Wishing everyone a Blessed Christmas 2018!
This is the time of the year when all Christians ought to contemplate on the miracle of Christmas. This is the time when the Eternal Son, by whom all things were made, condescended to be born as one of us, in order to bring redemption to us, and all creation.
I often wonder how fully those who gazed into the eyes of Jesus as a baby understood who He was. Here are some verses to contemplate in that context:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. John 1:1-2
And the Word became 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 1:14
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Phil 2:5-8
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. Col 1:15-17
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. (Heb 1:1-4
All things were created and are sustained by Christ, the Eternal Son of God. Think of the almost imponderable the size of the universe – see Jason Lisle’s article for some mind-blowing perspective HERE. Now think of what George Swinnock wrote about God:
God is an infinite being. He is without bounds or limits, measures or degrees. God is a sphere whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere.
The phrase “baby Jesus” just doesn’t cut it for me. This baby is the same Creator God who sustains the universe. Yet He condescended to be born as a temporarily helpless infant to redeem me. This is the same Jesus of John’s vision Revelation 1:8-20. I pray I can keep this awesome truth constantly in mind.
Have a Blessed and Joyful Christmas!
Further reading:
The Blessed Arrival of the Messiah
Not a Wonderful Life: What if Jesus Had Never Been Born?
Child in the Manger – The true Meaning of Christmas by Sinclair Ferguson
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