"Behold, the virgin shall be with
child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is
translated, "God with us." —Matthew 1:23
His Birth in History. “…that Holy One who is
to be born will be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35). Jesus Christ was
born into this world, not from it. He did not emerge out of
history; He came into history from the outside. Jesus Christ is not the best
human being the human race can boast of— He is a Being for whom the human race
can take no credit at all. He is not man becoming God, but God Incarnate— God
coming into human flesh from outside it. His life is the highest and the
holiest entering through the most humble of doors. Our Lord’s birth was an
advent— the appearance of God in human form.
His Birth in Me. “My little children, for whom
I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you…” (Galatians 4:19). Just
as our Lord came into human history from outside it, He must also come into me
from outside. Have I allowed my personal human life to become a “Bethlehem” for
the Son of God? I cannot enter the realm of the kingdom of God unless I am born
again from above by a birth totally unlike physical birth. “You must be born
again” (John 3:7). This is not a command, but a fact based on the authority of
God. The evidence of the new birth is that I yield myself so completely to God
that “Christ is formed” in me. And once “Christ is formed” in me, His nature
immediately begins to work through me.
God Evident in the Flesh. This is what is
made so profoundly possible for you and for me through the redemption of man by
Jesus Christ.
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