Merry Christmas in January! While studying Luke 2 and Matthew 2 as well as some of the related readings for the lesson this week I was impressed with the vast array of people and places that received witnesses of the Saviors birth.
I think as I've gotten older I've heard the Christmas story so many times that it has lost a bit of its wonder and excitement. The shepherds and wise men, the angels and the stable, the cows and the manger - I've heard it a million times.
This week as I've read it all again however I was reminded about the tremendous anticipation that all of creation had for the birth of Christ. His birth was the signifying of the start of the greatest events the world would ever see - the life of the very best of us coming to Earth to do miracles and teach in a way that would never be repeated. A perfect life would be lived. An infinite atonement would be completed. All of creation was poised to celebrate his humble birth.
Both simple shepherds and the learned wise men sought him and received signs of his birth. Kings and Innkeepers were informed of his coming. Angels sang in celebration and even the animals witnessed his birth. The Earth rejoiced with a miraculous night without darkness on the American continent and a new star appeared in the heavens. An simple old man and woman who had been waiting patiently for his birth their entire life saw him in the Temple and testified. On one continent his birth was so humble so few knew about it that he was born in a stable, on another continent an entire nation waited for the signs of his birth and thousands of lives depended on his arrival.
All of this and more helps us understand the importance of Christs birth and of the life he would live. All of these events prepared the World to know he was the Christ and the Savior of the World. Even today we can read these stories to gain an appreciation for how all of creation rejoiced at his birth and how blessed we are to be able to study his life this year.
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