Book Preview: This is an excerpt from the book 31 Days at Bethlehem’s Treasure (Vol.2) written by Shane Johnson.
A great devotional to pick up before December 1!
December 1 – Morning
“Behold, I come, in the scroll of the book it is written of Me.” Psalm 40:7, NKJV
In 1969, Neil Armstrong stepped out of a lunar modular and placed a human foot for the first time ever on the moon. He went down in history as saying, “That’s one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind.” Never before had mankind reached such a milestone in space exploration. For the first time ever we had breached the lunar world. We had come a long, long way.
God had come a long way, too. Stepping out of His own lunar module called Mary’s womb, after taking His first look at planet Earth, He too could say, “That’s one small step for God, one infant step, but one giant leap for mankind.” That one small step jumped the galaxies in order to breach one giant divide. Timely and eternal, small and colossal, that one infant step provided the only Mediator for all mankind. That “one small child in a land of a thousand” bridged a chasm so vast no mere human being could ever have hoped to cross it alone. That one small step forever forged a union of fragile humanity with iron divinity, creating a God-Man who would totally obliterate the sins of this world. “Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary” (At Calvary, William Reed Newell).
But that first manger step was only the beginning of a long journey that lay ahead of Him. After a brief stay in Bethlehem, the little Saviour travelled to Egypt to escape the first of the hostilities He faced on this planet, for the power hungry Herod killed every infant in Bethlehem in a vain attempt to kill Him. Then for thirty years He lived in Nazareth working as a humble carpenter, though He was the architect of the whole planet. He served in the local synagogue in appearance as a worshipper, but in reality the object of their worship. Lastly, His journey took Him through the streets and hamlets of Galilee, unknown to men but known and adored by all heaven. At the end of the line, He eventually came to Judea and to Jerusalem where He would be crucified. His visit to planet Earth would indeed be a hostile one.
Yet that first peaceful night, when the angels of heaven told the shepherds of His soft, soft landing, it was just the beginning. Just as Neil Armstrong planted the American flag on the moon’s surface declaring the beginning of space exploration, so too the Saviour planted His flag on planet Earth, declaring He would one day redeem it in His own time. And His banner over us was love.
One tiny step is all He took
but O the gulf He spanned!
For us He donned those peasant rags
and left Immanuel’s Land.
