In his commentary on the book of John, Rodney Whitacre wrote “He who brought the universe into existence now is born within the universe as a human being. This thought is so familiar in Christianity we may no longer be staggered by it.” John began his gospel introducing us to Jesus by saying “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that has been made.” Before John tells us about the birth of Jesus he tells us about the divinity of Jesus, he tells us about the enormity of Jesus, he even tells us about the creative power of Jesus. It’s important to John that we not see Jesus as a God-promised infant that grows into the Messiah as we might see Isaac, the child of the promise that becomes one of the patriarchs of the nation of Israel, or Moses, the God-spared child of slavery that becomes the deliverer of the nation of Israel. John’s goal is that we not see Jesus’ birth as His humble beginning that would lead to an eternal reign but that we see Jesus as the eternal Creator and King who did not take off His crown but did put on our flesh so that He could give us His righteousness. As we celebrate the birth of Jesus tonight and tomorrow, I pray that we understand what has been done for us and why it has been done. God became a man. The Creator of the universe contained Himself within the universe and willingly made Himself a human being. The Word that formed flesh from the dust and then breathed life into the flesh so that it could become a living thing, covered Himself with that same dust-born flesh and breathed His own breath into Himself, making Him like us so that through birth, life, death and resurrection He could finally make us like Him. Even when Jesus was a baby there was no “baby Jesus”, there was God in the form of man so that man could be reformed back into the image of God.