The Greatest Love Story Ever Told
BEFORE JESUS WAS BORN

Far away over the sea, on the continent of Asia, is the land of Palestine.¹ It is also called the Holy Land. If you find it on a map you will see it is a very small country. Yet, though it is small, great things have happened there, things so great that the entire world knows of Palestine. These Bible stories will tell you why Palestine is today called the Holy Land, and why so many people love it.

Many, many years ago there lived in Palestine a man by the name of Jacob. He was the son of Isaac, and the grandson of Abraham. He had twelve sons, each of whom was the head of a large family called a tribe. The twelve tribes, or families, together made up a nation of people who were known as the Children of Israel. Israel was another name God gave to Jacob when he became a grown man.

The Children of Israel were good people because they worshiped the true God. There were some people in the world then who did not worship the true God. The same thing is true today. Some of those people made images, or idols, of wood or stone, which they called gods. They prayed to those idols, asking them to take care of them. They even thanked these false gods for giving them life and health, and other beautiful things. These people were unbelievers. That is what we call those who do not worship the true God.

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were believers. They knew and loved the true God, and taught their children to do the same. But the Children of Israel were not always good. They sometimes did wrong things, but after they had done wrong they were sorry for it and asked the true God to forgive them. Then they started over again and tried to do better.

When Jacob was an old man, he and his children and grandchildren went to live in Egypt. They lived there happily a long time. But the time came when the Children of Israel were not happy, because the kings who were then in power were not good to them. These kings made slaves of them. They made them work so hard and for so long that the Children of Israel almost forgot about the true God.

But at last a child was born who had a different life from the rest of his people. His name was Moses. He was brought up by the king’s daughter in the king’s palace. He was very wise and loved his people. He could see how badly they were treated and how unhappy they were. His greatest wish was to set them free and take them back to Palestine. The time came when the true God allowed him to do this.

It was hard to get so many people ready for a long trip. It was also hard to make them do as God would have them do. The people found fault with everything, especially if things did not please them. They found fault with Moses and even with the true God. There were many years of very hard work for Moses and their other leaders before they were at last settled in their own country and in their own homes. Moses did not get to go.

For many, many years the true God was their king. He gave them laws through Moses, and all their leaders were chosen by God. They talked with God and learned from Him what to do. But the time came when they wanted to be like the other nations around them. They wanted a king they could see – a king who could go before their army when it went to fight a war.

The first king was not a good ruler. When he died a young man named David became king. David was a good king. He tried to do as good as he could. He tried to teach the people to obey the laws of the true God.

David belonged to the tribe, or family, of Judah. He was born in Bethlehem. When chosen to be king, David was only a shepherd boy. For that reason he is often called the Shepherd King. Although he left his country home and went to Jerusalem to live when he was still a young man, he never forgot the lessons he learned in the fields around Bethlehem. He wrote beautiful songs that show that, while he stayed with sheep hour after hour, his thoughts were about the goodness of the true God. David lived thousands of years ago, yet ever since that time people have read and sung his songs. We can read them today in that part of the Bible called the Psalms. One of them begins, “The Lord is my shepherd.” Perhaps you know it.

When David died, his son Solomon became king. He was very rich. He knew so much that he is been called the wisest man that ever lived. He built for the people a beautiful temple where they could meet to worship the true God. When this temple was built the people promised to always love and obey the true God who had been so good to them and to their fathers. If they had remembered this promise, and kept it, they would have been a strong nation even today; but very soon they began to break God’s laws. Some of them even began to pray to false gods and idols.

After King Solomon died, things grew worse and worse for the people. The Children of Israel were conquered by other nations and their cities were destroyed. The people were carried away to other countries. After a time some were allowed to go back and live in Palestine.

But the Children of Israel kept up their courage, because their prophets had told them that they would one day have a king who would rule the whole world – a King who would reign for ever and ever. Prophets are men who tell what is going to happen long before it does happen. In other words, they foretell things. We have men today we might call “weather-prophets.” They study the sky. They study the clouds and the winds. They try and tell us what kind of weather we are going to have. But they often tell us wrong, because they really do not know in advance what the weather is going to do. But these Children of Israel prophets talked with the true God. He told them what to foretell, so they never made a mistake.

