The Advent of Christ. This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.!!!!!!!!!

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1 The Advent of Christ This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.!!!!!!!!! - Luke 2:12 The Incarnation shows man the greatness of his wretchedness through the greatness of the remedy which was required. - Blaise Pascal Jesus Conception: God as Embryo! The coming of Jesus in the incarnation is the pivotal event of history. It s an event so unheard of that even the Old Testament prophets dared not speak about it explicitly. The audacity of such a presumptuous claim is blasphemous unless and until it happened. So we read the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah and know them to refer to Jesus Christ - God himself - but the prophets, although they came close, could not claim that the Messiah would be God incarnate. It s unthinkable that the Creator God would become a human in order to free rebellious humanity from enslavement to sin. It s unthinkable that God would use our hostility toward Him as the means of our salvation. It s unthinkable that God would reconcile rebels, - people not looking or asking for reconciliation - with Himself. And it s unthinkable that He would do this by humiliating Himself by being conceived in the womb of a virgin - God as an embryo.! Jesus incarnation didn t begin at His birth in Bethlehem, but at His divine conception by the Holy Spirit in Mary s virgin womb. Because God became a man in Jesus, we know what humanity is when we look at Jesus. Therefore, we know that human life begins at conception - not at some arbitrary point afterward. Despite what appears to be popular opinion, science and philosophy confirm this fact. Scientifically, an embryo is a distinct ( different in kind from any cell of its parents ), living ( exhibits irritability [reaction to stimuli], metabolism [converting food to energy], and cellular reproduction [growth], and develops itself in ways conductive to its own survival and maturation ), and whole ( all of its cells work together in tandem toward the growth of a single entity, the embryo ) human being. 1 An embryo is a distinct, living and whole human being, not a clump of cells. Dr. Maureen Condic, assistant professor of neurobiology and anatomy at the University of Utah, points out that from conception forward, human embryos clearly function as whole living organisms. 2 Philosophically, Scott Klusendorff adds, there is no morally significant difference 1 Scott Klusendorff, The Case for Life (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2009), The argument from science and philosophy is laid out in this well-argued, well-researched book. 2 Ibid., 39. 1

2 between the embryo you once were and the adult you are today. 3 In other words, your size, your level of development, your environment (where you re located), and your level of dependency (whether its your mom s womb or insulin) have no moral bearing on the fact that you re human and have value.! God s humanity in Jesus begins as an embryo in the virgin womb of Mary. Matthew emphasizes this in his account of Jesus birth: Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18). God s incarnation begins as an embryo. Jesus Birth: An Unusual Sign! Like all of us, Jesus grew in the womb of His mother and was born: While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth (Luke 2:6). The embryo Jesus grew and developed and was born at the proper time. Then we see the baby Jesus: And she gave birth to a son; and she wrapped Him in clothes, and laid Him in a feeding trough, because there was no room for them in the inn (Luke 2:7). Not only did God humiliate Himself by becoming an embryo, but as a baby He was born in the lowliest and crudest circumstances. And the angels couldn t believe it: In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And all of a sudden, an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, Don t be afraid because I bring you good news of great joy that will be for everybody, because today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a feeding trough. And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased!!! When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to each other, We better go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened that the Lord has made known to us. And they went as fast as they could and found Mary and Joseph - and there was the baby lying in a feeding trough. (Luke 2:8-16, paraphrase) 3 Ibid., 28. 2

3 How do we even begin thinking about this? God became an embryo. Floating in amniotic fluid, Jesus grew in Mary s womb. When it comes time to give birth, Mary has to deliver the baby Jesus (and the placenta) in a barn. That disgusting. But there s Immanuel, God-with-us - helpless, weak, dependent, cold, and poor. God had come to earth as man. And what sign is given for His majestic arrival? You will find a baby wrapped in baby clothes lying in a feeding trough. What kind of sign is that to mark God s arrival? Let me ask you something: Can God really identify with you? Can He really empathize with your situation? Does He really know the kind of thing you re going through? Look at Him lying in a feeding trough, and you tell me. Jesus Early Life: Scandal, Exile, and Poverty! Even before His birth, Jesus life was surrounded in a scandal. His mom, the young Mary, was pregnant out of wedlock, and Joseph took a hit for marrying her anyway. That couple probably never outlived the scandalous accusations about Jesus conception. To make matters worse, Jesus would have resembled His mother, but shared no resemblance with Joseph. Nothing short of the angelic visit would have kept Joseph himself wondering about Mary. But what about their community? Jesus did t share Joseph s likeness like His brothers would have. Jesus was different. The explanation He s the Son of God conceived by the Holy Spirit probably didn t fly well with the community. When God became man, one couple and one family suffered for it. But they weren t the only ones.! At the age of two, Jesus life was in danger. Once again, an angel had a message for Joseph: Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him (Matthew 2:13). Joseph obeyed, and his small family became fugitives from Israel and refugees in Egypt. Mary s toddler had a price on His head, and Bethlehem and the surrounding area paid for it. In his anger and rage, Herod slaughtered every male two-years-old and younger in Bethlehem and the surrounding area. Jeremiah s prophecy was fulfilled: A voice is heard in Ramah, Lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; She refuses to be comforted for her children, Because they are no more. (Jeremiah 31:15) Jesus playmates were slaughtered because of Him. When God became man, a community suffered for it. 3

