Friday, December 19, 2014
God Made Flesh
Lights, decorations,
dramas, gifts, carols... some may wonder, "Why all the hubbub over the
birth of another little baby boy? How is
it that a child born in a barn, to a poor, obscure family warrants all the
attention?" Such questions might
come from too little information about who Jesus really was. Baby Jesus was not just special because a
star marked his coming or because his mother was a virgin; he was special
because he was "God made flesh."
It should also be noted that
although angels declared his arrival, it took the world, at large, many decades
to realize just how significant Jesus and the first Christmas was. The birth of Jesus not only changed our
calendar, but it changed the course of human history and the eternal destiny of
millions of people.
Saint
John put it succinctly when he said, " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God... And the Word was made flesh, and
dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of
the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John
1:1,14 KJV)
Theologians call it
the incarnation. God "robed Himself
in flesh and dwelt among us." The scriptures foretold the Advent and eventually
Jesus' ministry proved he was God, but, as with much of what God does, it is
hard for man's feeble mind to comprehend something so profound and gracious. The only other historical events that come
close to the significance of this event are the creation and death of Jesus,
and, the latter would have not been possible without the first Christmas.
For those who
recognize that God made all things, the fact that He could also live among is
not hard to believe possible, but it is hard to fathom why the almighty would
show such love and humility to you and I.
The famous theologian, J.I. Packer expressed it like this: “The Almighty
appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, needing to be fed and changed and
taught to talk like any other child. The more you think about it, the more
staggering it gets. Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as this truth of the
Incarnation.”
It
is mind-boggling to think that God would want to make a way for us to be with
Him forever! During WWII, a German theologian by the name of Dietrich Bonhoeffer
was imprisoned and killed by the Third Reich because he took a stand for his
faith. In Letters and Papers From Prison
he made this observation: "A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes...and is
completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from
the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent. "
Each Christmas we
should recall with wonderment that He loved us first. The lights and decorations should remind us
that He came to His own and they did not receive Him, and yet He still lovingly
responds lavishly to those who approach him as their sovereign, benevolent
King. The truth is that there is not near enough hubbub about Christmas. It's a very big deal! Christmas was God becoming flesh; it was God
stepping into our world so we could one day step into His. Jesus Christ was God made Flesh.
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