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Why Bethlehem? The Hidden Meaning Behind Jesus’ Birthplace | David Jeremiah | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: Why Bethlehem? The Hidden Meaning Behind Jesus’ Birthplace
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The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem is presented as the pivotal moment of redemption, directly contrasting the darkness of sin and death with the hope of eternal life offered through Christ.
hear me
carefully in the contrast of death and
life is the picture of redemption that
is proclaimed in the birth of Jesus our
God was not responsible for the massacre
of those children but he was responsible
for sending one into the world who could
by his own life and death make it
possible for those who die physically to
live eternally in the death of the
babies and the birth of Jesus is the
picture of why Jesus had to come into
the world in the first place until we
see our Lord's birth against the
backdrop of the massacre in Bethlehem we
will never realize why it is so
important for him to come he came to rid
us of the ugliness of sin and there is
no picture of the ugliness of sin like
the infanticide at Bethlehem even today
in our culture when we read of little
children being tortured our hearts
become angry and we are filled with sadness
sadness
because it represents the ugliness of
the world of sin in which we live and
here is this picture of Bethlehem and
the birth of the baby who would put an
end to all of that ugliness the birth of
the Lord Jesus Christ what a wonderful
promise it is concerning Jesus that one
day he will make it possible for God to
wipe away every tear from our eyes and
there will be no more death nor sorrow
nor crying and there shall be no more
pain for the former thing will have
passed away in Jesus you find life in
the world of sin it is the tale of death
and the story of Christmas highlights
that as it's centered in the little city of
of
Bethlehem I want to read to you a very
familiar portion of scripture but it's
important that you have this in mind as
I speak today it's Luke Chapter 2 and
verse one and it came to pass in those
days that a decree went out from Caesar
Augustus that all the world should be
registered this census first took place
when cinius was governing
Syria so all went to be registered
everyone to his own City Joseph also
went up From Galilee out of the city of
Nazareth into Judea to the city of David
which is called Bethlehem because he was
of the house and lineage of David to be
registered with Mary his betrothed wife
who was with child
and so it was that while they were there
the days were completed for her to be
delivered and she brought forth her
firstborn son and wrapped him in
swaddling clothes and laid him in a
Manger because there was no room for
them in the
in I want to talk with you today about
the importance of the village of
Bethlehem in the story of
Christmas on December 24th
1865 Phil Philips Brooks attended a
5-hour Christmas Eve service at the
church of the Nativity in
Bethlehem he said every Christmas song
that had ever been written for Christmas
was sung that night and was a wonderful
time that deeply moved him later he
wrote in his journal about that
experience he said I remember standing
in the old church in Bethlehem close to
the spot where Jesus was born where the
whole church was ringing hour after hour
with Splendid hymns of praise to God how
it seemed as if I could hear voices I
knew well telling each other of the
wonderful night of the savior's
birth 3 years later thinking about that
experience he was asked to write a song
for children to help them celebrate the
Christmas season he began to think back
to that wonderful night in Bethlehem and
before he was finished reflecting on it
he wrote the words to the hym oh little
town of Bethlehem oh little town of
Bethlehem how still we see thee lie
above the deep and dreamless sleep the
silent stars go by yet in thy dark
Street shineth the Everlasting Light the
hopes and fears of all the years are met
in thee tonight the question is why
Bethlehem why out of all the cities that
could have been chosen for the birth of
our savior was Bethlehem chosen I mean
it seems like Jerusalem would have made
a much better choice
for Jesus to be born but Bethlehem I I
know the name has got a kind of a ring
to it but why would this unpretentious
Village play host to a scene that had
such Eternal
consequences The Book of Luke tells us
Mary and Joseph were in Bethlehem where
Jesus was born because of Caesar
Augustus the emperor had decreed that a
census needed to be taken every person
in the Roman world had to go to his own
town to register and don't get confuse
this with his desire to know how many
people there were he didn't want to miss
any taxes that's why that was done and
he had them all go to their place to
register and of course Joseph and Mary
made the 90m Trek from Nazareth to
Bethlehem that first Christmas and the
story as you know is told in Luke
Chapter 2 the famous story of
Christmas but to understand why that
city was so significant you have to
reach deep into the pages of the Old
Testament and discover how the history
of Bethlehem made it just the right
place for Jesus to be born first of all
Bethlehem was prepared historically the
city of Bethlehem is mentioned in the
Old Testament men and women 41 different
times in 12 different books over a
period of, 1300 years and we discover
first of all as we read from the
beginning that it was a place of Sorrow
one of the most important women in the
Old Testament was the woman Rachel the
record of Rachel's death is the longest
