Title: Christmas: God Makes His Appearance on Earth
Text: Matthew 2:1-12
Time: December 24th, 2009
“The virgin shall conceive and be with child and he will be called “Immanuel” which means “God with us.” It’s amazing how the most important aspect of Christmas is often overlooked by our culture in its celebration of the holiday. With everything we hear about Christmas every year how often do we hear about the Incarnation — or, to state it another way, “God with us?” That is what the Incarnation means — God in flesh appearing. Or as the old Christmas hymn states, “Veiled in flesh the God-head see, hail the incarnate deity.” Now how can it be that in all our culture’s celebrating of Christmas that it neglects to emphasize the Incarnation? Isn’t it because the celebration has become so big and the culture so diverse that there is a conscious effort not to offend anyone who might be offended at the claim Jesus was God in the flesh? For example, to Jews who don’t believe in the truths of Christianity, teaching that Jesus is God is offensive. Muslims also dispute the Incarnation; they deny that Jesus is divine; instead, they make him just another prophet, not even as important as their hero Mohammed. Then there are the secularists who ridicule all faiths who resent all theology of any kind; they wouldn’t want to be obligated to celebrate a holiday which they consider unreasonable or illogical like the Incarnation. God, they say, probably doesn’t exist, but even if he did, he wouldn’t appear on earth, especially as a baby born and then grow up in the typical way. So the humanists and secularists would object to any celebration of Christmas that emphasized the Incarnation of Christ. But as Christians, we must celebrate Christmas for what it really is, not for what is politically correct in a diverse secular culture. The truth is, the Christmas holiday is about the birth of God the Son, Second Person of the Holy Trinity. It’s about the birth of God as man who came to save us from our sins in a way only he could save us. Now that doesn’t mean that his identity was known from the beginning or understood fully even by his Mother Mary or father Joseph or by anyone at the time. The truth of Christ’s Incarnation was slowly revealed little by little. Probably the Wise Men or Magi didn’t understand that they were visiting God-in-the-flesh; they only understood him to be a great king and leader. The shepherds probably didn’t understand that the baby Jesus was the Incarnate Word of God; they only understood him as the Savior Messiah that would save people from their sins. Certainly the people who knew Jesus as a child and young man in Nazareth didn’t see him as the Lord God. All of this would make sense later. But the fact that people didn’t or couldn’t fully grasp his true identity didn’t stop him from being God in the flesh. It’s the same for us today; even though our culture won’t give him his full honor and glory in being God, we, on the other hand, should worship him as fully God and fully man. We should celebrate Jesus for who he really is at Christmas. The Christmas season is for celebrating the Incarnation of God on earth. As difficult as it is to grasp, God visited our planet for 33 years, starting with the baby’s birth in Bethlehem and ending with the man Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. Christmas marks the beginning of that Incarnation. Let me say a few things about the Incarnation. (more…)