The culmination of 4,000 years was fast approaching. A day was coming to change the world forever. Rich and knowledgeable men from the east traveled for two years across land and sea, guided only by a bright star. Logistics and supplies were needed for such a journey, along with servants to handle the additional work created by this determined caravan. The leaders were men of renown in their lineage and in their countries. Shem, Ham, and Japheth were the founders of all nations on earth, and, rightfully, this royal contingent consisted of kings from Tarshish, Sheba, and Seba, each descended from one of Noah’s sons. With the entire earth’s population and each and every country represented by these kings, the arrival of the caravan would be precisely on time and at the exact place needed for the world to be changed.
These wise men were full of faith in the highest sense. They knew the writings of old and that a star would come out of Jacob. They knew a light would dawn and that darkness would no longer prevail in the land. This bright star—it had to be right! Almost two years into the journey, the path to Judea seemed certain. The timing was also coming into the right calculation; all their planning for months in advance of this trip would pay off. The days had been given to Daniel for the coming of the Anointed One, and now the light of the star and the end of Daniel’s days as given by Gabriel were fast coming to a single juncture. One last stop, just to make sure, would be made in Jerusalem. Surely the king of this country would know. The Jerusalem king’s assistants respond that something had been written about a special baby being born in Bethlehem. Now they remembered, yes, Bethlehem it was! The caravan was very close, just a few more miles to go, south of Herod’s town, and the two-year journey would be complete.
Bethlehem was cold on that winter night. A dusting of snow began late that evening, and by the time the caravan arrived from the east, a pure blanket of soft fallen snow seemed to layer everything, and the star which they had followed stopped right over a small stable just on the edge of Bethlehem Ephrathah. These journeymen and servants and livestock were tired. Yet the treasures packed for the long trek needed to be unpacked and presented to a babe wrapped in strips of linen and lying in a feed trough within the snow-covered stall. Out of the cold weather, a small fire inside provided warmth to the babe, the parents, the assembled guests from shepherds to kings, and the creatures from oxen to lambs.
Their treasures were opened, and gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh were presented to the newborn child as the virgin mother watched in wonder and amazement. Shepherds had come from tending their sheep just moments before; kings were now present after a journey of two years; creatures gathered as paying tribute to their Creator; angels peered from their fourth-dimension pedestal after their song in chorus from nearby fields; and the star, the light from the heavenly host, shined a bright beam from the sky to the crib, all while snowflakes fell from heaven and adorned the scene as a blessing and anointing of this birth. We call this event Christmas Day, which changed the world forever: the birth of the King of kings, Lord of lords, the Great Shepherd, Redeemer, Savior, Messiah, Immanuel, Firstborn of Creation, God in flesh, the Great I Am!
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