December
25

Isaiah 60:22. “A small one shall become a thousand, and a little one a numerous nation; I, Jehovah, will hurry it in its time.”

For the children from Isaiah 11

5. And justice shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His hips.

6. And the wolf shall sojourn with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.

7. And the cow and the bear shall pasture; together what is born of them shall lie down; and the lion shall eat straw as the cattle.

8. And the nursing [infant] shall be pleased upon the hole of the adder; and upon the den of the basilisk shall the weaned [child] thrust his hand.

9. They shall not do evil nor destroy, in all the mountain of My holiness, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters cover the sea.

10. And it shall be in that day that the Root of Jesse shall stand for a standard to the peoples; of Him shall the nations inquire, and His rest shall be glory.

and from Luke 2

4. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was out of the house and family of David,

5. to be enrolled with Mary his betrothed wife, being great with child.

6. And it came to pass, while they were there, [that] the days were fulfilled that she should bring forth;

7. and she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling-clothes, and laid Him in the manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

Readings from the Heavenly Doctrine

AE 706:12. Since a sign meant testification that they might believe that the Savior of the world was born, it is therefore said that they should find Him lying in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes. But that this was a testification no one can know until it is known what is meant by a manger, and by swaddling clothes.

A manger means doctrine of truth from the Word, because horses signify the understanding of the Word... Thus a manger where horses are fed signifies doctrine of truth from the Word. It is said also, in the seventh verse of the same chapter, that this was done because there was no place in the inn, an inn signifying a place of instruction.… And this was the case with the Jews, who were then in mere falsities, through adulteration of the Word.

This therefore is what is signified by there being no place in the inn. For if it had pleased the Lord, He might have been born in the most splendid palace, and been laid in a bed adorned with precious stones, but this would have been among such as were in no doctrine of truth, and there would have been no heavenly representation.

He is also said to have been wrapped in swaddling clothes, because swaddling clothes signify primary truths, which are truths of innocence, and also truths of Divine Love, for nakedness when said in reference to a baby signifies the lack of truth.

From this it is evident why it was said by the angels, "This is the sign unto you, ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger."

AE 175:3. The multiplication of truth and the fructification of good are described by the "little one shall become a thousand, and the few a numerous nation."

previous