The amazing thing about the birth of Jesus Christ is the number of people who learned by miraculous means that He was the Son of God. Mary and Joseph both received instructions from angels. (See Luke 1:26-38, Matthew 1:19-21.) Mary’s cousin Elizabeth felt her own child leap in her womb as pregnant Mary approached, and learned from the Holy Ghost that Mary was “the mother of [her] Lord” (Luke 1:41-43). A group of shepherds were directed to the stable where Jesus was born by an angel accompanied by “a multitude of the heavenly host” (Luke 2:8-18). A group of wise men traveled to find Him because a new star which indicated to them that Christ had been born. (See Matthew 2:1-5.) Simeon and Anna both recognized the baby as the Savior of the world when they saw Him in the temple. (See Luke 2:26-38.)
On the American continent, there was no darkness the night Jesus was born, even though the people saw the sun set and rise again the next morning (3 Nephi 1:15-19). They also saw a new star appear (3 Nephi 1:21). These events had been prophesied by Samuel the Lamanite five years earlier. (See Helaman 14:2-8.)
The remarkable thing to me is not only that Christ was born but that so many people learned for themselves who He was. The Christmas story is a story of testimony, a story of multiple people learning an important spiritual truth independently from one another and sharing what they had learned. The combined effect provides what the author of Hebrews called “a cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1), which is much more powerful than the testimony of a single individual. God really wanted us to know that His Son had been born!
And He wanted us to listen to one another. Mary heard testimonies from her husband, from her cousin, from humble shepherds, from two strangers in the temple, and from a group of wealthy foreigners. The combined effect of these witnesses bolstered her confidence in her own experience, providing independent verification that her child really was the Son of God.
Today, as I celebrate the Savior’s birth, I will be grateful for the contemporary witnesses of the event. I will be grateful for people who were open to spiritual experience and willing to share what they learned. As I review their testimonies, I will open my heart to confirming witness of the Holy Ghost that Jesus, whose birth we celebrate today, really is the Christ.
Merry Christmas!!!
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