Christmas can be filled with distractions. For a full month (longer if you start early like me) your world can quickly be filled with lights, trees, presents, etc. Before you know it, you can completely forget what it is that we celebrate as Christians this time of year. We forget to be in awe of the glorious truth of the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

The incarnation is the truth that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, took on flesh and blood so that he might accomplish redemption for those who would believe. But why is this the way in which God would choose to save and redeem?

The answer is found in Hebrews where we read, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil…Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:14,17).

From Hebrews, we see that in order for us to be saved, it was necessary that we have a human Savior to represent us and to make a propitiatory sacrifice for us. We all, by nature, are sinners and are born under the law. God requires that we perfectly obey His law, but we are unable to do this.

James says that if we break even one part of the law, we are guilty of breaking the whole thing (James 2:10). So we stand condemned before a holy God, and the only way for us to be saved is through a human Savior.

So Jesus was born under the law, so that He might fulfill the law for us and die on the cross in our place; rising again from the grave, overcoming sin and death. What a great Savior we have!

The London Baptist Confession of 1689 highlights the incarnation in chapter 8, paragraph 2. It states:

The Son of God, the second person in the Holy Trinity, being very and eternal God, the brightness of the Father's glory, of one substance and equal with Him who made the world, who upholds and governs all things He has made, did, when the fullness of time was complete, take upon Him man's nature, with all the essential properties and common infirmities of it, yet without sin; being conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary, the Holy Spirit coming down upon her: and the power of the Most High overshadowing her; and so was made of a woman of the tribe of Judah, of the seed of Abraham and David according to the Scriptures; so that two whole, perfect, and distinct natures were inseparably joined together in one person, without conversion, composition, or confusion; which person is very God and very man, yet one Christ, the only mediator between God and man.

As you celebrate Christmas this year, may it be a month (or longer) filled with amazement at the wonderful work of Jesus Christ, our Savior.