And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2.12, ESV)

I always wondered, “Where was the sign?” But a baby in a feeding trough IS a sign! It’s not every day that you find a newborn baby in a stable. This had to be unique even in those days. 

It goes with the no status that I wrote about yesterday. The sign for the shepherds wasn’t the star even though our new outdoor nativity set (the first we’ve ever displayed) does have a star! The star was for the wise men who came later to a different place. The sign was just the baby himself, born in a barn(!). (That gives new meaning to the old expression, doesn’t it?)

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7.14, ESV)