Gloria in Excelsis Deo

And great multitudes came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, dumb, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and He healed them, so that the multitude marveled  as they saw the dumb speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.  Matthew 15:30, 31 (New American Standard Bible)

As we are in the season of Advent it is good to remember the birth of our Savior.  While there is little known of Jesus’ childhood the recording of His conception and birth tell us that He was conceived by the Holy Spirit without the biology of a human father (Matthew 1:18, Luke 1:35).  Jehovah God was His Father both in eternity and in the flesh which made Jesus uniquely both the Son of God and the Son of Man.  He was human in every sense of the word yet fully God. 

Jesus did not begin His existence in that stable in Bethlehem but had always existed with God sharing the glory of His heavenly Father before the world was created (John 17:5).  In becoming a man He did not forsake or leave that glory behind but kept it veiled from human eyes.  He went from the highest glory and splendor of heaven to a body of flesh, bone, blood and breath to show us the Father (John 14:9).

The star over the stable is gone and the babe in the manger now sits enthroned at the right hand of His Father as the God/Man Jesus Christ (Romans 8:34).  Without His birth we would still be in sin and error pining.  When He came to us it was with the greatest compassion and power to restore us from that sin and error.  When the babe grew to manhood He expressed the redemptive will of the Father qualified by giving the blind their sight, restoring the crippled and lame and the bringing speech to the dumb.  From His birth shepherds proclaimed Him (Luke 2:17), wise men worshiped Him (Matthew 2:11), the multitudes marveled at Him (Matt 15:30, 31, Luke 11:14) and in His death and resurrection He invites the entire world to follow Him (Matthew 28, 19, 20, Acts 1:8).  His flesh and blood birth reveals His God/Man humanity.  His life, works and miracles reveal God’s humanity to mankind.  God has revealed Himself to us in both ways.   Glory to God in the highest.

Ken

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