Power in the Cradle

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

Power in the Cradle

Gary Hodder | President Alberta Conference

In the year 1809, the whole world was looking at the campaigns of Napoleon. He had been on a mission to conquer the then-known world. He was having great success. He was winning one battle after another. Everywhere, the newspapers were reporting his marches, invasions, and victorious battles. The newspapers were headlining, “Destiny of the world being decided on the battlefields of Europe.”

Most people could not give you the details of those battles anymore. All that people remember is Napoleon's great loss at the Battle of Waterloo. The real history was being rocked in the cradles of the nations at that time. In 1809, several children were being rocked in those cradles, whose ideas and lives would markedly change the world. In that year, a young physician named Darwin and his wife named their child Charles Robert. Everyone knows and has an opinion about this baby’s ideas that would start a revolution in thinking.

But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go for Me to be ruler in Israel. His origins are from long ago, from the days of eternity.”

In that same year, another child was born by the name of Edgar Allan Poe. His eventful, albeit tragic, life would be studied in schools throughout the generations to come. Yet another figure of national pride was born in a log cabin in Kentucky by the name of Abraham Lincoln. His life would matter to an entire nation. Yes, on the surface, it seemed the exploits on the battlefield were the essential things of 1809, but the truly great things were being shaped in the cradles of the times.

The same could be said about the times when Jesus was born. The whole world was focused on what was happening in Rome and its consequences on Israel. Rome ruled the world, and that is where history was being made… or was it really? The emperor of the land was a person by the name of Caesar Augustus. He has just declared a census would be taken, and everyone would have to return to their home city to be registered and taxed. No one was thinking about a little baby soon to be born in Bethlehem.

The Scriptures kept things in their proper light as the prophet Micah recorded these words: “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go for Me to be ruler in Israel. His origins are from long ago, from the days of eternity” (5:2). As we approach this Christmas season, let us not confuse the truly important with the season's trappings. We often get lost in thinking history is being made at the cash register, wondering which Christmas toy will be the most sought after, which home will be the best decorated, or what would make the best Christmas gift. Let us remember Jesus is the reason for the season. He came as God's greatest gift for you and all mankind. Let us be wise enough to see the genuinely significant among the insignificance this Christmas.