obituary for a woman in the Bible and
it's recorded primarily in the 35th
chapter of Genesis and there you read
the story of what happened to one of the
scriptures most beloved women as she was
giving birth to her second son here's
what the scripture says and they
journeyed from bethl and when there was
but a little distance to go the
scripture says Rachel labored in
childbirth and she had hard labor now it
came to pass that as she had hard labor
the Midwife said to Hero not fear you
will have this son also and it was as
his name became Ben Oni that his father
called him
Benjamin so Rachel died and was buried
on the way to ephrath that is Bethlehem
and Jacob set a pillar on her grave
which is the pillar of Rachel's grave to
this day Rachel died in 1700 BC but
Jacob never forgot the death of Rachel
in all the rest of his life in fact
before he finally died some 30 years
later he recalled with Vivid detail the
moment of sorrow in bethleem Genesis 48
and: 7 but as for me when I came from
pedan Rachel died beside me in the land
of Canaan on the way when there was but
a little distance to go to ephra and I
buried her there on the way to ephra
that is Bethlehem but the story
continues 1,00 years after Rachel's
death a Prophet by the name of Jeremiah
a wonderful Old Testament Prophet by the
Jeremiah wrote these
words Jeremiah wrote a voice was heard
in Rama lamentation and bitter weeping
Rachel weeping for her children refusing
to be comforted for her children because
they are no
more now that's a really kind of obscure
passage until you come to the Book of
Matthew in the New Testament and Matthew
connects the words of Jeremiah with
another time of great sorrow in
Bethlehem here's what we read then Herod
when he saw that he was deceived by the
wise men was exceedingly angry and he
sent forth and put to death all the male
children who were in Bethlehem and in
all of its districts from 2 years old
and under according to the time which he
had determined from the wise men then
was fulfilled what was spoken by
Jeremiah the prophet saying a voice was
heard in Rama lamentation weeping in a
great morning Rachel weeping for her
children refusing to be comforted
because they are no more some ancient
Christian traditions claim that the
massacre of the Innocents in the
Christmas story involved thousands of
children but based on the population of
the small village of Bethlehem the
annual birth rate and the high infant
death rate at the time most honest
historians and demographers estimate
that the total number of male children
under the age of two would have been no
more than
50 and the lower number makes the crime
no less of an atrocity because the death
of even one child
is a tragedy Matthew connects the birth
of Jesus with the death of Rachel's son
Matthew look back to Jeremiah and
Jeremiah takes us all the way back to
Genesis it's almost as if you start in
the book of Genesis and you have a
thread and you connect that thread all
the way through the scripture from
Genesis all the way to the story of the
birth of Christ and the historic city of
Bethlehem but the question that we have
to ask when we read this account is how
in the world does one ever reconcile the
Glorious birth of our savior with the
bloody massacre of all the male children
under 2 years of age who were killed at
the direction of
Herod hear me
carefully in the contrast of death and
life is the picture of redemption that
is proclaimed in the birth of Jesus our
God was not responsible for the massacre
of those children but he was responsible
for sending one into the world who could
by his own life and death make it
possible for those who die physically to
live eternally and here is the birth of
the baby who would put an end to all of
that ugliness the birth of the Lord
Jesus Christ what a wonderful promise it
is concerning Jesus that one day he will
make it possible for God to wipe away
every tear from our eyes and there will
be no more death nor sorrow nor crying
and there shall be no more pain for the
former things will have passed away in
Jesus you find life in the world of sin
it is the tale of death and the story of
Christmas highlights that as it centered
in the little city of Bethlehem so
Bethlehem was a place of Sorrow the
death of
Rachel the massacre of the
children but it's also a place of
selection Bethlehem is not just an
accident it's not just incidental it's
all part of the Sovereign plan of God
watch carefully how the story continues
in the book of 1 Samuel we read a story
that's very familiar to most of us it's
the story of the selection of David to
be the king of
Israel little Bethlehem provided Israel
with its most enduring
hero Samuel the prophet was sent by God
to Bethlehem where he selected David who
would replace King Saul as the king of
Israel Saul you see was man's selection
to be king and David would be God 's
selection to be king 1st Samuel 16
records how the prophet came to the
house of Jesse in Bethlehem and he
carefully sized up all of the young men
of the household Samuel's Godly eye
finally fell upon David and the Lord
said to Samuel arise anoint him for this
is the one and David became the anointed
king of Israel here stood one who was
destined to be known as the man after
God God's Own Heart and from Shepherd in
Bethlehem to the king of Israel what an
amazing story that was in Bethlehem the
king of Israel was selected now watch
carefully Bethlehem became known as the
city of
David Jesus is called the son of David
through the city of Bethlehem flowed the
lineage and Descent of our savior and
the night that Jesus was born in
Bethlehem another king was selected that
night he was not to be just the king of
Israel he would be the King of Kings and
