Underneath the surface jollity, Christmas can be a sad time for some. At Christmas-time we can be more aware of loved ones who are no longer with us. This is the case with my family, where my late father no longer joins us around the Christmas dinner table.
Losing a loved one though is not without compensations. Since my father’s death my mother has been released from the twenty four hour care he needed, and able to take on activities she was prevented from doing when my father was alive. She is now more involved with her church and has also joined a choir and a reading group. She is also now free to travel.
Did you know that the Lord Jesus – He whose birth lies at the centre of Christmas – at certain moments in time, took on matters which He had never taken on before? As the second person of the divine trinity, in eternity past, Jesus lived in the glory of heaven, in the ineffable fellowship which exists in the trinity of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. On earth, He could speak to His Father of ‘the glory which I had with Thee before the world was made’ (John 17:5). Yet Scripture reveals that at crucial moments in the divine plan of salvation, Jesus, the eternal Son of God, took upon Himself i. Our human flesh ii. Our human sin.
1. The Divine Incarnation
In Jesus, God became man, taking upon Himself our human flesh. In Jesus, God actually shared our humanity. John wrote ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth’ (John 1:14), and Paul explained that ‘in Him (Christ) the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily’ (Colossians 2:9). It is the incarnation – God’s real, actual, historical and historic ‘enfleshment’ – which takes us to the heart of Christmas:-
‘Christ the Son of God became man, by taking to Himself a true body, and a reasonable soul, being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary, and born of her, yet without sin’ (Shorter Catechism).
The real, humanity of Jesus reminds us that we have a God who really does understand our human lot from ‘the inside.’ He can never be accused of being far removed from our daily struggles in this fallen world. ‘Jesus wept’ (John 11:35), and Jesus slept (Mark 4:38). He experienced fatigue (John 4:6), hunger (Mark 14:33) and thirst (John 19:28). Jesus also experienced mental turmoil (Mark 14:33) and received the barbs of those who sought to inflict psychological damage on Him (Matthew 27:39). Christians thus hold to the full humanity of Christ as much as they do to His absolute deity, for Scripture teaches both. His real humanity tells us ‘we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin’ (Hebrews 4:15).
But why did the Lord Jesus take on Himself our humanity? The answer of the Bible is: So He could die. His incarnation was with a view to His immolation. Unusually, His birth was with a view to His death. Scripture teaches that Jesus’ birth was a case of His taking on Himself our human flesh. But His death was a case of His taking on Himself our human sin.
2. The Divine Imputation
In a verse of infinite profundity, 2 Corinthians 5:21 states ‘For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.’ Hebrews 9:28 similarly tells of ‘Christ having been offered once to bear the sins of many.’
The Christian gospel proclaims that the sins which prevent our fellowship with God and access to heaven may be fully and forever forgiven. But they may be forgiven only because Christ took them and their consequences on Himself when He died on the cross. Our sins may be forgiven because Christ bore them. When we speak of Christ ‘bearing’ our sins, we mean that He paid the price for them; He paid the penalty for them; He endured the punishment which we should have borne for them. He became the sinner’s substitute. Divine ‘imputation’ is the word which encapsulates this. Our sins – in the mercy of God – were ‘put to Christ’s account.’ He ‘paid the bill’ that we might be exonerated. On the cross of Calvary, He endured the wrath of God on our sins to save everyone who believes in Him from the wrath of God on their sins:-
All Thy sins were laid upon Him
Jesus bore them on the tree
God, who knew them, laid them on Him
And believing, Thou art free
(J Denham Smith 1817-1889)
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So at two key points in the saga of redemption, God, in Christ i. Took upon Himself our human flesh and ii. Took upon Himself our human sin. The two may be distinguished, but cannot be separated, as the former was with a view to the latter. Christ was born to save us. ‘You shall call His name Jesus for He will save His people from their sins’ (Matthew 1:21). And salvation was actually procured, not by Christ’s birth but by His death, in the very last hours of His earthly life, when He died as an atoning sacrifice for sinners. Christ’s taking on Himself our humanity was with the sole purpose of taking on Himself our sin. Christmas Day was with a view to Good Friday, for Christ’s cradle was with a view to His cross when ‘He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree’ (1 Peter 2:24).
Jesus, my Saviour to Bethlehem came
Born in a manger to sorrow and shame
O it was wonderful – blest be His Name!
Seeking for me, for me!
Jesus, my Saviour on Calvary’s tree
Paid the great debt and my soul He set free
O it was wonderful – how could it be
Dying for me, for me!
(Anon).
© Timothy Cross
