More Than a baby
Article written by Pastor Andy Brown
For those of us who have seen more than a few Christmases come and go, there comes a kind of maturity that accompanies repeated opportunities to consider the meaning of the holiday. As children, we thought as children do, and Christmas is usually only special because of what one might find under the tree. Beyond this narrow perspective, however, lies a gift in the visits we make to the same topic over and over again.
Much is made of the birth of Jesus at Christmastime, and rightly so. We consider and celebrate the wonder and beauty of the Savior of the world arriving on the planet he himself created—not as a celestial figure descending from the sky in glorious array, but as a helpless baby born in a smelly barn to common people. This is worth considering and celebrating, obviously, and to do this is a good start. But there is a greater reality that goes beyond the simple imagery of a Nativity scene. This reality also might take us a few Christmases to see clearly.
While it is true that Jesus came to us as a baby, it is not true that Jesus came to us as only a baby.
Our world and culture like things that are simple and non-threatening. An infant Jesus who doesn’t speak and merely serves as some vague symbol of future hope and peace can bring good feelings to a lot of people, but it doesn’t capture the entirety of the miracle of the incarnation. Jesus was not born as a baby only to later become the divine Son of God. Jesus was truly divine from the moment of his conception, and the testimony of Scripture is that even in his prenatal state, the fullness of God dwelt within him. This child born to Mary was, as a baby, the image of the invisible God and the firstborn of all creation. He is before all things, and in this baby, all things hold together. And you, a person far away from God and hostile in your mind, are reconciled to your Creator by his body of flesh in the death he was predestined to die.
It is a mistake to isolate the birth of Christ from the life he lived, the death he died, and his resurrection from the grave. God didn’t simply seize an opportunity to accomplish some helpful things in the life of Christ. The birth, life, death, resurrection, and eventual return of Christ didn’t just happen to work out as a matter of luck or convenience. It was all a part of God’s sovereign plan to redeem his people and to bring them out of the domain of darkness. When we reflect on the birth of Christ, we ought not do so as a standalone event that is accompanied by trees, lights, and fat men in red suits. We ought to reflect on the birth of the Savior of the world knowing that this child is God of very God and is of one substance with the Father, who spent his life loving the unlovable and fixing the broken parts of the world and our lives, and who came to this world not to give us warm feelings about a culturally constructed holiday, but to die a gruesome death in our place and rise again so that we may live with him forever.
Salvation has not come to us simply because Jesus was born. The birth of Jesus is important, but it is important because of what he would do later. The birth of Jesus is not merely a story unto itself, but the beginning of the greatest story the world has ever known. This Christmas, consider and celebrate more than just the birth of a child. Consider and celebrate God’s plan to reconcile sinners like you and me to himself by the work this child would later accomplish according to God’s divine plan.
The cradle matters because the cross is coming.
Much is made of the birth of Jesus at Christmastime, and rightly so. We consider and celebrate the wonder and beauty of the Savior of the world arriving on the planet he himself created—not as a celestial figure descending from the sky in glorious array, but as a helpless baby born in a smelly barn to common people. This is worth considering and celebrating, obviously, and to do this is a good start. But there is a greater reality that goes beyond the simple imagery of a Nativity scene. This reality also might take us a few Christmases to see clearly.
While it is true that Jesus came to us as a baby, it is not true that Jesus came to us as only a baby.
Our world and culture like things that are simple and non-threatening. An infant Jesus who doesn’t speak and merely serves as some vague symbol of future hope and peace can bring good feelings to a lot of people, but it doesn’t capture the entirety of the miracle of the incarnation. Jesus was not born as a baby only to later become the divine Son of God. Jesus was truly divine from the moment of his conception, and the testimony of Scripture is that even in his prenatal state, the fullness of God dwelt within him. This child born to Mary was, as a baby, the image of the invisible God and the firstborn of all creation. He is before all things, and in this baby, all things hold together. And you, a person far away from God and hostile in your mind, are reconciled to your Creator by his body of flesh in the death he was predestined to die.
It is a mistake to isolate the birth of Christ from the life he lived, the death he died, and his resurrection from the grave. God didn’t simply seize an opportunity to accomplish some helpful things in the life of Christ. The birth, life, death, resurrection, and eventual return of Christ didn’t just happen to work out as a matter of luck or convenience. It was all a part of God’s sovereign plan to redeem his people and to bring them out of the domain of darkness. When we reflect on the birth of Christ, we ought not do so as a standalone event that is accompanied by trees, lights, and fat men in red suits. We ought to reflect on the birth of the Savior of the world knowing that this child is God of very God and is of one substance with the Father, who spent his life loving the unlovable and fixing the broken parts of the world and our lives, and who came to this world not to give us warm feelings about a culturally constructed holiday, but to die a gruesome death in our place and rise again so that we may live with him forever.
Salvation has not come to us simply because Jesus was born. The birth of Jesus is important, but it is important because of what he would do later. The birth of Jesus is not merely a story unto itself, but the beginning of the greatest story the world has ever known. This Christmas, consider and celebrate more than just the birth of a child. Consider and celebrate God’s plan to reconcile sinners like you and me to himself by the work this child would later accomplish according to God’s divine plan.
The cradle matters because the cross is coming.