All our minds are constantly thinking about and trying to understand countless things in our surroundings. But what is the effect of all that thought and knowledge on our souls? We become tired and often disappointed, wondering what the use of knowing all this is. The Apostle Paul, who was like us—running after the tradition and religion he was born into, chasing after worldly fame and wealth—made a life-changing decision when God opened his eyes. He was determined to “not know anything but Jesus Christ.” To know Jesus Christ deeply and experientially, in every part of His being. Why, Paul? “Because I have attained a wisdom and realized that everything I know and spend my thoughts on in this world is all vain, garbage, and dung; none of it will bring any true joy and peace to the soul.” The study of Christ is the study of studies; he calls it the “surpassing infinite value of knowing Christ.” Not only is it valuable for a man’s happiness in this life, but it is the only knowledge that can bring eternal happiness. He saw so much value that he was willing to sell everything he had, knowing he could never overbuy it. You and I, sitting here restless and sad this morning, if we were to ask Paul what our greatest need is, he would say we need to grow in the surpassing value of knowing Christ.
In our communion meditation, that is what we are trying to do with our study “Looking to Jesus.” It’s not just about historical knowledge of Christ, but about focusing all our attention, our strong, deep thoughts on Christ. We muse, meditate, and ponder until virtue, divine strength, grace, and light flow from Him to us. The more we do this, the more we will experience it; thus, it is an inward, experimental look. This meditation brings Christ closer to the soul, opens our spiritual eyes to see His value and glory, and makes Him very attractive and desirable to us. We are so weak and superficial in our meditations and don’t know what a deep looking unto Christ is. So we have started this series as a practice.
We have looked at Christ pre-creation, and Christ in the Old Testament. Now today, we come to look deeply at Christ’s birth. This is the mysterious and universal wonder of God becoming a man. Generally, this is taught during Christmas, and I’ve noticed that with all the festive mood, people hardly deeply think about and grasp the depth of His birth at that time. It’s good to see it calmly without any December festival sentimental feelings.
Regarding the birth of Christ, the angels said, “Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy, that shall be to all people.” The birth of Christ has a mighty connection to us: “unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given.” When we grasp this, it will bring great joy. So let us try to experience that joy today.
Looking at Jesus at His Birth
We will look at four headings:
- The announcement of Christ’s birth.
- The conception of Christ.
- The two natures in Christ.
- The birth of Christ.
There is virtue and grace in every aspect of His life. Let us look at these events to experience it.
1. The Announcement of Christ’s Birth
In Luke 1:26-28, it says, “And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God.” Imagine all the Old Testament expectations of the coming One that we saw last time: from Adam and Eve, a seed; from Abraham, a promise through a nation to bless all families of the earth; from Moses, the law revealing that all mankind stands condemned, but He will come and fulfill the entire law and purchase perfect righteousness; from David, a promise for all mankind dying with a transient life that He will come and establish an eternal kingdom; from the prophets, all burdened with the ceremonial law of the Old Testament that He will come and establish a new covenant. Oh, how they that lived before Christ desired this coming of Christ! Abraham desired to see that day, two thousand years and more before it came. He was the expectation of all the patriarchs: “Oh, when will that day come!” He was the desire of all nations. The nations were repeatedly disappointed. “A king is coming! A politician is coming! A movie actor is coming!”—all selfish men coming to disappoint. But this One is coming for our greatest good with not even a tiny bit of self-interest, leaving all the glory of His deity for our greatest good.
Behold, the announcement of His birth is so amazing that no man is worthy to announce the news of the conception of the God of heaven in a womb of earth. A great angel, Gabriel, from God’s presence, came to make the announcement to a small girl. When that girl was scared, he said powerful words that not only removed her fear but also the fear of every believer. “Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.”
Again, the angel tells us to behold this—look deeply into this. Mary will conceive and bring forth a son, the object that you are to look at. The first title that the angel gives is Jesus, meaning Savior. Oh, come! Let us dwell a little here. This name Jesus is better to us than all the titles of God. Without the name Jesus, God with all His attributes was our greatest enemy. A name is a revelation of God’s attribute. God had revealed Himself in different names, showing His power, majesty, and justice, but if there is one name He chose to reveal the height and depth of His mercy and grace, it is the name of Jesus. This name is exalted above all names. Oh, it is a useful name! What a sweet name this has become for me! In all our depths, distresses, miseries, perplexities, and guilt, when we beseech God by the name of Jesus, we shall find grace, mercy, and a miracle for whatever situation we are in. Just go in the name of Jesus; heaven opens.
