The Arrival In Bethlehem

Matthew 1:21-23 And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS, for He shall save His people from their sins. 22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 23 “Behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel.” (which being interpreted is, “God with us.”)

The most basic act of revelation that God Himself takes in Scripture, except for the Incarnation, is His speech. In the garden after the fall, God does not disclose Himself to rebellious Adam and Eve in a fantastic display of light, but His voice penetrates their darkness, He simply spoke.

Even His self-disclosure in great redemptive acts and signs such as the burning bush, Mount Sinai, the cross and the resurrection, never take the place of His revealing, explanatory Word. In every Old Testament case, the prophets say, The Word of the Lord came to me, saying…

God Reveals Himself In Bethlehem

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

1 John 1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of Life.

Christianity is full of experience and it insists human beings come into contact with the living God. But Christianity does not begin and end with experience; it begins and ends with God disclosing Himself, revealing Himself in real history to real witnesses, through the God-man, Jesus.

Christian faith, although it is not the sort of thing that can be cranked out by a logical argument, is not abstracted from history.

The way to faith is through witness— the witnesses who first saw, proclaimed and touched Jesus. If those first witnesses are falsified, then it is all fake and we should walk away from Christ.

Many philosophical religious systems are abstracted from history. In their system, it does not matter whether their leader lived, but this is not so with Christianity.

If you could show that Jesus never lived, never died, never rose from the dead, or if you could show the Incarnation was just a made up story, invented three centuries later, then Christianity would then be completely and totally useless.

That’s why Christians have a vested interest in history. However, Real Christianity does not think people can be talked into the kingdom by merely appealing to history. Still, Christian faith is tied to history, because God disclosed Himself in history when the Word became flesh.

Hebrews 1:1-2 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, whom He has appointed Heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds.

The Son is His ultimate Word. He has spoken to us in His Son. God expressed Himself, and that self-expression was with God and  became a human being.

Our Fellowship With God and Others Depends Upon Bethlehem

1 John 1:3 That which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

John, an eyewitness, said, “we have fellowship with Him, and we proclaim this message to you so you may have fellowship with us.” The apostles clearly see themselves as a critical link to the knowledge of God by the God-man, His Son Jesus Christ.

This itself is then tied to not only the fulfillment of prophecy, the streams of the Old Testament that make out the coming One not only as the son of David, but also as the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

Christ is God’s agent until he turns over the entire conquest to His Father and all the kingdoms of this world become “the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ,” and He shall reign forever. Revelation 11:15

The Incarnation is the hub on which everything takes place, so Christianity and the proclamation of it can never be merely an invitation to experiences of like individuals. It is an invitation to a shared commitment, a shared value,  shared goal that is tied to the one true God, Who has disclosed Himself in the God-man Jesus Christ.

First-century Christians had no place for our doublethink such as many liberals speak today. They say things like ‘it’s really not important whether or not he was virgin born, it is only important whether you believe it or not. It’s not important whether or not he rose from the dead but whether he has risen from the dead in your heart that is important.

No, a thousand times, no.
In the New Testament everything turns on the sheer facticity of things that take place in contingent history to which witness can be borne. We can have a restored relationship with God and each other because:

God in History at Bethlehem Revealed Himself in the person and birth of Jesus which led to our Restoration at Calvary.

Merry Christmas! Celebrate today and this season to the fullest, knowing He loves us and has made us His own.