When you think about Christmas, what comes to mind?

Maybe family, friends, food?

Turkey, tinsel, trimmings?

Carols, cards, cakes?

Or, maybe, gifts, presents?

Christmas Day is fast approaching (twenty four hours and counting!), and there may be some exchanging of gifts. Maybe you are really excited to give that special someone that special gift, maybe you are really excited to open some gifts, to tear open some presents…but before you can see what is inside, before you can watch someone open their gift, you have to unwrap it, don’t you? And even before that someone took the time to wrap up that gift.

In Luke 2.7–12 we read of a very special gift all wrapped up.

“And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

Interestingly, one academic line of thinking can show that the shepherds who watched sheep near Bethlehem were no ordinary shepherds, but that they were there to care for the sheep who bred lambs for the temple. These were temple flocks and therefore very special sheep. I once read that

“Bethlehem’s shepherds were known to care for the temple flock. These men may have also protected and cared for the lambs used in temple sacrifice”.

(Enduring Word)

Dr. John Macdonald gives more detail,

“Consider the possibility that these were not shepherds of ordinary sheep.
Alfred Edersheim (1825-1889) provides an intriguing answer to our question. He was Jewish by birth and training. Later, he became a follower of Jesus, studied and taught biblical theology in Scotland, and wrote The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. Writing about these shepherds, Edersheim referenced the Jewish Mishnah.
The Mishnah is a collection of documents recording oral traditions governing the lives of Jewish people during the period of the Pharisees. As such, an understanding of the Mishnah gives us insight into how Jewish people lived during the time of Jesus.
One regulation in the Mishnah “expressly forbids the keeping of flocks throughout the land of Israel, except in the wildernesses – and the only flocks otherwise kept, would be those for the Temple-services” (Bab K. 7:7; 80a). Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and their surrounding fields were not in the wilderness where ordinary flocks of sheep were kept. Therefore, according to the Jewish regulations, the flocks under the care of the shepherds near Bethlehem must have been “for the Temple-services.” These shepherds watched over sheep destined as sacrifices in the Temple at Jerusalem.” 

These guys were potentially trained especially to raise lambs for the temple: their task was to raise sacrificial lambs. They had to make sure that when a lamb was offered without spot or blemish (Exodus 12.5, 1 Peter 1.9) that this truly was the case. Apparently, these lambs were wrapped in cloths to prevent injury or harm.

Back in Luke we read that

“…she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger…
…this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

The place where these special lambs were born and raised was in a place called Migdal Edar, “the tower of the flock”, on the outskirts of Bethlehem. This watchtower was used by the shepherds for protection from their enemies and wild animals. In this building the priests would bring in the sheep that were about to give birth to their lambs. The tower of the flock at Bethlehem is the perfect place for the Lamb of God to be born (John 1.29).

IN THE VERY PLACE WHERE THOUSANDS OF SACRIFICIAL LAMBS HAD BEEN BORN BEFORE HIM,
NOW THE ULTIMATE GIFT OF GOD TO THE WORLD HAD COME.

Micah 4.8 foretells the place where the Saviour would be born,

“As for you, O tower of the flock (Migdal Eder), the stronghold of the daughter of Zion,
to you shall it come,
even the former dominion shall come,
the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.”

During lambing season the sheep were brought to the tower from the fields, as the lower level functioned as the birthing room for sacrificial lambs. Due to the fact that the shepherds were themselves under the care of Rabbis, these shepherd-priests would maintain a ceremonially clean birthing place. What a perfect place for the Lamb of God to be born, a ceremonially clean place where sacrificial lambs were born. The manger in the tower of the flock was not a smelly stable with other animals as we often see at this time of year, but the perfect place in the perfect place (Micah 4.8, 5.2).

Lori Apon writes,

“After the lambs were born, the priestly shepherds would place the lambs in the hewn depression of a limestone rock known as the manger and wrap the newborn lambs in swaddling clothes preventing them from thrashing about and harming themselves until they had calmed down so they could be inspected to meet the requirement of being without spot or blemish.” 

Think:

“…she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger…
…this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
(Luke 2.7, 12)

What was the sign? The baby wrapped in cloths.
Where was the baby lying? In a manger.
Do you think the shepherds understood when they were told this? I do.

There was no need for the angels to give the shepherds a map-pin or directions to the birthplace of Jesus, the sign of the manger could only mean their manger at the Tower of the Flock where they routinely birthed and wrapped sacrificial lambs. We can reasonably conclude that these shepherds knew exactly who this baby was, and exactly where He was born.

They had now been told that the reality to which their life’s work pointed was here!

William Barclay said

“It is a lovely thought that the shepherds who looked after the Temple lambs were the first to see the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” 

Jesus was the sacrificial lamb then, and He still is our sacrificial lamb now.

Jesus was wrapped as a baby in the traditional cloths of lambs and placed in a manger. He was wrapped as a baby, wrapped as a lamb, and wrapped as a gift. He is the Lamb who came to take away the sins of the world: spotless and without blemish.

The point of all this is to say that He is the real gift we are celebrating this time of year: the gift we are celebrating as we gather this evening and as we gather with friends and family tomorrow.

The angels announced the birth of a Saviour that day in the city of David, which is the gift that we all still need. Not just at Christmas time, but today, tomorrow, the day after that, and the day after that, and every single day after that, too.


WE HOPE AND PRAY THAT YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY TOMORROW CELEBRATING THIS GIFT!