Jesus

The following text is drawn from our featured Christmas book and is also available for free as audio.

Jesus Whether in the arms of his mother or in a manger, images of Jesus as an infant abound at Christmas time. After all, he is the focus of our holiday; it is his birthday that we celebrate at Christmas. The idea that the King of all Creation would enter the world as a helpless child is astonishing. Yet, God made his intentions known through the prophet Zechariah over 400 years before the first Christmas when he said, “For I am coming, and I will live among you.” Additionally, Isaiah prophesied about Jesus over 700 years before his birth:

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Not only did the Mighty God come as a child, he was born into the humblest of circumstances and with “no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” Truly the incarnation (God taking on flesh) is a great paradox. Consider the words of Augustine:

“[He] was created of a mother, whom He created, was carried by hands which He formed; sucked at breasts which He had filled; cried in the manger in wordless infancy, He the Word, without whom all human eloquence is mute.”

It may be an understatement to say that God did not take on the form or the circumstances in life that we might have expected. He was born into poverty, and his upbringing was quite ordinary. Even after Jesus began his ministry on earth, John the Baptist sent his followers to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”

So why did the God of the Universe come to earth as a man in such humble form?

Firstly, Jesus was born into the world to die – to pay the consequence of sin. The Bible teaches that “since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death–that is, the devil– and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”

Secondly, Jesus was born as a man, so that as our high priest, he would intimately understand our struggles. According to the book of Hebrews, Jesus was “made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.” Hebrews continues, “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are–yet was without sin.”

Thomas à Kempis, a 15th century a monk best known as the author of The Imitation of Christ, wrote, “He who is never away from us in the divine is with us in human nature.”

In times of trouble, may you find comfort in knowing that there is no hardship that Jesus did not endure: He lacked riches, position, and beauty; He faced temptation; He endured great physical pain. He understands!

Jesus gave his life for mankind, and he intimately knows the difficulties of being human. Is there anyone who can be more fully trusted to rule over our lives? Consider the following challenge from the great 19th century British preacher, Charles Spurgeon:

“Are you willing to have Christ to govern you? Will you spend your lives in praising Him? You are willing to have Christ to pardon you, but you cannot divide Him, and therefore you must also have Him to sanctify you. You must not take the crown from His head, but accept Him as the monarch of your soul. If you would have His hand to help you, you must obey the scepter which grasps it.”

Remember that one day “every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Let us be counted today as subjects of the great, the mighty and the loving King of Kings!

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