We had friends join us for dinner the other evening. It had been a while since we’d caught up, and the thing that really struck me about their family was how much their daughter had grown. She was taller, more confident, and the features of her face were changing from ‘young child’ to ‘young adult’—the transition wasn’t quite complete, but there was more than a hint as to what she would look like in the grownup years to come.
As we focus on the birth of Jesus, we’re naturally reflecting on the earliest days in his life, but we also want to call to mind his adult ministry, sacrificial death and miraculous resurrection. Most of all, when we think of Jesus, we want to remember that Jesus is God.
As John F. MacArthur said, ‘If we could condense all the truths of Christmas into only three words, these would be the words: “God with us.” We tend to focus our attention at Christmas on the infancy of Christ. The greater truth of the holiday is his deity. More astonishing than a baby in the manger is the truth that this promised baby is the omnipotent creator of the heavens and the earth!’
Jesus did not remain a small, vulnerable infant—he grew to become our victorious Saviour, who overcame sin and death and offers the way to a restored relationship with God.
This same Jesus loves us and today calls his followers to personify God’s love to a hurting world.
Christina Tyson
Editor
John 17:3
Contemporary English Version Eternal life is to know you, the only true God, and to know Jesus Christ, the one you sent.
Hoani 17:3
Ko te ora tonu hoki tēnei, kia mātau rātou ki a koe, ko koe anake te Atua pono, ki a Īhu Karaiti anō hoki i tonoa mai nei e koe.