The reason for this name was given by the angel to Joseph: “Thou shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.” But why from their sins?
A blind world might say, “Ah, what big news.” They would say, “Tell us if He will save us from poverty, disease, shame, death, and hell.” This is because the Devil has blinded people. They are all worrying about the symptoms but not the root cause. The root cause of all man’s problems is sin, the very worst of all evils. If there is no sin, there will be no poverty, no disease, no shame, no death, and no hell. If we are delivered from sin, we are delivered from all that. All evil ceases to be evil when sin is taken away by Jesus. In fact, if we are delivered from sin, poverty is not an evil, there is no shame, no sting in death, there would be no hell, and there would be eternal paradise. What an abundance of benefits are here in one word: “He shall save his people from their sins”!
Do you know the wonder of what Jesus does? Once you are saved, you can look at your life and say all that happened was for good. There is no evil incident in life. All past, present, and future suffering, shame, and disease amazingly become blessings. Jesus truly turns our sorrows into joy. If Jesus takes away sin, He blesses us with true, eternal blessings and sanctifies our worldly afflictions. He increases peace out of trouble, shows what true riches are out of temporary poverty, and brings honor out of contempt. He pulls out the sting of death and puts out the fire of hell. As all evils are wrapped up in sin, so He who saves us from sin, saves us from all evils whatsoever. What good news this should be for the world cursed with sin from birth—that He will save us from sins. It is so sweet for us that as long as God remembers that blessed name, He will forget all our sins. It is the highest, the dearest, the sweetest name to us of all the names of God.
So truly, the news is good news. After the fall, when we were in Adam’s loins, we were cursed with the curse, “you shall surely die.” What a sad condition you and I were born into, that after a little life on earth, we should have been thrown into eternal torments, where there would have been nothing but weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth!
O my soul, ponder on these words, as if an angel, seeing you stand on the brink of hell, should speak to your soul, “Hey, hell-deserving sinner. Here is the great good news God sends through an angel. Go tell everyone, ‘Hear ye, Adam’s fallen children. You shall not die. Why? Lo, a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son,’ and He shall be your Jesus. He shall save you from all sins, all the consequences of sins, death, and the horror of hell. He shall save to the utmost. His name is Jesus; believe in Him, and you shall live with Him in glory.” Oh, blessed news!
If healing from a disease is good news, this is healing from the greatest disease. If escaping from danger is good news, this is escape from the greatest danger of hell. If a free or discount offer is good news, this is the greatest free offer of heaven, a blessing of eternal heaven. Is not the birth of such a Savior who will accomplish this for us good news? We are undone without His birth.
The Conception of Christ
Next, let’s look at the conception of Christ. As soon as the Virgin said, “Be it to me according to thy word,” it was according to that word. Immediately, the Holy Spirit overshadowed her and formed the seed of our Savior in her womb. What a wonder it must be! On one side, there is the wonder of God’s infinite grace. Instead of pushing sinners to the lowest hell, God, who dwells in unapproachable light—an invisible God—should be made visible to our senses. That God should take our nature, dwell in it with all His fullness, the nature which had sinned against Him, and use it as a great way of reconciling us to Himself; through that flesh, He opened all His rich discoveries of love and free grace to the sons of men.
That free grace came down from heaven to earth, saying, “Peace be to you. I will live with you in this world, and you shall live with me in the world to come.” Here was blessed news. This is the Gospel. Jesus is made up, as it were, of all free grace. What eternal thanks do we owe to the eternal God!
