The word tower is used thirty-six times in the Bible.
The Tower of the Flock was no ordinary place.
Long ago on a cold winter night, shepherds were huddled together watching their flocks in the fields near Bethlehem. Suddenly the sky lit up brighter than anything they had ever seen. They were terrified. But an angel appeared and said, “Don’t be afraid, I have come to you with good news. Today a Savior has been born, Christ the Lord. You will find Him wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” At this saying, the skies were filled with angels praising God.
When the angels had left, the shepherds were all talking at once saying, let’s go see this Child Who will be our Savior”. So, with haste, they left the fields and found the Child lying in a manger and wrapped in swaddling clothes just as the angel had said. They told His parents all they had seen and heard. Mary wondered at their story. The shepherds went back to their fields full of amazement and praise telling this news to everyone.
Why is this story in the Bible? Why were the shepherds the first to hear of this little Lamb of God? How did they know where to find Him???
These shepherds were not ordinary shepherds. They were hired by the Temple priests to raise perfect, unblemished lambs for sacrifice on the altar for man’s sin. They would take the mother sheep ready to birth to a place called the Tower of the flock. There they would check the lamb as it was born to see if it was perfect. If so, they would wrap it in swaddling clothes and lay it in a manger.
Here less than six miles from Jerusalem on a hill in the Tower of the flock lay the promised Christ child, the Messiah, the Lamb of God. One day He would become the final perfect sacrifice for the sins of mankind.
The plans and purposes of God are so amazing. He has plans and purposes for each of us. He knows us and has loved us since the beginning of time.
Let us love Him with all our heart, soul, and mind.
Below are two verses that were written by the prophet Micah some 700 years before the birth of the beloved Lamb of God. Micah 5:2
Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are small among the clans of Judah; One will come from you to be the ruler over Israel for Me. His origin is from ancient days, from eternity.
Micah 4:8
As for you, tower of the flock, the hill of the daughter of Zion, to you it will come...
Digital Art by Lori Garner
Written by: Joann Turnbull
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