The Wonder of Christmas: God With Us
Pastor Dave Monreal, Lead Pastor
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
(Matthew 1:23 ESV)
and they shall call his name Immanuel”
(which means, God with us).
Christmas reveals the most astounding reality of all human history, that the God of the Universe, the Second Person of the Trinity, took upon himself human flesh and forever became the God-man. For all eternity Jesus was God the Son, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father, then, “when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman.” (Gal. 4:4) In some mysterious way, God became a man without losing or giving up any of his divine attributes, so he is both fully God and fully man at the same time without his two natures being mingled or confused.
Think of it, the God who created this world condescended to come down and live on this sin-stained planet. God walked among us in the person of Jesus. When Jesus is called Immanuel, it is not in some symbolic or metaphorical sense, but God literally came down and lived on planet earth. Sometimes we use the word, “incarnation,” to refer to this biblical truth. This word comes from two Latin words that mean, “in-fleshment.”
Here is another astounding reality, Jesus reveals the Father even though we do not see God’s full unveiled glory. In John 14:9, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” When we look at Jesus, we see the character, compassion, and love of the Father. But in another sense, the full glory that Jesus had before his incarnation was veiled. Earlier the apostle John writes, “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. (John 1:14) The word “dwelt” here is a very expressive word that literally means, “tented or tabernacled.”
In the Old Testament at the time of Moses God gave him instructions on how to construct a Tabernacle which was a tent that housed the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. In the Holy of Holies was the Ark of God, which was seen as God’s throne, also called the mercy seat. Once the tabernacle was set up, God’s presence would fill the Holy of Holies and his glory would be manifested there in a way that was unlike any other way he was omnipresent on earth. So, God’s glory was in the midst of the people yet, because of the curtain dividing the holy place from the holy of holies, his glory was veiled from being fully seen.
When God the Son took upon himself human flesh and dwelt (tabernacled) among us, he both revealed the glory of God as well as veiled us from seeing his full unveiled glory, which no one could see and live. All of this may seem very abstract, but it should cause us to bow down in worship and wonder. Jesus was not part God and part man, He is fully God and fully man which is a great mystery which is the wonder of Christmas.
