Christmas is the most popular holiday in the year.  There are certainly good reasons for that popularity.  It is a season of goodwill.  And that goodwill comes from God Himself.  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but shall have everlasting life. (John 3:16)  And, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (1 John 4:11)  That is the source of all goodwill.

The story of the coming of the Son of God is filled with beauty.  It begins with patience--the patience of God with lost mankind.   For centuries God had prepared for the advent of His Son.  He had prophesied it through Isaiah, with these words:

At last the right time came, and an angel was sent to a virgin, to tell her that she would bear the Son of God.  Great artists have tried to capture that marvelous moment of the annunciation.

This is by Waterhouse, showing Gabriel holding lilies.

This is the annuniation as painted by El Greco.

By the power of the Holy Spirit, the virgin Mary became pregnant.  Her fiance, Joseph, planned to quietly refuse to marry her when he found out she was pregnant, but an angel told him in a dream that she was pure and he should not reject her.  So he married her, but did not touch her while she was pregnant.

By order of the Emperor, Joseph took his pregnant wife on a long journey to Bethlehem, probably letting her ride on a donkey, if he could afford one.

When they arrived in Bethlehem, the town was crowded and the rooms in the inn were full.  The only spot they could find for some privacy and protection from the weather was in the town's stable.  Jesus was born while they were in the stable, and He was laid in a manger for His bed.

Think of this and be amazed.  One who was by nature God did not try to hold on to His status, but made Himself nothing and became a man. (Philippians 2:6-7)  He who lived in perfect bliss came to a wicked world.   He did not come as the son of a rich king, but as the apparently illegitimate son of a poor couple.  He was not born in luxury or even in a clean room, but in a dirty and smelly stable.  Why would He stoop so low?

He came all the way down, so that we would know that He was truly with us.  He came to suffer with us, so that we would know that we are not alone, that we are not abandoned by God, that God does love us. His birth was a foretaste of His persecution and suffering and death for our sake.  From birth to death He took the lowest spot so that none of us could say that He was favored while we were not.  He was humble so that we would know that His love was true.

For more of this wondrous story, click here.

The Bible contains this story as well as other wonderful details in Luke 1:1-2:7 and Matthew 1:18-25.