In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” –John 1:1-4
This passage is speaking of Jesus, who “was with God, and… was God.” He is the God who created the universe, who holds us in the palm of his hand. Colossians 1:16-17 talks about everything that was created through Jesus. It says, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities- all things were created through him and for him, And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Our minds cannot even begin to comprehend all that he has made. We are not just talking about some man who did some good things a couple thousand years ago. We are talking about God, the God of the universe. And he is the God who made us-the people who completely turned against him, as it says in Isaiah 53:6, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned- every one- to his own way…” We became enemies of God, we disobeyed and rebelled. We became dead in our trespasses and sins. Because of that we are deserving of punishment, eternal separation from the God who made us and gives us life. So what did God do? Did he punish us in that way? Did he crush us all, as he so easily could because he holds us in the palm of his hand? No, that is not what he did. Later on in John it describes what Jesus did. Verse 14 says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Hold on… Jesus, the Son of God who is God, came to dwell with us, the very ones who turned against him? John 1:11 says, “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.” Jesus didn’t turn his back on us, as we deserve, he became flesh and dwelt among us. This brings us to Luke 2, the story of Jesus’ humblest of births:
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
Jesus not only came to be with the very people who rejected him, but he was born in the lowliest place- a stable. He was born in the humblest town- Bethlehem, as described in Micah 5:2:
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.”
Philips Brooks, a man born in Boston in the 17th century. In 1865 he visited this humble little town and noticed how quiet it was. As Ligon Duncan from the podcast, Hymns of the Faith, comments, “You can see [Brooks] thinking about this city being caught unawares in a hugely significant event…the most significant event in the history of humanity…the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
It was during that visit that Brooks was inspired to write the words to the hymn, Oh Little Town of Bethlehem, in which are written these words:
O holy Child of Bethlehem,
descend to us, we pray;
cast out our sin and enter in;
be born in us today.
And that is what Jesus did. He not only humbly became man, but he also later grew up to die the worst of deaths, a death that would take the punishment for the sins of the world.
As it says in Philippians 2:6-8: 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. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Yes, the punishment that we who rejected God fully deserved is what Jesus took on. Jesus made himself nothing, was born in a humble stable and later died on a cross so that we might instead have eternal life in him. And that same Jesus is the one who is with us yesterday, today and always. He is God with us, our Emmanuel.
O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel!
Written by NBB Alumna: Victoria Hoverson
