Who is this ‘baby Jesus’ whose birth we celebrate?

Let me set the scene: From the start, we humans rebelled against our creator. We have all participated and we all live with the consequences of that. Thankfully there were also hints from the Lord that he had a rescue plan.
Someone is coming. Gen 3:15, Gen 22:14, Deut 18:15

Israel, God’s chosen people to tell the world about him, had turned from him and lived sinfully – they had gone their own way,  just as we have often done ourselves. For several hundred years this pattern repeated with almost every generation. God sent prophets to call his people back to living rightly and knowing him, and to warn of coming judgement on them for their evil ways, and on us for ours. But the warnings were given along with promises about a way of forgiveness, and a saviour who would come:

• The prophet Isaiah, about 700 years before Christ:
  “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!”
  Isaiah 9:6-7 NLT
  A child will be born to RULE and to JUDGE rightly over the whole world. Daniel 2 (particularly verse 44), Psalm 110, Psalm 2, Isaiah 61

• Gradually more details were given. For example, the prophet Micah gave a location for the birth, saying:
  “‘But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.’”
  Micah 5:2 NIVUK
  A child will be born in a particular place, though it will not be the beginning of his activities. Other details are given by other prophets eg: Daniel 9, Zechariah 9:9, Malachi 3:1, Isaiah 40, Zechariah 11:12-13.

• And there were many more prophecies about the coming person sent from God, including that he would be our substitute, dying for my sins and yours…yet somehow would still live after that:
  “…it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands. When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins.”
  Isaiah 53:10-11 NLT
  A child will be born who will be rejected, suffer greatly, suffer death, yet live on. And there will be a new way of salvation… Isaiah 52:13-53:12, Psalm 22, Psalm 16, Zechariah 12:10-11, Jeremiah 31:31-34, Ezekiel 36:25-29

 

Someone is coming! A child will be born. A son will be given to us. The baby born in Bethlehem was named Jesus (‘The Lord Saves’). But who is he? A compassionate rescuer? A holy judge? A human servant of God? God himself? A dying saviour? A mighty king who will rule forever? From ancient times, but born later? How does this fit together? So, who is Jesus *really*? John, one of Jesus chosen messengers explains, calling Jesus ‘The Word’:

“In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.
…
He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognise him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God. So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.”
John 1:1-5, 10-14 NLT

Jesus lived a sinless life, preached that he was the way to know God, predicted the details of his own death, warned of his future return to finally bring Justice to the Earth, died while forgiving his torturers, and was raised from the dead and appeared before many eyewitnesses together, whose record we have. Many of those same eyewitnesses suffered and died holding to the truth of this.

So who is the child who was born? Who is the Son who was given? Jesus, God the Son. He is somehow a different to God the Father and yet they together are one God. Jesus became truly human so that we could know and understand God. And so God could save us from our own rebellious hearts, and from his own right punishment for the wrong we keep doing. God cares about you literally enough to have suffered and died to give you a way to be reunited with him forever.
Philippians 2:6-11, Ephesians 4:10, Matthew 24 and 25.

 When on Earth, Jesus said:
“My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
Matthew 11:27-30 NLT

Elsewhere it says: “God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.” Acts 17:30-31 NLT

I have a simple question for you: Is there anything that would stop you turning from living your own way, and learning to trust and follow Jesus, the Son of God?

If your answer to that is yes (or an interested maybe), why not tell God that in simple words? And come chat with myself or another believer ask to hear more about Jesus and how you can know him.

 16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. 18 There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.”

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