Though blind men didn’t recognize that grace of God—they are even blind now—at that time, an infinite number of angels, who received no benefit for their tribe, just seeing God’s grace, couldn’t control themselves. They suddenly appeared with a standing ovation. They praised God saying, “Glory to God in the highest, peace upon earth, good will toward men.” How can we say with the angels, “Glory to God for Jesus Christ!” Have you deeply thought about this truth of God becoming man? Paul stood amazed and says, “Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: God manifest in the flesh.” (1 Timothy 3:16)
It is not just a mystery, but a great mystery, that the Son of God, whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain, should confine Himself as an invisible seed in a woman’s womb, which He Himself voluntarily humbled. If we knew the height of the deity, even a little bit, with all His attributes, we would stand awestruck at this stooping condescension. Yes, these things are mysterious beyond our minds, but we should allow our minds to think and deeply stand in awful worship of what God has done for us. We shall find the joy and sweetness of this mystery. To what extent God went to save you and me!
How did this happen? The angel explains, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). The process of conception would be that the Holy Ghost would come upon her and overshadow her, and she would conceive. The product of that will be so holy; the verse says “holy thing.” This conception is so clean, so sanctified, with no spot nor stain of original pollution. That is why the agent who formed the seed in the virgin’s womb was the Holy Spirit Himself, the source of holiness. He is the one who overshadowed this universe before creation. This is a mystery. If the course of ordinary generation is a secret, how past all comprehension is this extraordinary operation!
O my soul, looking at this Jesus, He started saving me even in His conception. Like David, we all beat our breasts and say, “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” This was my case from the very first moment of my being: born in sin, born with original guilt, and a depraved nature. If I had died in that condition, scripture says, “nothing undefiled nor unclean should enter into the kingdom of glory.” So even if I had been aborted, I would have gone to hell.
Look at my Savior! To sanctify my deeply sinful conception, He is born with a holy conception. My sin-stained conception is sanctified by Christ’s holy conception. His holy conception hides my original pollutions from the eye of God. Oh! Look at this Jesus’s conception.
The Holy Spirit who could create the universe from nothing—how many other miraculous ways could He have formed Christ? But even in His birth, He took our place. In one way, He was born like you and me, of a woman, but He was born without sin. What! That the great God of heaven should condescend so far as to take our nature upon Him and to take it in the same way as we do? Again, we should not give this work to our minds. This is a work of the heart. Though we cannot grasp this in our minds, we can be awed in our hearts at the humiliation of His grace. We shall find the joy and sweetness of this mystery. To what extent God went to save you and me!
Not only the announcement and conception, but the one conceived in the womb is the greatest miracle of the universe: a baby with two natures but one person.
The Two Natures in Christ
3. Look deeply at the two natures of Christ. He was truly God and truly man. How foolish people are today, arguing whether Christ is God. They say, “Then why was He born like that?” Many scriptures support this. Isaiah 9:6 says, “To us a child is born,” which is a human nature, “and he shall be called the mighty God,” which is a divine nature. Galatians 4:4 says, “God sent his Son,” so He is truly God, and that Son was “made of a woman,” therefore He is truly man. Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord, and my God!” In Acts 20, Paul said, “Take heed to yourselves, and to all the flock, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.”
The incommunicable properties of the Deity are ascribed to Him. He is eternal as God (Revelation 1:17). He is infinite as God (Matthew 28:20). He is omniscient as God (Matthew 9:4). He is omnipotent as God; “He hath the keys of hell and death.” His divine acts are ascribed to Him, which are only agreeable to the divine nature; for example, to hear the prayers of the people (John 14:14). He accepts worship. To judge the living and the dead (John 5:22). And thus, He creates as God (John 1:3). He forgives as God (Matthew 9:6). He sanctifies as God (John 1:16).
How foolishly people damage their souls if they deny Jesus is not God. If Jesus is not God, you and I do not have salvation. Why should He be born as God?
- Because the sins you and I have committed have brought eternal and infinite wrath on us. No finite human can bear that burden of God’s infinite wrath and fully atone for their sins. That is why all men suffer for eternity. Christ, therefore, must be God so that He might be able to bear the burden by His divine power. The satisfaction made for sin must be infinitely meritorious, and infinite wrath cannot be appeased but by an infinite merit. Hence, our Savior must needs be God, to the end that His obedience and sufferings might be of infinite worth.
As Christ is God, so He is also true man. He was born as a man, grew, ate as a man, slept as a man, wept as a man, sorrowed as a man, suffered as a man, and died as a man. Christ had all the properties that belong to the soul or body of a man, all the infirmities of our nature, sin only excepted. I say the infirmities of our nature, as cold, and heat, and hunger, and thirst, and weariness, and weakness, and pain. But why should our Savior be man?
