WHY LITTLE BETHLEHEM?

The old Hebrew name bêth lehem, meaning "house of bread", has survived till the present day. It is a town on the West Bank, south of Jerusalem currently with the population of about 30000 people. The New Testament Gospels of Matthew and Luke identify Bethlehem as the birthplace of Jesus of Nazareth.

God usually takes what people disregard and makes it great. Just as the Bible describes John de-Baptist to be the greatest of all men even though he had no qualification or dignity, Bethlehem with poor reputation was chosen by God for the birth of the Messiah. 

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
   though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
   one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”  Micah 5:2

BETHLEHEM 

BETH= House  LE= God  HEM= Bread (Greek).  So it means THE HOUSE OF GOD'S BREAD

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." John 6:35

 Jesus being the bread of life could not be born at any better place than Bethlehem (the house of God's bread). King David was born in Bethlehem and he was rejected just like Jesus was  also rejected by His own people. In this end time, He is once more rejected and He is standing at the door knocking. He has been put out of the church. Revelation 3:20

In teaching His disciples how to pray, He asked them to say Give us our daily bread. This bread was provided for Israel every night from heaven in the wilderness. He broke the bread during the last supper with His disciples and said, this is my body which is broken for you. DO THIS IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME. It is good we remember the birth of Jesus but what He wants us to remember always is His death.

 We will be filled as we eat this bread (the Word of God) daily and we will not die.

Watchman

Watchman
This is for all Pastors, Bishops, Teachers Evangelists, Prophets etc. Read it and discern what the Lord is telling you.

Ezekiel 33:1-9
¹ The word of the LORD came to me: ² “Son of man, speak to your people and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman, ³ and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people, ⁴ then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not heed the warning and the sword comes and takes their life, their blood will be on their own head. ⁵ Since they heard the sound of the trumpet but did not heed the warning, their blood will be on their own head. If they had heeded the warning, they would have saved themselves. ⁶ But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes someone’s life, that person’s life will be taken because of their sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood.’

 ⁷ “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. ⁸ When I say to the wicked, ‘You wicked person, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade them from their ways, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. ⁹ But if you do warn the wicked person to turn from their ways and they do not do so, they will die for their sin, though you yourself will be saved.

Isaiah 21:11-12

 ¹¹ A prophecy against Dumah:

   Someone calls to me from Seir,

   “Watchman, what is left of the night?

   Watchman, what is left of the night?”

¹² The watchman replies,

   “Morning is coming, but also the night.

If you would ask, then ask;

   and come back yet again.”

Why It Had To Be Shepherds

Just as there are images from TV all around us but we cannot see unless we tune in to a TV, there are hosts of angels all around us but we cannot see them unless we tune in to God's channel. 

In Luke 2: 1-20 the birth of Jesus was revealed to Shepherds.
⁸And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
 ⁹And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
 ¹⁰And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
 ¹¹For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

Q. Why was it revealed to shepherds but not intellectuals, theologians or even priests? 
Those people could not receive such a message because it was contrary to their way of thinking and what they had been taught in their seminaries. God does not need anyone to interpret His Word. Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation- 2Peter 1:20.

For instance, Isaiah prophesied about the coming of the Messiah and it happened and Joel also spoke about the  Pentecost and it also came to pass just as it was said.

Even though the shepherds spent about 2 years before they arrived at where Jesus had been born, yet the religious leaders had no knowledge of His birth. Just as they did not catch the revelation at His first coming, it will be the same at His second coming. 

It had to be shepherds because shepherds are always there for their sheep and they had to come and look after the sheep (Jesus) who had been born in a manger. Shepherds were people who were not respected by their society but it pleased God to tell them about the birth of Christ first.

Peter was not educated but Jesus chose him to look after His sheep. The prophets of old clothed themselves in sheepskin and just think of what that meant. The word of God always come to the prophets who are usually rejected by the society. Amos 3:7

In our age, God's promise (Malachi 4:5-6, Revelation 10:7, Luke 17:30) has been fulfilled but it has been rejected.