What Am I to See in the Birth of Christ?
What Should I Think About the Child in the Manger?
I want you to think with me for a while this morning on those two questions. We run helter-skelter during the holidays with scarcely time to contemplate the immense realities that surround the story we are supposedly celebrating. I ask you to park your concerns for a few minutes and consider what God would be pleased to reveal to you and open your minds to His truths.
I am going to read a series of passages together that shape, for me, certain critical elements of this story and outline several critical truths that should be a part of every person’s thought processes concerning this event.
John 1:1‑3
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. KJV
John 1:14
14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. KJV
Luke 1:26‑35
26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. KJV
Luke 2:7‑12
7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. KJV
John 3:16
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. KJV
Rom 8:28‑31
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? KJV
Phil 2:5‑11
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. KJV
Eph 3:14‑19
14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. KJV
So, going back to the scene there in the stable, the child lying there in the feed trough, the manger, what am I to think?
I am to think that this is God, Eternal and Omnipotent.
John the Apostle introduced Him as the Word, Who was in the beginning with God, the Word Who was God, the Word Who created all things.
The angel told Mary that He would be the Son of God and he told the shepherds that was Christ, the Lord, meaning that He was Messiah, Jehovah.
Paul said that He did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped and held on to but humbled Himself to become human.
This is one of the easiest things to miss as we imagine that scene there in Bethlehem the night of Jesus’ birth. In our mind’s eye we can see the humble surroundings, young Mary exhausted from the trip from Nazareth and the birth in such crude surroundings, Joseph trying to help, the shepherds easing in with wonder in their faces and hearts, and the child lying there quietly in the manger wrapped in the traditional baby clothing of the Jews. All of that comes easily to our minds. It is as if we can smell the hay and the animals.
What is not easy for us is to realize that contained in this infant form is the Eternal and Omnipotent Creator, the Lord of All Creation, the God of Glory come down to be born in this humble fashion.
Many have struggled with this thought across the centuries and many have come to deny it. It seems like every heresy and every infidel that have attacked Christianity have attacked concerning this issue, the Deity of Jesus Christ.
But they cannot deny what the scriptures plainly say and what Isaiah had said many years before.
Isa 7:14
14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. KJV (God with us)
Isa 9:6
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. KJV
I would not at all have you bow before any physical representation of that scene but I recommend to you that as you see them through the next few weeks or think upon them that you give serious reflection to the enormity of the truth that this infant is your God, your Creator, your Savior, and your Ultimate Judge.
How can we say this in words that command the kind of attention that this truth is due? THIS IS DEITY COME TO DWELL AMONG US AND SAVE US. Were we to shout it from the housetops, broadcast it on the airwaves, beam it to earth from satellites in space, this combined would not come close to calling the kind of attention to this truth that is due it.
This was the beginning, in human terms, of the most Momentous Event that ever occurred on this planet. God came to dwell with us and save us from our sins. Were the Holy Spirit to reveal this to us in its fullness, we would be as awestruck as those old shepherds were long ago. Our God in human flesh! Our God, an infant lying in a manger!
As your God and Creator, He is worthy of your devotion, your absolute loyalty and your abiding and determined obedience. As your Savior, He is worthy of your trust, the abandonment of all hope but Him for your ultimate salvation. And, as your Judge, He is worthy of your fear, the certain knowledge that to refuse Him what He is due will surely bring you into eternal condemnation and that rightly so.
I am to think that this is God condescending.
How far down it is from the Throne of Glory to a manger in Bethlehem?
Think about it, if He had condescended to be an angel, this would have been a infinite demotion. Were He to have condescended to be born in the best of men’s palaces to the greatest of men’s kings, this would have been far below the status of an angel. To be born in the ordinary way in a common man’s home, would have been unimaginable. But to be born in a barn and have a feed trough for His first bed? How far is it from Glory to a manger? Does anyone know? Do we even have a way to compute such?
And Paul said that He did this willingly and freely. The other two Persons of the Godhead did not gang up on the Word and outvote Him to this condescension, no one twisted His arm, made Him feel guilty, or bribe Him into this service. He did it out of love and compassion for you and me. He did it as freely as you would donate an organ to your child.
I remember a story I heard several years ago. There was a family with two children, a girl around 10 and her younger brother, around 7. The girl became ill and it was discovered that she needed some blood. But she had a rare blood type. They checked and her younger brother had the same type. So the parents sat with him and explained as well as they could that his sister was sick and needed his blood. He agreed to give it without hesitation. But, apparently, they had not explained the situation fully to him. There in the hospital as they began to hook up the equipment to take blood from him, he looked at his mother and asked, “will I start to die right away?” Unknown to anyone, he had agreed to give up his blood thinking that he was giving it all and that it would cost him his life.
Jesus Christ agreed to give up His throne and take upon Him the form of a servant with perfect and complete knowledge that this act would indeed take Him to the cross and He did it freely and without question.
So, as I think of that infant there in the manger, I am to think of how far it was that He condescended and how freely and easily He had agreed to do so.