- Because our Savior must take our place as man and suffer and die for our sins, which the Godhead could not do.
- Because our Savior must perform obedience to the law as man.
- Because our Savior must satisfy the justice of God in the same nature in which it was offended. So it is essential that He be both man and God.
These two natures were distinct. Godhead cannot be the manhood, nor can the manhood be the Godhead. His divine attributes cannot mix with His human nature. They were distinct. He was conceived as others and so He was man, but He was conceived by the Holy Ghost as never man was, and so He is God. In His manhood, He did some things to save us, and in His deity, He did some things. The very actions in the work of redemption are inseparable, and yet distinguishable. “I lay down my life, and take it up again.” To lay it down was the action of man, not of God; and to take it up was the action of God, not of man. He was crucified, died, and was buried, and so He was man; but He rose again from the dead and ascended into heaven, so He is God. So our confession says these two natures remain in themselves entire, without any conversion, mixture, or confusion.
Though there are two natures, He was one person. It was not the divine nature that assumed a human person, but the divine person that assumed a human nature. Many wonders have existed since the beginning of the world, but all the wonders that ever were must give place to this as the top wonder. Neither the creation of everything from nothing nor the restoration of all things into their perfect being can match this wonder. The union of two natures of Christ in one and the self-same person is that great wonder. It is a great mystery, a secret, a wonder. The greatest mystery next to the Trinity—three persons, one God—is Christ, two natures and one person.
Why should we have a deep grasp of this? Think of the wonderful benefits flowing from this person with two natures.
- This made Him completely holy, without any sin. Though Christ took the place of a sinner and was numbered among the wicked, yet in truth, personally, He was immaculately holy. Because of this union, He was conceived, born, and lived without sin. He was man, but was born without any stain of even the original sin. The apostle tells us He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners.
- It made Him equipped for a great work. When He suffered the infinite wrath of God as a man, just as a man, He would have been shattered to pieces, but what supported Him was His divinity.
- It is because of this union of man with God that His birth, life, suffering, and death have infinite value. Because of the communication of the properties, though He suffered as man, the value of His suffering is valued as the suffering of God and satisfied the infinite wrath of God. He obeyed as man, and His obedience is seen as the obedience of God with infinite merit. It has purchased eternal righteousness and satisfies the justice of God and makes sinners stand before Him as righteous. Thus, we say God suffered and God was crucified; God shed His blood.
- All divine graces and riches are brought to the humanity of Christ by reason of His union. God revealed something of Himself in all creation; the heavens declare His glory, power, and goodness. In providence, we see His wisdom. In redemption, He makes His people reflect His attributes and graces as the moon reflects the sun. But when talking about Christ alone, scripture says, “In him dwelleth all the fullness of the godhead bodily”; meaning Christ is a full revelation of all the attributes of God. It does not just reflect as the moon reflects the sun’s light, but divine fullness dwells in Christ. Not seemingly, not figuratively, and not in a shadow or reflection, but inherently, essentially, substantially, and personally, “it dwelleth in him bodily.” In Him are stored all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. His humanity is an inherent treasury and storehouse for all graces.
- The good news is that all this storehouse is communicative. The reason for this unlimited grace bestowed on the nature of man in Christ was so He could bestow all needed grace to His people. He was made the fountain of grace, of which John says, “of His fullness we have received grace for grace.”
- The marvelous thing is how He communicates this to us. It is this union of human nature with the Son of God that was able to create a spiritual union between a believer and Christ. Oh, the wonder of these two blessed unions! There is a personal union and a spiritual or mystical union. Because Christ took human nature into His divine nature, we as humans can be united to Him now. We have a connection and a flow of all His divine graces. This union is mystical, and yet our very persons, natures, bodies, and souls are in a spiritual way conjoined to the body and soul of Christ, so that we are members of the body of Christ. This conjunction is immediately made with His human nature, so thereby we are also united to the divine connection. Yes, the person of the believer is united to the glorious person of the Son of God. This is not some imaginative, theoretical union. There is a deep, real connection between Christ and the believer, and life and virtues flow from Christ to the believer, just like life flows to the branches from the vine, and from the head to the body members. “I live, yet not I,” says Paul, “but Christ liveth in me.” As if he had said, as the soul is to the body, so is Jesus Christ to my body. This union is the reason why a believer continues to live in Christ despite many struggles. “Because I live, you shall also live.”
