Not Just Another Baby.

In 1969 Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked upon the surface of the moon, the first humans to step on another heavenly body. The American  President at that time said, “The planting of human feet upon the moon is the greatest event in human history.” As great as that event was, and it ranks among the greatest, the birth of a baby in a small town in Israel almost 2000 years earlier surpassed the moon landing, and every other event in human history. ... At the moment of the Messiah's birth, God became one of us. He stepped into human history, cast off the divine and took on the mantle of humanity. Almighty God stepped out of Heaven’s glory to walk and live as a man upon earth.

At Christmas, we celebrate the birth of a baby, enjoy the festive nature of the day, eat too much and seldom, if ever reflect upon the incarnation of God. 

What good is it to put man on the moon, and soon probably Mars, if we can't put God in our hearts?  What good is to send probes to the far reaches of our solar system and on into outer space if we don't know the Bright and Morning Star, fairest of ten thousand, He who is the Rose of Sharon, He who is the Lilly of the Valley? 

Jesus is not just another baby..... however if even the most educated person cannot see beyond the manger, then that person lives in ignorance, if the richest man or woman in the world doesn't understand the true meaning of Christmas they are the poorest of the poor. If the greatest of the great cannot see beyond the decorated tree, then their greatness counts for nothing. All the wisdom in the world crumbles into dust at the feet of the Alpha and Omega. “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” Revelation. 22:13 NIV  

Jesus was not just another child, the offspring of Galilean peasants, He was not a "great teacher", or a "wise one". He was supernatural, while he was fully man, He was fully God, and a unique gift from Jehovah God, wrapped in human flesh. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1 NIV 

Under the inspiration of Holy Spirit that Apostle of old, John, called Jesus "The Word". A word is the expression of an invisible thought... no one hears my thoughts, but they can read my words, and thus they know my thoughts...my thoughts are invisible, my words are the visible expression of my thoughts. Jesus made the invisible God visible to humanity. Jesus is the "I Am" of our faith. Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” John 8:58 NIV He is the indescribable Gift of God. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.”                  2 Corinthians. 9:15 NIV  

Everything that God is, Jesus is, everything that God has, Jesus has. Jesus is not part-man, and part-God. He did not begin in Mary's womb, He was made manifest in the secret place, born in a manger in an obscure town in a country that had been conquered by a military power that cared not for the omnipresent God. That little baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes, was the great, always existing, uncreated, eternal Word that spun the stars, planets and other wonders of the universe into being. That baby in the manger in Luke chapter 2 is the God of Genesis 1 and Revelation 22. That little boy playing in the shavings in his father's workshop is the God who designed Noah's ark. That toddler holding Mary's hand as she shopped in the market, is the God who healed a withered hand on a Sabbath in a synagogue. Mark 3 NIV

 

It's often said that we don't get to chose our parents... The reason for God's choice of Mary as Jesus' mother are known only to God. From Mary's "song" (Luke 1:46-55 NIV) we see that she was a woman of Scripture, a woman of faith, a "small town girl" and a peasant, in keeping with the humble birth of the Messiah. The choice of Mary was no random selection, and she was a dedicated follower of her son, as the Messiah, from His birth, to His crucifixion.   

Many say that they don't understand how this is possible, how could God be born of a virgin, how could He step out of Heaven, and  through the womb of a virgin become a man? We all know that's impossible, right? Mary asked the same question, she, like us, didn't understand. The angel, Gabriel said to Mary, "With God nothing shall be impossible.” Luke 1:37 NIV Those who have trouble accepting a virgin birth are in reality having trouble accepting God. If God could create the first man and woman, our ancestors, without any parents, would bringing His Son into this world via virgin birth be any more difficult?   If Mary's child had been conceived and born out of wedlock, then Mary would have been an impure woman, and Jesus would not have been the Son of God, but rather of Adam's line, and in Adam "all die"  For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 1 Corinthians 15:22 NIV. 

 

If there is no virgin birth, then none of us are going to heaven! Your salvation, my salvation, is inextricably interwoven with, and totally dependent upon the virgin birth.  No virgin birth, no deity, no sinless life. No sinless life, no sacrificial death, without which there would be no salvation. No salvation, no heaven... no eternity with God.

Jesus came to earth to restore to us the eternal life that the first Adam lost in the garden... Jesus was born of a virgin, that we might be born again. Jesus laid aside His Royal Robes and stepped into human history to become "obedient unto death, even death on the cross"  Philippians 2:8 NIV.

The birth of the Christ Child is surely an event beyond  compare... surely the greatest event in human history.