Special? Yes!

This is about the person who has given his name to Christmas, Jesus Christ. It will only take you a few moments to read. A single word— special—sums up why you shouldn’t grudge the time.

Special person

Had you seen Jesus after he was born in Bethlehem special is not the word that would have sprung to mind. Judging by appearances he was as ordinary a baby as they come. But there was so much more to him than met the eye. The truth, in fact, is utterly extraordinary. In this little baby God himself had come to be with us. Charles Wesley, in his carol Hark! The herald angels sing, gets it exactly right: “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see! Hail, the incarnate Deity!” God had taken our nature and come into our world as one of us.

One of Jesus’ first disciples, John, puts it like this. This is from the Gospel that came from his pen. Calling Jesus “the Word” (because he is the one through whom God the Father speaks to us), John tells us that he was with God in the beginning – already in existence when this world came into being – and that he was Himself God. And then John says this: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”. Without ceasing to be what he had always been—God the Son—he began to be what he had never been, truly human. Another of Jesus’ early disciples, Matthew, in the Gospel that came from his pen, links it with an ancient promise: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel”;  a name which means, Matthew adds, “God with us”. Special person? Special indeed!

Special birth

You would expect that the entrance of such a special person into our world would have something about it that marked it out as special. And you would be right. For one thing, angels appeared and celebrated his birth in song. But before that there was the birth itself. In the words of the ancient Apostles’ Creed, “Jesus Christ…was…born of the virgin Mary”. By the power of God the Holy Spirit, Jesus had been miraculously conceived in his virgin mother’s womb. No man had been involved.

Let’s hear from Matthew again. He tells us about Joseph, the man to whom Mary was betrothed, and how he thought about ending his relationship with her when he discovered that she was pregnant. “But as he considered these things”, says Matthew, “an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit’”. Mary hadn’t been unfaithful to him. The son to whom she later gave birth was in her womb because God had worked an amazing miracle. Special birth? Special indeed!

Special work

Here’s something else you would expect: such a special person, coming in such a special way, must have a special work to do. And again you would be right. It’s all in his name. Jesus is from a Hebrew verb meaning, to save. Why was he given it? Because saving would be his special work. Specifically, he would save people from their sins. Here is Matthew again. He’s reporting the last words of the angel to Joseph: “You shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins”. One of Jesus’ later disciples, Paul, puts it like this: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”.

It is simply the best news this world has ever heard. Our greatest need as human beings is someone to save us from the guilt and the power and the dreadful penalty of our sins – for we can’t do it ourselves. And Jesus came to be that someone. It’s why he took our nature. It’s why he lived the beautiful life that he did. It’s why he died the sacrificial death that he did. It was all for us, so that as sinners we might have a Saviour to whom we could go for forgiveness and eternal life. Special work? Special indeed!

I end with a question: Is he your Saviour? He wants to be. He’s ready to be. And he will be if you will cry to him in your need and welcome him into your heart and life. Millions have done that. They have turned from their sin to Jesus and given him his rightful place as lord of their lives. Why not do the same?

David Campbell is minister of North Preston Evangelical Church.