|
The virgin birth of Jesus, son of
Mary, conceived by the Holy Spirit, God
incarnate, is the greatest mystery of all time. Men may say
that understanding a woman is a great mystery. How signals
reach our televisions, our cell phones or our computers is a
great mystery. I can’t understand aerodynamics or
electricity or how our brains can store one quadrillion bits
of information. We can’t understand why intimacy between a
man and a woman is so wonderful.
How can
Larry King have four people from four different parts of the
world all talk together at one time? How can their pictures
travel by satellite from four different countries to Larry
King? I can't anymore explain science than I can explain the
virgin birth.
But - our inability to explain
mysteries does not keep us from enjoying them!
The greatest mystery of all, is to try to understand how God
could manifest or reveal Himself in the flesh. The angels
didn’t try to explain it, they just said, “Fear not, for
unto to us is born this day, in the city of Bethlehem, a
Savior, Christ the Lord.” Gal.4 says that when the fullness
of time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, that you
and I might receive the adoption of sons. He was sent when
all of creation was pregnant with prophecy.
How did God become a human?
How do you put God, who has always pre-existed, in a
human body? How did God incarnate Himself? How did the
creator, Himself become a created being. (Matt. 1:18) How
could a virgin conceive by the Holy Ghost? How could a
teenage girl keep the secret? Why do some versions of the
Bible change the word virgin to “maiden” or “young woman.”
Why are some forces coming to bear to try to wipe out the
record of the virgin birth? The Bible clearly says that
which was conceived in her was conceived by the Holy Spirit.
How could a baby be born, unspotted by
sin, except He not have a fleshly father? Who can
explain the mysteries of Christmas? We are not called to
explain it but to believe and enjoy a joy that is
unspeakable and full of glory. We enjoy Christ in us, the
hope of Glory just as we enjoy being born again in the
Spirit ourselves. Christ is us is the mystery of the gospel.
Can you imagine the angel telling Mary
that she would carry the Son of God, the long
awaited Messiah? It was a secret too big to keep but too
dangerous to tell. She could have been stoned for
fornication. Then the angel appeared to Joseph to tell him
not to be afraid also. That which is conceived in her is of
the Holy Spirit! These were all visitations of supernatural
intervention that our finite minds will never be able to
explain. When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth
His Son, to be the Savior of the world.
Why? How God came is hard enough but
why did God come? Why strip Himself of the
splendors of Heaven and come to earth as our savior? He came
to save us from our sins, to take our sins upon Himself, to
take our punishment with His own life blood, in our place.
We celebrate Christmas because Christ came to be our Savior.
We are celebrating His birthday, the day that God became
man.
|