- It is a total union; that is, the whole Christ is united to the whole believer, soul and body. This makes Christ my portion that can never be taken away. If you are united to Christ, you have all of Christ; you are one with Him in His nature and in His name. You have the same image, grace, and spirit in you. This is an unbelievable truth! God shows us the same love He has for Christ because He sees us in Christ. All that Christ has is ours. We have the same identity. This is the reason why we, depraved sinners, can call a holy God “Father,” because He is the Father of Christ. We can go in His name. We are seen in Him and pleased. We become co-heirs, children of God. You have the same love of the Father. All that He did or suffered, you have a share in it; you have His life and death. All is yours. The whole Christ is mine.
Looking unto Jesus, think deeply of His two natures. No sooner was He conceived, He took on your nature and united Himself to you, and identified Himself with you. Admire, O my soul, at this! All this was for us and for our salvation. He became a man and took a body not to enjoy bodily pleasures, but to suffer and feel pain for our sins, that He might die for us. He was God, so that His suffering and death might be sufficient to atone for us and have eternal merit to save us. Had He been man alone, not God, He might have suffered, but He could never have satisfied for sin. Had He been God alone, not man, He had not been related to our offending nature, and so He could not have satisfied the justice of God in the same nature in which it was offended. O my soul, look to save you. Jesus became God-man, so He might be able and fit to finish the work of your salvation. As God, He is able to bear the punishment of sin, and as man, He is fit to suffer for sin. Oh, the wisdom of God in this! Man’s nature can suffer death, but not overcome it. The divine nature can overcome death and all things, but He cannot suffer it. Hence, He came with two natures. O, muse on this; it is worthy of your serious consideration.
Consider the blessed effects of this union in reference to yourself. As our nature in the person of Christ is united to the Godhead, so our persons in and by this union of Christ are brought near to God.
The Birth of Christ
So we have seen the announcement, the conception, and that the one conceived in the womb had two natures but was one person. Now, lastly, let us look at His birth.
A thing so wonderful, a sign was given 700 years ago, by Isaiah, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give a sign; behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son.” But come a little nearer; let us go to Bethlehem, as the shepherds said, and “see this thing which is come to pass!” If we step but one step into His manger, heaven’s wonder is before our eyes. Now look upon Jesus! Look on Him—a baby. Behold the desire of nations. Adam and Eve’s seed, Abraham’s promise to bless all families of the earth, Moses’s revelation of one who will fulfill the entire law and purchase perfect righteousness, David’s son who will establish an eternal kingdom, the prophets’ one who will establish a new covenant. These were all but shadows and veils, but now we shall draw aside the curtains. Come, take a view of the truth itself. What a strange birth this is! And a strange place.
Look at the babe. There is no cradle to rock Him, no relatives around, no palace, no linens to swaddle Him. Look at the mother. There are no midwives to help, no downy pillows, no bed, and scarcely a little straw where she is brought to bed. Look at Joseph, His supposed father, a poor carpenter who made a chamber out of an ox-stall. The angel’s announcement was fulfilled: the Holy Ghost overshadowed her; she would deliver a son, a holy thing who is the Son of God. Oh, many human eyes in the world may not have seen that baby, but we can be sure every eye in the whole heaven looked at the baby with wonder and sang a choir song.
All the gracious attributes of God met in Christ. What an attractive sight that must have been for heaven. It is like a man who was disappointed for many, many years who then sees something so satisfying. God’s attributes were so fed up with seeing man for years.
The righteousness of God, which was frustrated and angry with all mankind, was fed up and had never looked at heaven. It cried to God to destroy unrighteous humans. Now it looks down with wide-open eyes. For what could righteousness desire to see and satisfy herself in that was not to be seen in Jesus Christ? He was all-righteous; there was not the least spot of sin in Him. His birth was clean. Both His soul and body were without all sin. Whatever satisfaction righteousness would have, she might have it in Him.
