God Sent His Son

Consider the evidence and you will see that it isn't hard to believe that God is with us.

John 3:16-17  "For God loved the world so much that 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.

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Think about the phrase "God with us." Is it an amazing thought? Probably not. The story of Christ birth is so familiar to us that we don't find any of it to be exciting or magnificent. This is only life changing and amazing if you really believe that "God is with us," if you say the phrase without any excitement in your voice then perhaps you aren't getting it. The celebration is nothing more that a good reason to have a party and get some stuff that you probably don't need.

There is no one in history that has been described with more titles than Jesus Christ. He is called "Bright morning star, Wonderful Counselor, the Root of Jesse, the Alpha and the Omega, or the Lamb of God, he is the gate and the good shepherd" each of these titles is rich with meaning.

They all say something significant about who Jesus is however there is no name more significant than "Immanuel." If it is true that Jesus is "God with us" then our tepid response to him is completely inappropriate. If it is true then the implications for us are tremendous.

Some people think that the birth of Jesus is just another birth and that there isn't any reason to think that the Bible is accurate when it tells us that a virgin gave birth to someone special.

Is the birth of our Savior anything less than a miracle or could this baby be just an ordinary child? If you only look at the virgin birth claim from Mary and look at nothing else then you will find it easy to dismiss her assertion but let's look at the other evidence that proves that God sent us his son.

The prophets said that God will be with us.

Isaiah 7:14 All right then, the Lord Himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a Child! She will give birth to a Son and will call Him Immanuel (which means 'God is with us').

The prophets that spoke about Jesus birth seven hundred years before he arrived help prove Mary's assertion that she was still a virgin. These men told us that Jesus would be born of a virgin, in Bethlehem and that his earthly parents would be descendants of King David. (Micah 5:2, Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 9:7) The prophets even told us that Jesus family would leave Bethlehem to hide in Egypt until Herod was out of the picture. (Hosea 11:1).

It would be impossible for someone to decide before they were born that they would fulfill a bunch of prophecies in order to trick us. The predictions about Jesus birth help us believe that he is God's son and he was born without an earthly father.

Messengers from heaven announce his birth.

Luke 2:8-11 That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!

If the prophets are not enough to verify that the child in Mary's womb was a miracle birth then take a look at the next supernatural event connected to Jesus arrival. The shepherds story gives us insight into the identity of this child.

The shepherds were in the fields outside of Bethlehem when they became terrified by a visit from a lot of angels that announced the birth of Israel’s long-awaited Messiah. They were told that this was good news of great joy for everybody and soon the shepherds were joining in with the angels in celebration.

A special sign in the sky

Matthew 2:1-2 Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, 2 “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.”

A spectacular light in the sky gave additional credibility to Mary's story. A star that showed a group of Gentile seekers that the event that they had been waiting for had finally taken place. This group of wise men knew about the prophecies of the Old Testament and they knew what the sign in the sky meant.

Perhaps their ancestors had learned about the prophecies through the prophet Daniel while the Jews were in captivity in Babylon. While in exile 400 years before Christ birth Daniel had a vision that he may have shared that allowed the wise men to know about the sign of the Jewish Messiah.

Jesus arrival was:

✔ Predicted with great detail long before it happened.
✔ Announced and celebrated with a lot of heavenly delight.
✔ Marked with a supernatural sign in the sky.

All of this was done to help us believe that Jesus is God's son that came to be with us, to serve us, to suffer with us and most of all he came to save us.

What sent the shepherds back to the fields rejoicing, what made the wise men fall down in wonder in the shadow of that babe, was the gripping realization that they were in the presence of their Creator.

Christmas is all about getting near him, look at what he did to get close to you, what are you doing to get close to him? What are you doing to be with him? What are you doing to be with him?

Thank you Lord for allowing us to get to know you, for loving us and for caring about our need. Thank you for making it obvious that you came to be Emmanuel (God with us).

Need more evidence?