WHAT CHILD IS THIS?

     When Jesus was born in Bethlehem two thousand years ago, the only people who knew of the Messiah's birth were Joseph, Mary, and the shepherds.  The King of the Jews had arrived and all of Israel did not know it, they were not expecting His arrival, not even the religious crowd.  They had God's Word on it, from the writings of the prophets, which can only mean they had not been doing their "daily Bible reading".
     For the next two years, Messiah lived with Joseph and Mary in total obscurity to all of Israel as well as to the religious crowd.  Suddenly and unexpectedly, however, an entourage of wise men from the east arrived in Jerusalem, stopping first at King Herod's place, and made an announcement:
     Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him.
     The wise men were not Jews and they had traveled hundreds of miles to find Him, to worship Him, and to lay their gifts at His feet.  How, then, did they know that Messiah was in Jerusalem?
     After the wise men departed for their own country, Joseph took Mary and Jesus to Egypt, where they remained until the death of Herod; then they returned to Israel and dwelt in Nazareth.  And up until the age of thirty, no one knew Messiah dwelt among them, not even the religious sect, who had access to the words of the prophets.
     For the past two thousand years, we have had access to the same book that the religious people of Israel had when Messiah was born in Bethlehem---the Old Testament prophecies and the eye-witness accounts of His life, written and printed on paper, in the New Testament.
     On December 25th, millions of believers around the world will celebrate the birthday of Messiah, at which time wise men ask:  what child is this that was born King of kings and Lord of Lords?
     Like the song says:  and He shall reign forever and ever.  Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!