One day, a little while before Elizabeth gave birth to John, Mary was alone. The angel who was sent to Zacharias came to her and said ...

“God is very kind to you, Mary, for He has chosen you to be the mother of the Christ-child. You must call his name Jesus (which means Savior), for He will save the people from their sins. He shall be great, and be called the Son of God, and shall rule the world for ever and ever.”

     Mary believed what the angel Gabriel told her. She gently answered ...

“Let it be to me as you have said.”

      Then the angel left her.

      Caesar Augustus, the Emperor of Rome, commanded that the names of all the people should be enrolled. This means that Caesar wanted their names written down on a roll of paper. He wanted every person enrolled by name and by family and by tribe. The people were scattered, so to do this each person in the nation had to go to the city or town where the fathers of his tribe or family had lived.

      Mary and her husband were both of the tribe or family of Judah, so Bethlehem was the city of their family. Remember David? He was of the tribe, or the family, of Judah. David lived in Bethlehem when he was a little shepherd boy. Bethlehem was called the City of David.

      Bethlehem was eighty miles away from Nazareth. The roads between the two places were very rough and stony and very hilly. It was a hard trip to make. Mary and Joseph could not travel very fast. When they reached the city, all the normal places to stay were full, because there were a lot of other people in town for the same purpose. Mary and Joseph were very tired when they got to Bethlehem. But there was no room for them anywhere, except in a stable.

      There they found a resting place. That night God gave to Mary the baby He had promised her through an angel - the baby that the prophets of long ago foretold as the long expected King.

      Poor people in that time often wrapped a long band of cloth around their little babies. That band of cloth was called swaddling clothes. Mary wrapped her baby in swaddling clothes. Also, since there was no crib for Him, she laid Jesus in a manger.

      Just outside the city of Bethlehem is a beautiful valley. This valley is where David had taken care of his father’s sheep many years before. Some shepherds were watching their flocks that night. They watched their sheep day and night because it was not safe to leave them alone. Robbers andwild animals were around and the sheep might get hurt if left alone.

      The shepherds knew that it was time for the Christ to come. This night they might have been thinking of Him. Perhaps they were even talking about Him to each other. Then, all at once, a bright light shone around the shepherds. The angel of God came before them. They were very afraid. But the angel said ...

“Fear not, for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy that shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign to you: you will find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger."

      And suddenly there were a lot of angels. And they all sang ...

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will to men.”

      Then the angels left and went back to heaven. The shepherds said to each other ...

“Now let us go to Bethlehem right away, and see this baby, of whom the angels have been telling us.”

      They started at once and soon came to the city. It was about a mile away. They found Joseph and Mary and the little baby Jesus.

      The shepherds were very happy. They had wanted the Christ to come for a long, long time. Now He had come. They could now see Him. Mary found out how the shepherds had learned about her baby's birth. That made her very happy, too. She did not talk much about it. But the thought was a comfort to her the rest of her life. The shepherds went out and talked about the wonderful baby to every one they met. They also talked to people about what the angels had said about Mary's baby. On the way back to their sheep, the shepherds thanked God for what they had seen and heard.

      When Mary's little baby was eight days old, she named him Jesus. That is what the angel had told her to do. When the baby was forty days old He was taken to the temple at Jerusalem. This was done to obey a law of the Children of Israel. This law required that parents must take their child to the temple and offer sacrifices for him. If the parents could afford it, they brought a lamb and a turtle dove for the sacrifice. But if they were poor they could bring two turtle doves or two young pigeons. Joseph and Mary were poor, so they took two turtle doves.

      There was an old man in Jerusalem, named Simeon. He loved the true God very much. He desired and longed so much to see the Christ that God had promised and the prophets had foretold. God had promised Simeon that he would see the promised child. God promised Simeon that he would see the child before dying. Simeon was in the temple when Joseph and Mary brought in the child, Jesus. He looked at the baby, and knew at once that this was the Christ he had so desired and longed to see.

      Simeon took the baby Jesus in his arms. He thanked God for allowing him to see the Christ. He said ...

“Lord, now I am willing and glad to die for I have seen thy Christ; the Savior who has come to make the world brighter and better."

      As he gave the baby Jesus back to Mary, he said ...

“This child is born to be a great help to many people, but others will not believe him. They will speak against him, and will bring much sorrow to him, and his trouble will cause you sorrow too.”

