
No doubt you’ve seen an artist’s rendering of the birth of Jesus Christ in a manger. Mary the virgin gave birth to Jesus who is the Son of God. “She brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.” Luke 2:7
For the first and only time in history a baby had been born who would never arch His back and defy His mother. A child would grow up without selfishly demanding attention. A teenager would live without ever demanding His own way. A young
man would honor His mother without ever being thoughtless of her. A man would live without sin and have the personal right to live on forever.
God had prophesied it years before: “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). Billions more have been born and died since that birth in Bethlehem.
Many people look on that man, Jesus Christ, as a wonderful example, an ideal to strive for, or a distant, vague and friendly figure. His birth and His life brought tremendous delight to God the Father. God said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17)
But God the Father had an even deeper purpose in sending His Son to become a man. “The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world” (1 John 4:14).
Sin has polluted God’s universe and He will not accept sinners into His presence. He has stated clearly that “the soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezekiel 18:20). Each one of us faces the consequences of our sin — death and eternal separation from God.
There can be no payment for sin without the giving of life. “Without shedding of blood is no remission [payment for sin]” (Hebrews 9:22).