At Christmastime, you often hear people talk about “The Incarnation.” Incarnation is a fancy word for what happened in the birth of Jesus. When Jesus was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary, Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, took on human flesh. We use the word Incarnation to describe what John writes in chapter one of his gospel. After declaring that Jesus is The Word, John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
One of the great things about celebrating the Incarnation is that we can know it was part of God’s plan. In Genesis chapter 3, God promises to send a Messiah from the seed of the woman. This descendant will crush the enemy. It took a long time for this promise to be fulfilled, but at Christmas, we see God moving to redeem a sinful people from a fallen world and begin building His kingdom. The first part needed was to send His Son, so that He could be the Savior of the world.
The second thing we can celebrate at Christmas is that God sent His Son at just the right time. Galatians 4:4-5 says, But, when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might receive adoption as sons and daughters. Have you ever thought about the fact that without the Incarnation, you would never be able to be redeemed and adopted into the family of God? Instead, you would have remained in bondage to sin, outside the kingdom, and liable to the just punishment of God.
That brings me to the third thing you can celebrate at Christmas. Jesus accomplished all that God had planned for Him. His birth, sinless life, sacrificial death, and victorious resurrection were all accomplished exactly as God ordained. In the Incarnation, the plan of God was realized in a way that even the prophets (and the disciples) failed to understand. Jesus would finally fulfil the Law’s requirements, which Adam failed to uphold. What you could never accomplish on your own was taken care of by Jesus. He not only fulfilled the righteous requirements for Himself, but, as the eternal Son of God, He was able to fulfill all the requirements for every child of God.
Are you ever unsure of precisely what you should celebrate at Christmas? Is it about gifts? It is. Is it about family? It is. Is it about God and the church? It’s about all of this. In the Incarnation, God gave us the greatest gift, Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah. He is the second person of the Triune God. He took on human flesh and lived with us! He showed us who God really is and made a way for us to be reconciled with Him. When you put your trust in Him, you no longer have to fear the coming wrath of God. And more than that, not only are you forgiven, you are adopted into the family of God and made an heir of the righteousness of Christ. As a child of the King, you are now a member of the church, one of the people of God. There is no greater reason to celebrate Christmas than the Incarnation. Emmanuel, God with us. May you know the peace of a Savior who loves you enough to leave heaven and come to earth to be laid in a manger.
Merry Christmas – Pastor Mike