“Come to the Manger” by Suzanne Matthews

Dearest friends, 

I’m too busy with our new BABY to edit. Reading it over reminded me of how my heart changed last year. I am praying it speaks to every frenzied heart, and we all draw close to our Jesus through the innocence of a tiny baby. Blessings!!

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Do you love Christmas?

I have to ask because I haven’t. It brings out my every vulnerability to admit this; for me, Christmas is a complete stressor.

Months prior I begin to feel the tension building. Over the years I have tried many things to find what everyone else seems to have. I have searched for just the right Advent devotional that would bring me joy and peace. To break my cycle of frenzy I have given up Christmas cards, slashed the gift lists, even hired someone to help me decorate simply.

Nothing has worked. What grieves me the most is that on Christmas Day I find myself glad for it all to be over and there has been no real moment to ponder the manger or draw close to the Christ Child.

My real truth is this: I don’t like Christmas, but I love the Christ Child.

So God led me to write. And study. I read various translations and dusted off my commentaries. I knew that if I could find new truths through deeper study I would also find a freshness and a sense of freedom. What surprised me is that I found simplicity.

Come to the Manger was born. It is six simple readings leading us to the Christ Child at His birth. Each devotional is followed by a question. It is a very simple offering and here below are excerpts from what has changed my heart.

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This story, Come to the Manger, begins with the period between the last words of the prophet Malachi and the first words of Matthew in the New Testament – the Intertestamental Period. A turn of a page and God breaks 400 years of silence and His message gently enters the world through carefully selected messengers.

The Intertestamental Period has been called a time of darkness, because Israel, for 400 years, was without a miracle given by God, or an angelic appearance coming from God, and without a fresh Word of God. Yet God cannot be dark. God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. I John 1:5 NIV

During the Intertestamental Period, God was silent.

God was silent to Israel, but He was not silent in history.

It was during this time that three intellectual titans began to influence all of western civilization. Socrates had a leading student, Plato, and Plato’s star pupil was Aristotle. Aristotle’s most famous pupil was Alexander the Great, whose consuming passion was for unity. He wanted the known world to become Greek.

Fast forward through more years and we meet a ruler, Antiochus III. Antiochus desired even more than Alexander to unify all things under the Greek system, and his intent was to make all Jews Greek. It was then that a religious group emerged, originally godly zealous men, fervently dedicated to keeping the Jewish religion pure. The Pharisees.

God was silent to Israel.

Later, another Antiochus, Epiphanes, rose to power. He considered himself to be the manifest god. Under his harsh rule toward the Jews he made the observance of the Sabbath, the rite of circumcision, and any possession of Hebrew scripts, all capital crimes. His ultimate sacrilege was having a pig sacrificed on the sacred altar in the Temple.

God remained silent to Israel.

Revolt grew and the Maccabees rose up against Antiochus Epiphanes. There was a period of religious freedom until 63 BC when Palestine was conquered by the Roman general, Pompeii, ushering in the Roman Empire. In 40 BC the Romans appointed a local vassal, Herod the Great, and Israel was once again groaning under foreign rule.

God was still silent to Israel.

What was Israel doing without miracles or angelic appearances, especially without a true prophet to relay God’s Word? Most likely Israel did what I do when God has been silent on a matter for too long. I get doubtful, wander away, try my own ways, and give in to the world’s way of thinking. Israel was stumbling.

What God taught me about the period of history I knew nothing about, is that He was never forgetful of His people. God was unifying language so that the New Testament would be written and read and understood in Greek. He was unifying the land for trade routes and travel for His word to spread and populate the first mission fields. He was fully in charge when the Greek Empire fell and the Roman Empire emerged. The world was pregnant with the fullness of readiness for God’s Son.

The question for me (and for us) is this:

WHERE HAVE WE MISTAKEN GOD’S SILENCE AS HIS INACTIVITY, INABILITY, OR DISINTEREST?

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God breaks His silence by sending Gabriel, one of only two angels named in the Bible. As God’s messenger Gabriel comes to Zechariah.

It is the pinnacle of Zechariah’s priestly service. We know he is a righteous man, of the priestly line, and his duty would be to, once in his life when his lot was chosen, go to Jerusalem to enter the Holy Place and place hot coals from the altar of sacrifice in golden bowls and offer smoke and fragrance to God. As Zechariah is going about his priestly service, Gabriel appears. His message is truly good news: Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth, would have a son.

Six months later God sent Gabriel a second time. This time not to Jerusalem and not to a priest, but to Nazareth in Galilee, to a young girl, 12 to 14 years old, a virgin, betrothed to marry, having never been with a man. Gabriel delivered his message, astounding words of prophecy, then he left.

At Gabriel’s presence, fear gripped both Zechariah and Mary as it would us, and as it gripped Isaiah and Ezekiel and Daniel and John. Both were told not to fear and received earth-shattering messages from the throne room of God. Gabriel’s announcements were simple, to the point, without heavenly hosts or trumpets or earthquakes. God did not break His 400-year silence with fanfare. He simply sent an angel with a message.

Interestingly, it appears both Zechariah and Mary responded with almost the same words. Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” Luke 1:18

And Mary asked, “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1: 34), yet Zechariah was judged while Mary was favored.

The word how is a different Greek word in each response. Zechariah’s “How can I be sure of this?” means “whether, which, who or why” and denotes an intense opposition.

Mary’s “How will this be?” means “in what way, after what manner.” Her word was said as an exclamation, and is unexpressed in English.

Gabriel’s response to Mary was forthright and informative; Gabriel’s response to Zechariah was punitive. The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.” Luke 1:19-20 

Zechariah was a skeptic; he does not believe. He needed further evidence. Do we?

What God asked me was this:

WHAT CAN BE MORE SURE THAN THE WORD OF GOD?

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And 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, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, 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 this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. Luke 1:26-30 KJV

I learned ‘Hail’ means ‘hi’. Gabriel appeared possibly in Mary’s house while no one was around. When she saw him, he simply said hello.

Gabriel speaks, Mary listens. Gabriel pauses, Mary questions. Gabriel explains, Mary hears.

Mary’s belief is of the fullest measure. Praise pours out of her, it is her first response. Scholars believe Mary’s words are the purest form of worship in the New Testament. She hears, believes, utters praise. She exalts God.

Her praise, called The Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55), reveals that her young life was saturated with Old Testament scripture. Her words reveal her humility. Mary had an exalted view of God and a humble view of herself. She is the true worshipper to be modeled. This is where God has taken me and shown me – stay here, ponder here, linger here.

So far in God’s story there has been no fanfare accompanying God entering once again into human lives. Only one angel. Two messages. One hearer silenced and one so filled with praise she cannot contain what her heart has understood. God is painting His masterpiece and the background is simplicity. He is telling His story and the thread is simplicity.

Our question:

HOW WILL THE SIMPLICITY OF GOD’S GREATEST ANNOUNCEMENT BE REFLECTED IN YOUR CELEBRATION OF IT – IN BOTH HEART AND HOME?

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There’s more but I’ll stop and let you take in what God has shown you about the Intertestamental Period of history when He was silent to Israel yet preparing the world for the Incarnation. Ponder Gabriel’s unannounced visits and compare the two recipients of words from God’s throne room. And camp out in Mary’s words of praise.

I pray this will give you reason to simplify Christmas and draw you close to the manger. It has for me.

About the author ~ Suzanne Matthews

The Lord has blessed Ben and Suzanne with an Advent angel, their newest granddaughter, Elizabeth Anne Cagle, born November 18. 

Tags: Advent, Christ Child, Christmas, manger, Suzanne Matthews