“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”
Isaiah 7:14
The first truth about Christmas is that God came into our world in the flesh—Immanuel, God with us—just as promised centuries before Mary and Joseph were born. He stepped out of the heavenly realms and into our lives. It was a real point in history, the very point, in fact, where the marking of time would have its hinge—B.C. and A.D., “before Christ” and “Anno Domini” (the year of our Lord). I have always loved a Max Lucado consideration of this most wondrous moment in history:
“God became a man. While the creatures of earth walked unaware, divinity arrived. Heaven opened and placed its most precious one in a human womb. The omnipotent, in one instant, made himself breakable. He who had been spirit became pierceable. He who was larger than the universe became an embryo. And he who sustains the world with a word chose to be dependent upon the nourishment of a young girl. God was given eyebrows, elbows, two kidneys, and a spleen. He stretched against the walls and floated in the amniotic fluid of his mother” (1986).
Truly, God has come near.
“God became a man. While the creatures of earth walked unaware, divinity arrived. Heaven opened and placed its most precious one in a human womb. The omnipotent, in one instant, made himself breakable. He who had been spirit became pierceable. He who was larger than the universe became an embryo. And he who sustains the world with a word chose to be dependent upon the nourishment of a young girl. God was given eyebrows, elbows, two kidneys, and a spleen. He stretched against the walls and floated in the amniotic fluid of his mother” (1986).
Truly, God has come near.
Scripture Focus
Isaiah 8:8-10
Insight
“The mystery of the humanity of Christ, that He sunk Himself into our flesh, is beyond all human understanding." (Martin Luther, 1483-1546)
Bible In A Year
- Ezekiel 47-48
- Proverbs 4
- Hebrews 3-4