Dime-store divinities, model mangers, plastic virgins, shepherd and sheep facsimiles, will soon be flanked by Santa Claus costumes and Christmas-tree decorations. The incomparable revelation of God in human flesh will lie buried beneath an avalanche of tinsel, sleigh bells, reindeer, and other incongruous objects. Satan's manipulation of depraved minds has resulted in sweeping the inhabitants of the Christian and non-Christian world alike into the dustpan of perversion. It is perversion of the worst order when a race of beings created in the image of God and redeemed at such infinite sacrifice will so defiantly take a theme beyond comprehension and connect it with miserable money-making schemes. More than one businessman has said: "If somebody abolished Christmas, I would go out of business."
In the midst of this hallelujah-hilarious spree it not only is apparent but imperative for ministers of God to turn the minds of men toward the miracle at Bethlehem two thousand years ago.
Did Isaiah Realize?
Did Isaiah comprehend the thought contained in verse 6 of chapter 9? "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called 'Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace— (R.S.V.). Surely the church members of his day saw only dimly the overwhelming love and truth embodied in this statement. Even we who live 2,700 years this side of the prophecy and 2,000 years this side of its fulfillment can only touch the depth and meaning of this truth with the fingertips of our intellect and emotions. As we study the Incarnation with all the aids available we cannot help exclaiming: "0 God, it is impossible for us to grasp the thought—it is too great, too overwhelming!"
A Son Is Given
Many a great mind has stumbled over the term "Son of God." Followers of the Islamic faith mock Christians with the ridiculous question, "Who was God's wife?" The surrendered mind does not limit or narrow the power of God but understands that concepts must be understood by men; otherwise language would have little meaning. Let us put ourselves in God's place a moment and we would be forced to exclaim: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isa. 55:8, 9).
The very fact that the Lord Jesus assumed the title "Son of God" is evidence of Heaven's love for man, for a father-son relationship draws from the human heart feelings of tenderness and love. We need to ever remember that God used a concept that not only is understandable by the human race but which commands respect and love.
A Comprehensible God
We have stood in the midst of hundreds of heathen temples from Bali to Bombay and watched the incredible take place. Confused worshipers would wade through rites and ceremonies, some most objectionable, in an effort to find their god or gods. Compare this jumbled, incoherent, confused bell ringing hodgepodge of temples, idols, trinkets, and services with our God whom we serve and love, "Unto us a son is given." What language, what a concept —a child, a son born into the world!
How else could God come to this world? Like Santa Claus in a sled pulled by reindeer? Revolting and ridiculous thought! What family with a spark of love in their hearts would ever choose to have a baby brought into this world any other way than God has ordained? One of the most remarkable features of the Incarnation is the way God the Son became part of the human family. He came in such a way that would cement Himself directly with the hearts and minds of people. He attached Himself to the human race in the most sacred and tender way possible.
Incarnation Counterfeit
Satan's success in perverting God's plan by destroying the Incarnation concept from the minds of men has succeeded remarkably well. Entire nations have imitated the Incarnation. The ancient Egyptians' belief of the Pharaohs being the sons of Amen-Ra undoubtedly influenced God's choice of the tenth plague. The Exodus movement really got started when the Egyptians' incarnation theories were blasted by the death of the first-born.
A twentieth-century counterfeit incarnation gave impetus to the Japanese military regime, which centered on the false premise that the emperor was divine and his subjects were the sons of heaven. This is just a sample of Satan's gigantic scheme to blot from the minds of men the thrilling truth that God came in human form.
Incarnation and the Population Explosion
We all love babies. One look through a picture-windowed nursery at the wiggling miraculous object that was my own daughter immediately brought to me overwhelming feelings of joy and happiness. God's love and the Incarnation gripped me as never before. This is the way God intended it to be. Enoch's close walk with God began after a son was born to him. Every baby should remind us that "unto us a son is given." The home, the parent-child relationship, should constantly remind us of the Incarnation. But today it is difficult to stir the minds of people with the Bethlehem story.
Satan stood in wonder before Bethlehem's manger, but he was not caught off guard completely. From Eden until now perversion of the marriage relationship and the breakup of the home is the most significant part of his vile plan of rebellion. It is another method of his to discredit the glory of the Incarnation. The population explosion today is a result not of parental love for children but rather of ignorance and uncontrolled passion.
Respect of man for man has been greatly reduced by irresponsible procreation. In many minds today the death of another human being is about as insignificant as the demise of a fly. The ever-increasing diet of murder, suicides, and even accidents, dished up by the daily newspapers, is devoured by thousands with no apparent shock. The human race has descended deeply into the cold pit of unsympathetic feeling when we consider that Adam and Eve mourned more deeply over the falling leaf than men do today over the death of a fellow being. Massive birth rates plus massive liquidations of human life have done much to nullify the deep feelings and emotions wrapped up in the Incarnation.
Made of a Woman
To ponder the theme of Christ's humanity should ever bring forth fresh thoughts and new revelations of God's love. "God sent forth his Son, made of a woman" (Gal. 4:4). I confess I cannot understand this. My mind is too small--the best I can do is to accept it. Sometimes I think if the full impact of this thought should ever burst upon my mind, my brain would explode. Every time I study this subject, every time a tiny ray of light opens my mind to how God humbled Himself, I break down and weep. No wonder Paul wrote: "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift" (2 Cor. 9:15). We stand before the Bethlehem manger as dumb and unperceptive as the oxen that were there that night.
