"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 inn." (Luke 2:7)

December is a great month. What an ennobling and sanctifying thing is the remembrance of the birth of Christ! Till we understand Christ, we cannot understand the holiness of God. What a holy God He is! John the Baptist said, "I am not worthy to untie the shoe laces on the feet of Jesus."

What kind of woman was Mary, the mother of Jesus? When we think of her we are filled with awe at her holiness, humility and every kind of virtue. She lifted womanhood to the highest place. The sight of a holy and righteous woman gives wicked fellows a kind of fright. Joseph and Mary were both led of the Sprit and in their home was Jesus brought up.

Joseph belonged to the line of David. He had to go to Bethlehem, about eighty miles south of Nazareth, with Mary about to bring forth her first child. Maybe they had to travel for four days halting at Sychem or Bethel and crossed Jerusalem. They ascended the small hills of Bethlehem and were happy to arrive at last at their destination by sunset perhaps. They found a room only in a cattle shed. God the Father gave Jesus a place in a cattle shed with very little comfort. Round about Bethlehem were pasture lands where lambs and kids were growing. For the Passover festival they needed 300,000 lambs in Jerusalem. They were supplied from the pastures of Bethlehem. And now the Lamb of God Himself had come there and He was going to be offered for the sin of the whole world.