Miracle in the Dirt

“While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.   Luke 2:7 NIV

Have you ever thought about the actual physical environment where Jesus was born?  Coincidence…..or not?

Luke tells us in his gospel that Joseph and Mary had traveled to Bethlehem, the town of David, to register in the census that was being taken as decreed by Caesar Augustus. Why Bethlehem? Because Joseph “...belonged to the house and line of David” (Luke 2:4 NIV) and “everyone went to their own town to register.” (Luke 2:3 NIV) 

And of course, she went into labor while on this journey. They needed a place to stay in a town filled with many people who had made the journey for the census.

Coincidence? I don’t believe that it is.

On Christmas Eve in 2016, God spoke to me in a dream. It was a very vivid dream where the story of our Savior’s birth would come alive to me in a different and amazing way. The Lord pointed me to the physical environment in which His son entered the world. It was nowhere near the sterilized and sanitized comfort of a hospital; it was filthy and dirty. There were visible puddles of urine and piles of feces, as well as foul odors from the animals that were kept close by. Yet, in the midst of all of that, there was beautiful and bright light. It was coming from a manger, which was positioned above all that I had already seen. I looked in the manger at the most beautiful baby boy that I had ever seen. He was perfect in every way.

Then the Lord spoke to me these words:

“My Son came to OVERCOME the filthiness of this world. There is nothing too dirty that His blood can’t purify.”

I awoke on Christmas morning and immediately told my husband. Christmas fell on a Sunday that year, and we would be having a church service that morning. He asked me to share this dream with our congregation before his message. This was a word for someone!

I shared this with those in attendance that day. A younger man approached me after service and wanted to talk. Let’s call him Brandon**. Brandon said that he had been sensing that God was drawing him back, but he felt completely unworthy due to the amount and depth of sin in his life.

DIRT.

FILTH.

FECES.

STENCH.

BUT JESUS!

He told me that he had given his life back to Jesus in the moments following me sharing the dream.  **Brandon** had become a new creation on Christmas Day!

The irony of Jesus’s birth should absolutely overwhelm us!  The perfect baby, born into the humblest location, lying in a manger that was positioned ABOVE all of the wretchedness of this world, and would be the perfect sacrificial lamb for ALL of the sin of those who believe in Him!

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.    John 3:16-17 NIV

I encourage all of you to BEHOLD Jesus in this season.

Dive deep into the WONDER of our Savior. 

Read and reread the scripture passages related to His birth. Learn about the Old Testament prophecies of the coming Messiah with their fulfillments in the New Testament.  Revel and relish in the details of Jesus’s adult life by reading through the synoptic Gospels. (Matthew, Mark, Luke)

Let the Lord captivate your heart with the miracle of His son.

O come let us adore Him,

O come let us adore Him,

O come let us adore Him,

Christ, the Lord!

A dirty sinner rescued by the Savior,

Lindsey Parks