Sometimes I think it’s easier to wrap my mind around Jesus, the eternal Son of God, than Jesus, the child of Mary and Joseph. Jesus as the King of the Universe- the One through whom all things were made and the One who sits at the right hand of the Father in glory- that I can put legs to. But to think of Jesus, the 2 year old who needs help eating or dressing? Or, Jesus the 13 year old learning carpentry from his earthly father? That’s much harder to comprehend.
And yet, the eternal Son of God did become flesh. He came to us through a virgin birth, wrapped in skin with a beating heart and breathing lungs. He came to us as a crying infant, born in a setting no parent would have willfully chosen. He came to us in humility rather than majesty. As a son rather than a king. As God Incarnate, he was not only the son of his Father above but of his mother and father here.
As only God can do, He perfectly wove the heavenly and earthly sonship of His Son with our own. It was for sonship that Christ came into this world- though not for his, but for ours. He came so that I, a child of man, might become a child of God. This was the plan from all eternity! Before the earth was formed, God decreed in His love to adopt us as His sons through Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:5).
What human mind could have imagined God sending His Son to live a sinless life in a sin-filled world? To conceive that he would walk and talk with thieves, liars, and adulterers? But even more! What mind could possibly hold the idea of this sinless One suffering unto death on behalf of rebellious sinners like us? Yet, this was the plan. As the writer of Hebrews tells us, “It was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering” (Hebrews 2:10, ESV).
Christ, our Lord and King, was also the Suffering Servant whose atoning sacrifice enabled us to enter into sonship with our Heavenly Father. The Apostle John stated this very clearly when he wrote, “To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12, ESV).
What an immeasurable joy and privilege to be a child of God! As we marvel this season at the humanity of Christ- of his lowly birth and sonship here on earth- may we marvel all the more that through him, we are born into sonship from above. With great cheer let’s sing:
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth!
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