Far as the Curse is Found

I noticed this year that all the figures in my nativity scene seem to be looking down at the baby in the manger. I was trying to arrange them but I had a problem the animals got in the way. I didn't know where to put them. I began to wonder what they really had to do with the story of the Savior's birth anyway.

Often I see cattle, lambs and perhaps a dove in the rafters as part of the manger scene. As I pondered the animal's presence at Jesus' birth I thought about why he had come. When Jesus began his ministry John the Baptist announced him by saying,"Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." I moved the lambs a little closer to the manger.

When sin entered the world the curse entered the world as a result. God saw what he had made at creation and it was very good. When man sinned the ground was cursed thorns and thistles were brought forth. Man was clothed with a garment of skins. It was the first sacrifice made to atone for sin.

This sacrifice was a picture of something innocent dying for one who was guilty. Leviticus shows that sacrifices were not done in an impersonal way. The one who brought the sacrifice had to lay his hands on the head of the animal to be sacrificed. All of creation was waiting for the Savior, the one who came to take away the sins of the world. I found a place of all the animals, they too are part of the story of Christmas.

While setting up the Nativity scene a verse of a carol was going through my mind. "No more let sins and sorrow grow, Nor thrones infest the ground; He comes to make his blessing flow far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found. And heaven and nature sing."