A child is born to us! A son is given to us! And he will be our ruler. He will be called, “Wonderful Counsellor”, “Mighty God”, “Eternal Father”, “Prince of Peace”. Isaiah 9:6 GNT

 

Isn’t it amazing to see what excitement and expectation the birth of a baby evokes, immediately impacting the world and transforming the lives of its family forever! Birth is an amazing miracle with life-giving, life-changing qualities, and whether seen in the physical or the abstract, its roots are in God and He gives it life. From it come growth and development.

 

Physically, life began for each of us in the dark warmth of our mother’s womb, where we were “knitted together” (Psalm 139:13) then birthed into the stark world at the time set for us. Yet the birthing experience, rather than being an ending, leads us further to different births, or beginnings, in our lives, enabling us to grow in knowledge with understanding.

 

God used the same modus operandi to come into the world He’d created, His plan was brilliant in its integrity and simplicity, perfect in its timing, and radical in turning the world upside down.

 

To come as a baby, surely the humblest option conceivable for the One “who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light”, (Timothy 6:16) fitted His plan spoken through the prophets down the ages, which had fallen on deaf ears. It showed His message of redemption plainly.

 

God’s love for mankind was sacrificial, not sentimental; He would come to earth to experience the human condition, to fully identify with us, and understand our needs. We would see His integrity in Jesus who had take on completely the brokenness of man and yet ministered astoundingly through His power, and modelled how, “The greatest love a person [could] have for his friends [was] to give his life for them.” (John 15:13)

 

But it began with a child.

 

Notice how Isaiah begins by describing the natural progression in God’s plan that anyone could identify with: “A child… A son… … our ruler”, but ends astonishingly with what they could not: “Wonderful Counsellor”, “Mighty God”, “Eternal Father”, “Prince of Peace”.

 

Jesus, “the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being”, (Hebrews 1:3) was no ordinary child. Yet He was born in the most ordinary way, in a less-than-ordinary birth-place; no special care was given Him, no medical staff in attendance – only fascinated animals watching His mother place Him in their manger.

 

The baby who carried the hope of the world in His tiny form would do what no other child before Him, or after, could ever do: he would be the sacrifice that God required to redeem the world. He would provide the way, as the Saviour of the world, for all people to come to God through Him.

 

Prayer: Loving Father, help the world to see the new beginning that Jesus made possible through that first Christmas. Give us a true appreciation of the significance of Your coming to earth as a child. Amen.

 

 

Is dit nie wonderlik om te sien watter opgewondenheid en afwagting die geboorte van 'n baba veroorsaak nie, hoe dit onmiddellik 'n impak op die leefwêreld van sy familie het en hulle lewens vir altyd verander! Geboorte is 'n wonderwerk met lewegewende en lewensveranderende kwaliteite, en of ons dit nou in 'n fisiese of abstrakte manier beskou, die wortels van lewe is in God want Hy gee lewe. Hieruit kom groei en ontwikkeling.

 

Fisies begin die lewe vir elkeen van ons in die donker warmte van ons moeder se baarmoeder, waar ons "aanmekaargeweef" word (Psalm 139:13) en dan, op die bepaalde tyd, word ons in hierdie harde wêreld gebore. Eerder as die einde van 'n ondervinding, lei geboorte ons verder na 'n ander geboorte of 'n nuwe begin in ons lewens wat ons in staat stel om met begrip in kennis te groei.

 

God het dieselfde modus operandi gebruik om na die wêreld wat Hy gemaak het, te kom. Sy briljante, eenvoudige plan met integriteit en perfekte tydsberekening, was genoeg om die wêreld radikaal op sy kop te draai.

 

Om as 'n babatjie te kom, was sekerlik die nederigste opsie denkbaar vir dié Een "wat alleen onsterflikheid besit, [en] ontoeganklike lig bewoon" (1 Timoteus 6:16). Hy pas sy plan aan by die woorde wat deur die eeue deur die profete gespreek is en op dowe ore geval het. Dit wys duideik sy boodskap van verlossing.

 

God se liefde vir die mensdom is offervaardig, nie sentimenteel nie. Hy het na die wêreld gekom in die gestalte van 'n mens, sodat Hy volkome met ons kon identifiseer en ons behoeftes verstaan. Ons kan sy integriteit sien deur Jesus wat die gebrokenheid van die mens volkome op Hom geneem het en tog wonderbaarlik deur sy krag gedien en gewys het dat: "Groter liefde as dit het niemand nie, dat iemand sy lewe aflê vir sy vriende". (Johannes 15:13)

 

Maar alles het met 'n kind begin.

 

Let op hoe Jesaja begin deur die natuurlike vordering van God se plan waarmee enigeen kan identifiseer, te beskryf: 'n kind … 'n seun … ['n heerser], maar dan eindig hy met 'n verstommende beskrywing wat hulle nie kon verstaan nie: Wonderbare Raadgewer, Magtige God, Ewige Vader, Vredevors.

 

Jesus, "die uitstraling van God se heerlikheid, en die ewebeeld van sy wese" (Hebreërs 1:3) was geen gewone kind nie. Tog is Hy op 'n doodgewone manier gebore, in 'n buitengewone geboorteplek. Daar was geen spesiale sorg vir Hom nie, geen mediese personeel teenwoordig nie – slegs 'n aantal diere wat toekyk hoe sy moeder Hom in hulle krip neerlê.

 

Die babatjie wat die hoop van die wêreld in Hom gedra het, sou doen wat geen kind voor Hom of geen kind na Hom ooit sal kan doen nie: Hy was die offer wat God verlang het om die wêreld te verlos. Hy sou, as die Verlosser van die wêreld, die pad voorsien sodat almal deur Hom na God kan kom.

 

Gebed: Liefdevolle Vader, help die wêreld om die nuwe begin raak te sien wat daardie eerste Kersfees deur Jesus moontlik gemaak is. Help ons om die belangrikheid van u koms as 'n kind na die wêreld werklik te waardeer. Amen