I am to think of the purpose for which He has come, to rescue His people from eternal death.
The angel told Joseph that the child would be named Jesus because He would save His people from their sins. Matt. 1:21.
He has come to save His people from immense trouble
hideous trouble
unsolvable trouble
trouble so profound that only God Himself could rescue them
trouble they had made for themselves
trouble they were not even away they were in
trouble from which they did not even want to be rescued
Jesus Christ Himself told us that He will have these final words for those He does not save, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” Matt 25:41
Humanity apart from God is in such trouble that we can no more imagine it than we can imaging how far it is from Glory to the manger. “Everlasting Fire?” “Prepared for the devil and his angels?” How awful is that? It is called “the lake of fire,” and “the second death.”
In John 3:15, Jesus spoke of the fate of humanity without Him as “perishing.”
And the means, the way, by which He had purposed to rescue us is by Deity becoming human.
There are two doctrines in scripture that are almost impossible for us to grasp. One is the Trinity, Three Persons united together in One God. We have nothing to compare it with and, so, part of it will always remain Mystery. The other is the Dual Nature of Jesus Christ. Divinity and humanity in one body, united and yet never mingled. They were so united that the human always did what God commanded. They were so separate that the human could bear the sins of God’s people without staining the holiness of the Divine. This was Jesus Christ, fully human and fully God.
But it was not possible that the Divine Person should dwell in a body conceived by normal human means because such a person would automatically be a sinner – heir of Adam’s condemnation and by nature a rebel against God.
Thus we have the Virgin Birth. Jesus is born to a human mother but without a human father, conceived in the manner the angel described to Mary. Since Adam’s sin and nature are passed from father to child, Mary does not present a problem here.
And, thus, God becomes flesh and dwells among us, and that for a very specific purpose and with a very specific end.
He came to bear the sins of His people, to die under the curse of their sins, to satisfy the Justice of God, and to rise again the third day.
Heb 9:28
28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. KJV
1 Peter 2:24
24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. KJV
I am to see this as I look at that infant in the manger in my mind’s eye. And, I am to remember His Own words that if I would be rescued from perishing I must believe on Him, commit myself completely to Him, repent of my sins and own Him as my Lord and my King.
I am also to see an example of and a call to service.
“Let this mind be in you,” Paul said, “take this attitude of selfless service as your own.” As Jesus Christ gave Himself a sacrifice for me, I am to give myself back as a living sacrifice to Him. This is only reasonable and right, as Paul taught in Rom. 12:1,2.
This generosity that God has shown to me, this mercy, this kindness, this willingness to suffer and sacrifice, I am to give back to Him. I am to live, behave, think and operate from the same sort of selfless spirit that marked Him from the beginning.
I am not only to see this call to service, I am to answer it, to take up my cross daily and follow Him, obey Him, serve Him, sacrifice willingly and without complaint in any labor that He gives me.
And, I am to see incredible, blinding, love, a love so long, so wide, so deep and so high that one can only know it if God reveals it and if God does reveal it, the one to whom it is revealed is filled with His fullness.
1 John 4:10‑11
10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. KJV
This is love that goes off the scale, that there is no measure by which to measure it and no words to adequately describe it.
We do not have time here to describe the agonies of the cross but I am sure that you have all contemplated them at some moment, the horrible and horrific suffering visited upon Jesus Christ as He bore our sins. There is a passage that makes an amazing statement.
John 13:1
1 Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. KJV
Think about it. He not only loved you enough to leave glory and take human form. He not only loved you enough to teach the truths of God to men and make sure that they faithfully transmitted them to you. He not only loved you enough to bear the weight of your sins. He love us enough to bear the consequences, the punishment, the agony of our sins and bear them unflinchingly to that very last moment when He gave up the ghost. And even as he agonized through that moment of death, he unwaveringly loved His people.
The old song has it right, “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”
Conclusion:
I wonder, dear friend, if you have surrendered up your all to Him. I am not asking if you believe on Him because everyone in our culture thinks that they believe. I am asking if He is your All in All, if He is your Everything. I am asking if you have come to the place to love Him without question, love Him so much that, as another song says, “wherever He leads, I go.”
Maybe I should ask another question. Did you once give yourself to Him in this way but you have taken back your love? Like the church at Ephesus, you have left your first love. You love Him, for sure, but that love does not burn as brightly, as intensely, as it once did. Oh, would you not come back to Him today? Would you not renounce whatever it is that has come between you and Him? Whatever sin, whatever preoccupation, whatever ‘busy’ness has stolen your love, would you not give it up?
Or maybe in your soul you are saying to me, Brother Larry, I can’t say that I know what you are talking about. I don’t know anything about loving Christ in that way…but I want to. Would you ask God to grant you that kind of love for Him that would lead you to real repentance and real obedience? Would you let me be a part of that and pray with you? Would you let me know in some way that you are seeking after Him? I promise you that I will pray with you and will not stop until God does a work in your soul.
This, I believe, is what you should see in that infant in the manger.