4 ! When it was safe to return to Israel, Joseph settled in Nazareth in Galilee. Jesus grew up poor in the backwoods of Israel. We know of Joseph and Mary s poverty because of their offering at the temple in Luke 2:24, [They offered] a sacrifice according to the Law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. The Levitical law states that a man is to bring a lamb or goat for his guilt offering. But if he cannot afford a lamb, then he shall bring to the Lord his guilt offering for that in which he has sinned, two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering (Leviticus 5:7).! That s not how gods come to men. They don t come as embryos. They don t grow in a womb surrounded by amnionic fluid. They re not born, and they certainly don t lie in feeding troughs. They re not weak, exposed, and helpless. Gods don t flee into exile as fugitives - especially as toddlers - and they don t become refugees. Gods aren t poor, and they re not raised in the sticks. They re not misunderstood and viewed as bastards, bringing tremendous humiliation on their families. That s not how God is supposed to come to us. But that s Jesus - a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a feeding trough. That s the advent of Christ, God-with-us. Jesus, Our Reconciliation and Peace! Our sin is so bad that reconciliation and peace with God required nothing less than His incarnation in this way. The French philosopher Blaise Pascal said, The Incarnation shows man the greatness of his wretchedness through the greatness of the remedy which was required (Pensées 384). In other words, if Jesus was to become sin, bear our sins, and crucify our sins in Himself, then He had to come the way He did - fully identifying and empathizing with humanity. No human experience is outside the scope of Jesus humanity. No human experience is beyond His empathy. Jesus is the only human being who can identity with every human being. You re not experiencing anything that Jesus can t identify and empathize with. Actually, in terms of human experience, none of us can really identify and empathize with Him. He was more human than all of us. Who can possibly identify and empathize with Jesus? When it s all added together - the scandal of Mary s pregnancy, the family s shame, His birth out in the open and a feeding trough for a bed, exile to another country, the slaughter of toddlers and infants because of His birth, growing up in poverty - who can relate to that? And that s just by age two. If Jesus was to make atonement for us, this is how it had to be done.! As reconciliation, atonement is literally at-one-ment with God. Romans 5:1 says, Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Reconciliation is a wonderful exchange that only takes place in Jesus completely identifying Himself with us in such a way that whatever He did, we did. But 4

5 He was also so one with God that whatever Jesus did, God did. In this exchange, Jesus identifies Himself with us on our behalf before God, and His perfect fellowship with God becomes our fellowship with God. Think about that - His perfect fellowship with God becomes our fellowship with God.! Reconciliation means that we have peace with God. All barriers separating us and God have been removed in and through Jesus. Therefore, everyone has been accepted by God through Jesus, and no one has been rejected by God or is outside of the scope of His love. Nobody. God s love has been fulfilled in Jesus taking the judgment of our sin upon Himself. Jesus is our reconciliation. (Sadly, hell remains a reality for those who reject this love toward them and Jesus sacrifice on their behalf.)! Reconciliation is both objective and subjective. Objectively, reconciliation means that the obstacle of sin has been removed in bringing us back into fellowship with God. However, there is a subjective element to reconciliation where our hearts and minds are brought back into the truth of God. If objective reconciliation can be thought of as removing an exterior barrier of sin, subjective reconciliation can be thought of as removing the inward lies we hold concerning God, and it replaces those lies with the truth. Being at peace with God (objectively) brings the peace of God (subjectively).! Reconciliation means Immanuel, God with us. Jesus full identification with us in His incarnation means that God is with us, but it also means that we re with God. Who we are and how we think (our broken being and thinking) is reconciled through knowing Jesus. We can have the peace of God knowing that even though our sin once separated us from God, Jesus came to live and die for sinners. So being a sinner qualifies us for reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son. He took our sin upon Himself Appeal: Be Reconciled to God! Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.! Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. - 2 Corinthians 5: