Merry Christmas, my friends. Welcome to Third Stage Ranch in Glen Rose, Texas. I am Pastor Troy Brewer of Open Door Church in big town Burleson, Texas, I am fixing to blow your mind today on God Today.
Did you know there is an obscure prophecy about the birth of Jesus? It’s not just about the town of Bethlehem, but it actually nails down the precise place of the Messiah’s birth. You might not have heard this before, but it is a very obscure passage found in the book of Micah. This is what it says, “You, oh tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion. To you shall it come, even the former dominions shall come. The King of the daughter of Jerusalem.” That is Micah 4:8. You know what that is? That is the prophecy that the Messiah would be born, not only in Bethlehem, but in a special place called The Tower of the Flock. Have you ever heard that before?
The Tower of the Flock belonged to the shepherd’s field. The same exact field where David grew up watching sheep, and having crazy, cool encounters with God. The shepherds in this field were not normal shepherds. They were actually part of the levitical priesthood. Their job was to watch as lambs were born. If a lamb had no spots and no blemishes, it was worthy for sacrifice. If it was spotless, you know what they did? They swaddled it. They wrapped it up to protect it and make sure it didn’t get bruised or beat up.
Let me tell you what it is they wrapped them in. They wrapped these lambs in bloody, priestly garments. Why? Because whenever they took a lamb to be sacrificed there might have been 100s of those levitical priests that were slaughtering animals. Every time their garments were spotted, they have to change them. What do you do with all those robes? You rip them up, and you can use them as wicks in the menorah of the house of God. The light that was burning was literally lit by the blood stained garments of the priests. That’s amazing to me. There is a huge revelation within that.
They also used them to wrap the newborn lambs that were worthy to be slain. They would take them to the Tower of the Flock. They laid the lambs down, lit a fire on the top of the tower to let the priests know, “Hey, there is a lamb worthy to be slain here!” Try to connect all of those cool dots. Jesus was born in the Tower of the Flocks. Where the Priests placed lambs worthy to be slain. Then a star arose on top of it. You know what that was? A supernatural fire that came from Heaven itself saying, “There is one who is supernatural. Not just to hide the sins of the world, but to actually take away the sins of the world.”
It makes sense that the angels appeared to the shepherds. It was their job to let everybody know that a lamb worthy to be slain has been born. You know what? They were the only ones actually qualified for it.
On Christmas morning, the angels of the Lord show up and say to them, “Listen, I have good news for you. Good tidings, goodwill to men. You will find the child wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger.” That manager is another thing. The manger had two different sides. One for the scapegoat that left town. And the other one that they actually slew. You have to know that the shepherds knew exactly where that was, they went there all the time. They ran to the Tower of the Flock which was prophesied 700 years earlier. When the Bible says, “You will find Him wrapped in swaddling clothes,” the shepherds knew exactly what that meant as well.
You see, each time the priests sacrificed a spotless lamb, they would take the bloody garment off. That robe would be torn into long strips and used to wrap up or to swaddle the newborn lambs to protect them from getting a blemish. This meant Baby Jesus was literally wrapped in the bloody garment of the priests. That is such a prophetic picture to me.
Here is the difference between Jesus and all the 1,000s of other spotless lambs. Jesus wasn’t lying where all the other lambs were. He was lying in the feeding trough where they feed the other lambs. Why? Because He is the Bread of Life from John 6:35. Jesus is an indescribable gift from Heaven. Let Him fill your life today so you will never, ever, ever be hungry again for goodness, or for mercy, or for righteousness ever again.
I want to pray for you. Father God, sir, I lift up all of my friends, God, who are watching from all over the world. I pray, God, we would know you as the lamb that takes away the sins of the world. I pray, King Jesus sir, that we would know you as the great indescribable gift. I just pray God that we would know you. In Jesus’ name. Amen. Wow. Merry Christmas and happy New Year to all of you, my very good friends. I call you the head and not the tail, above and not beneath, and highly favored of the Lord. Bye, bye.