Believe

“He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High” (Luke 1:32).

Jesus did not look like the “Son of the Most High.”
He looked like an ordinary baby boy.

When Jesus was conceived in Mary’s womb, the infinite God took on the form of a tiny unborn baby boy. Eternal God added humanity—surely the greatest miracle of all time. No one can say how it happened, or how God can become man without ceasing to be God. But that’s what the Bible teaches.

The love of God now beat in a human heart.
The wisdom of God now spoke from human lips.
The mercy of God reached forth from human hands.

God was always a God of love, but when Christ came to the earth, love was wrapped in human flesh. Jesus was God with skin on.

How big is this miracle? C. S. Lewis offers a clear answer:

"The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation. They say that God became man. Every other miracle prepares the way for this, or results from this."

Lewis is entirely right. Sometimes we focus on peripheral questions (how did Jesus turn water into wine?) that distract us from the central truth of our faith.

 We believe God became a man.
The Creator became part of the creation.
Almighty God was born as a tiny baby.

Read the Christmas story again. We see a frightened father, an exhausted mother, rags for diapers, and a feeding-trough. There he is, ignored by the mighty and powerful—a tiny, helpless baby. Immanuel—God with us.

It’s so simple that you know it must be true. Only God would have done it that way.

A young man sat in my office and listened as I explained the gospel to him. Finally, he said, “I just can’t believe all that stuff.” So I asked him, “What would it take for you to believe?” “I would believe if God came down and stood in front of me and told me himself,” he said. “My friend, he already has come down,” I replied. “He came down 2,000 years ago and lived among us. If you don’t believe that, then I have nothing better to offer you.”

One of the verses of a famous Christmas carol says it very well:

Veiled in flesh the God-head see; hail the incarnate Deity.
Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel.
Hark, the herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King.”

On this happy Christmas day, we end our journey by declaring that we believe in Jesus because he is God’s rescue mission to humanity.

Glory to the newborn King!

 Savior and Lord, on this happy Christmas day we rejoice at your birth. Thank you for moving into our neighborhood and becoming one with us. Glory to your name forever! Amen.

Musical bonus: Here’s a song perfectly suited for Christmas Day. Let’s listen to Joy to the World by Libera, the all-boy English vocal group.

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Coming in February 2018: A brand-new Lenten devotional series called Miracle Road. Join with us as we take a journey through the miracles of Christ.