IN A MANGER

REVISITING HIS STORY

AN ADVENT DEVOTIONAL • BY IAN STRACHAN

© 2010 by Ian Strachan

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10 11 12 13 14 – 5 4 3 2 1
to Anne, my wife:
for her encouragement and the patience to see this project through
Introduction
Day 1 In the Beginning 1
Day 2 Bringing It Together 5
Day 3 Four Women 9
Day 4 Gabriel 13
Day 5 Mary’s Leap of Faith 17
Day 6 Time for a Journey 21
Day 7 Elizabeth and Mary Rejoice 25
Day 8 Mary’s Hymn of Praise 29
Day 9 The Birth of John the Baptist 33
Day 10 Coping with the Incomprehensible 37
Day 11 John’s Opening 41
Day 12 An Uncomfortable Journey 45
Day 13 A Strange Light on a Dark Night 49
Day 14 A Message for a Terrified People 53
Day 15 Visiting Shepherds 57
Day 16 Affirmation for Mary 61
Day 17 A Time for Covenant 65
Day 18 Presented in the Temple 69
Day 19 Prophetic Words of Joy 73
Day 20 Words of Strife 77
Day 21 Anna 81
Day 22 A Star in the East 85
Day 23 Wise Men 89
Day 24 The Refugees 93
Day 25 Out of Egypt 97
INTRODUCTION
Each year as Christmas comes around, familiar traditions fall into place. Carols are
sung, festive decorations appear in shopping malls, the Christmas tree is decorated
at home, and bright lights adorn the houses in our neighborhoods. As winter
darkens and deepens, we immerse ourselves in the excitement of shopping for
presents, ordering turkeys, writing Christmas cards, sending le�ers to Santa, and
so on.
Too o�en, the Christmas story only impinges on the periphery of our lives.
�e purpose of this small book is to bring the story of Jesus back to the center
of your life. Without the coming of the baby Jesus we would have no Christmas,
simply a winter festival, as in pagan times.
However, we all know the story quite well. We even know by memory some of
the key verses that tell this story. In this book you’ll see the unfolding story, as it is
presented in the gospels, from a new perspective. My intention is to help you think
through what is happening and to meditate on its signi�cance.
Each daily reading, beginning on December 1 and continuing through
December 25, takes about three minutes to complete. However, if you want
to delve deeper, then take time to look up the scriptural references included
throughout each reading. My prayer is that each will enhance your understanding
that God, through Scripture, designed a coherent plan from eternity to save
mankind (see 2 Timothy 1:9; 1 Peter 1:20).
Into our darkness came the light of the world and God’s love was �nally and
fully revealed.
01
DAY
IN THE BEGINNING
 DAY ONE

I t is a strange way to begin a book. It is a very strange way to introduce a

new religion. But Ma�hew and Luke both chose to open their Gospels
with genealogies, Ma�hew with a list of forty-six names, beginning with
Abraham and ending with Jesus (Ma�. 1:1-17) and Luke with seventy-six
names, beginning with Jesus and going back to Adam (Luke 3:23-37).
�e purpose of the New Testament is to introduce us to Christianity,
the way of Jesus the Messiah, so this beginning to Jesus’s story in Ma�hew
chapter 1 is strange for four reasons:
• First, if you were going to tell all the world the mind-boggling good news
that God became man and lived among us and then died for our sins, would
you start off with a list of names?
• Second, why would you imbed this list in the history of another religion,
Judaism, with its panoply of great heroes?
2
• �ird, this male-dominated list includes, in its penultimate position,
Mary’s husband, Joseph, who was not the biological father of Jesus.
• Fourth, the genealogy in Luke’s gospel (Luke 3:23-37) starts with Joseph
then makes a jump over to Mary’s genealogy (without saying so) and traces
her history all the way back to Adam. So how can we say that the Bible is
consistent?