Looking at Jesus, the historical birth of Jesus is great good news. But how can we draw virtue from it? Do you know the same Holy Spirit comes upon you to form and fashion you in Jesus Christ? (Thus, Paul speaks to the Galatians, “My little children, of whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you.”) Would not this affect you? In faith and love, may we go with the shepherds to Bethlehem and there find our Savior lying in a stable, that we would bring Him from there and make our hearts His cradle!
Come, receive Christ into your soul, or if that work is done, if Christ is formed in you, oh, cherish Him! (I speak of the spiritual birth.) Oh, keep Him in your heart! Let Him there bud, and blossom, and bear fruit; let Him fill your soul with His divine graces. When we are born again, Christ is born in us.
After His birth:
- See Him when He was but eight days old. He was circumcised and named Jesus. In this early humiliation, He plainly discovered the riches of His grace. Now He sheds His blood in drops, and thereby gives a foretaste of those rivers which He afterwards poured out for the cleansing of our nature and extinguishing the wrath of God. If Christ had never been circumcised, you and I would not have the spiritual heart circumcision of a new birth. Oh, the unspeakable mercies of our Jesus, that He provides a salvation remedy as early as our sin! First, He is conceived; and then He is born holy, to sanctify our sinful conceptions and our births. And after His birth, He is circumcised so we can have heart circumcision.
- When He was yet under one or two years old, He fled into Egypt because Herod was looking to kill the child. Then, after Herod died, maybe when He was five years old, He came and lived in Nazareth. How difficult it must have been to travel with a child! Could not Christ have avoided this from Herod in a thousand ways? What could an arm of flesh have done against the God of spirits? Why was His infancy so difficult and humble, running away? By this, He taught that we are no sooner born again than we are persecuted. He identifies Himself with us. He taught us to bear the yoke even in our small age; thus, He would suffer, that He might sanctify to us our earthly afflictions.
- When He was twelve years old, He went up to Jerusalem with His parents, according to the custom of the feast, “sitting in the midst of the temple, both hearing them and asking them questions.” Surely these rabbis had never heard the voice of such a tutor. They could not but see the very wisdom of God in this child; and therefore, the text says, “they all wonder.” “In him were hid,” says the apostle, “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Those treasures appeared very early; His wisdom in His very infancy is admired.
- After this, from the twelfth to the thirtieth year of His age, we read nothing of the acts of Christ, but that He “went down with His parents unto Nazareth, and was subject to them.” Christ’s subjection to His parents extends to the profession and exercise of His life. Certainly Christ was not idle all that time, from twelve to thirty years. As He was educated by His parents, so of His father He learned to be a carpenter. People said, “Is not this the carpenter, the Son of Mary?” Oh, the poverty and humility of Jesus! It appears at this time especially, in His laboring and working, hewing of wood, or the like. Here is a sharp reproof to all those who spend their time in idleness and say, “I will not do this work and that.” What! Are they wiser than Christ? Our Jesus would not by any means thus spend His time. There is so deep a silence from twelve to thirty, so I shall therefore pass it by.
We are not just to see the bare history of things and pass on. We need to look deeply until we see how it relates to us and how virtue flows to us. All this should be very interesting to us because everything that Christ did had you in mind. He was incarnate for you; He was conceived and born for you. He was circumcised, went to the temple, worked, and grew as a man for you. He is our identity in God’s sight; He is our righteousness. Is it possible that the great God of heaven and earth should so infinitely condescend to be born and live on earth all for us? We aren’t interested because we are so occupied with our selfish, sinful lives. Oh, ungrateful creatures! Jesus said, “When you come to communion, remember me.”
Application: How to Approach Communion
Hearing all this, how should we come to communion? In four ways, we should desire Christ, believe in Christ, love Christ, and rejoice in Christ.
Desire Christ
If Christ is all we have studied—born God-man, with all the fullness of the Godhead dwelling in Him, with all the graces you and I need in Him, a hidden treasure, all wisdom and knowledge in Him—shouldn’t our greatest desire be for Christ? This Christ wants a place in our hearts. Just like that day in Bethlehem, today there is no place in many hearts for Him. How about your heart? Can I ask you how much you desire Christ? Is there a place for Him in your heart? Millions of souls stand at a distance from Christ and know nothing of Christ. Why? They have no desire for Him. But Scripture says to hunger and thirst because Christ is the true bread and living water that satisfies us, as a deer pants for rivers of water. Oh, why are our desires so narrow and almost dry? Isn’t it because our hearts are filled with useless desires, leaving no room for Christ?
