The Deep Significance of the Birth of Jesus Christ

[Chad]

Have you ever stopped to think about the deeper meaning of the birth of Jesus Christ? Although many people, even unbelievers, have heard the story of Jesus’ birth, its real significance may be missed because of that familiarity with the “story” aspect.

The birth of Jesus Christ—a momentous event
The birth of Christ was not the ordinary birth of an ordinary man. It was the birth of the most unique Person in history. The birth of Jesus Christ was the incarnation of God Himself. In other words, the very God became a man. The significance of this is profound and will take all eternity for us to appreciate. The conception and birth of Jesus Christ was the mingling of God with humanity. Such a thing had never occurred before.

John 1:14 says that the Word, the eternal God Himself, became flesh, meaning the man Jesus. When this happened, the eternal God stepped out of eternity into time to become a man of flesh and blood. Jesus Christ was indeed a genuine man, but at the same time, He was God. He is both fully God and fully man.​

In this post, we’ll use verses and notes from the Recovery Version to get a glimpse into the deep significance of Jesus’ birth to strengthen our appreciation of our dear Savior God.

The mysterious birth of Jesus was prophesied in the Old Testament.
About 700 years before Christ, the prophet Isaiah prophesied concerning the Jesus’ birth, saying in Isaiah 7:14,

“The Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will conceive and will bear a son, and she will call his name Immanuel.”

This prophecy was fulfilled in Christ’s birth—a son, born through divine conception in a virgin, without a human father. He was to be called Immanuel, which means “God with us.” This son born of a human virgin was the very God with us.

A couple of chapters later, Isaiah prophesied about the birth of Jesus again, saying in Isaiah 9:6:

“For a child is born to us, / A Son is given to us…/ And His name will be called / Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”​

Note 1 on this verse in the Recovery Version opens a window into what it means for Christ to be both a child and the Mighty God, a Son given to us, and the Eternal Father.

“The child born of a human virgin is the Son given by the eternal Father. Christ is the child born of both the divine and human natures (Matt.1:20-23) and He is also the Son in the divine nature given by the eternal Father. Through the birth of the divine-human child, the Eternal Father gave us His divine Son as a gift. Through such a giving, everyone who believes in, i.e., receives, this dear Son receives eternal life (John 3:16; 1 John 5:11-12).”​

The mysterious birth of Jesus was fulfilled in the New Testament.
The New Testament provides us a record of the actual events surrounding Christ’s birth. Through this record we can appreciate the step God took to give us His dear Son to us to be our Savior and our life.

Matthew 1:18 tells us how this virgin birth came about.

“Now the origin of Jesus Christ was in this way: His mother, Mary, after she had been engaged to Joseph, before they came together, was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit.”

Note 1 on this verse explains what this phrase “of the Holy Spirit” means regarding Christ.

“Although Christ was born of Mary (v. 16), He was a child of the Holy Spirit. The birth of Christ was directly of the Holy Spirit (v. 20). His source was the Holy Spirit and His element was divine. Through the virgin Mary He put on flesh and blood, the human nature, taking the likeness of the flesh (Rom. 8:3), the likeness of men (Phil. 2:7).”​

Then, in Matthew 1:20, an angel of the Lord visited Joseph to assure him of this divine fact.

“But while he pondered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife, for that which has been begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit.”​

The first note on this verse points out what God revealed about Christ in His assurance to Joseph.

“God was first born into Mary through His Spirit; after the conception was completed, He, with the human nature, was born to be a God-man, possessing both divinity and humanity. This is the origin of Christ.”​

Many years later, in recounting this mysterious story, the aged apostle John made these profound statements in John 1:1 and 14:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”​

“And the Word became flesh.”​

The words from these two verses, simple, yet profound, indicate clearly that the Word was God from eternity, and that the Word—God—became flesh in time.

Note 2 on verse 14 speaks further about what this means.

