Why Did God Send a BABY to Save Us?
Copyright Linda A. Wingfield
First Published–12/24/1994
Published at Linda’s Place–12/18/2018
Edited–12/04/2022
FOREWORD…
In 1994, I had been working as the Church Secretary at The First Presbyterian Church of Hoquiam, Washington, for two of the 10 years I remained in that position.
I was asked to write a Christmas Eve article for the local newspaper, to be published in their “Faces of Faith” section.
Here’s the ensuing article.
It’s Christmas Eve! Children will lie awake tonight, wondering what’s in the packages under the tree. Grownups, even if they’ve sworn it won’t happen this year, are racing against the clock to get that last gift wrapped. Some folks, though, have no homes…no expectations of a celebration…no bright shining tree…no gifts…no Christmas dinner…
No matter their situations, however, many Christians around the world will go to church to worship their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Candles will be lit, one by one–the light passing from person to person–symbolizing the coming of the Light of the World to deliver us from evil.
Some may wonder, “Why? Why did God send a baby to save us? What significance could a tiny baby have, to a world wracked with sin and torment? Why is there still fear and death, if the baby was truly the Savior–the Messiah?”
I don’t know all the answers. The Bible says that until Jesus returns, we’ll have only partial knowledge. Each year, though, I gain a better understanding of “why,” and the more I learn, the more I rejoice.
You’ve probably heard the story of Jesus’ virgin birth, about the angel Gabriel and his messages to Mary and Joseph, and about the taxation law that caused the long journey so late in Mary’s pregnancy.
Jesus’ birth in a stable with a manger for His bed is no secret, right? Do you really know, however, the continuing power of the birth of that baby? To understand “why,” we must go back to the beginning.
John 1:1-5 tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
Throughout Genesis 1, we are given the sequence of events, as God created the earth, the universe, and every animal species, from the substance that previously was only inside Him. With His faith, He sent forth His Spirit to do the work, by the power of His Word–the same Word John spoke of–JESUS, who “shines in the darkness.”
Then God created another thing: “…Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion…”
When Adam (meaning “out of God’s blood”) had practiced his creative powers by naming God’s other creations, God gave him a mate–one of his own kind–to help him populate, tend, and dominate the earth. To keep the bloodline pure, God took one of Adam’s “tselas” (one of his cells), and created his “other half,” whom Adam named Eve.
Genesis also tells us that God ceded the kingship of His Earth to mankind–male and female: “…and God blessed them, and God said unto them, ‘Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth…'”
They were made in the image of the triune God, and God had built into them free will. Though they were made in God’s image, however, they were NOT God Himself.
He knew they would fail to follow His will for them perfectly, so–before sin ever entered their lives through rebellion–God made a plan.
After Adam and Eve listened to the deceiver and did what God had said not to (and subsequently did not either accept the blame or ask God’s forgiveness), He put the plan into action: “…And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel…”
Banished (not from Earth itself, but from the perfect Eden) because of their fall, the couple were no longer the rulers of the world. Their disobedience had allowed Satan to steal and use the innate power of their “crowns” (their inborn, royal authority).
God could no longer just move by His Spirit to get Earth–or their authority over it–back for them, because He had given that rulership to mankind when He had created them. Only Adam, Eve, and their descendants had originally received the power to rule in the earth, and they had fully given it away to the deceiver–who had just as fully accepted it.
God’s (already-formed) plan for this necessity, had to involve someone born legally into the God-created family of mankind, yet someone who would not fail to follow the precepts of God. This “someone” would thus defeat the deceiver and give back God-given authority over planet Earth to mankind.
Through the centuries, Adam and Eve’s descendants told of a coming Messiah who would deliver them from bondage. Meanwhile, God gave them Commandments, and the Law–that included blood sacrifices meant to cover sin temporarily.
God maintained as much communication with His people as they would let Him. By the time Mary and Joseph were to be married, though, the Jewish people had a concept of the coming Messiah that had lost much of its spiritual power.
The power was still there. God had not changed. Their concept, though (based on what they had experienced in the earthly realm with its ruthless regime in place) had become very limited and worldly.
Most of the Jewish people believed–many still do–that the Messiah would be another man whom God would raise up to be either militarily or politically strong. They thought he would deliver them (God’s “chosen” people) just from the bondage of their earthly enemies. They still didn’t understand a lot about the spiritual powers that had been ceded to the devil and his minions by Adam’s and Eve’s own words.
Mary and Joseph did know enough that they accepted and acted upon the message the angel Gabriel had given Mary–thereby fulfilling God’s promises and allowing the “last Adam” to be born legally on Earth, as a child of mankind…yet also God Himself.
I Corinthians tells us that the “first Adam” was LIKE God, but that the “last Adam” IS God! By their obedience to God (even though they didn’t fully understand what was happening), Mary and Joseph allowed Him to purify the bloodline of Adam’s descendants, therefore also allowing Him to restore to those same descendants (past, present, and future), their rightful ownership and authority over this world.
The Father had breathed His own life’s blood into the first Adam, but sin had introduced a flaw (called death) into that blood. With the conception of Jesus, a better transfusion was made available, straight from Almighty God, and the new legal heir apparent–the son of man and Son of God all in one–the King of Kings–was born.
Because God carried out His plan legally (He is THE “just” God–THE God who created justice, and is full OF it), we can count on the power of that plan to last…forever. Jesus didn’t sneak in through the back door. He crawled in through the front door, as a human baby, carrying inside of Himself the full creativity of the Godhead. Yet He submitted Himself to the limitations of humanity.
When He had grown into full manhood, He would proceed with “…the rest of the story,” making the blood transfusion available for ALL–but we’ll leave that for the Easter season.
This Christmas Eve (as with any of them since then), it’s enough to remember that God restored our link with His original creation in a way that the devil can never defeat–try though he might, and though he does.
That is the ultimate triumph, and it’s what John meant, when he said in John 3:16-18, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
Galatians 4:3-7 explains how the birth of Jesus–the only begotten Son–returns our earthly dominion to us:
“We, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”
If you didn’t know about this Savior, or if you’ve never accepted His Lordship, you can do it now, right there wherever you are, by just telling Father God that you believe in what Jesus did for mankind by His Spirit. Then you can worship the Lord, your God, along with the rest of the believers–the Body of Christ–this Christmas Eve, and forever.
There’s much more to the story of Jesus (and our lives “in Him”) but this is a great beginning, without which there would be no “…rest of the story!”
Some Scriptures taken from the
King James Bible®
PUBLIC DOMAIN
Some Scriptures taken from the
New King James Version®
Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
…ADDITIONAL NOTES…
You might also want to check out the following links–one about Christmas, and the other about Easter…
Christmas…
Jesus, and “the order of Melchizedek”
Easter…
“Embrace” (by Bill Vanderbush)
Truly love this! Thank you for sharing!!
Thanks, Melody! It’s something that has lifted me over and over again. 🙂