the Lord of lords and the king of the
earth amen so Bethlehem was a place of
sorrow and
selection but if you stop reading here
you won't get the rest of the story is
interesting that after the story of
David there's a long period of time
where nothing is mentioned about
Bethlehem and we discover a little bit
later that Bethlehem was also a place of
Salvation watch one of the wonderful
stories of the oldest Testament is the
story that is found in the fourth
chapter book called
Ruth from the time that Jacob spoke of
Bethlehem as he was about to die there's
no important reference to the city for
many years and then you come to the Book
of Ruth and all of a sudden you open
this book and in this little Book of
Ruth in four chapters the word Bethlehem
is mentioned seven times Bethlehem is
alive again it's come back and the Book
of Ruth presents to us one of the most
perfect pictures of all the Old
Testament of the redeeming work of the
Lord Jesus Christ you remember the story
trusting Naomi's God Ruth insisted on
leaving Moab and following her
mother-in-law back to
Bethlehem but Naomi and Ruth arrived at
Bethlehem and they had nothing they were
pitously poor and according to custom
they needed a relative to redeem or
provide for them and their family and
Boaz stepped up rescuing naom and Ruth
from poverty and ultimately taking Ruth
as his wife near the end of the book we
read this blessing upon Ruth's life and
all the people who were at the gate and
the elders said we Are Witnesses the
Lord make Ruth who is coming to your
house like Rachel and Leah the two who
built the house of Israel and may you
prosper in EA and be famous in Bethlehem
Ruth became famous in Bethlehem
now interestingly enough if you follow
this story further Ruth is only
mentioned one time in all of the New
Testament only one time and you'd be
surprised where it is it's in the very
beginning of the New Testament in the
first chapter of Matthew and what we
call the
genealogies Matthew 1: 15 and 6 salmon
begot Boaz by Rahab Boaz begat OED by
Ruth OED begat Jesse and Jesse beg got
David the king so what do you say what
is that all about well the whole story
of the Old Testament leads us right to
the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem was the
story of Jacob and Rachel in the story
of the selection of David comes David
and Jesus is called the son of David and
in the story of Ruth we meet the woman
who was ultimately mentioned as being in
the line of descent of our savior did
you see that she's in genealogy one of
the women in the genealogies of Jesus
and the one thing that connects all of
these stories together is Bethlehem the
little village of Bethlehem and just as
Ruth found her Redeemer in Bethlehem we
find ours there as well for there is
born to you this day in the city of
David in Bethlehem a savior who is
Christ the Lord amen Bethlehem was
prepared historically let me suggest one
another thing Bethlehem was prepared
symbolically do you know what the word
Bethlehem means the word Bethlehem means
House of Bread and the word ephra means
fruitfulness so the city of Bethlehem
was the House of Bread that is what
caused the Lord Jesus to say on one
occasion in John I am the bread of life
he who comes to me shall never hunger
the bread of life was born in the House of
of
Bread and the fruitfulness oh Jesus
Jesus said by this my father is
glorified that you bear fruit and you
will be my
disciples to a hungry time in a
thirsting world came the bread of life
who teaches us to have a fruitful life
in his behalf you see our savior was
born for the hungry as their bread of
life he was born for the helpless and
now he comes to us as our savior and
then finally Bethlehem was prepared
prophetically I want to take you back to
the Old Testament and one of the Minor
Prophets whose name was
Micah and in Micah 5 verse 2 he made
this amazing prophecy he said but you
Bethlehem EPA though you are little
among the thousands of Judah yet out of
you shall come forth to me the one to be
ruler in Israel whose goings forth are
from old from Everlasting now listen
carefully the prophet Micah wrote this
in 722 BC critics have tried to remove
this Prophecy from the Bible but they
have been unable to undermine his
identification of the birthplace of Our
Lord to make this really work in our
hearts and help us understand the
miracle of it we need to comprehend that
the prediction of where Jesus was born
was made centuries before he was born I
don't know if you understand how amazing
this is but consider this
Micah put his finger on one of the
smallest countries in the world and in
that country he put his finger on the 12
provinces in which the Messiah was to be
born and he selected Judah from among
those provinces and in that Province he
put his finger on one small little
village called Bethlehem that had less
than a thousand people living in it and
he said in that place Jesus will be born
you could never have guessed that in a
million years and if you were to have
guessed where a king would be born you
would have certainly guessed Jerusalem
but you had never suggested that the
king the Messiah would be born in
Bethlehem but you see Micah wasn't
guessing Micah was prophesying through
the power of the Holy Spirit he was
saying what would happen centuries later
at the time of our Lord's birth when
Herod gathered the whole Jewish
Sanhedrin together and inquired where
Jesus was be born they said in Bethlehem
of Judea they they knew they had read
Micah and thus it is written by the
prophet but you Bethlehem in the land of
Judah are not the least among the rulers
of Judah for out of you shall come a
ruler who will Shepherd My People Israel
