Go to part 1
Go to part 3 
Imagine yourself closer now. It is almost sunrise the morning following Christ's birth. The Levite on morning watch just sighted the sun's first light illuminating the east behind the Mount of Olives. "It's becoming light!" he shouts down to the others, "The East is bright!"
Someone shouts, "Is the East bright as far as Hebron?"
He looks to his right. "Yes!" he shouts back, "The light has risen."
Then the priests and Levites who were waiting for that moment begin the morning sacrifice. As the lamb is sacrificed, the front of the Temple begins to glow with the reflected light of the rising sun. The Temple is the city's tallest structure. Part of its outer surface is plated with gold. It shines brilliantly, a symbol of those marked by the covenant, that they should reflect God's glory because their ways should reflect God's ways.
This day, the day you are watching, the savior God promised to restore all things has finally arrived. He is the Eternal Word become flesh and blood, a descendant of David. He is a member of the Israelite race, the son of a Judean woman. He was promised to our first parents. He will make remedy for the bondage our first parents took upon themselves and their offspring by their sin. He is the one predicted to the serpent, the one who will subdue the spirit behind the serpent. He will accomplish the mandate given our first parents to subdue and dominate everything that moves upon the earth (Gen 1:28).
He is a child of the last-born children of God. His destiny is to triumph over the powerful firstborn sons of God. He will win for the rest of humanity, the little ones who have authority to rule but not the power, victory over the fallen angels who have power but no authority. It will be a glorious accomplishment. It will be done not merely by a command of God, but by our own human nature, by someone who is fully human and yet he is the Word of God. He will involve other humans in it as well, especially the Judeans. They were called through their ancestors to recognize the promised one and respond to him the way the betrothed would when the bridegroom arrives for the wedding.
The priest and Levites who are conducting the sacrifice this morning are, of course, unaware of his birth. If they were aware of it, they might have conducted the ceremony with more fervor and joy. If they realized the prophetic implications of the sacrifice they just made, they might wonder why God would allow such things to happen. And they would be apprehensive over the choices they must make as they and their fellow Judeans interact with the promised one now that he is here.
Now imagine yourself moving higher. All of Jerusalem comes into view, then the surrounding area, as you go still higher. To the southwest of Jerusalem, five miles from the Temple, is Bethlehem. The shepherds are talking to one another, awed by what they saw. If you look to your upper right you can see, not far away, the Magi's caravans heading toward Jerusalem. They will soon call on Herod to ask him about the new king whose star they saw in the east.
Continue moving upwards and see Jerusalem in relation to Judea and Judea in relation to the neighboring countries, they in relation to the whole world. Then come back again. As you come down, you can see ground detail getting larger. Everything blurs as you pass through the depths of time as well as space. Then you can see clearly again. You recognize that you are coming in to the same spot but at a different age. It is now one thousand years before Christ's birth. David is king, and the Temple has not yet been built. All that exists of Jerusalem at this age is the first part of the Lower City atop Mt. Ophel. You can see it there under your knees. It looks quite different than it did when Christ was born.
North of Mt. Ophel is Mt. Moriah where you remember the Temple standing, but Moriah is a farm at this time. A pagan Canaanite is using the rocky top as a threshing floor. He beats his freshly-harvested wheat to loosen it from the chaff. Then he throws it high in the air to let the mountain breeze blow away the chaff while the purified kernels fall upon the rock.
David is in his dwelling on Mt. Ophel to the south. He recently offended God by ordering a census to count his subjects the way pagan kings do. He had been told not to do it, but he did it anyway. He was given a choice of punishments for his arrogance. The people whose number he impiously learned will be reduced in size to a number unknown to him. This can be done through an enemy attack or through a famine or through a contagious disease. David had chosen a contagious disease. A disease is under God's direct control, and David knew that God is merciful.
Today while we are looking down upon Jerusalem, David is looking up. He sees a vision. He sees an angel of the Lord approaching Jerusalem with sword unsheathed to continue the punishment already started in the other cities:
When the angel of the Lord had stretched his hand over Jerusalem to
destroy it, the Lord had pity on the affliction, and said to the angel
that slew the people: It is enough. Now hold thy hand. And the angel
was by the thrashingfloor of Areuna the Jebusite.
(2 kings [2 Sam] 24:16)
Imagine David's relief that God called the angel back. Imagine David's gratitude that God had manifested mercy for his ease of mind through this spectacular vision here at this spot already sacred to the Israelites. David resolves that this spot, the threshing floor of the Canaanite on top of Moriah, shall become the site for God's holy house that David long wanted to build.
Go to part 1
Go to part 3