WHAT STOPPED THE FIRING?

A day was dawning on a battlefield in Northern France, through a fog so thick that no one could see more than a few yards from the trenches.

In the night the Germans had drawn back their lines a little & the French had gone forward, but between the two positions a lonely farmhouse was still standing.

As the sun rose, heavy guns began to boom. But suddenly on both sides the firing ceased & there fell a strange, dead silence.

For there in the green meadow, crawling on hands & knees was a little baby who appeared perfectly happy & contented, and the baby's laugh was heard.

Not a shot was fired.

- Sunday School Times. (moreillustrations.com)

The birth of Christ brought about PEACE - peace between God & man and man & man - for all who accept Him.

Isa 9:6 (CEB): “A child is born to us, a son is given to us, and authority will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”

“The Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity - hope of pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory - because at the Father's will Jesus became poor, and was born in a stable so that thirty years later He might hang on a cross.” - J.I. Packer.