Step by Step
Listen to this intriguing statement: "The adorable Redeemer stepped down from the highest exaltation. Step by step He humbled Himself."—The SDA Bible Commentary, Ellen G. White Comments, on John 1:1, p. 1127. Let us consider a few of these steps. Ever remember that Christ was not like God—He was God. They were one, equal in power and authority. It would have been a condescension beyond description for Christ to have assumed human form when the world first stood without blot or blemish. His entrance was made when the magnificence of Eden had been contaminated with the false philosophy of Satan's corrupt mind. The moment of His birth came when darkness covered the earth and gross darkness the people. Romans 1 is a forthright description of the Greco-Roman world during the time of Christ.
To have assumed the full and complete physical stature of Adam would have been of utmost humiliation. But Christ came after sickness and disease had dwarfed the physical nature of man for four thousand years. Christ as a man was no physical giant, and according to Isaiah 53 those who saw Him during His Incarnation would find no beauty that would make them desire Him.
Another step down in the ladder of mortification was the town in which He was born. Micah 5:2 emphasizes the insignificance of Bethlehem. How eager we are to identify our own birthplace with a city of renown, but Christ forfeited all this. He assumed human nature in its lowest common denominator, which would result in a cover of salvation for all mankind and would forever seal the lips of any person from saying that Christ's experience cannot touch that of humanity.
Embarrassed Angels
Unbelievable shame was the lot of Christ when we pinpoint His delivery-room conditions. Born in a barn! How many times this crude expression has been hurled jokingly or purposely at some person to humiliate him. It was no joke with Christ; it was a reality. The difference between a barn and a palace is infinitesimal from God's viewpoint, for earth's most fabulous mansion in garden setting is nothing as compared with heaven. But from our viewpoint think of the Commander of heaven and earth, the Prince of the universe, the King of kings stepping to the very lowest rung of environmental human existence. It is no wonder He can save to the uttermost, for He stooped to the uttermost!
How did the announcing angel of Luke 2:10-12 feel when he said: "Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger"? If we had been the angel, perhaps we would have swallowed hard between the statement: "I bring you good tidings of great joy. . . . Unto you is born this day . . a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord," and "This shall be a sign unto you." No, the angel flinched not, nor was he embarrassed, but rather overwhelmed at the infinite love of God. From the depths of his soul he brought forth in golden tones this marvelous announcement that the Lord Saviour would be born in a stable and laid in a manger.
Do you think the angel was embarrassed to make this announcement to a group of hardened, weather-beaten shepherds? It would have been far more dramatic to have made this statement to splendid-robed members of the Sanhedrin gathered in a Jerusalem palace or before a magnificent session of the Roman senate. But get the picture! Sheep and shepherds, wide-open spaces—what a theater and what an audience for the universe's most glorious chorus and grandest message. No embarrassed angels were in that heavenly entourage that night.
From God to Baby
The very least we could expect of God, if we dare expect anything as sinners, would be that our Lord would come as a fully developed adult. But, no, He encased Himself in the tiny, defenseless form of a baby! Draw from the large stock of adjectives—meekness, self-abasement, self-abnegation, submissiveness, resignation, mortification, degradation—add them all together and they cannot even begin to describe what your God, and my God, did. Our hearts cannot help being melted and our minds cannot help being awed as we view the downward stairway that Christ used to become one with us. God became a baby—a baby in a barn, a barn in a tiny town, a town in a dictator's country, and a country in a rebellious world.
What was the point? Why did God do it? Listen: "His glory was veiled, that the majesty of His outward form might not become an object of attraction. He shunned all outward display. Riches, worldly honor, and human greatness can never save a soul from death; Jesus purposed that no attraction of an earthly nature should call men to His side."—The Desire of Ages, p. 43. What a sermon on righteousness by faith! We throw our helpless soul before Bethlehem's manger, forever recognizing that salvation and the Incarnation are one and the same thing. What can we offer to God who has done all this for us? Offer Him your money? Your influence? Your time? Your talents? These things would only be insults unless your soul by entire and complete surrender to Him has been united in one common bond with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Present-Day Incarnation
Could it be that in a certain sense another incarnation takes place when God makes His home in our hearts. Isn't this "new creature" experience, emphasized in 2 Corinthians 5:17, a result of "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27)? Again, "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. . . . That ye might be filled with all the fulness of God" (Eph. 3:17, 19). This final step of the Incarnation chain, which links heaven with earth, is rightly called by Paul a "mystery." This defies description. For Christ to make His abode in the yielded but formerly sinful, rebellious heart is far more humiliating than the manger experience. To think that while we were yet sinners God commended His love toward us! This step of Christ, as He knocks at our heart's door and indicates His willingness to enter our lives, surpasses all others.
Listen to this remarkable statement: "This idea of incarnation is the central doctrine of all Paul's teaching. It is his remedy for sin, his basis of hope for the past and the future. As God was in Christ, so Christ, by the Holy Spirit, will be in His people, changing their hearts, transforming their lives, and making them fit for the very presence of God."—ELLEN G. WHITE in Review and Herald, Nov. 15, 1898.
To our knees, fellow ministers, as we contemplate the words, "For unto us a son is given."
J. R. S.
