It is impossible to miss the supernatural element in the birth of Jesus. Angels pop up all over the Christmas story. An angel tells Mary she will give birth to Jesus. An angel tells Joseph to call His name Jesus. An angel warns Mary and Joseph to flee to Egypt. An angel tells them when it’s safe to return to Israel. An angel announces the birth of Christ to the shepherds, and then the angelic choir serenades them. You have the mysterious star that led the Magi from some distant land all the way to Bethlehem to the very house where they found the baby Jesus. And the Magi were warned in a dream not to return to Herod but to go home another way.
We have heard these things so often we tend to forget how astounding they are. We believe that this world we inhabit is not the real world. This is just a temporary world. This place we call home will not last forever; only God is eternal. We believe there is another world that is the real world. It’s the world of God and angels, of Christ and the Holy Spirit, of heaven and the saints who dwell in glory. These two worlds exist side by side. We live in one world but we believe in another world. Or to put it another way, we live in this world but our citizenship is in heaven.
That’s why the Bible calls us aliens and strangers on the earth. We are pilgrims on a journey from this world that is passing away to a world that will last forever. We are looking for a city with eternal foundations, whose builder and maker is God. It is at this point that Christmas becomes so important to us. We are a dying race living on a dying planet. All that we see around us will someday vanish without a trace. Despite our best efforts, there is nothing we can do to save ourselves. If we are to be saved, salvation must come from somewhere else. It must come from outside of us. That’s the true meaning of Christmas.
Many miracles surround Christmas — but those miracles are just signs pointing to the greatest miracle of all: We who live in this world have been visited by Someone from another world. Someone from the world of light came to the world of darkness. Someone from the eternal came to the temporary. Someone from heaven came to live with us on earth! The Bible explains it this way:
● “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son,” (John 3:16).
● “The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,” (Titus 2:11).
● “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the law,” (Galatians 4:4).
● “Who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men,” (Philippians 2:6-7).
● “God was manifest in the flesh,” (I Timothy 3:15).
● “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” (John 1:14).
God came to earth and shared our humanity. The infinite became finite. The immortal became mortal. The Creator became the created. The omnipotent lived inside a young girl’s womb. The Almighty became a helpless baby. The Deity was wrapped in rags. The King of the Universe was born in a stable. That is the central miracle of the Christian faith.
— Reflections appears regularly on the religion page. The column features a variety of local writers, coordinated through the Monroe Area Clergy Group. Kevin Cernek is senior pastor of Martintown Community Church.
