Luke 2:7 “And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”
John 16:21 “A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.”
Although I had good training in obstetrics as a medical student, I really learned midwifery in the middle of the Northern Ethnic Conflict of 1994. With no midwives available, I had to brush up on midwifery very quickly! Fortunately, the late Tani Alhassan had trained as a midwife. Tani would watch the pregnant ladies and do simple deliveries while I would handle the more complicated OB. With no electricity in Saboba, we had to use kerosene lanterns or flashlights (electric torches) for light for deliveries. When Bob was finally able to rig up a 12 – volt light for us that ran off a car battery, we thought we were in heaven! Over the years, I have probably delivered hundreds of babies. Two years ago, I had to do a delivery in the dark just outside our Children’s Ward because the poor lady couldn’t make it the last 50 meters to the Maternity ward. (I slid a rubber apron under the lady’s bottom and delivered the baby and placenta and then had to pinch the umbilical cord while our nurses came running to help. Mother and baby did fine.)
In each case, once the baby was delivered, the mothers were relieved and thrilled to have a healthy newborn baby. Many people have written about the Virgin Mary and what it must have been like for her to have to give birth away from home with no women to assist her or to perform the normal rituals. Ezekiel 16:4 describes the rituals surrounding a birth; newborn babies were rubbed with salt. “As for your nativity, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water to cleanse you; you were not rubbed with salt nor wrapped in swaddling cloths.”
Mary may not have had much water to wash the Baby Jesus, and there is no mention made of salt, so she might have had to settle for wrapping Him in swaddling cloths alone. But these cloths had an additional significance.
Have you ever wondered about “swaddling clothes”? Everyone knows that Jesus was born in a manger, and the 2nd chapter of the gospel of Luke says that he was wrapped in “swaddling clothes” and laid in a manger. In fact, even hospitals today use a cloth that they call a “swaddling” cloth. Unfortunately, it’s a misnomer that will soon be over 2,000 years old, because “swaddling clothes” have nothing to do with a child being born!
In the Middle East, people traveling long distances were often met with many hardships and trials on their journeys. In the event of a death in travel, the body could not continue to be transported for many days. For that reason, travelers wrapped a thin, gauzelike cloth around their waist many times. If someone died on the journey, the others would use this cloth, referred to as “swaddling clothes” to wrap the corpse in before burying them.
When Jesus was born, there was no room in the Inn, and so Mary and Joseph used a nearby stable for Jesus’ birth. With no other cloth to use, Jesus was wrapped in Joseph’s “swaddling clothes” – the cloth normally reserved for a person’s death. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords came into this world in a lowly manger and was wrapped with burial clothes – in truth, He was born to die. To die for the sins of all mankind. Source:https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/12197/what-is-significant-about-the-swaddling-clothes-with-which-jesus-was-wrapped-as
Many times, we must suffer before we can rejoice, but we must keep looking upwards. Discouragement is of the Devil, and it is so easy to become discouraged! Take heart! Even now, God is moving in your situation. Trust and look for signs of His working.
PRAYER: Father, thank you that even though we may have to endure pain, there will be joy at the end! And thank you that the King of Heaven and Earth was not born in luxurious surroundings, but in the lowliest place possible. And because Jesus came to live and die and rise again, some day we will have “joy unspeakable and full of glory.” Amen.
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