JESUS CHRIST: GOD-MAN - Vital Christianity

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One of the reasons we do not comprehend the stupendous condescension of God the Son
when He became the Babe of Bethlehem is that we do not fully understand and appreciate His
humanity.
When God the Son, the second Person of the Trinity, became that infant He truly and
fully became a human being. His life, ministry and death was not a charade. He was not play
acting. Once God the Son became a man He is forever fully human.
VIRGIN BIRTH
Karl Barth maintains that the virgin birth marks off the origin of Jesus from the human
race just as His end is marked off by the resurrection. Such a link is logical. Why shouldn't a life
characterized by miracles begin with a miracle just as it ends with a miracle?
John tells us the "the Word became flesh and lived among us" (Jn 1:14). Matthew and
Luke tell us more specifically that it happened at a particular time, in a particular place, in
connection with a particular mother:
● "In the days of Herod the King,"
● "when Quirinius was governor of Syria,"
● "in Bethlehem,"
● "born of Mary."
Therefore when we speak about God's presence and activity in the world, about a man
living among us, we are not talking only about a "spiritual presence" or a "feeling" of God's
nearness or God "in our hearts." We are dealing with geography: He was born in Palestine.
Politically He was born when a census was taken, when there was danger of political revolution,
and He Himself was expected to be a political revolutionary (Mt 2:3-5; Lk 1:51-53).
Economically He Himself was poor as He was born into a relatively poor family (evidenced by
the fact that His parents could only afford pigeons as sacrifice rather than a lamb—a fitting
sacrifice by those with means), born in a barn, and he came to help the poor (1:53; 6:20ff.). The
birth of Jesus points to the fact that we are not just talking about religious ideas and doctrines; we
are talking about history.
The Christmas story, therefore, is anything but the sentimental, harmless, once-a-year
occasion for a "Christmas spirit" that lasts only a few days before we return to the "facts"
of the "real world." Christmas is the story of the radical invasion of God into the kind of real
world where we live all year long—a world where there is unrest, injustice, poverty, hatred,
jealousy and greed.
The oldest of all promises is that the seed of the woman would bruise the head of the
serpent: