In a certain way, and it sets a pattern, and if you see it, it'll sort of give you a hint of what is to come. David, for instance, learns as a youngster how to care for his father's sheep. And then, as an adult who's really gone through it, he writes, the Lord is my shepherd.

Samuel is tutored by Eli the priest, who is a godly man, But Eli can't keep his own sons in line. And when Samuel grows up and becomes the priest, the pattern repeats itself. He was the godliest man in Israel, and yet he couldn't keep his sons in line.

The old saying has it that as the twig is bent, so grows the tree. Pat Robertson loves to point out that today's CBN University is founded on virtually the identical site that was set aside in 1618 by the Virginia Company for the establishment of a college that would train young men to evangelize the new world. Well, that never happened until more than 350 years later.

I wonder how many of you know that the very first soldier killed in active duty in the Civil War was shot down just a stone's throw from the front door of this church. Did you know that?

And so when Abraham Lincoln quoted the words of Jesus about a house divided against itself, it could be nowhere more dramatically relevant than the town of Fairfax.

And if God Himself called the warring factions to reconciliation, perhaps it's not so surprising that the church built on this site has a ministry of reconciliation that reaches out well beyond itself. You see what I mean? There's a pattern there. You look at the beginnings of things and you'll be amazed at the long shadows that they sometimes cast.

You want to know what the fruit is going to be like, look at the root.

I don't know if you've ever asked yourself the question, why Bethlehem? But it's that sort of a question. I mean, why? For this mightiest act, the invasion of human history that we celebrate year after year at this time, that indeed we celebrate week after week and day after day, why Bethlehem?

I mean, why not Rome with all of its might and power, or Alexandria with its wealth, or Athens with all of its dignity and wisdom, or even Jerusalem? Why not Jerusalem? Why did God pick this funny little backwater town surrounded by sheep fields sitting virtually on the edge of the desert? Why did He pick Bethlehem for the place where His only begotten Son would come into the world?

Well, if you take a close look, you'll see some mighty long shadows. As a matter of fact, if you look at the background of the town of Bethlehem, you'll have virtually the whole Gospel spelled out in anticipation. This might be called the Gospel according to Bethlehem.

The word Bethlehem literally means house of bread. House of bread. We had a fellowship that met here some years ago that was called House of Bread. You stop and think about it, that's kind of a funny name for a town that does not have any wheat fields. It has sheep fields. Why do they call it House of Bread?

Well, maybe it's not so funny as the birthplace of one who says, I am the bread of life.

And Jesus says, He who eats My flesh, He who drinks My blood, He who consumes Me, who finds His nourishment in Me, has eternal life. He's the product of the town of Bethlehem. a house of bread.

The first time the Bible mentions the name Bethlehem is back in Genesis 35, verse 19. And it says that Rachel, the beloved wife of Jacob, who became Israel, you remember Jacob, who became Israel and who fathered twelve sons, and they became the children of Israel. The nation really began with him.

Rachel, his wife, died and was buried just outside of Bethlehem.

She died giving birth to the last of the twelve sons, Benjamin.

And fifteen hundred years later, in the same little town, the old covenant died, giving birth to the new.

The book of Hebrews said, the old has been completely superseded. It is over. It has given birth to the new.

Benjamin was the only one of Israel's twelve sons to be born in the land of promise. You remember that that promise came first to Abraham, then to Isaac, then to Jacob who became Israel. Yet the only one out of the twelve sons that was actually born in the land of promise was this twelfth, this last son, Benjamin.

And of course, it's only those who are born into the new covenant who become the inheritors of the promise.

Rachel's name for Benjamin was Benoni,

which means the son of my sorrow,

because she literally died in the process of childbirth. The last thing she heard was, you're going to have another son, and then she died. And she called him the son of my sorrow.

And when a long time after that, another young lady by the name of Mary brought her son into the world. She took him up to the temple to be dedicated. And the old man, Simeon, remember Simeon who had been promised by God that he wouldn't die until he saw Messiah. Simeon was there when Mary and Joseph brought the baby in and Simeon received him and God said, this is the one.

this is the one you've been waiting for this is the one the world is waiting for and Simeon rejoiced and then he prophesied and amidst the prophecy he said this son also will be a son of your sorrow remember that? he said to her Mary a sword will pierce through your heart also as you see what becomes of him

and Mary stood there faithful to the end stood at the foot of the cross and watched as her son gave His life for the world. And her heart was broken. He was a son of her sorrow.

It was Benjamin's father who changed his name from Benoni to Benjamin.

And Benjamin means the son of my right hand. That's a funny name. Can you imagine giving yourself... Son of my right hand! Call your little boy to see you.

And yet it was Jesus, Father in heaven, who declared, This is My beloved Son, with whom I'm well pleased. And if you put that into modern slang, He might have said, This is My Son, My right hand man.

Because the book of Hebrews says, when Christ had offered for all times a single sacrifice for sin, He sat down at the right hand of the Father.

He was the Son of God's right hand.

Now you might have thought that Rachel's story was all over back there in the book of Genesis when she died. But strangely, nearly 900 years later, we hear of her again in the days of Jeremiah the prophet. You might just look for a second at Jeremiah chapter 31.

Jeremiah 31 and verse 15.

A remarkable statement.

On the eve of the collapse of the southern kingdom of Judah,

Jeremiah prophesies and he says, A voice is heard in Ramah. Again, very near Bethlehem. A voice is heard in Ramah. Lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel is weeping for her children. Now that's a figure of speech. She's not literally weeping. She died nearly a millennium ago.

