The Son of Man

“The Word was made flesh,

and dwelt among us,

and we beheld his glory,

the glory as ofthe Only Begotten of the Father.”

John 1:14

The Son of Man: God in the flesh. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, became the Son of Man. The exact representation of God took on humanity. Without sacrificing one ounce of his deity, he became completely human and lived among sinners.
How could this be? Must the infinite God come in the flesh? If Jesus Christ was not completely human, he could not die in the place of fallen men. If he was not a man, he could never give his life as the perfect sacrifice for sinners.
Yet Jesus Christ is very God, one with the Father, the exact image of the person of God. How could this be? His deity gives his sacrificial death its infinite value. Because he is holy God, he could die for the sin of the world instead of suffering for his own sin.
Without the incarnation of Christ, we have no Savior, no hope of eternal life, no promise of forgiveness. Here is the beauty of Christmas: God became man to live among us, to die for us, to reconcile us to God by his death.

Emmanuel

“Behold, a virgin shall be with child,

and shall bring forth a son,

and they shall call his name Emmanuel,

which being interpreted is ‘God with us.’”

Matthew 1:23

Emmanuel—God with us. This name, given by God to his Son, sums up the incarnation. God lives among us. The Eternal Word becomes flesh and dwells with us. The God who upholds the entire universe by his word is held and carried in human arms. Almighty God, who created mountains, oceans, and galaxies with a single word, now lies helpless and vulnerable in a young mother’s lap. The sovereign King of Eternity is now the son of an unmarried couple. The One who owns the cattle on a thousand hills becomes a part of a pathetically poor family. The Son of God, who had eternally existed in the divine splendor of God’s intimate presence, draws his first breath amidst the acrid aroma of manure. The only begotten God, who resides eternally in the bosom of the Father, now sleeps in an animal’s feeding trough. This is Emmanuel—God with us!