Hope In The Cradle

As the Shepherds looked at the babe in the manger recognized that they were looking at what Paul would later call “the hope of Israel.” First, hope comes from unexpected places. Here we see the Messiah lying in a manger – there was nothing about his birth, his childhood, or early life that would attract people to him – “there is no beauty that we should desire him.”

Second, hope brings unspeakable Joy. Consider the songs surrounding the birth of the Lord Jesus, there are four of them and some of them sung before he appeared in the flesh. While the Birth of the Savor was a time of questioning and queries in the family concerned, yet it was a time of great joy.

Third, hope brings an eternal reward. We see this when we consider the life of Jesus – in birth in a borrowed manger, in life nowhere to lay his head and in death he was buried in a borrowed grave. The reward of this life is vanity; the reward of hope in Christ is eternal.