What is going on here? It all seems very confusing, so let’s try to unravel
it. Each of the gospel writers had a different readership. Ma�hew wrote
his gospel to a Jewish audience who had become believers in Jesus or were
thinking of doing so. To the Jewish people, one’s family line delineates your
standing within the community. To be able to trace your heritage back
to David, Abraham, and Adam gave Jesus real authenticity. Ma�hew was
steeped in his Jewish heritage. His intention was to show that Jesus was the
unique bridge between Judaism and this new religion that would be called
Christianity. Ten times in his gospel he used the formula “all this took place
 IN THE BEGINNING

to ful�ll what the Lord had said through the prophets.” He quoted sixty-one
times from twenty-�ve different Old Testament scriptures to demonstrate
that Jesus is indeed the Messiah, the ful�llment of all God has promised. Jesus
is the epitome of Israel’s history.
Other gospel writers had unique and purposeful openings to their stories
too. Mark identi�ed his gospel as “the gospel about Jesus the Messiah, the
Son of God” (Mark 1:1 NIV). Luke wrote to a Gentile audience to give them
“an orderly account . . . so that you may know the certainty of the things you
have been taught” (Luke 1:4 NIV). He wanted to connect Mary with Adam,
the �rst man, so his gospel would be “orderly.” (We will look at how John
opened his gospel on Day 11.)
At the beginning of recorded biblical history, Adam and Eve chose to
disobey God and listen to Satan. Evil became a human reality. However, as sin
3
entered God’s creation, He promised that, one day, a successor of Eve would
crush Satan’s head (Gen. 3:15). �e ba�le between good and evil is a choice
that we face every day, every time we encounter temptation. We cannot
defeat this evil on our own. �at’s why it’s critical that God has a plan for our
salvation. And as you read Ma�hew’s very disparate list of forty-six men and
women, you see God at work.
God’s plan, from eternity, was to send His Son so that all who believe
in Him will have eternal life in His presence. He loved us while we were
still sinners ( John 3:16, Rom. 5:8). Because Jesus came, one day God will
make His home among us (Rev. 21:3). �e gospel story has indeed a great
beginning.

PRA
YER
Lord, sometimes You talk to me in strange ways. But the fact that You want
to talk to me is an amazing thing. Each day as I face the choice to do good or
evil, please help me to hear You, to understand what You are saying, and in the
power of Your Holy Spirit, to obey You.
05
DAY
MARY’S LEAP OF FAITH
 DAY FIVE

Y esterday’s meditation told a dramatic story. But an even more

incredible event took place six months later, when the angel Gabriel
appeared to a young teenager named Mary. She was possibly as young
as fourteen years old. He greeted her with the words:

“Good morning!
You’re beautiful with God’s beauty,
Beautiful inside and out!
God be with you.” (Luke 1:28 MSG)

“[Mary] was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting

like that. But the angel [Gabriel] assured her, ‘Mary, you have nothing to fear.
God has a surprise for you: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son
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and call his name Jesus.

He will be great,
be called “Son of the Highest.”
�e Lord God will give him
the throne of his father David;
He will rule Jacob’s house forever�
no end, ever, to his kingdom.’” (Luke 1:29-33 MSG)

Mary was u�erly overwhelmed. She was a very young, simple peasant girl.
In her small village she had no social standing. �ere was absolutely no logic
or sense in what this angel was saying. “But how? I’ve never slept with a man,”
she asked (Luke 1:34 MSG).

