My Manna

For many, Christmas is the time to think of Jesus Christ as a baby in a manger.
While the birth of Christ is a special and miraculous event, it isn’t the primary focus.

The central truth of the Christmas story is this:
The Child of Christmas is God.

Christmas is not about the Saviour’s infancy; it is about His deity.
The humble birth of Jesus Christ was never intended to conceal the reality that God was being born into the world.

But the modern world’s version of Christmas does just that.
And consequently for the greater part of humanity-
Christmas has no legitimate meaning at all.

I don’t suppose anyone can ever fathom what it means for God to be born in a manger!

How does one explain the Almighty stooping to become a tiny infant?
Our minds cannot begin to understand what was involved in God’s becoming man.

Nor can anyone explain how God could become a baby.
Yet He did.

Without forsaking His divine nature or diminishing His deity-
He was born into our world as a tiny infant.

He was fully human, with all the needs and emotions that are common to us all.
Yet He was also fully God—all-wise and all-powerful.

One passage in particular, written by the apostle Paul, captures the essence of Jesus’ divine nature and underscores the truths that make Christmas truly wonderful.

Colossians 1:15–20 says-
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
For … all things have been created by Him and for Him.
And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything.
For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”

According to God’s plan of salvation, Jesus’ humanity is as important as His deity-
– because our salvation depends on Jesus being both fully God and fully man.

Because He is one of the persons of the Trinity—God the Son—salvation is possible.

Only one who is God can bear the weight of the sins of the world.
Only one who is eternally God can bring a sacrifice of infinite value and render perfect obedience to the law of God, bear the wrath of God redemptively, and so free others from the judgment of the law.

By the same token, only one who shares in humanity can make salvation possible.

Because the first man, Adam, sinned and brought condemnation to all men-
– it was necessary that another human bear the punishment and receive God’s judgment upon himself—for only a human being can vicariously represent mankind.

It was therefore necessary for Jesus-
– to become incarnate,
– to take on full humanity,
– to be both fully God and fully man,
– to make salvation possible.

(PR)