The Beautiful Story of Christmas
This is one of the most beautiful stories ever told. It is said that God
loved us so much that he gave us his only son to die on the cross for
our sins. 2000 years ago a young woman was to bear the son of God that
she was to call Jesus. "But how can I conceive since I'm a virgin" cried
the lady. "The Holy Spirit will come over you and the one to be born
will be called the Son of God, for nothing is impossible to God" said
Gabriel, the angel of the Lord. This lady's name was Mary. She was
engaged to Joseph- a carpenter's son. When Joseph came to know about
Mary being pregnant he decided to call off the wedding but in private.
But the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, "Don't be
afraid to take Mary as your wife" Soon Joseph and Mary got married.
Mary and Joseph went from Nazareth to Judea, to the town of Bethlehem,
the City of David. Then came the day when Jesus had to be born. They
went from place to place but they couldn't find a place where Mary could
give birth to the son of God. Finally they managed to get a stable
where sheep and cows lived. The son of God was born in this Stable. It
was freezing but they had no clothes for him. Finally Mary wrapped him
in a piece of cloth.
In the same country, lived some shepherds. The angel of the Lord
appeared to them, "Do not be afraid! I bring you good news of great joy,
which shall be to all people. For this day, in the city of David, is
born to you a savior, it is Christ the Lord! And this will be a sign for
you - you will find the baby wrapped in torn clothes and lying in a
manger." Then a great bright new star appeared in the sky.
Suddenly they saw a host of angels singing out praises to God, "Glory to
God in the highest, and peace to the people on earth."
Some Wise Men in faraway countries saw the star and guessed what it
meant. They studied the star. It was written in years ago that when the
Son of the Lord would come into the world a new star would appear in the
sky. They went about following the star so that they could reach the
place where the Son of God was born and worship him. When they reached
Judea they began asking people "Where is the child who is born to be
king of the Jews?" When King Harold, the then king of Nazareth heard
about this he felt threatened. He therefore sent the three Kings to
search for the child so that he could kill the child. However the three
kings had no idea about these evil intentions of King Harold and they
set out to find the new King and brought him gifts. The gifts were gold,
frankincense and myrrh.
The shepherds went to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph. The baby
Jesus was lying in a manger just like they had been told. When they saw
him, they told everyone what the angel had said and everyone who heard
the story were astonished. Then the shepherds returned to their sheep,
praising God for sending his Son to be their Savior.
By now the three Kings following the star also reached the manger. When
they saw Jesus`s beautiful face they bowed down and worshiped him.
The three Wise men were then warned in a dream by God, not to return to
King Herold. Therefore they then returned back to their countries in the
East through three different routes so that King Herold wouldn't be
able to find them.
When the Wise Men had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a
dream and said,
"Get up Joseph and take Jesus and Mary and escape to Egypt. Stay there
until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for Jesus to kill him."
So Joseph got up, took Jesus and Mary and fled to Egypt, where they
stayed till Herod died. Now when Herod realized that he had been tricked
by the Wise Men, he was furious and he gave orders to kill all the boys
aged two or younger in Bethlehem and in the surrounding areas. This was
in order to ensure than the Son of God was also killed.
When Herod died, Joseph had another dream, in which the angel of the
Lord appeared to him and said, 'Get up, take Jesus and your wife Mary
and go back to Israel, for those who were trying kill Jesus are now
dead.' So Joseph got up, took Jesus and Mary and they went back to
Israel. But when he heard that Herod's son was now king of Judea, he was
afraid to go there. So instead they went to Galilee, and lived in their
old town of Nazareth.
