Isaiah 9:6
Lately, I have been pondering why exactly it is so
exciting and awesome and worthy of praise that Jesus was born. Well, there is the obvious and very true
answer—that Jesus was born, dwelt among us, and died to pay the penalty for our
sins so that we could have the hope of eternity, forever spent with the one
true God. But what does it really mean
that Jesus “became flesh and made his dwelling among us,” as it says in John
1:14?
Jesus, the Son, who had been around since Creation,
decided to debase himself to a level even lower than angels. He left the comforts of heaven where He was “seated
on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple,” as
it says in Isaiah 6:1. He left a world
where He was praised and exalted, where the angels called to one another
saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his
glory” (Isaiah 6:3). There He was
rightfully known and revered as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
As the pastor at a Christmas Eve service I went to
yesterday said, “He gave up a wonderful life for a horrible life so that we
could exchange our horrible life for a wonderful life.”
Jesus had it all and it gave it all up for us.
He came knowing:
- That He, though He was the
Lord Almighty, would born as a helpless baby, relying on others to care
for him
- That He would be mocked,
ridiculed, and rejected (Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to
trap him in his words. Matthew 22:15)
- That He, His love, and His
coming would be misunderstood (“Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t
his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? Aren’t all his sisters with
us? Where then did this man get all
these things?” And they took
offense at him. Matthew 13:55-57)
- That He would be betrayed by
His closest friends (“I tell you Peter, before the rooster crows today,
you will deny three times that you know me.” Luke 22:34)
- That He would experience
loneliness (Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted
by the devil. Matthew 4:1)
- That He would face hunger
(After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. Matthew 4:2)
- That He would be tempted by
Satan (The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell
these stones to become bread.” Matthew 4:3)
- That He would experience
deep anguish (And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his
sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. Luke 22:44)
- That He would face an
excruciatingly painful death being nailed to the cross.
- That He would face a
separation from God the Father with whom He had always had a perfect
relationship. (About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi,
Eloi, lama sabachthani?”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you
forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46)
Jesus lowered himself to our level, knowing all of
these things. It blows my
mind to think of how Jesus came to face all those things, knowing that the
people He came to save would be the very ones that reject and crucify Him. I think I’ll never understand the depth of
God’s love for us. Today, on Christmas,
let’s remember together how deeply Jesus loves us in that He would give up
everything to give us everything. Let's thank God for Jesus' birth. :) Merry Christmas!
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