“The Holy Spirit will
come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God”
(Luke 1:35, NIV).
So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God”
(Luke 1:35, NIV).
“There is a new baby born every minute. What is unique about this one?”
The shepherds and the Magi might have said this about the baby Jesus. But they
didn’t. They worshipped Him, while a multitude of the heavenly host praised God
for His unspeakable gift.
This baby was unique in many ways. He was the only baby whose conception was not the beginning of
His existence. He claimed, “Before Abraham was
born, I am!” (John 8:58). How could there be an incarnation if there
had been no previous existence? To deny the latter makes the formerly impossible.
To go back further, could there be a Trinity if there were no pre-existent Son
of God? Jesus was unique among men because His birth did not mark His origin.
He was the only baby who
had no human father. He was conceived by the supernatural operation of the
Holy Spirit. “The Holy Spirit will come
on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you,” were
the angel’s words to Mary in Luke 1:35. It had taken more than four millennia
for God to prepare for this momentous event. Was His birth likely to be
according to the ordinary course of nature? A person such as Jesus demanded a
birth such as Scripture records.
No other baby was
born without the taint of sin. “The holy one to be
born will be called the Son of God.” He was holy, harmless,
undefiled – free from all moral impurity. Fearlessly He challenged His
contemporaries: “Can any of you prove me
guilty of sin?” (John 8:46). John’s testimony was, “In him is no sin” (1 John 3:5).
He was the only baby who
was more than a man. He possessed two natures – Son of Man and Son of God –
and yet united, and functioning in a single personality. “He continues to be God and Man, in two distinct natures and one person forever” (Westminster Catechism). Is this mysterious? Yes! “Beyond all question, the mystery from which the true godliness
springs is great: He appeared in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16).
Finally, He was the only baby who was born for the purpose of dying. To all others death was
inevitable. To Him it was self-chosen.
No wonder that two millennia later, the whole world stops
to take notice of His birthday, and that so much beloved music is devoted to
His unique birth.
[Edited, modified and
modernized from considering Him (1976)
by J. Oswald Sanders]
THINK BIG.
START SMALL. GO DEEP.
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