“Romans 8:3 indicates that although this flesh was the flesh of sin, it had only the likeness of the flesh of sin and did not have the sin of the flesh. It is the Word who became such flesh, and this Word was God, the complete Triune God (v. 1). That the Word became flesh means that the Triune God became a man of flesh in the likeness of a sinful man. By so doing God entered into sinful man and became one with sinful man. However, He had only the likeness of a sinful man and not the sin of a sinful man. Hence, He was a sinless God-man, the complete God and the perfect man, having two natures, the divine nature and the human nature.” (Read the full note here.)​

How does the truth regarding Christ’s birth affect us today?
Firstly, to be a genuine Christian, we must believe that Jesus Christ is more than a holy man, a prophet, or a martyr. He is the complete, eternal God come in the flesh. This is a basic item of the Christian faith.

As Christians, by prayerfully considering the Bible, especially the verses covered in this post, we can gain a deeper appreciation for the birth of Jesus Christ. God did not save us by somehow reaching down from the heavens in an objective way. The unapproachable God Himself became an approachable, contactable, knowable man. What a mysterious and yet wondrous fact! Our God became a man, experiencing everything of human life and living a perfect, sinless human life. And eventually, He went in His body of flesh and blood to die on the cross for us!

Through His incarnation, God was expressed in a man, Jesus Christ, in the flesh. Jesus, who was born in the manger, fully expressed the very God in all His rich being and Person to mankind. God’s love, mercy, righteousness, holiness, compassion, and glory were and still are expressed in the humanity of Christ.

By believing into the Lord Jesus Christ, we are saved and receive Jesus—the one who lived a perfect human life that expressed the true God—as our Savior and our life.

If you’ve never done so before, you can receive Him right now by praying this prayer.

“Lord Jesus, I believe that You are both the complete God and a perfect man. Thank You for being born with our humanity and becoming a real and genuine man with both divinity and humanity. Thank You for dying for my sins. Lord, I receive You right now. Thank You for coming into me to be my life. Lord, live out in me Your wonderful life that expresses God.”​

originally written by: The Deep Significance of the Birth of Jesus Christ | Bibles for America

 

[Ruth Magnusson Davis]

Thanks Chad. That is a beautiful feast upon beautiful truths. You must have been greatly blessed in the writing of it. If only more people would (could) believe, and receive Him, the Eternal Life, in their souls.

Blessings,
Ruth.

 

[Bendito]

Have you ever stopped to think about the deeper meaning of the birth of Jesus Christ? Although many people, even unbelievers, have heard the story of Jesus’ birth, its real significance may be missed because of that familiarity with the “story” aspect.

The birth of Jesus Christ—a momentous event
The birth of Christ was not the ordinary birth of an ordinary man. It was the birth of the most unique Person in history. The birth of Jesus Christ was the incarnation of God Himself. In other words, the very God became a man. The significance of this is profound and will take all eternity for us to appreciate. The conception and birth of Jesus Christ was the mingling of God with humanity. Such a thing had never occurred before.

John 1:14 says that the Word, the eternal God Himself, became flesh, meaning the man Jesus. When this happened, the eternal God stepped out of eternity into time to become a man of flesh and blood. Jesus Christ was indeed a genuine man, but at the same time, He was God. He is both fully God and fully man.​

In this post, we’ll use verses and notes from the Recovery Version to get a glimpse into the deep significance of Jesus’ birth to strengthen our appreciation of our dear Savior God.

The mysterious birth of Jesus was prophesied in the Old Testament.
About 700 years before Christ, the prophet Isaiah prophesied concerning the Jesus’ birth, saying in Isaiah 7:14,

“The Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will conceive and will bear a son, and she will call his name Immanuel.”

This prophecy was fulfilled in Christ’s birth—a son, born through divine conception in a virgin, without a human father. He was to be called Immanuel, which means “God with us.” This son born of a human virgin was the very God with us.

A couple of chapters later, Isaiah prophesied about the birth of Jesus again, saying in Isaiah 9:6:

“For a child is born to us, / A Son is given to us…/ And His name will be called / Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”​

Note 1 on this verse in the Recovery Version opens a window into what it means for Christ to be both a child and the Mighty God, a Son given to us, and the Eternal Father.

