Max Lucado, one of my favorite authors, says this in his book, “God Came Near”:
“God became a man. While the creatures of earth walked unaware, Divinity arrived. Heaven opened herself and placed her most precious one in a human womb.
“The omnipotent, in one instant, made himself breakable. He who had been spirit became pierceable. He who was larger than the universe became an embryo. And he who sustains the world with a word chose to be dependent upon the nourishment of a young girl.
“God as a fetus. Holiness sleeping in a womb. The creator of life being created.
“God was given eyebrows, elbows, two kidneys, and a spleen. He stretched against the walls and floated in the amniotic fluids of his mother.
“God had come near.
“He came, not as a flash of light or as an unapproachable conqueror, but as one whose first cries were heard by a peasant girl and a sleepy carpenter. The hands that first held him were unmanicured, calloused, and dirty.
“No silk. No ivory. No hype. No party. No hoopla.”
This is classic Lucado. Simple, powerful, picture-graphic truth. His words give clarity to the birth of Christ. His summation statement is gripping. God has come near.
God in human flesh is the reality of the incarnation. God’s people had read and heard of His glory, and now they see it. They knew of His grace from times of old, but now His grace has taken human form. The prophets had declared the eternal verities of the truth of God, but now they beheld truth wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manager.
Yes, on that first Christmas, God was on display in a way never dreamed nor seen by mortal man. God had come near. Likewise, He has come to us. He has arrived to dwell with us on this terrestrial ball. Light has shown into the darkness, and the radiance of His glory now shines on planet earth.
We who live in the 21st century have the luxury of reflecting on this history-changing event. We who are the children of God through faith can gaze at the splendor revealed in the text of Scripture and stand in awe of its truth. This truth is a “mic drop” truth. God has come near. God has come into our world in the person of Jesus Christ for the purpose of revealing the Father and saving His people from their sins.
It is this truth that we must not miss in the midst of tinsel, holly and jolly old Saint Nick. The warm and fuzzy sentimental moments of Christmas are not bad. They just come up short.
So I pray that you and yours will enjoy every event and gathering of this Christmas season, but most of all I pray that you will not miss the reality of Christmas. God has come near.
