Just Because: The Story of Salvation for Children (16 page)

this meant He would save them from the Romans.

But the Lord had a different plan. God wasn’t trying

to save them FROM the Romans but to save the

Romans as well as them. God wasn’t going to save

people from people. He wanted to save ALL people

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from sin—Romans, Jews, everyone in the world and

everyone who wasn’t yet born.

Sometimes when we pray and ask the Lord to

answer our prayer, we think there is only one way

for Him to answer. Nope! Wrong! The Lord always

answers our prayers, but not always in the way we

want, because He often has a much bet er plan than

the one we were thinking about. The Pharisees thought

they knew His plan because they thought the Romans

were the biggest problem Israel had. But they were

completely wrong about that. The biggest problem

was they didn’t think they were sinners; they just

thought the Romans and other people were sinners.

Now was the time to put the final parts of the

preparation plan into action. Finally it was time for

the Lord to come from heaven and be born as a little

baby and be called Jesus. Now I haven’t said much

about old you-know-who lately, but of course he was

also listening to the prophets and counting the days

to when the Messiah would be born. Yep, Satan now

thought the kid who was going to crush his head would

be the new king, so he had all his demon buddies

busy trying to find out who He was and when He

would arrive. He had demons following the prophets

around and demons trying to guess what the prophe-

cies meant and demons spying on the sword-angels.

But there was one more part of the plan to come, a

part which would confuse old you-know-who.

There was a man called Zechariah. He was one of

the men who served the Lord in the temple, a good man

who loved the Lord. He had a wife called Elizabeth

who also loved the Lord. But sadly, although they

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were now old, these two had no children. One day

Zechariah was inside the temple, in the secret part,

doing the things the priest had to do. Suddenly the

angel Gabriel appeared to him. Zechariah got a very

big fright when he saw this shiny person standing

there, but Gabriel told him not to be afraid.

“The Lord has heard your prayers,” Gabriel said,

“and your wife Elizabeth will have a child, a son.

You will give him the name John. He will be a great

joy to you, and many people will be very glad at

his being born. He will be great for the Lord, and

the Holy Spirit will be upon him from the day he is

born. He will have great power, and he will bring the

people of Israel back to the Lord. Many people will

stop doing bad things when they hear his powerful

words, and they will obey the Lord. He will prepare

their hearts for the coming of the Lord.”

Now Zechariah had a few doubts, which wasn’t a

good idea because you know those true sword-angels

of the Lord never tell lies.

“How can I know this is true?” he asked Gabriel.

Oops! Silly question, Zechariah.

The sword-angel answered him. “I am Gabriel,

and I live in the presence of the holy Lord, and I was

sent to tell you these things. But since you seek proof,

from this moment on until your son is born, you will

not be able to speak even one word.”

Now the people waiting outside were wondering

what was taking Zechariah so long. The only way

he could explain was to make signs with his hands

and write things down. Soon after, his wife Elizabeth

found out she was having a baby, and she was very

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happy indeed because she wanted a baby more than

anything in the world. She loved the Lord so much,

and He had answered her prayer.

So the demon went back to report to Satan. “I

saw Gabriel go into the holy place, master,” he said.

“The priest that came out couldn’t speak, and yet he

could speak before he went in. I think God is up to

something. Why would this man be unable to speak

unless he had a secret worth keeping?”

“Gabriel? Are you sure it was Gabriel?” asked

Satan. Old you-know-who knew all about Gabriel.

Gabriel was one of the sword-angels that kicked him

out of heaven in the first place.

“Yes, it was definitely him.”

“Well, now, isn’t that interesting?” said the prince

of darkness. “God sends one of His most powerful

sword-angels to visit an old priest, and later the priest

couldn’t speak, you say. What else did you hear?”

demanded Satan.

“Master, I couldn’t go into the holy place. You

know He lives there and I would have been destroyed,

so I had to wait outside.”

“Get back to work then, and keep watching this

old man. I want to know everything about him, and

watch his wife as well, just in case. If she should look

like she is having a child, come and tell me imme-

diately. Do as I say, or you will wish you
had
been

destroyed,” said Satan with a snarl. The demon left

to obey the dark lord.

Well, she
was
having a baby, but this little boy

would not be the Lord Jesus. This little boy would

be sent to prepare the people’s hearts to hear the

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message of Jesus. He would preach the truth without

fear of death, and he would turn the people’s hearts

to God. The sword-angel Gabriel had another job.

He had another two people to visit, and this time he

wouldn’t let that sneaky little demon follow him as

he had the last time. Oh, you thought he didn’t know

about Satan’s little spy. He knew, Just Because he’s

the Lord’s special messenger, but the Lord only lets

Satan know what He wants him to know.

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One day an angel came to visit a realy nice lady

who loved the Lord with al her heart. She

was cal ed Mary. The angel’s name was Gabriel,

as you already guessed, and he told Mary she was

going to have a baby and the baby’s Father would

be God. Mary was engaged to be married to a man

cal ed Joseph who also loved the Lord. The Lord

sent Gabriel to Joseph, and he told Joseph that Mary

was going to have a baby and that he should still

marry her and that the baby would be cal ed Jesus.