Oh, that my soul, and your soul, would desire Christ. Everything in life depends on our desire. Once spiritual desire starts, we taste it, and it makes us desire more and enlarges our heart. Who was closer to Christ than Paul, yet Paul had a great desire: “Oh, I want to know Him more.”
Will not the desires of the patriarchs witness against you? How they cried after Christ’s coming in the flesh! They saw Christ afar off, and their sight was very dim, “but we all with open face, as in a glass, behold the glory of the Lord.”
O my soul, either you are more ignorant of Christ than the patriarchs of old, or your heart is full of vanity that blinds you. Blame your heart. It may be that your sluggish nature has laid your desires asleep. Oh, stir up and awake your desires.
Present before your heart the glorious object, the incarnation of Jesus Christ. It is an object that the very angels desire to look into. All saints in history desire it. Is not the fruit of the incarnation yours, more especially yours? Oh, my soul, let not such a treasury be unlooked into. Put faith to work with a redoubled strength.
View all those excellencies of His conception, of His two natures, and apply it to yourself. See the fruit of all: He was conceived that our conceptions might be sanctified; He was the Son of man that He might suffer for us; and the Son of God that He might satisfy divine justice; He was God and man in one person that we might be one with Him, “members of His body.” He was born in a womb, so that there might be a spiritual birth of Christ in our hearts.
Are not these things desirable? Union with Christ and communion with Christ are the most desirable things, the effects of His personal union. Oh, may God increase our desire for Christ.
People celebrate the birth of Christ, but of greater importance is, “Is Christ born in you?” Are you born again? The new birth is the effect of Christ’s birth and a sure sign that Christ is born in us. The apostles cry, “We saw his glory, as of the only begotten Son of God.” We can see Christ’s glory when He is born in us through a new birth.
Believe in Christ
Don’t stay with the excuse, “How am I unworthy? God should do such a thing for such a sinful, abominable wretch as I am?” Ah! Poor soul, that is all the language of unbelief. Faith marvelously makes us look away from whatever we are, whatever our condition is. The point is not what we are and what we have done, but to look away and look intently to Christ. God made Christ to come in our nature, knowing all your depravity.
Why do you stand afar off? God is not come down in fire, justice, and everlasting burnings. No, He is clothed with your nature so you can boldly come to Him in faith. He desires to converse with you after your own form.
Oh, the wonder of heaven! Oh, the infinite condescension of God in Christ! God takes up our nature and joins it to Himself as one person, and lays that before our faith, so that here is God, and God suited to the particular state of the sinner. Now with what boldness may our souls draw near to God!
It is the cry of some poor souls, “Oh, that I might see God!” Behold, here God is come down in the likeness of man. He walks in our own shape amongst us. Surely God has left all the world without excuse. Why will you now stand off? Tell me, what would you have God do more? Can He manifest Himself in a more suitable way to your condition? Is there anything below flesh wherein the great God can humble Himself for your good?
Faith must directly go to Christ. Christ says, “Come unto me,” not all righteous, but “heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” We should come with faith, not loose, superficial faith, but with an intense, solemn, and serious spirit. We should look on Jesus piercingly until we see Him as God is in Him. We should labor to apprehend the riches of this glorious mystery of Christ’s incarnation. We should dive into the depths of His glorious actions. We should study this mystery above all other studies.
Yes, we usually think of Christ’s death and resurrection for communion. Christ’s incarnation holds forth Christ in His fullness, and so is the complete subject of our faith.
Come, poor soul, your eyes are running to and fro the world, to find comfort and happiness on earth. Oh, cast your eyes back, and see heaven and earth in one object! Look fixedly on Christ incarnate! What, O my soul, is God come down so low to you? And do you now stand questioning whether you should go or come to Him?
Love and Rejoice in Christ
Believers, may this make you love Christ. The very sight of Christ’s incarnate, humble form is enough to ravish you with the apprehension of His infinite goodness. See to what extent the eternal God came down and united you to Himself, soul to soul, in union and participation of His glory! Oh, love Him, not with a divided heart, but with all your heart. But to excite this love, let me point out a few things.
