Day 3: The Birthplace of our Savior

Bethlehem was a small, sleepy, insignificant village located approximately five miles south of Jerusalem. Not necessarily where we would have expected a king to be born. Bethlehem had no palace or temple. Wealthy or important people didn’t live there and most likely never visited either. No one had a lake house or island retreat in Bethlehem. God picked an obscure town for the birthplace of his son and foretold that it would be the place of His birth in Micah.
Jerusalem was the center of influence and wealth in Jewish life. The palace was there. The temple was there. Yet the Christ child wasn’t born there. Those desperately looking for a Messiah to come and deliver them from a difficult existence under a harsh Roman rule never expected a baby born in a manger in the out of the way village of Bethlehem. This story was just too incredible – it must be fake news!

Read Micah 5:2-3, Matthew 1:18-25 & Luke 2:1-7

Q: What did Micah predict about the future birth of a ruler over Israel?

Q. The Messiah’s earthly parents were from the city of Nazareth. In a time when people rarely travelled more than a few miles from their homes, how did his parents happen to find themselves in Bethlehem?

Q. King Herod lived in Jerusalem. The center of Jewish religious life, the temple, was located in Jerusalem. Why wouldn’t God pick Jerusalem as a more fitting place for the birth of his son?

Q: How did Mary come to be with child?

Q: What does these passages say that Jesus will do?