Every birth of a baby is miraculous. To see new life enter the world, eyes opening and first breaths taken, there is something magical and wondrous in it.
How much more the arrival of Jesus. I’m not thinking of the virgin birth, or the announcement to the shepherds, or the manger scene. Those are all marvelous in their own way. I’m thinking of more. I’m thinking of who Jesus is.
Christmas isn’t about a particular day, or the general wonder of new life born. We worship in awe because this particular child was born. The Bible is a cacophony of sound about this child. In fact, in a very real way, the Word is this child.
Hundreds of years before his birth, he is prophesied to be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), to be the suffering servant (Isaiah 53:5), to establish David’s throne forever (2 Samuel 7:16). The government will be on his shoulders, this child who will be called “prince of peace” and “everlasting God” (Isaiah 9:6). And that’s just getting started.
Image after image, story after story in the Old Testament proclaims he is coming. The new Adam, the better Moses, the true Passover lamb. He is the Joshua that will come, the kinsman redeemer, the King in the line of David, the Priest in the order of Melchizedek.
Jesus is the Word made flesh. He’s God and man, united. Quite literally.
Jesus is the beginning and the end. He’s all of time united, the alpha and omega.
Jesus brings together heaven and earth. He even tells Nathaniel that there are angels ascending and descending, like Jacob’s ladder, on him (John 1:51).
Jesus will go into death to bring forth life. He is the light in the darkness, the living one, the breaker of walls and kingdoms.
Whether you are energized by the Christmas season, or ready to be done with songs played a hundred times since Thanksgiving, there’s no way we could ever get to the bottom of the depths of what he’s done, the wonder of who he is. This is who loves us. This incredible God who came, this man who died, this one who lives forever. If you live a full life, you will only celebrate it on earth 80 or 90 times. It’s not enough. He is more, of everything, to us, than we can ever imagine.
“For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” (John 1:16). This is our Jesus.