It is sad to see believers shy in their approaches to God, or doubtful of their acceptance with God, when God Himself stoops first and is so in love with our acquaintance that He will be of the same nature that we are. Oh! Let not such a rock of strength be slighted, but every day entertain precious thoughts of Christ being incarnate.
It was a greater love of God to take our nature than simply to save our souls. For a king to dispense with the law and by his own prerogative to save a murderer from the gallows is not such an act of love and mercy as to take the murderer’s clothes and take the punishment of the murderer himself. What strange love! Why, God, in taking our nature, has done this and more than this. He would not save us by His mere prerogative, but He takes our clothes—our flesh—and in that flesh He personifies us, and in that flesh He will suffer and die for us, so that we might not die, but live through Him forevermore.
Think of the union that God’s love did. God takes the flesh of those poor sinners which He had so loved, and joins it to Himself, and calls it Christ, a Savior. Now it was that God descended and lay in the womb of a virgin; now it was that He is born as we are born; now it was that He joined our flesh so near to Himself, as that there is a communication of properties between them both. That is attributed to God which is proper to flesh, such as to be born and to suffer, and that is attributed to flesh which is proper to God, such as to create and to redeem. Who can choose but wonder, that God should be made flesh and dwell amongst us? That flesh should infinitely provoke God, and yet God, in the same flesh, should be infinitely pleased? That God should veil Himself and darken His glory with our flesh, and yet unveil at the same time the deepest and darkest of His designs in a comfortable way to our souls? O my soul! How should you contain yourself within yourself? How should you but leap out of yourself, if I may so speak, as one that is lost in the admiration of this love? Surely God never manifested Himself in such a strain of love as this before.
If anything will beget our love for God, surely Christ incarnate will do it. Come then, O my soul, I cannot but call on you to love your Jesus. And to provoke your love, fix your eye on this lovely object. Draw yet a little nearer; consider what a heart of love is in this design. God is in your own nature to take upon Him all the miseries of your nature. Oh! My heart, are you yet cold in your love for Jesus Christ? Can you love Him but a little, who has loved you so much? How should I then but complain of you to Christ and for your sake beg hard of God: “O you sweet Jesus, that clothest yourself with the clouds as with a garment, and now clothest yourself with the nature of a man; Oh! that nothing but yourself might be dear to me, because it so pleased you to vilify yourself for my sake.”
Rejoice in Christ
Rejoice that you are eternally united to the human nature of Christ. The angel said, “behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” You are one with Christ; all that Christ is, is yours. “Rejoice in the Lord; and again I say, rejoice.” Is there not cause? “O my soul, what ails thee? Why are you cast down and disquieted within me? Is it because you are a sinner? Why, to you is born a Savior; His name is Savior, and therefore Savior, because He will save His people from their sins.”
He has laid aside, as it were, His own glory, while He converses with you. There is not in this regard the least distance between Him and us. Surely this is fuel for joy to feed upon. Oh, why should God come down so suitably and so lowly, as in our nature, if He would have your poor soul be afraid of Him? Oh, gather up your spirit, anoint your heart with the oil of gladness. See, God Himself is come down in flesh to live amongst us! See what a sweet way of familiarity and intercourse is made between God and us. God has taken on Him our nature, that His Godhead may flow out in all manner of sweetness upon our hearts.
“If I have found favor in thy eyes,” said Moses, “show me the way that I may know thee.” But to come down in flesh, not only to be seen, but to dispatch the great business of our soul’s salvation—here is comfort indeed! With what joy should we draw water out of this well of salvation? O my soul, you are daily busy in eyeing this and that, but above all, know that the fullness of God lies in Christ incarnate.
- We must praise. This was the special duty practiced by all saints and angels at Christ’s birth. “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,” said Zacharias. And, “Glory to God in the highest,” said the heavenly host; only one angel had before brought the news. “My soul doth magnify the Lord,” said Mary, “and my spirit rejoiceth in God my Saviour.” There is cause that every soul and every spirit should rejoice, that has any interest in this birth of Christ.
Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Bangalore 