Dear editor,
Several decades ago there was a song for children recorded with the opening line: “There is joy in the family the day that a baby arrives.” This is an incredibly happy song, which I still enjoy and sing in my mind. With four children and four beautiful grandchildren, yes, there is joy each time a baby arrived.
A long time ago, “There were shepherds in a field keeping watch over their flocks at night. An Angel of the Lord appeared before them and the glory of the Lord shone around them… And the Angel said to them, ‘Rejoice, for unto you is born this day, a savior who is Christ the Lord.’”
A baby was born and it was time to rejoice. There was joy, a joy that would be for all people. But who was this child?
About 700 years before the birth of Jesus, a prophet wrote, “The virgin will give birth to a son and he will be call Immanuel.”
Later, the writers of the Gospels described particulars leading to the birth of Christ and wrote that the events took place to satisfy the words of the prophet; the prophecy that the virgin would give birth to a son and that he would be called Immanuel. Matthew translates the word Immanuel to mean “God with us.”
Jesus put the question to his disciples, “Who do you say I am?”
Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the son of the Living God.”
Thomas addressed Jesus as “My Lord and my God!”
John, a disciple of Jesus, described Jesus with the briefest of messages. “The Word was with God; the Word was God; and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”
He then goes on to establish that “the Word” is Jesus.
The Apostle Paul described Jesus as being in very nature God, found in appearance as a man.
Jesus never claimed to be God in the flesh. By virtue of their writings, the disciples of Jesus believed He was God in the flesh.
There is joy in the family the day that a baby arrives. In this birth, there is “Joy to the World,” which is for all people. The birth of the baby; “God with us.”
Charles Schau, Risen Son Ministries
