Why Bethlehem?

It's easy -- and wrong --  to think of Christmas as some sort of beginning.

Our first impressions of Christmas, once our eyes are opened to the falsity of Santa, are often of an infant born in a barn -- the beginning of the perfect and sacrificial life of Jesus. 

We Christians profess to believe that the crucifixion wasn't the end of Jesus' life.  But, what if the Colonel told you that the birth of the Messiah wasn't the beginning of the life of God's Son?  What if he told you that the Son of God wasn't born on Christmas?

Over twenty-seven centuries ago -- seven centuries before the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem -- a man by the name of Micah was born in the village of Morashet on the coastal plain southwest of Jerusalem.  A contemporary of the great prophet Isaiah, Micah also spoke out in condemnation of the Hebrew people whose hearts and practices had turned from God.  He accurately prophesied the destruction of the two capitals of the divided kingdoms of Judah and Samaria.  His statement regarding God's requirement of His people is one of the most clear and concise in all of scripture:               

"He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."  -- Micah 6: 8 (NIV)

The prophesy of Micah that gets the most attention this time of year is: 

"But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting." -- Micah 5: 2 (KJV)

The first part of this verse gets all the attention.  It's the part that Herod's scribes quoted to him when asked about the prophesy of which the scriptural scholars from Persia (the "wise men") came to see fulfillment. 

That last part is the most awesome part -- in the Colonel's not-so humble opinion: "... whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."  The Hebrew phrase translated "from everlasting" in the King James version of the Bible actually means "eternity."

Eternity.  No beginning.  No end.

What Micah was inspired to prophesy wasn't that the Son of God would be born in Bethlehem.  The Son of God was never and would never be born.  As John said:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made." -- John 1: 1-3 (NIV)

The truth is the Son of God has had many incarnations.  One of the Colonel's favorites is the encounter with Joshua on the Plains of Jericho, as the "Commander of the army of the Lord" (Joshua 5: 13 - 15).  How do we know that this was the Son of God?  Look closely at verse 15.  This resplendent warrior who Joshua approaches with no little trepidation is no mere angel (although angels are themselves indeed awe-inspiring).  This warrior identifies Himself and then tells Joshua to worship Him: "...take off your shoes, this is holy ground." 

The ground in front of Jericho is not holy in and of itself -- no more so than was the ground on which God told Moses to remove his footwear.  What made the ground on which Moses stood holy was the presence of God. What made the patch of ground between the Jordan and Jericho holy was the presence of the Son of God. 

Still not convinced?  Think this was just an angel sent from God to give a battle plan to Joshua?

Angels do not accept worship.  John tried to worship an angel:

      

       "Then the angel said to me, 'Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!' And he added, 'These are the true words of God.' At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, 'Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus.'."  -- Revelations 19: 9 - 10 (NIV)

The Colonel believes that the Son of God -- the Word of God (John 1: 1) and the Commander of the Army of the Lord (Joshua 5: 15 and Revelations 19: 13 - 14) -- has existed for eternity.  

He is God.  

As God, He is the greatest being that has ever existed and is exalted above all others.

He is the agent of creation.

He is the sole source of salvation -- the final and absolute sacrifice for our sins.



So..., why be born human as Jesus? 

And, why Bethlehem?

Why not Rome? 

Two thousand years ago, the greatest power in the region (the world, for that matter) was the Roman Empire.  Rome was the epitome of opulence, power, and prestige.  Anyone born of high nobility in Rome automatically garnered the attention of the known world. 

Why not Athens?  

While power and authority emanated from Rome, Greek philosophy and culture permeated and propelled Roman political influence.  Athens was the historical locus of wisdom and higher thought -- the home and soapbox of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.  Birth in Athens granted one a certain philosophical privilege and provided the world's best incubator for developing one's message.

Why not Alexandria?

Founded by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C. and ruled by the dynasty of Ptolemy (one of Alexander's closest companions in arms), Alexandria boasted the world's greatest repository of human knowledge on the planet -- the Great Library.  Even though partially destroyed during Julius Caesar's warring in 48 B.C., the Great Library remained the foremost center for the studies of mathematics, geography, medicine, physics, and astronomy at the time of Christ.  Access to the Great Library's scrolls provided any serious student the foundation for world-changing invention and scientific progress.

Yet, as Micah prophesied, the Son of God became flesh in Bethlehem.  

The Son of God could have been born of nobility in Rome, of philosophical renown in Athens, or of educational privilege in Alexandria.

The Son of God -- the commander of the army of the Lord -- could have not been born at all.  He could have ridden out of the wilderness at the prime of manhood as the greatest, most educated, most philosophically profound warrior the world has ever known (which He is), and brought the Roman Empire to its knees within a fortnight.

