You really can’t meditate on the significance of Christmas without coming back repeatedly to the prologue to John’s gospel. It is worth looking at John 1:1-3, 14 again here. These rich verses point out clearly that Jesus is eternal (“in the beginning” Jesus was there), and that he is the embodiment of God’s complete revelation of himself to man. If you have seen Jesus, you have seen God. He is the Word of God. Not only is Jesus the Word of God, he IS God. While on earth, Jesus was as fully divine as He was when he created heaven and earth, and as fully divine as he is right now in heaven. Jesus was also the active agent in creation. He was not only present at creation, He is the Creator. Everything that exists was made by Jesus. And then the incredible verse 14 tells us that for a period of about 33 years, this fully divine Jesus, eternal, Creator, was also fully human. He ate, drank, slept, peed, etc. But he did not sin. (Hebrews 4:15) He displayed God’s glory, grace and truth in human form.

Now, check out Hebrews 1:1-3.

In the Old Testament, God spoke through prophets. Up until Genesis 3, God spoke directly to man. God and man lived in fellowship with one another and spoke to each other without need of an intermediary. But then sin entered the world in Genesis 3, and Isaiah 59:1-2 tells us that sin separates us from God. So, throughout the Old Testament, you will see God speaking primarily through prophets or priests to the people.

But now, “in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.” There it is again, this idea of Jesus as the Word. God has spoken to us by his Son. Jesus has revealed God to us in his words, in his actions, in his entire being. Verse 3 tells us that Jesus is the “exact imprint of his (God’s) nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” Christ is the complete revelation of God to us and the Creator who spoke everything into existence. He is also the Sustainer of everything that exists, holding everything together by the “word of his power.”

These next few days, as you hear Christmas songs and see manger scenes, just remember that the baby in the manger is also the creator of all things and holds all things together. He did not come to inspire us to be good, loving people. He came to point us to God and to show us our need for God so that we might glorify God.

Published by Greg Wilson