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Mary with Jesus

Born of a Virgin

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“If you could pick the ultimate boss, what would that person be like?” We’d want our boss to be smart, to have clout. Additionally, we’d like our boss to be “one of us,” to have worked the job we have so that he/she could understand our particular challenges. Certainly we’d want a boss who “had a heart” for the employees, so that our best interests would be served.

Then we had suggested: “Wouldn’t we want our Savior to have similar qualities?” Of course! Since Jesus is truly God, we know that he’s smart, incredibly so. And talk about clout, wow!

But what about those other qualities—being one of us, having a heart for us—does Jesus have those qualities? Well he would … if he’s one of us. If he’s a human being, like us, then he would completely understand us; he would understand our challenges, stresses, hopes, fears, dreams, and goals. All of that would be true … if Jesus is a real human being.

Listen! “While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son” (Luke 2:6,7). Jesus was BORN! Like you were born, like I was born—he was born. Which means what? It means that Jesus is a REAL human being—like you, like me. And that’s great! Since Jesus is a real human being, he understands what it’s like to be human. He understands what it’s like to get hungry and thirsty, to get tired and stressed. He understands what it’s like to have friends turn against you, to lose loved ones, etc. He understands, because as a human being, he has experienced all these things!

But remember, Jesus is also true God, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. So put those two thoughts—that Jesus is both true man and true God—together. Since Jesus is truly human, he understands us. He has a heart for us because he’s one of us. But since Jesus is God, he can DO things for us! And since he’s God, he’s “really smart,” so the things he does will be the things which make sense for us. In Jesus we find exactly what we need—a Savior who is truly man, but also truly God. As a human being, he understands us. He “gets it.” But as true God, he can do something about it! Most importantly, he can do what we really need—he can save us from our sins!

Christ is born

I believe in Jesus Christ…born of the virgin Mary

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All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.”
– Matthew 1:22-23

What an Entrance

Now that was an entrance! If you’ve ever seen the Disney movie Aladdin, you know the scene . . . Aladdin had just used one of his three wishes to become a prince so that he would qualify to marry Princess Jasmine. He’s dressed marvelously as his new persona, Prince Ali Ababwa. And he doesn’t come alone. On the back of an elephant, with a full scale orchestra and what looks like a zoo accompanying him down the main street, Prince Ali enters the palace. It wasn’t true, but he wanted everyone to believe that he was a prince. I think the genie put on a pretty convincing show!

It is true that Jesus is the Prince of heaven, yet he didn’t come in an elaborate show. Can you get any less elaborate than a virgin’s womb, in lowly Bethlehem, in a barn? He was the long foretold Prince of Peace, yet he arrives, not in pomp and circumstance, but in humility. He would convince people of his royalty, not in dress or with an orchestra or exotic pets. He would convince people of his royalty with his love. The world heard the news that the angels sang; they’ve heard the message that the shepherds (and evangelists after them) proclaimed. The Holy Spirit used that gospel to plant faith in hearts, faith that would enable believers to see the grandiose love of God wrapped in flesh and laid in a manger. Our humble Savior showed his love when he set us free from sin and death.

His appearance wasn’t amazing, but the grace that he gives sure is! His entrance wasn’t awe-inspiring, unless faith enables you to see in him the heart of God that bleeds for you! See the virgin birth through which God was born to be with people like us. The Divine was born to die, so that death-bound sinners, like us, could live. The fact that God would leave heaven and set foot on earth to rescue sinners is an amazing feat of love. Yet humility was and always has been his theme.

By faith, we see what really happened in Bethlehem that night: the grand entrance of God born in flesh, God born to save us from sin and to win us for his glory.

God and Man

How did God become a man?

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How did God become a man?

In a word: “miraculously.” When God became a man in the person of Jesus Christ, he overthrew the basic principle on which he had founded the universe: the distinction between the Creator and the creation.

The opening words of the Bible make that distinction clear: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”(Genesis 1:1). That means God is not the world, nor is he anything in the world.

The chasm between God and everything that isn’t God is vast and unbridgeable. Martin Luther once said it would be far easier to understand that a man became a donkey, than that God became a man. “Man” and “donkey” have much more in common. They’re both creatures, which makes them fundamentally like each other and fundamentally different from their Creator.

The Bible states that at a specific time and place in history, the eternal, almighty, infinite God became a human being like you and me, and yet without ceasing for an instant to be God.

God’s own angel explained it to a virgin by the name of Mary. He said: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God” Luke 1:35.

This results in paradoxes we simply can’t understand. The Bible makes no attempt to explain them either. It simply says the baby who lay in the manger at Bethlehem is the Creator of the universe. The infinite, eternal God grew up in a village in Galilee. The almighty God went hungry, got thirsty, and even fell asleep.

Most miraculous and amazing of all, the immortal, eternal God died on Jesus’ cross.

These truths have important implications and blessings for us. Here are a few of them: Jesus’ atoning work is limitless in its scope and application; the sins of the world are completely paid; the redemption of mankind is accomplished; and God’s love for people is boundless.