Baby yet God

With grandchild number one arriving in the spring, it was time this Thanksgiving holiday for its parents to go through the baby clothes and toys that had been saved in anticipation. It was sweet to see and touch those little clothes again and to hear the rattles.

This time of the year, there is a lot of focus on the baby of the Christmas story. In fact, in the retail stores, you will find manger scenes, shepherds, kings, stars, and other biblical items in addition to Santa, reindeer, and Christmas trees. But do shoppers really have a grasp on what Christmas is all about?

Most have heard the Christmas story in some form or other—books, television shows, Sunday school or church programs. And we Christians celebrate the promised baby's birth. But how often do we stop to reflect—the baby in the manger was God!

Philippians 2:6-7 tells us that though He, Jesus, was God, He made Himself nothing but took on the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. God Himself took the form of His creation at His more helpless stage, a baby completely dependent on others. Imagine that!

The baby in Mary's arms was God, the Creator and Sustainer of all, yet completely dependent on His creation to feed Him, to clothe Him, and to attend to all His basic needs. He had to learn to walk, to talk, to read, and even to learn to work. He truly experienced life as we do. AND He did it without electricity and all of our modern conveniences.

Take a "Selah" to reflect—the baby was God. The toddler was God. The teenager was God. The carpenter was God. The man who was beaten, whipped, spit upon, jeered at and mocked was God. The man on the cross hanging from nails was God who now sits enthroned.

The baby the wise men worshipped is the same exalted Lord all humanity will one day bow the knee before.

Baby yet God

Take a moment to read the Amplified Bible's version of Philippians 2:6-11—

Who, although being essentially one with God and in the form of God [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God], did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained, but stripped Himself [of all privileges and [rightful dignity], so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men and was born a human being. And after He had appeared in human form, He abased and humbled Himself [still further] and carried His obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross! Therefore [because He stooped so low] God has highly exalted Him and has freely bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, that in (at) the name of Jesus every knee should (must) bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue [frankly and openly] confess and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.