Gabriel answered,
“�e Holy Spirit will come upon you,
 MARY’S LEAP OF FAITH

the power of the Highest hover over you;

�erefore, the child you bring to birth
will be called Holy, Son of God.” (Luke 1:35 MSG)

�is was quite impossible for the young teenager to assimilate, so Gabriel adds
a very human touch: “And did you know that your cousin Elizabeth conceived a
son, old as she is? Everyone called her barren, and here she is six months pregnant!
Nothing, you see, is impossible with God” (Luke 1:36-37 MSG).
Nothing is impossible with God. Do you actually believe that God can
do anything? He does not do what we want done. He does not ful�ll our
wish lists. He does His will in His way. �at is what prayer is about: learning
to know and do things God’s way. Just as He worked through the life of this
young lady, He can use you to ful�ll the most wonderful things that He has
19
planned for you. Mary challenges you to trust in God as she so evidently did.
When you hear God speak, do you trust, do you accept, or do you analyze
and then reject?
What did Mary do? She replied, “‘Yes, I see it all now: I’m the Lord’s maid,
ready to serve. Let it be with me just as you say.’ �en the angel le� her”
(Luke 1:37-38 MSG). �is enormous, implicit leap of faith changed Mary’s
life forever.
Mary’s remarkable faith is in stark contrast to that of her ancestor Sarah,
the �rst Jewess. When Sarah was told in her old age that she would become
pregnant, she laughed in disbelief and then lied about her lack of faith (Gen.
18:12-15). Mary would have been ridiculed by peasant folk in her village,
Did you hear how she became pregnant? As many as sixteen hundred people
would share in this sensational gossip. Her baby would be born among
animals in a manger. She would become a refugee. She would watch her Son
die and later ascend into heaven. �e apostle John would look a�er her in
later life and she would die in the hills above Ephesus.
 DAY FIVE

And yet she became one of the most famous and highly respected women
in human history. As she grew older, she would take on board the amazing
prophecy made by Isaiah, more than seven hundred years previously, that a
virgin would become pregnant and that her Son would be called Immanuel
(Isa. 7:14). Later, an angel would make this very point to Mary’s �ancé,
Joseph (Ma�. 1:23). And all this because, when God spoke to her, she
obeyed.
So what is God telling you to do today? What leap of faith do you need to
take, as Christmas approaches, to ensure that His will is accomplished?

20

PRA
YER
Lord, I thank You for the wonderful faith You gave to the teenage Mary, who
was ready to trust You when all You said to her seemed impossible. Give me
the trust in You that Mary had. Prepare me to make the leap of faith that
demonstrates that I obey You and will bring honor to You.
15
DAY
VISITING SHEPHERDS
 DAY FIFTEEN

L eaving their sheep, the shepherds went quickly. Luke tells us they
hurried. �ey must have been excited but also very apprehensive.
What did these messages from the angels mean? How would they
�nd the inn and stable in Bethlehem? And what would they discover when
they got there? Despite their fear, questions and excitement, they descended
the hills into the small village. �ey probably ran. Momentarily they had
forgo�en their responsibilities to their sheep. Now they were on a mission.
And there in the stable behind the inn was the couple, Mary and Joseph,
and their baby. And sure enough, He was lying in a manger. When they saw
the Child, they told the young parents the incredible story about visiting
angels, bright lights, and the singing chorus. But most importantly, they
shared the message that a Savior, the Messiah, had come among them as both
Lord and baby. Can you imagine these shepherds jabbering and gesticulating,
58
their words pouring out? What they had experienced was totally outside the
closed familiarity of their daily lives among the sheep. �ey were ordinary
men who had seen the wholly extraordinary.
Shepherds are hardly the quietest people on earth. Up in the hills they
had to shout to hear each other over long distances, to draw in wandering
sheep, and to scare away wild animals. Not for them, the quiet con�nes of a
library. Clearly the commotion they raised brought people from the inn to
the manger to see what was happening. Luke says, “When they saw the child,
they repeated what they had been told about him. Everyone who heard the
shepherds’ story was amazed” (Luke 2:17-18).
Of course people were amazed! Two thousand years later we are still
reading this story with amazement. �ese shepherds became the �rst
evangelists of the gospel, of the new kingdom that Jesus would bring into
being. �is event had begun to transform them, and this transformation took
place because they not only saw and heard the angels but also acted thereon.
It was their leap of faith.
 VISITING SHEPHERDS

