God became man in the person of Jesus Christ

L Luingam *

When the fullness of time came, Jesus Christ was born at Bethlehem. But the birth of Jesus Christ was different from other usual course of mankind. It was because we cannot have supernatural Saviour without supernatural birth. We cannot have miracle savior without miraculous birth.

The prophet Isaiah had predicted some 740 years before Jesus was born that a virgin girl should conceive and bear a son to save his people from their sins. The prophet Jeremiah had also predicted 700 years before Jesus was born that a virgin girl would compass a son without knowing any human father carnally and many other prophets had also predicted the same.

Accordingly, Mary was pregnant before her fiancé, Joseph had any physical relationship with her. One night an Angel came to Joseph in a dream saying, Joseph thou son of David do not hesitate to take Mary as your wife because which is conceived in her womb is of the holy spirit and she shall bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins and the angel also said to Joseph that it was for the fulfillment of the old testament prediction. Joseph believed what the angel had told him and so he took Mary to his home and knew her not till Mary brought forth her first son that is Jesus Christ.

So Jesus was born without human father. Every believer in the Bible will believe the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. Christianity stands or falls in the doctrine of the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.

Most modern people do not believe that Jesus was born without human father. But let us acknowledge that even the modern scientists have been able to produce child in the womb of women without the role of human father and then why could not the Almighty God do in the conception of His child in the womb of virgin girl called Mary. It is beyond Human Comprehen- sion how a child is formed in the womb of a woman. All who understand the plainest and the simplest doctrine in the Bible will understand why a savior must be born of a virgin girl. According to scripture men are tainted with sins.

The whole human race was fallen since Adam and Eve had broken the law of God in the Garden of Eden. So, every child ever born comes to this world with a curse of sins upon him. Thus, if Jesus was to be without the taint of sins, he needed to be born in a way different from others.

The holy Bible clearly tells us that Jesus was in heaven with God before he came to this world. He was the son God long before he became the son of Mary. According to Christian doctrine and belief God the father, God the son and God the holy spirit are one which is known as trinity. Jesus himself also said that He came down from heaven that could not be said of any other man in the world.

That involved his pre-existence with God in heaven. He called himself the only begotten son of God. No man had seen God at any time but Jesus said, he that had seen me had seen God because God and I are one which means he himself is also God.

God the father and God the son are closely related and perfectly united in thought and plan and will and work. So, God the father was eternally united with the whole human race when God gave His son Jesus to be born of a virgin girl. God became man and lived and moved among men.

The Bible says, in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. The word become flesh and made his dwelling among men (John 1:2-4, 14),. Here the word became flesh does not mean that the word ceased to be what it was before, it does not mean that the word changed into human flesh and altered his essential nature, it is not possible for God to alter his essential nature and yet remain God. God cannot be changed. But the fact is that when the word became man, He acquired an additional form.

Jesus Christ was the only man physically begotten by God. It is not easy to think of Jesus Christ as both God and man. Some people try to explain it by saying that Jesus was masquerading as man. But, that is not true at all. Jesus was completely man as anyone we can think of, why because He too experienced thirst, hunger, grief, pain. He laughed, he cried but at the same time he never ceased to be God.

God is sinless so Jesus is also sinless. He raised Lazarus from the death after 3 days, he walked on the water of the sea, he turned the water into wine, he fed 5000 people with 2 pieces of fish and 5 pieces of loaves, he gave sight to the blind, he healed the impotent men and did many other marvelous things and in the end His resurrection from the tomb and ascending into heaven which was witnessed by many people at that time.

Thus, all these marvelous acts of Jesus Christ added up to convince that the was not just a man only but truly he was the son of God living and moving among men and later died for the sins of men because our first parents Adam and Eve succumbed to the temptation of Lucifer in the garden of Eden and became sinners. So sins entered the world. Everyone becomes sinner because of Adam and Eve’s sins.

So, there is a big gulf between God and men. There were two ways by which this gulf could be bridged. The first one is for men to become God but it is impossible for men to become God as men are the creatures of God and God is the creator. The other means was God to become man and thus God accomplished it in the person of Jesus Christ. Let me also cite another example as to why God became man.

If a man wants to communicate with the ant, he himself has to become an ant. In the like manner Jesus became man to speak and reveal the will of God to mankind and to save men from hell and eternal death. Now no believer ever goes to hell and face eternal death for the sins of Adam and Eve because Jesus Christ had sacrificed his precious life on the cross for the sins of all mankind.

The Bible says–For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior which is Christ the Lord. Christmas is at hand, everyone is gearing up for Christmas. We love Christmas time, we feel near to God at Christmas time. What makes Christmas is to have the savior. Christmas time is to praise His name, to glorify Him, to give the Lord Jesus Christ the honour which is His due.

If you do not accept Jesus Christ as your savior, you cannot have the real sweetness of Christmas because Jesus Christ is the center of Christmas. Christmas time is the best time in the world to turn away from the folly and the idle chatter of unbelief.

If you do not have Jesus Christ you have a world without a creator. It is good to realize that God made the sun, the moon and stars as light for men on earth and everything that is on earth and in heaven which He still administers it and sustains it. When Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin came back from space and said that he never saw God in heaven. Someone in Moscow remarked if you have not seen God on earth you will never see God in heaven too. One who will not accept Jesus Christ, cannot have the forgiveness of sins.

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, whoever you are, whatever you are you have your own sins, I have my own sins, it may be the secret sins of the flesh, it may be bad feelings towards someone, it may be fault finding attitude, it may be `stealing and lying, it may be jealousy and wickedness. But do you have the cleansing of your black heart? Do you have the peace giver of your troubled mind and broken heart? Come to the Lord Jesus Christ who is the prince of peace (Isiaih 9:6-7) He brings peace on earth. In Him there will be no conflict.

Let us all go to Him in true rependence on this Christmas day and accept Him as our own savior. Let the onset of Christmas Season and the birth of Jesus Christ be the harbinger of peace and harmony in the state and propagate the spirit of brotherhood and peaceful co-existence among all the people of Manipur.

Let us see to it that the prevailing situation in Manipur does not overshadow the beauty of Christmas and dampen the spirit of Yule-Tide.

Wishing you all merry Christmas.