Now the angel told Mary that Jesus would also

be cal ed the Son of God and the Prince of Peace.

So Mary and Joseph believed Gabriel, and every-

thing happened exactly as he had said. They were

married, but they didn’t have a honeymoon because

Mary was having a baby and they wanted to wait

until lit le Jesus was born.

The Roman Caesar, who is kinda like the presi-

dent or prime minister, had told everyone in the land

they had to return to their hometown to have their

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names written down for the Roman records. So Mary

and Joseph went to Bethlehem, which was where

Joseph came from.

They traveled on their donkey, and it was a long

way. Mary was almost ready to have the baby, and

it wasn’t very comfortable for her sitting on a poor

old donkey all the way to Bethlehem. When they

arrived they found there was nowhere for them to

stay because heaps of other people had gone there to

obey Caesar’s command.

So Joseph went inside this Bethlehem motel,

which was called an inn back in those days, and told

the innkeeper his wife was going to have her baby

really soon. The innkeeper was a kind man, and he

told Joseph that he and Mary could stay out in the

stable. He gave Joseph a lantern, like you use when

you go camping, because they had no light switch

and no power in those days, and Joseph made Mary

a bed out of hay and straw.

Now the Lord had His other angels busy at this

time, and He sent them to visit some poor shepherds.

These shepherds were sitting around their campfire

having a cup of tea when suddenly they saw a bright

light and an angel sort of standing in midair above

them. They probably spilled their cup of tea because

they were really freaked out. Who wouldn’t be?

The angel told them not to be afraid, and he told

them that tonight in a stable the King of kings would

be born. He told them Jesus was the Lord God and

also God’s Son because He had become a baby, and

all babies have to have a father. He told those shep-

herds that if they would like to see Him to go to

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Bethlehem and have a look. Then they heard many

angels singing a beautiful song about Jesus. Also,

three kings had met the day before on the road to

Bethlehem. They had come from different countries

and were following a huge bright star in the sky.

These were wise men who had been reading the

prophecies and watching the stars at night. They

knew a great king was to be born and if they followed

the star they would find Him. So they were traveling

through the night on their camels following the star,

and they had brought gifts to give to Jesus. They

had clean camels, because kings wouldn’t ride on a

smelly camel, would they?

Back in the stable Mary had her baby. She didn’t

have a nice clean hospital. She didn’t have a doctor

or a nurse. But she had the Lord God and Joseph to

help her. So Jesus was born. The Lord had become a

baby boy, and He wasn’t born in the palace but in a

stable with a donkey and cow looking at Him. God

could have chosen to come to earth and be born into

the richest family in the world. He could have been

born as the Roman Caesar’s son. He could have been

born on a soft, silk bed and had maids and all that

stuff. But He chose to be born in the most humble

place on earth, a barn. He invited the shepherds to

see Him because they were the poorest people in the

world back then, and He chose to be born poor so that

even the poorest people to the richest people would

love Him. But mostly because God loves people to

be humble so He became humble Himself.

Mary made a bed for Him in this box used to feed

the cows. She put straw in it and covered the straw

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with a soft cloth, and there the King of the world

lay. He was a cute little guy, and as Mary and Joseph

looked down at Him they found it hard to believe He

had come down from heaven and He had made the

world thousands of years ago and He was really their

Creator. How amazing that the Creator of the whole

world should become a little baby in a barn.

Just then they heard a knock on the door. When

Joseph went over to see who it was, there were the

shepherds. He invited them in. They didn’t smell too

good, but then it didn’t smell too good in the stable

either, so they came in and all crowded around the

manger to look at Jesus. They told Mary and Joseph

what the angels had told them, and they all praised

God together. The shepherds left really happy and

excited because they had seen Him.

Then they heard another knock on the door. When

Joseph answered it he got a bit of a shock. Standing

outside the door were three kings, all dressed in

beautiful golden robes with crowns full of precious

diamonds and other jewels on their heads. Joseph

didn’t know if he should bow down or what.

“We have come to see the king of the Jews,” they

said“How did you know He was here?” asked Joseph.

They pointed to the huge star which hung over

the stable and told him how they had followed it to

Bethlehem.

“Come and see him,” said Joseph.

The three kings came over and bowed down and

worshipped him. They knew in their hearts that here

was a king above all kings, and they gave Mary and

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Joseph the gifts for Jesus. They left full of joy that

they had seen the King of kings.

Mary and Joseph were full of joy also. In the little

town of Bethlehem the Saviour of the world had been

born. Finally He was here. Finally He was going to

tell us how to get to heaven, and finally He would

show us exactly what God is like, Just Because He

is exactly like God, Just Because He is God Himself,

but more about that later.

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Now in the land of Israel at that time there was

another king who worked for the Romans, and

he was an evil man. His name was Herod. When the

three kings came to Jerusalem they stopped to visit

Herod because it was polite to visit Herod when they

were in his land. When Herod asked what they were

doing in Israel they told him they were fol owing

a star. They asked Herod where the one would be

born who was to be the king of the Jews. So Herod

asked the Pharisees and teachers of the Bible, and