What Do Swaddling Cloths Have to Do with Anything?

And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn. (Luke 2:7, ESV)

Jesus, the Creator of all reality, invaded earth to be wrapped in swaddling cloths. This seems ridiculously ironic to me, for God is free to do as He pleases without answering to anyone. When He came to earth in human flesh, however, He purposefully restrains His own power and is relegated to the position of being swaddled. For a newborn in first century days to be swaddled meant that he was bound to prevent free movement. In an attempt to keep the child warm and his limbs’ formation regular, mothers would wrap an infant tightly after the umbilical cord was cut and the baby had been washed and rubbed with salt. Can you picture the all-powerful God of the universe lying in a feeding trough bound completely with strips of cloth? How can the One who “stretches out the heavens like a tent,” “makes the clouds his chariot,” and “rides on the wings of the wind” now lie flat, arms and legs bound at the loving intent of his parents? (Psalm 104:2-3, NIV)

First, we must realize that though Jesus endured the reality of human nature, the Father and Spirit always loved Him. For an infant to be unwashed and unswaddled in biblical days was metaphorical for abandonment. Ezekiel 16:4-5 (NIV) makes clear in an allegory of Jerusalem, “On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. No one looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things for you.” We realize then, that God the Father did not abandon His Son, though the earthly road was difficult and marked at the very beginning with a symbol of the sacrifice being made. To picture Jesus wrapped in cloths brings us to the edge of Philippians 2:6-8 (NIV), “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing . . . he humbled himself . . .” And though Jesus willingly assumed this lowly, limited position, his Father demonstrated care in Christ’s swaddling. As any first century parent would know, Christ’s swaddled little body proclaimed the care of his family.

We go back to the apparent incongruity of God bound in strips of fabric. The Almighty Lord – who gives the sea its boundary (Proverbs 8:29, NIV) – now rests with arms and legs secured. We sense a faint hint of what is to come years later. Matthew 27:1-2 (NIV) explains a binding far greater than what Jesus endured as a baby, “Early in the morning, all the chief priests and elders of the people came to the decision to put Jesus to death. They bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate, the governor.” Yes, the early swaddling of Jesus was of a gentle and caring nature, while the later binding of Jesus was driven by malice, betrayal, and the enemy of our soul. Nonetheless, even this binding foreshadowed a constraint to come in which we need sincerely to rejoice! The first and second restraining of Jesus are not the end of the story.

Fast-forward to the close of time as we know it. Advancing onto the scene comes the “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16, NIV). He is no longer tiny Jesus in a manger wrapped in swaddling cloths or grown Jesus offering Himself to His Father to be crucified for our sake. He is now the King, in full command of His angels and armies. “Binding” is now turned upside down as Revelation 20:1-2 (NIV) explains, “And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.” Now we have it! Our greatest enemy is put in his proper place. No longer is Jesus willingly restrained; now Satan is unwillingly wrapped up. His fate is sealed. Revelation 20:10 (NIV) goes on to announce, “And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfer where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” God allows Himself to be bound in order to save us; but, at the great inversion of the sin curse, Satan and evil will be eternally vanquished that we may thrive in righteousness forever.

Meanwhile, as we stand between the binding of Jesus and the full restraint of Satan, each of us can access what Christ purchased with His humble sacrifice. Jesus was both swaddled at the outset and bound at His arrest for one purpose – to set us free from the enslaving power of sin. No more do we have to live in bondage to our wrong, selfish desires. No longer do we have to remain hopeless, as enemies of God. Clearly – from the very start – Jesus came for one, main purpose: “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21, NIV).

Just think, our God was swaddled when He came to us the first time, so that He could set us free! The most powerful One was willingly restrained so that the most pitiful ones can be gloriously unleased to truly live . . . forever. “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36, NIV). Amen.