A Child is Born!

             “For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given…” (Isaiah 9: 6 NIV84).

At the beginning of time, shortly after God created Adam and Eve, sin entered the world, turning God’s perfect creation upside down.  Every time I think about God’s response to that first sin, I become more amazed.  After all, He is the Creator of all things.  He could have very easily destroyed His creation and started all over again.  However, “throwing out the baby with the bath water” was not God’s way.  He knew that by giving man free will, there would be trouble ahead.  He knew from the beginning that sin would create a great divide that would have to be crossed so that His creation could be reconciled to Him.  I, on the other hand, would have said, “Let’s start this over and see if they can get it right the second time.”  Thankfully, I’m not God!

God wasn’t surprised.  He already had a plan to complete that reconciliation process.  In response to the sin, He said to the serpent, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3: 15 NIV84).  At that moment, He told us that He would send a human being to reconcile His creation to Himself.  His plan was already in motion.

Over 3000 years later, He made it clear through the prophet, Isaiah, that a son would be born through a virgin. More importantly, He explained that the child would be called Immanuel— “God with us” (Isaiah 7: 14).    This human being that God would send to reconcile His creation to Himself would also be God dwelling among us.  That’s a concept almost beyond our human comprehension, but it is a truth that demonstrates the love that God lavishes on us!

When Isaiah wrote the words, “to us a son is given” I’m sure that many understood this to be a Messianic prophecy.  After all the Jews had been expecting the Christ or Messiah from the very beginning.  I just wonder if they were able to connect all the dots before the baby was born in a manger.  Did they realize that this child, who would be born of a virgin, would be the Son of God?  Did they wonder how God could dwell among us?  Did they understand why it would take a human to cross the great divide?

Thankfully, we find ourselves at a point in history when it has all been made clear.  Only a perfect human being could cross the great divide, and only a human who was also God could be perfect.  So, God sent His only Son to be made in human likeness and to be the ultimate sacrifice.  The Son crossed the great divide and reconciled mankind to the Creator.  Praise God for His plan and His willingness to complete it for our sake.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 NIV84).  That’s the best Christmas gift ever!

Genesis 3: 15

Isaiah 7: 14

Isaiah 9: 6, 7

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