here are the wise men quoting Micah from
the Old Testament and 30 years after the
birth of Jesus the Jews were still
willing to admit that Micah spoke of the
coming of the Messiah John 7:42 says
this has not the scripture said that the
Christ comes from the seat of David and
from the town of Bethlehem where David
was you can't take Bethlehem out of the
Bible you can't take Micah out of the
scenario they are part of the historic
wonderful miraculous prophetic
announcement of the coming of our
Messiah amen for those who read the
ancient writings those who thought about
the Eternal workings of God the clues
were always there as we know in history
the names and the surprising ways of God
himself Bethlehem was a village that bore
bore
watching so as the years went by the
rabbis remembered and the scholars kept
an eye on the little village everyone
else passed it by and when Joseph and
Mary Come to Bethlehem for the
registration they walk into a busy town
everybody doing their own thing nobody
even aware that anything miraculous is
going to happen while they went their
way and did their business and didn't
care at all all who was there the
Messiah of the world was born among them
according to the prophet right on time
in the right place now some of us we
hear all of this and we say Dr Jeremiah
that was all really interesting
information but so what what does that
mean to us
today I think Philip Brooks captured it
for us in the last few words of his hymn
he said this the hopes and fears of all
the years
are met in Bethlehem
tonight that night when Jesus was
born it was a watershed in world
history from that moment on even the
calendar is
changed Jesus came and he didn't just
show up incidentally he came as
prophesied by Micah where he came from
is an interesting fact but that he came
is an exciting
truth Jesus stepped out of the Court
borders of Heaven the book of
Philippians tells us that he humbled
himself came to this earth became a Man
became obedient even unto death and died
on the cross so that you and I might be
forgiven the wages of sin is death
somebody had to die and Jesus came as
the infinite Son of God to die an
infinite death for you and me so that we
would not have to die literally
Christmas is phase one of the Redemption
story the coming of Jesus into Humanity
I celebrate Christmas and I celebrate
Bethlehem because I've been to Calvary
and I celebrate the Cradle because I
stood beneath the cross one day and
accepted Christ I celebrate the coming
of Christ because if he had not come I
would be Unforgiven but because he came
my sins are forgiven and I am now going
to heaven as many of you and the
wonderful message of Christmas for all
all of us is not about the details
they're interesting I'm glad I could
share some of these backstories with you
but the important thing is to know that
Jesus came for a specific reason and the
most famous verse in all the Bible puts
it better than any other for God so
loved the world that he gave his only
begotten son that whosoever believes in
Him should not perish but have
everlasting life have you believed in
him have you put your trust in the one
who came for you he didn't have to come
he could have stayed in heaven but he
did not he came here to be one of us in
obedience to his
father and then paid the penalty that we
deserve to pay do you know why most
people don't become Christians because
they are unwilling to admit that they
need Jesus they're unwilling to admit
that they're Sinners they come up with a
long list of why they are so much better
than other people they know and and yet
the the sad story is as I've told you
many times God does not grade on the
curve he grades 100% you either get them
all right or you don't get any credit
for any of them the Bible says if you
break one law you're guilty of all and
Perfection is not in our vocabulary the
Bible says all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God how do you get
to heaven you have to be willing to
humble yourself and admit that you're a
sinner and that you need Jesus Christ
until you do that you will always be
fighting what Jesus wants to but what a
joy it is when you finally acknowledge
okay Lord I'm a sinner and I have failed
you and Lord I'm sorry for my sin but I
want to be included in your Plan of
Redemption I bow before you so that I
may enter the door of Heaven that's how
you become a Christian and that's why
Jesus came he came to make Heaven
possible for everyone if they will just
put their trust in him [Music]
[Music]
thank you for joining us for this
special Christmas edition of Turning
Point as Dr Jeremiah explored the why
Behind The Wonder of Christmas this
season reminds us that Jesus Christ was
God's great gift to you if you have
never accepted that gift Dr Jeremiah
would like to send you two resources to
encourage you to do so the first is a
booklet called your greatest turning
point which will help you begin your
relationship with Christ and the second
is our monthly devotional magazine
turning points to give you encouragement
and inspiration each month these
resources are yours completely free when
today next time on turning
point God could have gone to J Jerusalem
and picked out Caiaphas daughter who was
rich and fair and dressed in gold but
God preferred a lowly maid from a mean
Town God preferred this because his Plan
of Salvation required Jesus to Humble
himself and and then be glorified what
better way to show what he had come to
do than for him to be born to a woman
like Mary from a town like
Nazareth join Dr Jeremiah next time for
his message why
why
Mary here on turning [Music]
[Music] point
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