‘Away in a manager’ was the Christmas song my precious two yr. old would sing as she lay on the floor looking under our lighted tree at baby Jesus on the hay surrounded by Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds. She always wondered why the shepherds were there. We would say the Bible tells us in Luke 2 that the angel of the Lord came and His glory shone all around the shepherds in the field while watching their sheep. The Angels told them to fear not but have great joy, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. You will find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. . . As the angels were gone back into heaven, the shepherds said, Let’s go into Bethlehem and see what the Lord has made known to us.. With haste they came and found Mary, Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. After seeing Him they returned, glorifying and praising God and told abroad the saying which was told them concerning the child.” Many years have passed since our child asked us about those shepherds and what were they doing there in the manager next to baby Jesus. Today after years of reading and digesting God’s Word, I have learned more about the shepherd/lamb connection. When a lamb is born who is there to attend to the birth? The shepherd is the overseer! Did you know there was only one field (and it was located in Bethlehem) where the sacrificial lambs were raised, kept, and prepared for the Jerusalem Temple to be sacrificed for the sins of the people. In John 1:29 he says, “Behold the LAMB OF GOD WHO TAKES AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD.” Rev.7:17 “the LAMB in the center of the throne shall be their SHEPHERD, and shall guide them to springs of the water of life; and GOD shall wipe every tear from their eyes.”