�e shepherds were experiencing the most remarkable night in their entire

lives. A few hours earlier they had been with their sheep, living among them
once again through a dark night. But an angel delivered a message, followed
by many angels with a chorus. �e sight had been incredible; the words
spoken even more so. But we sometimes miss what was the most remarkable
part of this experience.
When we hear this story, we tend to concentrate on the visual. What we
miss is that in going to see the baby, the shepherds took into their hearts three
incredible things the angel told them about Him. First, He was to be a Savior;
second, the Messiah; and third, God. It was the beginning of a life-changing
experience.
I wonder if they were still shepherds thirty years later when Jesus began
His ministry? I wonder where they were when He died on the cross? C. S.
59
Lewis pointed out that Jesus cannot simply be considered a “good man.” But
that is what most people in the world think of Him. He is either the Savior of
mankind, or He was a mad man and a charlatan.
During His earthly ministry He told His disciples, “I am the good
shepherd. �e good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep . . . I know
my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the
Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that don’t
belong to this fold. I must lead these also, and they will listen to my voice. So
there will be one �ock and one shepherd. �is is why the Father loves me,
because I lay down my life in order to take it back again. No one is taking it
from me; I lay it down of my own free will. I have the authority to lay it down,
and I have the authority to take it back again. �is is what my Father has
commanded me” ( John 10:11-18 ISV).
�e shepherds returned to their �ock. �ey glori�ed and praised God for
everything they had seen and heard. Everything happened the way the angel
told them. �ey had proven to be effective evangelists, which is why God
 DAY FIFTEEN

chose to tell them �rst about the birth of Jesus.

As the commercial Christmas crowds around us, how effective can we be
as evangelists for the Good Shepherd?

60

PRA
YER
Jesus, You are my shepherd. You laid down Your life for me. You know me. There
are other sheep to bring into your fold. So teach me how I can talk about You
to my friends. Teach me to be animated when telling the good news, just as the
shepherds were.
19
DAY
PROPHETIC WORDS OF JOY
 DAY NINETEEN

D o you ever look at people and wonder what they do for a living or
what sort of people they are? Do we sometimes too easily dismiss
people as uninteresting? Mary and Joseph brought baby Jesus to
the temple in Jerusalem for the rite of puri�cation. �ere they meet two
apparently insigni�cant elderly people. What they said to Mary and Joseph
was even more meaningful to them than their faithful adherence to ful�ll
ceremonies set out in the Jewish scriptures.
Luke introduces us to an old man named Simeon. He tells us that Simeon
was righteous and devout (Luke 2:21-35). He spent time with God, and
God clearly spent time with him. His willingness to be commi�ed to God
made him virtuous and honorable. We need these a�ributes in our lives too.
Simeon was waiting for the One who would come to help Israel, and the Holy
Spirit rested on him. In fact, it had been revealed to Simeon by the Holy Spirit
74
that he would not die until he had seen the long-promised Messiah. Each
day he waited on God; each day he asked himself whether this would be the
special day of ful�llment.
And then it happened. Simeon heard an inner voice, the Holy Spirit,
saying to him, Go to the temple now. When he got there he saw a young
couple who had brought their child to the temple to ful�ll the law of Moses.
Simeon took the child in his arms and praised God.
Here was a man who has waited a lifetime for this moment. He was �lled
with prophetic joy. �e God he talked to each day had, through the Holy
Spirit, brought him into the temple on this special day and given him words
of prophetic revelation that Christians still treasure: “Master, now you are
dismissing your servant in peace according to your promise. Because my eyes
have seen your salvation, which you prepared for all people to see�a light
that will reveal salvation to the Gentiles and bring glory to your people Israel”
(Luke 2:29-32 ISV).
Do you remember the �rst time you held your child, your sibling’s child,
 PROPHETIC WORDS OF JOY

