We who celebrate Christmas remember the incarnation. That’s when Jesus, the Son of God, entered into human history, became a man, lived a perfect life, was unjustly crucified on a Roman cross, and was raised from the dead.
The Creator in the Manger
At Christmastime, we celebrate the day that the eternal Creator entered his creation. The Creator who stretched out the heavens was laid beneath them in a manger. The limitless Son of God took on human limitations, being born in the flesh. As a baby, Jesus depended on Joseph and Mary for care and nourishment. Yet the humility of his incarnation did not detract from the glory of his deity: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14).
Virgin Birth of Jesus
The virgin birth of Jesus is a miracle. God the Holy Spirit worked supernaturally in a human womb, and a child was conceived apart from a human father—a child who was truly and fully both man and God. With a human mother and God as his father, Jesus was the only God-man ever to exist.
The Christmas Star
The star mentioned in Matthew is not necessarily what we normally think of as a star. That is, it was not necessarily an enormous mass of hydrogen and helium gas powered by nuclear fusion. The Greek word translated star is aster (αστηρ), which is where we get the word astronomy. In the biblical conception of the word, a star is any luminous point of light in our night sky. This would certainly include our modern definition of a star, but it would also include the planets, supernovae, comets, or anything else that resembles a point of light.
Visit of the Magi
Many scholars believe the Prophet Daniel’s influence in the Babylonian and Persian empires led to the magi’s familiarity with the Jewish scriptures. Whether or not this is the case, the magi were being drawn by the God of the Jews to visit his Son in Israel.
The true gift of Christmas is Christ—the Son of God, who chose to become one of us to sacrifice himself for the atonement of our sins and to save us from a just, eternal punishment for Adam’s and our rejection of our Creator. We are blessed exceedingly by Jesus’ gift.