      These things happened in Palestine. In another country way off to the East some wise men saw a bright new star in the sky. These men studied the stars all the time. They knew the star so much that they were able to know this star they now saw was a new star. They had never before seen this star. It seemed to tell them that some great thing had happened. They knew that the Children of Israel were expecting a king. They decided that this new star was sent to tell them that He was born. They thought they should go to honor Him.

      They packed up some wonderful gifts and left on a trip to find the king. They lived a long way from Palestine. They followed the new star until they came to Jerusalem. Do you remember that Herod the king lived there? The wise men thought that a king would naturally be found in a king’s house. So, they went to Herod’s palace and asked him ...

“Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and have come to worship him.”

      Herod could not answer them. It seems as if he had notheard of the birth of Jesus. Or, if he had heard about it, he didn't remember. He called together the leaders of the Children of Israel. He thought they would know. He asked them where they expected the Christ to be born. They told him that the prophets had foretold that he would be born in the little town of Bethlehem.

      Herod found out all he could about the child. Then he called the wise men and asked them how long it had been since they first saw the new star. He wanted to know how old the child was. Then he sent them to Bethlehem. He said to them ...

“Go and look carefully for the child, and when you have found him bring me back word where he is, that I may go and worship him also.”

      The wise men then left Herod and went to Bethlehem. They followed the new star until they came to the house where Jesus was. When they saw the child with His mother, Mary, they fell down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasure and presented gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Frankincense and myrrh are costly perfumes.

      Christmas comes around year after year and brings with it gifts from those who love us. No one really knows for sure what day of the year Jesus was born. So, we should remember this story each day! Will you remember this story each and every day? Will you think with love about the little baby Jesus? Will you remember that it is the birth of Jesus that we celebrate? Not just on Christmas day! But every day!

      After giving the baby Jesus their presents, the wise men started home again. But they did not go back to tell Herod where they had found the child. God told them in a dream that Herod did not mean what he said - that he did not want to worship the baby Jesus that he really wanted to hurt Jesus. So, the wise men went home another way.

      When Herod first heard about the birth of the King of the Jews, he was worried. He was afraid that he would have more trouble than ever with the Children of Israel. He was afraid that if they had a king of their own, then he would no longer be their king and they would give him a lot of trouble. So, Herod wanted to find the child. He had expected the wise men to come back to Jerusalem. He thought they would tell him where to find the baby. He wanted to find the baby so he could hurt the baby Jesus.

      But the wise men did not come back to Jerusalem to tell him. Herod waited and waited. Then he found out that the wise men had gone home another way. Hearing this made him very angry. He said ...

“I must find the child. It will not do to let him live to be king.”

      One of his plans had failed, but he thought of another.

      He did not know how old the little child king was. He was sure that he could not be more than two years old. He still did not know where to find the baby. So, he sent his soldiers out to destroy every little boy in Bethlehem who was two years old or younger. Herod didn't bother with little girls in Bethlehem, because he knew he was after a little boy baby. The soldiers did as they were told. There were a lot of sad parents in Bethlehem that day. Herod did a very cruel and bad thing. Thank goodness Bethlehem was a small town. Probably not more than twenty or thirty little boys were killed on that day.

      This evil plan of Herod’s failed to hurt the baby Jesus. On the night after the wise men started home, an angel of God said to Joseph in a dream ...

“Take the child and his mother and flee into Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will look for the young child to destroy him.”

      So, Joseph took the little baby Jesus and Mary away to Egypt that very night. They left Bethlehem as the angel had said. In Egypt they would be safe. Because Herod had no power in Egypt and he could not touch them there.

      They lived in Egypt until the wicked king Herod died. We do not know what they did while in Egypt. We don’t know where they lived. Probably they lived there very quietly.

      After the death of Herod, Joseph had another dream. Again the angel of God came to him and said ...

“Rise, take the child and his mother, and go back to your own land; for they are dead who sought to kill the child.”

      Joseph obeyed this dream as he had obeyed the other one. But they did not return to Bethlehem to live. King Herod had died. His son, Archelaus, was the ruler. Like his father, Archelaus was a very wicked man. So they went to Nazareth, which was once the home of Joseph and Mary. Jesus lived in Nazareth during His childhood.