Christmas: When God Came Down
In the early afternoons, as a young mom, I often sank into my rocking chair, gathering one of the boys into my lap as I regrouped after a busy morning. As I did so, I sang. I sang the hymns I’d known and loved since I was a girl.
As we flipped the calendar page from November to December, I turned to the Christmas hymns. I sang the familiar strains—the lyrics I’d been singing in Christmas pageants since I was a young girl. As I rocked, sang, and pondered the age-old lyrics, something dawned anew within me.
Tightly woven into the story of Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus, shepherds, angels, and Magi was a deeper story—earth-shaking, stunning, and magnificent. It was the realization of God’s ancient redemption plan unfolding here upon the earth.
From the pages of Scripture beckoned the epic saga of God’s redemptive plan. Its origins are from eternity past and will culminate in eternity future, but in this holy season, we commemorate how God made Himself human and dwelt among us. The purpose of His coming was to be the sinless sacrifice that would redeem us.
Scripture clearly states that Jesus didn’t begin in the manger in Bethlehem, but existed as the third member of the Trinity before time began, and will throughout eternity. He revealed Himself to mankind by coming to us in human form, born as the divine Christ-child.
His coming was foretold in Eden. While the bittersweetness of forbidden fruit still danced upon their tongues, God came to Adam and Eve and told them of One coming Who would break the curse now descending. The serpent would bruise His heel, but this Holy One would crush the serpent’s head.
As I rocked in my rocking chair day after day, singing those timeless words, I began to see God’s redemption plan afresh. I traced the threads as bearded prophets and weathered sages foretold His coming. Each one added detail to the emerging picture of this Holy One. Throughout the years, it became increasingly clear, yet mind-boggling and incredulous, that God intended to come in human form. He would be Prophet, Priest, Victorious Warrior, King, and Suffering Servant, Heaven’s Perfect Lamb—the Sinless Sacrifice.
He would be conceived in the womb of a virgin, be born as any other baby, yet live a sinless life—wholly divine and wholly human within the same skin. His coming would be miraculous. It would stun heaven and rock earth. It would confirm once and for all that the ancient prophecies were true. They were far from incoherent babblings of wild-eyed seers; they were divinely imparted words of truth. It also confirmed that God was intricately involved in the daily events of human history. Just as He was weaving redemption’s story, He was weaving His timeless plan, in and through the exhaustion and grit of my life.
In my caregiving life, tucked away in an obscure pocket of the world, that truth made all the difference between slogging through endless days of meaningless work and serving for Him alone. It meant the King of Kings was close to me. It meant He heard and saw it all; it meant my menial work was of great value in His economy.
Surely, the moment when God became human would be the greatest event in human history. Ironically, without pageantry or any creature comforts, God delivered upon His ancient plan. Perhaps all of heaven stood in breathless wonder as the One Who Inhabits Eternity entered time and space as a writhing, screaming baby. The Holy One of Heaven, promised in Eden, was born in human form. The divine Christ child was born upon the earth He created. God’s ancient redemptive plan unfolded among dirt, stone, and straw.
As I went about my days of caregiving, pondering this massive redemptive plan, I marveled that God, Who dwells in inapproachable light, condescended to make Himself so accessible to people like me. He stepped out of the iridescent halls of heaven into the mud and muck of life—the gunk and grittiness of my life.
As I stood in my kitchen amidst the sticky grime that young children bring, the truth dawned afresh. The God of Glory came near to redeem me to live a different sort of life—a life infused with truth and empowered by His Holy Spirit. I could live this life while still knee-deep in its realities. He redeemed me to live life for His purposes, infused with truth and empowered by His strength. As I rolled up my sleeves and tackled the mess around me, His staggering redemption plan marinated in my soul.
Without His Incarnation, how could everyday humans like me know this intimate friendship that brings the God of Glory closer than the breath we breathe? How could we know Him as our Friend, our ever-present Help, our Strength and Song? In short, we couldn’t.
He came down, so we could know Him, and so He could sweep us into a life-changing relationship with God Himself. He’ll give us a life of purpose, depth, and beauty in this life and forever change our eternal destiny. It was all made possible because God came to us, God came down-- this Holy Christmas Day, the day God came down.