No Room for Jesus: When Grace Came Down, Part 3
"and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son.
She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no
guest room available for them." (Luke 2:7 NIV)
In the past two devotionals of this series, we've
been highlighting the fact that Jesus' life was in danger from the moment He
was born. Now we see from the above text that He was also unwanted. There
wasn't any room for Him in the inn of Bethlehem!
When we go to the story of Jesus' birth in the
book of Matthew, we also see that He was unwanted: "Herod then arranged a
secret meeting with the scholars from the East. Pretending to be as devout
as they were, he got them to tell him exactly when the birth-announcement
star appeared. Then he told them the prophecy about Bethlehem, and said, 'Go
find this child. Leave no stone unturned. As soon as you find him, send word
and I'll join you at once in your worship.' ... In a dream, they were warned
not to report back to Herod. So they worked out another route, left the
territory without being seen, and returned to their own country. After the
scholars were gone, God's angel showed up again in Joseph's dream and
commanded, 'Get up. Take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt. Stay
until further notice. Herod is on the hunt for this child, and wants to kill
him.' Joseph obeyed. He got up, took the child and his mother under cover of
darkness. They were out of town and well on their way by daylight. They
lived in Egypt until Herod's death. This Egyptian exile fulfilled what Hosea
had preached: 'I called my son out of Egypt.' Herod, when he realized that
the scholars had tricked him, flew into a rage. He commanded the murder of
every little boy two years old and under who lived in Bethlehem and its
surrounding hills. (He determined that age from information he'd gotten from
the scholars.)." (Matthew 2;7-8, 12-16 MSG)
Herod did everything he could to ensure Jesus'
death, to the point that he had all children who were even
close to Jesus' age murdered! There was simply no room for
Jesus in Herod's entire kingdom!
Of course the evil ones were in agreement with
Herod, and Herod was being used as their human hands on Earth. I think it's
interesting that many people actually follow the evil one and do his
bidding; however, most of the time they aren't even aware of it!
Though our Heavenly Father saved Jesus' life when
He was a baby by sending Him to Egypt, there was never a moment of His life
that He was not in danger. There were very few moments of His life where
people understood Him, where they made room for Him. Especially not in His
home town...: "Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit... All
the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up,
drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the
town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. But he walked right
through the crowd and went on his way." (Luke 4:14, 28-30 NIV)! There was
simply no room for Jesus on Earth.
Even a couple years later, there was no room for
Jesus in Jerusalem, so they hung Him on a cross...
Why? Why did Jesus come to this planet even when
He knew His life would be in danger? When He knew He would be treated this
way? When He knew that there would be very few who would actually make room
for Him?
That's how much He loves you, my friends! Enough
to risk everything for ... you!
What about you? Have you made room for Jesus? Have
you made Him number one in your life? If not, why not answer the
Saviour's Call?
Do it today!
Rob Chaffart
The Illustrator: This daily newsletter is dedicated to encouraging
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