in my studies, that said that Because the Mishnah was written 200 years later, how could they know? But it's the Jewish writings. The Mishnah is just the oral law and Jewish writings about events. And there it is. It's in there. But the most important thing is it's in the Bible. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger. And so where would they go? Where would Joseph and Mary go? The logical place is that they would go to that place where they knew the temple lambs were inspected. It was a very clean place. Wouldn't you make that choice if you knew about it? And the word of God going back to Genesis makes it very clear. with Rachel and the story and the meaning of the names brings us to that place for the birth of Jesus Christ. It's there in the Word of God. And so I say to the skeptics, well, it doesn't matter what the Mishnah says, it matters what the Word of God says, and it leads us to that place. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your Word that's so clear and plain to guide us, and thank you for given us the Savior who came, was born, lived his life, and died on the cross paying the price for our sin. We thank you for it. We love you and pray that if there's any here today who are not sure they know Christ, they might get it settled even now. Come and let a personal worker show them how to get it settled and come to true faith in Jesus Christ. We thank you and we love you and we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's stand together and we'll sing an invitation song, give you an opportunity if you're not sure to get it settled today. Let's go to page number 241, 241. There wasn't any room for him in the end, but he went to the place. where the lambs were to be inspected for sacrifice. They were usually born out in the fields, brought into the Tower of the Flock to be inspected, and if they were found perfect, they would be taken to Jerusalem to be sacrificed. That's where Jesus was born, our lamb. Perfect sacrifice for our sin. Have you any room for Jesus? While we sing, will you come?