“The child born of a human virgin is the Son given by the eternal Father. Christ is the child born of both the divine and human natures (Matt.1:20-23) and He is also the Son in the divine nature given by the eternal Father. Through the birth of the divine-human child, the Eternal Father gave us His divine Son as a gift. Through such a giving, everyone who believes in, i.e., receives, this dear Son receives eternal life (John 3:16; 1 John 5:11-12).”​

The mysterious birth of Jesus was fulfilled in the New Testament.
The New Testament provides us a record of the actual events surrounding Christ’s birth. Through this record we can appreciate the step God took to give us His dear Son to us to be our Savior and our life.

Matthew 1:18 tells us how this virgin birth came about.

“Now the origin of Jesus Christ was in this way: His mother, Mary, after she had been engaged to Joseph, before they came together, was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit.”

Note 1 on this verse explains what this phrase “of the Holy Spirit” means regarding Christ.

“Although Christ was born of Mary (v. 16), He was a child of the Holy Spirit. The birth of Christ was directly of the Holy Spirit (v. 20). His source was the Holy Spirit and His element was divine. Through the virgin Mary He put on flesh and blood, the human nature, taking the likeness of the flesh (Rom. 8:3), the likeness of men (Phil. 2:7).”​

Then, in Matthew 1:20, an angel of the Lord visited Joseph to assure him of this divine fact.

“But while he pondered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife, for that which has been begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit.”​

The first note on this verse points out what God revealed about Christ in His assurance to Joseph.

“God was first born into Mary through His Spirit; after the conception was completed, He, with the human nature, was born to be a God-man, possessing both divinity and humanity. This is the origin of Christ.”​

Many years later, in recounting this mysterious story, the aged apostle John made these profound statements in John 1:1 and 14:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”​

“And the Word became flesh.”​

The words from these two verses, simple, yet profound, indicate clearly that the Word was God from eternity, and that the Word—God—became flesh in time.

Note 2 on verse 14 speaks further about what this means.

“Romans 8:3 indicates that although this flesh was the flesh of sin, it had only the likeness of the flesh of sin and did not have the sin of the flesh. It is the Word who became such flesh, and this Word was God, the complete Triune God (v. 1). That the Word became flesh means that the Triune God became a man of flesh in the likeness of a sinful man. By so doing God entered into sinful man and became one with sinful man. However, He had only the likeness of a sinful man and not the sin of a sinful man. Hence, He was a sinless God-man, the complete God and the perfect man, having two natures, the divine nature and the human nature.” (Read the full note here.)​

How does the truth regarding Christ’s birth affect us today?
Firstly, to be a genuine Christian, we must believe that Jesus Christ is more than a holy man, a prophet, or a martyr. He is the complete, eternal God come in the flesh. This is a basic item of the Christian faith.

As Christians, by prayerfully considering the Bible, especially the verses covered in this post, we can gain a deeper appreciation for the birth of Jesus Christ. God did not save us by somehow reaching down from the heavens in an objective way. The unapproachable God Himself became an approachable, contactable, knowable man. What a mysterious and yet wondrous fact! Our God became a man, experiencing everything of human life and living a perfect, sinless human life. And eventually, He went in His body of flesh and blood to die on the cross for us!

Through His incarnation, God was expressed in a man, Jesus Christ, in the flesh. Jesus, who was born in the manger, fully expressed the very God in all His rich being and Person to mankind. God’s love, mercy, righteousness, holiness, compassion, and glory were and still are expressed in the humanity of Christ.

By believing into the Lord Jesus Christ, we are saved and receive Jesus—the one who lived a perfect human life that expressed the true God—as our Savior and our life.

If you’ve never done so before, you can receive Him right now by praying this prayer.

“Lord Jesus, I believe that You are both the complete God and a perfect man. Thank You for being born with our humanity and becoming a real and genuine man with both divinity and humanity. Thank You for dying for my sins. Lord, I receive You right now. Thank You for coming into me to be my life. Lord, live out in me Your wonderful life that expresses God.”​

originally written by: The Deep Significance of the Birth of Jesus Christ | Bibles for America

This is good Chad..Thank you....I see another angle here too...It's another example of where God inserts Himself into the timeline of man...to interact face to face with us. Sorry, lol , I find time fascinating..