The Son of God -- the Word of God -- could have stood on the Areopagus, spoke God's will in a monosyllabic utterance, and brought all of humanity to it's knees in recognition and worship (which He will).

The Son of God -- agent of creation -- could have used Mousiem bona fides to gain attention and changed the world with the ultimate advances in medicine and physics 

Yet, God sent His Son to be born in the humility of a hovel in a tiny afterthought of a village at a wide spot on the road in one of the most remote and underprivileged corners of the Roman Empire. 

Bethlehem was at the shallow rocky end of deep dusty nowhere.  

God's Son became flesh in the most humble of ways in the most underprivileged of settings, so that His remarkable life and ministry of salvation would spring not from any man-made source, but would be the physical manifestation of love and saving power solely the province of God.

The Son of God most high was born as any of us -- a helpless baby; to live a sinless life -- without blemish as a perfect sacrifice; to die willingly at the hands of men He came to save.          

What really amazes the Colonel is that all of this was God's perfect plan all along.  God showed man His Son at critical times in the life of His people.  God inspired man's prophetic promises of the Messianic ministry of His Son.  God sent His Son to die for man's separating sin.  

The Colonel is looking forward to the next phase of the plan.  

The Colonel's Cabin on Lake Brenda

The Colonel is building a cabin.

As he, and several of his immediate family and not-so-immediate friends, have toiled on the project for the past several months, said project has been identified, mostly by the Colonel, as "The Colonel's Cabin on Lake Brenda."

The name is, frankly, meant more as irritant than identifier.

The Colonel's winsome bride -- the comely and kind-hearted Miss Brenda -- takes issue with the name.  Honestly, she takes issue with the entire project.  Several months ago, she caught the Colonel drawing up plans on his project clipboard.

"What are you working on now, Knucklehead?" The Colonel could tell that Miss Brenda was genuinely excited about the Colonel's newest building plans, because she was standing with her hands on her hips and scowling at the Colonel in that loving way she always disguises her excitement over the Colonel's newest building plans. 

"The Colonel is planning on building a cabin down on Lake Brenda," the Colonel answered, not looking up from his architectural labors.

"I wish you wouldn't do that," Miss Brenda intoned in her special way of disguising her excitement over another of the Colonel's unending building projects -- you know: hands on hips, scowl. 

"But," the Colonel responded, "what else am I going to do with all that lumber in the solar kiln?"

"That's not what I'm talking about, Knucklehead.  I wish you wouldn't refer to yourself as 'the Colonel.'  It's like fingernails on a chalkboard every time I hear it."  

"Oh, Sweetie!  The Colonel just adores the way you lovingly disguise your true feelings.  You are SO funny!"

"Okay, Knucklehead.  Whatever.  Now, what is it you're planning on building?"

"Gonna build a cabin on Lake Brenda."

"I really wish you wouldn't do that."

"Why not?  It'll be fun. Besides, there's a couple dozen logs at the sawmill waiting to be cut and there's no room left in the solar kiln.  Gotta do something with the lumber."

"That's not what I'm talking about.  I don't think you can seriously call that mud puddle down there a 'lake.' And, I'm not too keen on it being named after me."

"Well, 'Lake Brenda' wasn't the Colonel's first choice, either.  But, you didn't like it when I tried to call it 'Colonel Rebel's Reservoir.'  And, you refused to let me call the dam 'the Colonel's Causeway.'"

"Whatever.  Just don't refer to that scum-covered waterhole as 'Lake Brenda' in public.  It's hard enough holding my head up in town after the Memorial Day speech you gave last year.  You're lucky you haven't been sued for slander."

"What part of the speech was 'slanderous'?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe when you called the Mayor a 'woke revisionist'."

"Well, she is!"

"You are incorrigible!"

The Colonel was stunned by the word.  "Wow!  Great vocabulary word, Sweetthing! And, not only did you use it correctly in a sentence, but you also correctly identified the Colonel's greatest character trait."

"Well," Miss Brenda replied, "let's not get on to the subject of your character.  I don't have my Funk and Wagnull handy."   

"Wow!," the Colonel exclaimed.  "You are on fire!  A great vocabulary word and a 'Laugh-In' reference!  Oh, how I do love our witty repartee!"

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. You know you love it, too."      

"No.  Thank you for not referring to yourself as 'the Colonel.'"  

"Oh. Pardon the Colonel for his lingual lapse."

The comely and kind-hearted Miss Brenda let out a long, low sigh in that way she feigns exasperation with the Colonel, when he knows she is really just disguising her inexpressible love and admiration. 

"Well," she asked finally, having exhausted her feigned exasperation disguising her inexpressible love and admiration, "why do you need a cabin?

"Need?  The Colonel doesn't 'need' anything.  He just wants to build a cabin."

"Well, Knucklehead, your cabin is going to need a bed.