The First Christmas

One of my favorite things about BYU is the Tuesday devotionals. Today, Elder Bruce D. Porter, a leader in the LDS church, gave the devotional. He spoke about the first Christmas and gave some insights that I thought were really neat. As it was revealed through revelation to the prophet Joseph Smith, Christ was born on April 6th. This was at the time of passover. The month of April was traditionally the time of birthing for the lambs. The shepherds would stay up with the ewes as the lambs were being born. From these lambs, the lambs that were to be offered as sacrifices for the passover were to be selected. So, Christ, the Lamb of God, was born at the same time the lambs that were to be sacrificed for passover were being born. He was also crucified at the same time that the lambs were being slaughtered in the temple for the passover. Elder Porter also metioned that Christ, in addition to representing the role of the lambs, represents the role of the shepherd. So, he represented both roles of those being served and those who served. He was the greatest who made himself the least.

I love learning about such neat correlations. It's beautiful how symbolic the timing of Jesus' birth and death were. It's a testimony to me of how special and important such events were, and the timing was not coincidental but rather intentional so as to show us the connection between Christ and the sacrificial lambs.

I really liked this Devotional. There were a lot of other neat things that Elder Porter mentioned. It hasn't been posted yet, but once it is, you can read it or listen to it by accessing it on this page.