Luke 2:12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
This Shall Be a Sign Unto You
God reveals Himself to those who have a willingness to believe. Perhaps this is why the Lord Jesus said, “A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign” when the Pharisees and Sadducees tempted Him, seeking a sign from Heaven. The truth is they had been given literally every sign in the Book!
When King Herod wanted to know where the King of the Jews was to be born, he promptly asked the chief priests and the scribes. Knowing the Scriptures, they told Herod that the King was to be born in Bethlehem of Judaea. And yet none of these students of the Scriptures joined the wise men from afar to seek for the Child that was so close at hand. Were they lacking a sign, or were they simply so hardened that they stumbled over a multitude of signs that God had given centuries before regarding the Christ Child?
Luke’s account of the Christmas story gives us a refreshing contrast to the knowledgeable skeptics. The angels gave the glorious news to shepherds tending sheep in the countryside. God Jehovah had sent the Savior, His Messiah, the Lord! What sign would God give them that they had found this Gift of God? No doubt, the religious leaders of the day would have sought some spectacular “sign from Heaven”. But to the shepherds, the angels said, “And this shall be a sign unto you; ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”
A baby wrapped in swaddling clothes was the sign that they were in the right place? A manger?! That was to be the “sign”? And yet the shepherds went with haste. The Bible then says, “And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.” Just what exactly had they seen? They had seen the Messiah, the Savior of the world! They had seen a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. It was sufficient for them. They had willing hearts.
Yes, but wasn’t it an angelic host that gave the sign that the shepherds were to seek? Would not the religious leaders have been more believing had angels announced the birth? When the rich man in hell argued with Abraham that one risen from the dead could convince his brothers to miss the place of torment, Abraham said that if they would not hear Moses and the prophets, the ancient Scriptures, they wouldn’t be persuaded even though one rose from the dead.
Years later, One did arise from the dead. And those who had ignored Jesus’ birth denied His resurrection. An angel from Heaven was not about to change the darkened hearts that had ignored God’s Word from Heaven. And yet, whenever there is a heart to believe the truth, there are eyes to see the truth. When we, with believing hearts, take God at His Word, we have the ability to see what both shepherds and wise men saw. God has sent His Gift, just as He said He would!