 

[mikej]

This is good Chad..Thank you....I see another angle here too...It's another example of where God inserts Himself into the timeline of man...to interact face to face with us. Sorry, lol , I find time fascinating..

Some have intertained Angels unawear fact is a angel is a messenger of God yes without the wings and a haloe in most cases in the bible. If the message is unknown then the message and the messenger could be unknown. What we do is forget what the glory of God means to God himself.We tend to think all his glory is contained in John 3:16 it is but not all of it. If we look into the origins of Chirstams and the festivals predating Christianity itself we find them rooted in pagan worship even to the extent that first century Romans worshiped the God of the unconcord sun Sol Invictis. Historical facts are on the winter solstice December 25 was in fact this pagan gods birthday never has or ever will have anything to do with his actual date of birth if you did celebrate the day.not to mention there was no commandment to observe any birthday.if this was done to substitute any previous commandment given directly from our God that changes not who do we serve. A tradition of good intentions that abrogates by human reasoning. Look it to the Chirstams story and ask yourself is this what God would have us to do. This is a question you must answer be honest with yourself is all I would ask.this mystery of iniquity / anomia / transgression is very real to your savior.You will not find it in any theological seminary they do not teach it.Be very mindful of where you get your information.my hope is not to offend anyone. Facts are pesky little details that sometimes are not well received. hope this is a blessing to you all.

 

[Bendito]

Some have intertained Angels unawear fact is a angel is a messenger of God yes without the wings and a haloe in most cases in the bible. If the message is unknown then the message and the messenger could be unknown. What we do is forget what the glory of God means to God himself.We tend to think all his glory is contained in John 3:16 it is but not all of it. If we look into the origins of Chirstams and the festivals predating Christianity itself we find them rooted in pagan worship even to the extent that first century Romans worshiped the God of the unconcord sun Sol Invictis. Historical facts are on the winter solstice December 25 was in fact this pagan gods birthday never has or ever will have anything to do with his actual date of birth if you did celebrate the day.not to mention there was no commandment to observe any birthday.if this was done to substitute any previous commandment given directly from our God that changes not who do we serve. A tradition of good intentions that abrogates by human reasoning. Look it to the Chirstams story and ask yourself is this what God would have us to do. This is a question you must answer be honest with yourself is all I would ask.this mystery of iniquity / anomia / transgression is very real to your savior.You will not find it in any theological seminary they do not teach it.Be very mindful of where you get your information.my hope is not to offend anyone. Facts are pesky little details that sometimes are not well received. hope this is a blessing to you all.

Actually Chad was talking of the reasons Jesus came in the form of a man, not the way people celebrate His coming. To discuss the rights and wrongs of how we celebrate Him would be to take away from the beauty of God's Word as shared by our friend Chad.
Can we save the rights and wrongs for another thread? Please?

 

[mikej]

The way people celebrate his coming or any other aspect of his Gods glory is the very foundation of worship.often scholars speak of missing the mark but never explaining the events taken place in hitting the mark.The beauty of gods word would be amplified ten thousand fold if all would believe what God said.You will worship at a time and place of his choosing.I can only tell you traditions do not support this and is why this world is coming apart all around you.Grace was given to save you unto a holy truth not useing it for the abrogation of it.useing just one word such as iniquity to define a moral standard only can distroy the full intent.A half truth is not the full truth. to say it also implies all of Gods Torah as well as the law of Moses is what tradition teaches.Truth is if we honored God in the manner exceptablexto him with love towards each other things would be getting better not worse.Another silent night with beautiful words and much talking explaining God glory is what has been handed down for two thousand years it's time to wake up ol friend.One of the last things in the last book of the Old Testament was this warning to remember the law of Moses not the traditions of men.Again the pointing out of facts are inconvenient truths