Saturday, December 15, 2007

Jesus: The Baby Who Was God

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:1, 14, NIV).

What was it like for Jesus as deity to become human? In one moment, he was present everywhere; in the next, he had limited himself to the form of an embryo. In one moment, he knew everything; in the next, he was learning everything. In one moment, he had all the power in existence; in the next, he needed to be cared for by his mother.

Within a few decades, Jesus Christ would experience every aspect of humanity (with the exception that he never sinned...he always lived in complete harmony with God). He would experience loss. He would know rejection. He would enjoy a good meal and good friends. He would suffer opposition. He would depend upon prayer. He would feel the effect of sin, and it would kill him. He would go through the resurrection that his followers long to experience someday.

God became an embryo, a baby, a toddler, an adolescent, and a man. He knows humanity. With the apostle Paul, we can say,
"Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great:
He appeared in a body,
was vindicated by the Spirit,
was seen by angels,
was preached among the nations,
was believed on in the world,
was taken up in glory" (1 Timothy 3:16, NIV).

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