or your grandchild in your arms? Can you picture this old saint holding his
newborn Savior? Now, having seen Jesus, he expected to be immediately
dismissed in peace into eternity, taking with him this experience of God’s
promised salvation. Simeon understood what many people today do not:
salvation comes from God, not from within ourselves. Only when we accept
God’s authority and sovereignty in our hearts does life truly make sense.
Luke tells us that Jesus’s father and mother kept wondering at the things
being said about Jesus. �ey must have been amazed that this child would
not only bring glory to Israel but would also bring salvation for all people
everywhere. Jewish people knew the prophecies of a Messiah to come, but
they o�en ignored those prophecies that saw the Messiah coming, not just
for Israel, but also for all nations on earth. But we know that was Jesus’s
purpose, for in Isaiah we read, “�e Lord says, ‘You are not just my servant
75
who restores the tribes of Jacob and brings back those in Israel whom I have
preserved. I have also made you a light for the nations so that you would save
people all over the world’” (Isa. 49:6 GWT. See also Isa. 45:22, 49:26, 52:10,
56:8; Eze. 39:7).
And there is something else. Simeon told Mary and Joseph that God had
prepared this salvation. Just before He died, Jesus prayed to His Father in
heaven, “I glori�ed you on earth by completing the task you gave me to do”
( John 17:4 ISV). Paul tells us that God prepared this salvation before He
made the world (Eph. 1:4; 2 Tim. 1:9. See also Gal. 4:4-5). Like Mary and
Joseph, we also have much to ponder as we think through the implications of
Jesus’s birth. What expectation will God ful�ll in our lives today?

PRA
YER
Lord Jesus, give me a relationship with You that allows Your Spirit to speak
through me to a world that needs to hear about You. I pray especially for the gifts
of wisdom, knowledge, and discernment so that I am effective and prophetic in
Your name. Make me expectant that You will use me today.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ian Strachan lives in Northern Ireland. He studied at Queen’s University,
Belfast, and Harvard Business School. He worked in Hong Kong for thirty-two
years and has been a Christian for ��y-�ve years. Ian is married to Anne and has a
son, daughter, daughter-in-law and three grandchildren.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
�is book has been in my mind for more than twenty years, though I only
began to write it three years ago. I must thank my family: Anne, Dawn, Amy,
and Bob for their advice and encouragement to complete it. Colin McCall and
Phil McMaster read early dra�s. I greatly appreciate the four people willing to
endorse the book. Kate Etue has done an exceptional job in editing. Mike Heath
revolutionized the conceptual approach to the project. Finally, without the input
of my son Bob at BigCake Media this book would not have been published.

July 2010
“ WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
Ian Strachan has done the Christian world a great service with these meditations.
This is a distinctive contribution to the devotional literature of the Christmas
season. The meditations which can be dipped into at leisure or used
consecutively, are thoroughly biblical, full of lovely insights and entirely relevant
to Christian living today.
Very Rev. Dr Russell I Birney BA, BD, D MIN, DD
(Former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland)

This inspirational presentation of the events surrounding the birth of our Lord
provides a wonderful Advent season devotional. With clarity and consistency,
Ian helps us to see with fresh eyes “the wonder of it all.” Prepare to be
encouraged and uplifted!
Phil Lemaster, Interim Senior Pastor,
Franklin Christian Church, Tennessee

Strachan takes us deep into the wonderfully rich world of Christmas as it was but
he is not content to leave us there. For him and for us there is always the return
journey laden with spiritual treasures for a world in desperate need of the Christ
who has come and will come again.
David Shepherd PhD, Principal, Belfast Bible College

The Birth of Christ is one of the most widely celebrated events in history but
also one of the least understood. This book provides much needed background

one to pause and ponder.

Dr Gary Stephens, Mercy Ships – Lindale, Texas
“
to the serious seeker of insight. The familiar story comes to life and will cause

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