Shepherds and Swaddling Clothes

It's Christmas Eve!!! Yay! Today is the last day of my Christmas devotionals. If you missed the other days you can read  day 1 here and day 2 here

My cat has nothing to do with this post but he is cute so I had to share

For today's devotional we are going to look a bit at the Shepherds. I learned this at church last week and had to share it. I don't know about you but when I think of raising sheep I think of loving on all those fluffy animals. I bet their kids even picked out their own favorite white fluffy sheep and named it. Well .... did you know that the cutest most perfect and probably favorite sheep was the one that got set aside to be sacrificed? God only accepted lambs without spot and blemish. When a lamb without blemish was found they wrapped it in swaddling clothes to keep it from getting dirty or injured. The swaddling clothes signified that the spotless lamb was ready to be sacrificed.

Now, imagine sitting out in a field at night and angels suddenly are in the sky declaring to you that The King has been born. The angel starts out by saying "For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord". How joyous that must have been for them to hear. A Saviour, born in their time but then, the shepherds stopped as they heard the next statement, "And this shall be a sign unto you. Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger".

Can you imagine the joy, wonder and maybe sadness they experienced as they saw this beautiful baby in swaddling clothes. Just like the spotless lambs they raised Jesus was also a spotless lamb wrapped in swaddling clothes. It was a sign of what was to come. From the day He entered the world he showed us that he was the spotless and perfect lamb. Oh how He loves us friends!