But he's saying she's weeping, figuratively speaking, for her children. She refuses to be comforted for her children because they are not. In spite of all these promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Rachel about this mighty nation that was going to come forth, in spite of all those promises, you see, Israel has rebelled against God.

They've broken covenant with Him. They've abandoned their calling. They've turned their backs upon Him. And now they're suffering the consequences. The northern kingdom has been obliterated. The southern kingdom looks as if it's about to be. And Rachel is weeping for what has become of her descendants. Of course, you recognize that passage. Matthew quotes that very phrase in reference to Herod's attempt to kill all the little boys in the area of Bethlehem when he hears that a contender for the throne has been born.

You remember that story, the slaughter of the innocents. And Matthew quotes that passage as if to say, here's another fulfillment of the same thing. Look what is happening to God's people. Look what is happening to the descendants of Rachel. She's weeping for her children. But I ask you to turn to the passage because I want you to look at the very next words.

that follow. Thus says the Lord, keep your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work shall be rewarded. And they shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope for your future, says the Lord. And you look down just a little bit further in the same chapter and it goes on to say, Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more.

Verses 31-34.

God Himself says, Rachel, I know what's happening to your children, but I'm going to swallow up your sorrow in a new covenant. You remember what Jesus said on the night before He died. He took the bread and He broke it and He said, this is My body. He took the cup and He said, this cup is My blood of the what?

The new covenant.

God swallows up the sorrow of Rachel in the new covenant that we celebrate week by week. I haven't forgotten my promises to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to Rachel. I haven't forgotten my promises. I've got a plan. I'm going to make a new covenant and all of those promises are going to be fulfilled more richly than anybody ever dared to imagine.

Somewhere about halfway between Genesis and Jeremiah,

a fellow by the name of David becomes king and sets up his throne. And his birthplace was, strangely enough, Bethlehem. And the prophet Samuel comes to anoint him in Bethlehem. and the city comes to be known as the city of David and at one point the prophet Nathan comes with a message from God to King David and he says this when your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers in other words when you die I will raise up a descendant after you who shall come forth from your body

and I will establish his kingdom he shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. And I will be his father and he will be my son.

Now at first glance, it looks as if that applies to Solomon because Solomon of course is David's son and he does establish the throne and he does build a house, the mighty temple of Solomon. But it doesn't work out to be Solomon. Because the house doesn't stand forever. In fact, it only lasts a few centuries and it's destroyed completely, never to be built again.

And the throne doesn't last forever. As a matter of fact, the throne over the whole people of Israel, north and south, lasts only as long as Solomon lives. But he's looking beyond Solomon to another, a descendant who will one day come from the household of David, a descendant of David. And he's going to have a throne that lasts forever.

And He's going to build a house, but it's not a physical house. It's a house of living bricks. Living stones. You and I are called to be living stones built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ. And that house, that temple, is still a building. Still being built day by day. Remember what Jesus said?

Destroy this house. They thought He was talking about the temple. No, He was talking about Himself. Destroy this house and in three days I'll raise it up again. And he did. And he began to build upon it. And if you belong to him, you're part of that temple. You see, the new covenant will be established through a descendant of David, but in fact, he's going to be the very Son of God.

I wonder what these words could possibly have meant to any good Jew prior to the fact. When God says, I will be his father. He's going to be born of the line of David. and yet God Himself is going to be His Father and He will be my Son.

Well, when Caesar Augustus decided a thousand years later that all the world should be taxed, it entailed everyone returning to his family's hometown to be registered. You ever stop and think about the fact that in order to put all these pieces together, God had everybody in the whole blessed Roman Empire move.

A young couple named Joseph and Mary had to journey back to Bethlehem.

Because they were both of the house and lineage of David.

And when they got there, Mary gave birth to a child who was a descendant of David.

but virgin born.

His father wasn't Joseph.

His father was God Almighty.

And when men came from the east to worship this one who was born King of the Jews, they inquired at the temple in Jerusalem. Obviously, they'll know about it.

And sure enough, the priests hadn't a moment's hesitation. They knew exactly where Messiah was to be born because Micah had spelled it out very explicitly. We heard the passage a moment ago. But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah. You know, there were two Bethlehems in those days. Did you know that? There was one up in the north.

It was a fair-sized town up in the Zebulun area. Not that one. Bethlehem Ephrathah. The little town. The little town that everybody overlooks. Oh, David's birthplace, but not much good has happened there since. You, O Bethlehem, Ephrathah, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, but get this, whose origin is from of old.

He's going to be born. He's going to come forth in Bethlehem, But that's not where He began. His origin is from of old. Now how in the world do you do that? How do you have an origin from of old and yet you be born at a certain time?

His origin is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore, He shall give them up until the time when she who is in travail has brought forth. And then, then, the rest of His brethren shall return to the people of Israel. The rest of His brethren shall return to the people of Israel.

Not just the people of Israel, but the rest of them. Aren't you glad? You and me. And He shall be great to the ends of the earth.

The Gospel according to Bethlehem.

Don't ever think that God doesn't keep track of the details. He knows every detail in every one of our lives. He has a plan for those lives, and He weaves those details together as we follow Him, as we're obedient to Him.

And He had been whispering into His people's ears for all these centuries about what He was going to do. And most of them missed it.

Most of them hadn't heard, they hadn't noticed, they weren't prepared. But those who paid attention

perhaps could anticipate at least just a little bit what all this is about. Don't miss it. Let's bow our heads together.

O holy child of Bethlehem,

descend to us, we pray.

cast out our sin and enter in

be born in us today we hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell

oh come to us

abide with us

our Lord Emmanuel

Amen