Baby’s First Visitors

Baby’s First Visitors

Bible Blast: Read Luke 2:8-12

They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. Luke 2:16

After Jesus was born, the first visitors to arrive on the scene were the shepherds. An angel had told them to go see the baby who would be wrapped up in cloths, lying in a manger. The shepherds hurried off and found the baby just as the angel had said. After they visited with the little family, the shepherds went back to their sheep, telling everyone what had happened and praising God along the way.

The next group of visitors was a group of wise men from lands east of Bethlehem. They had followed a star to find Jesus. When they arrived in Jerusalem, they started asking around, wondering if anyone knew where the “newborn king of the Jews” was. The words “king of the Jews” bothered King Herod a lot. After all, Herod was the king, and he didn’t want anyone else to try and take that from him. He told the wise men to let him know when they found Jesus so he could “go and worship him too” (Matthew 2:8). God warned the wise men that King Herod was lying about wanting to worship Jesus, so they didn’t tell Herod anything when they did find Jesus.

Many people believe Jesus wasn’t a tiny baby anymore when these wise guys found him. He may have been two years old by then. When they found Jesus with his mom, they bowed down and began worshiping him and giving him gifts. (You’ll learn more about those gifts in the next few days.)

After the wise men left, Joseph had another angel dream, this one instructing him to get up and take his family to Egypt because King Herod was looking for them because he wanted to kill Jesus. Another wildly surprising message! But Joseph took his family and left that very night for Egypt.

Herod was not a good guy. When he found out the wise men had tricked him, he sent out an order that all boys two years old and under in the Bethlehem area would be killed. After Herod died, Joseph had angel dream number three, telling him it was safe to go back to Israel. The family settled in the town of Nazareth.

Girl Gab: Are you blown away by the circumstances surrounding the coming of Jesus? Keep these things in mind as you enjoy Christmas this year. In fact, try to do everything you can to focus on the truth of Christmas rather than all the gifts and packages!