The Birth by Gene Edwards

 
I read this book years ago (in 1995 actually) and just finished reading it for the second time. I have a friend who reads it every Christmas and I've always meant to read it again at this time of the year but I only just got to it this past week. It's a short, easy read and this poem which the author shares before the story starts gives an insight into what he had in mind when he wrote it:

I shall drink from waters deeper than the 

spring,

And from the poet's eye shall I read his 

book.

But, oh, what I might learn should I dare to 

look 

From God's view even of the simplest 

thing.

Christian Maynell

This story of the Incarnation begins in heaven when Michael the Archangel feels a strange compulsion to visit the Door, the passageway to the physical realm.

It had been ages since the Door had opened into that realm. Not since Malachi the prophet had there been commerce between the two creations.

It is the fullness of time and Lord has a mission for Michael: to open a pathway from the heavens to the earth.

Now the Door between the two realms opened again....Could it be that something of the very essence and totality of God was about to pass into the other realm?

In the midst of this incomprehensible moment, the voice of Recorder sounded forth once again.

"Many of us have passed through this portal that joins our two realms. Long ago, as you recall, the Door was always open. The two realms joined together...at a place called Eden. After the Great Tragedy, the Door closed.

"On frequent occasions, at the command of our God, the Door has opened. Several times the Lord stepped through this Door to visit Abraham. Once the Door opened for Moses and the seventy elders to step into our realm. Once also for Isaiah, who stood in this very doorway and looked upon our dwelling place. But always the Door has closed again......But never before has anything such as this occurred.

"Today, the Door opens inside a woman's womb!"

This unusual Christmas story is one that looks at both realms - from the angels in heaven as they see God's eternal purpose unfold; to Elizabeth and Zachariah, Mary and Joseph, and others in the earthly realm whose lives are woven into this wonderful drama. Even though it's a fictionalised account, I thought it was a refreshing and thoughful view of the events surrounding the birth of Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God.