At the time of our Bible story there had been no prophet for four hundred years. The Children of Israel, remembering and believing what the prophets had promised so long ago, were looking for and waiting for their king. They believed that it was almost time for Him to come. They had forgotten that some of the prophets had said that the king would be poor. That He would be a man of sorrows. They expected Him to come in great power. They expected Him to make them a strong and free nation again.

Many of the Children of Israel were now living in Palestine. They were under the rule of the Roman Emperor. The Emperor had such a large country that he could not look after it all himself. So he divided it into what were called provinces. He appointed rulers to take charge of the provinces for him. The Children of Israel did not like to obey the Roman Emperor. They did not like the rulers who were sent to them. They wanted their own strong king very much.

Herod was one of the Roman rulers. He was also called a king and he was disliked. He began to be afraid that he would lose his throne. So to please the Children of Israel, he built a beautiful temple for them. It was even more beautiful than the one which Solomon had built. That one had been destroyed when the Children of Israel were driven out of their country. The temple which had been built when they had returned was now old and falling down.

That temple was not like our church buildings today and their worship service was not like ours today. Their temple was one building with two rooms. In the smaller of these rooms only the High Priest could go in, and only once a year. In the other room any priest could go in.

Around the temple building were four large open spaces called courts. They were separated from each other by walls. One of the courts was for the priests only. One court was for Jewish men. One court was for Jewish women. The fourth court was for everyone who was not of the Jewish race. No one could go further into the temple than the court rooms. When we speak of people going into the temple, we mean they went into one of these court rooms.

The priests were their ministers. They did all the work of the temple. They took charge of the worship services. In those days the people did more than pray to God to forgive their sins. In the temple was an altar - sort of a table covered with brass. On this altar a fire was kept burning day and night. Twice every day a special lamb was offered on this altar. The people prayed to the true God, asking Him to forgive their sins. This was called a sacrifice.

Another thing the priests did was to offer incense. Incense was made of sweet spices. It was very fragrant. While it burned, the people in the court rooms outside the temple were praying that their prayers might rise to the true God as sweet and pure and as well pleasing as the smell of the incense.

One day, just about the time that our Bible story begins, the work of burning the incense fell to the lot of a priest named Zacharias. His wife was named Elizabeth. They had no children. Both Zacharias and Elizabeth wanted a child very much. They prayed a long time, asking God to please give them a baby.

On this day, Zacharias was alone in the temple. He was burning the incense, and praying to the true God. He looked up and saw an angel of God standing at the right side of the altar. When Zacharias saw him he was afraid. But the angel said, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; God will give you and Elizabeth a baby boy, and you must call his name John. He will bring you joy and gladness, and many other people will rejoice that he is born. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and will turn many from their wicked ways, and teach them to love God. This child is the one whom the prophets said would come to make the world ready for the Christ."

Zacharias could not believe what he heard. He asked the angel, "How shall I know that what you say is true?"

The angel answered, "God sent me to tell you about it, and because you have not believed my word you will not be able to speak again until the day when it comes true."

The people in the court rooms waited for Zacharias to come out of the temple. They wondered why he stayed so long. When he did come out he could not speak to them. They knew that something had happened. He made signs to them, but he did not speak to them. When his week of service in the temple was over he went to his home in the hill country of Judea. There, when the time came, the promised baby was born.

Newborn children at that time were not named until they were eight days old. When it was time for this baby to be named, friends of the family called him Zacharias, after the baby's father. But the baby"s mother said, "No, he is to be called John."

The friends thought it was strange to call him that. No one in the baby's family ever had that name. Also, it was the custom of that time to call the first boy baby born into a family after his father"s name. The friends made signs to Zacharias. They asked him what name he wanted his newborn, baby son to have. Zacharias asked for a writing tablet and wrote, "His name is John."

The friends wondered still more when the father also chose that name. They soon had even more reason to be surprised. Zacharias, who had not spoken for a long time, began to talk again. Would you like to know what he said first? He thanked the true God for what had happened. Then he told his friends that the Christ, the foretold and promised King, was coming very soon. He also told them that his newborn child was the prophet who would teach the people about their King. This story was told all through the hill country of Judea and the people asked, "What kind of a child will he be?"

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