Christmas Moments - #10 Get Your Swaddle On!

The original Christmas present came wrapped.

The microphone I was using, I was talking but I couldn't hear. But the reason I chose that song was because the original Christmas present, it did come wrapped with a whole lot of meaning and these were swaddling clothes. Well, while I was considering the picture, and if you go to ChristianCarguy.com you're going to see a picture of Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes and actually he's kind of looking back at a cross that has another wrapping on it that was kind of the ultimate unwrapping come Easter. But last year I read Stu Epperson's Christmas book, it's called The First Words of Jesus, and I started thinking about that, but this year I even went a little bit deeper with this, why swaddling clothes? What's up with that? And why would the shepherds think that that was unique, that this baby would be wrapped in swaddling clothes?

Why would that be important to them? Well, I believe we can find some answers and you're going to work and get to why this has to do with cars in a minute, Jerry. Don't worry. I know it's a Christian Car Guys show, but I got to talk about these wrappers. But if you look in Ezekiel 16, it's the only other place I can find in the Bible that talks about swaddling clothes. And in Ezekiel 16, I think we see what God thinks about swaddling clothes because he says, As for your nativity, and I like that he used that same word, on the day you were born, your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water or cleansed, nor were you rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling clothes. And what he was talking about there was an illegitimate child that Israel was acting as an illegitimate child when he saw her.

And again, he wrapped her. But that's what was going on in Ezekiel. But see, babies that were abandoned and not wanted, not favored, babies that weren't the apple of their father's eyes, right? Those were the ones that didn't get swaddled.

It's kind of like a disgraceful thing, right? Because if you're a favorite, you're going to be swaddled. Now let's look at how cool swaddling really is, okay? Especially Mary's swaddling. See, traditional thoughts on swaddling as an Oriental Jewish girl back in the day, because that was considered the Orient back there. And young Mary likely used cloths that she spun herself. You know, she made that garment that Jesus wore up to the cross is definitely the church tradition. But had you thought about that she had spun those claws that were there that wrapped Jesus's swaddling clothes, it was the tradition that they would spin those claws and use them in the booth. You know, Jewish people get married in a booth and they would have spun these claws in this booth and they use those same claws to swaddle their children as a result. You see, it would show that the baby was a result of a loving union in God's plan in a marriage, you see, and that this was a wanted son. This wasn't an illegitimate child. It wouldn't be wrapped carefully in swaddling unless it was a wanted son and not an illegitimate son, but one that was definitely very valuable to the mother. Now, picture this. This is the contrast that the shepherds would say, you're going to see a baby that's wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.

See, there's a huge contrast there. Why would a beloved baby be in a feeding trough? And I just have to say, Jerry, I've often thought it has to do with even being the bread of life and the whole lot of stuff that goes into the Passover lamb and all that stuff with Bethlehem. But nonetheless, what we do know is that he was wrapped in swaddling clothes and he was laid in a manger. And so we got to think about this as we wrap our Christmas presents this year.

OK, right. Really great gifts deserve a really great wrapping. You know, you don't give your wife this unbelievable diamond, whatever, and just throw it to her in the box. I mean, you've got to put this fancy, really, you know, really cool wrapping. And so God clearly always for me, I get somebody else to wrap it. Exactly.

Exactly. So when we're wrapping, you see, we're showing somewhat the value of the present in the way that it's wrapped. Or in some case, layers and layers are wrapping because my wife loves to put a box in a box in a box, you know, so that you are sent off on the wild goose chase. But that wrapping has to do with, you know, the present. And the present is a picture of God's generosity, right? I mean, the beauty of that idea of presence at Christmas is a picture of the ultimate present that was sent and it was wrapped. It was wrapped in swaddling clothes and later it was wrapped in burial clothes. And when it was unwrapped on Easter morning, it was the present of presence. It's the one that keeps on giving, Jerry. Oh, absolutely.