John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
The big deal about Christmas is not that a baby was born, that happens all the time – there have been an estimated 108 billion people who have ever lived. It is that God Himself became human, what we call in theological terms “the incarnation”. The Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Word, God Himself, came from the Father and became like us so that we could become like Him.
In Colossians, chapter one Paul describes Jesus as: the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation; the Creator of all things in heaven and earth; before all things (eternal); the One who holds all things together; the head of the church, the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead; the preeminent One; the fullness of the Deity; and the One who reconciled all things in heaven and earth through His death on the cross. The essence of Christmas is that God Himself, Jesus, became flesh and blood, left His place in heaven and the glory He had there and became a little baby with both the nature of God and the limitations of human flesh. This was no ordinary birth.
God created in the heart of every person a religious impulse, a desire to worship someone or something outside of and above ourselves, to live with meaning in our lives, to search for Truth, to yearn for authenticity in our relationships with each other, to be connected with that which is real. Men have invented all kinds of ways to fulfill those religious impulses. If we are honest with ourselves, we know that there is an emptiness in our inner being. The incarnation, God becoming man, is God’s way of fulfillment of that which is missing in us. We cannot and will not find a relationship with God or fulfillment in life through any of our best efforts.
The hope, the joy, the love, the peace which you feel at this time of year is our heart yearning for a relationship which God has already provided when He sent His Son Jesus to earth to bring reconciliation between us and God Himself. Our prayer is that this will be the Christmas when you will receive the gift, wrapped in the form of His Son, which God has provided for you. Jesus, God’s gift, the One and Only, will transform your life.