The night of miracles climaxes with the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. It began with the angel Gabriel standing before an awe struck teenager name Mary, with the astonishing announcement that she would have a baby. The response to this announcement was one of surprise and wonder. "How can this be, for I am a virgin?" This announcement set the tone for that which was going to happen. And sure enough, at the appointed time, Jesus was born in a stable.

This birth was marked by a miraculous star which the wise men followed. When they arrived at the scene they worshiped Jesus, realizing he was the King of kings, and Lord of lords. It was by this star, and these wise men that God universalized the birth of Jesus. These wise men in effect, became the world's first missionaries, bringing the message of Christ to the Jewish people in Jerusalem, and non-Jewish people of their own country.

For many years people had waited for the birth of the Messiah. He had been prophesied throughout the entire Old Testament, beginning already with Adam and Eve. Later, a prophet name Nathan told King David that his kingdom would last forever, with an eternal king on the throne. Jesus, being a descendant of David is that King.

The prophet Isaiah was very clear about the coming Messiah. "Hear now, you house of David!" He proclaims. ". . .the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." He predicts the virgin birth; he predicts the name that will be given to that Son, a name that means "God with us." It all came true. The many prophecies of the Old testament culminated in the person of Jesus the Christ, the Messiah.

These were miraculous events to be sure. But even more amazing is the fact that Jesus, the divine Son of God became a human being. This I believe is the greatest miracle of all, one that has, ever since it took place, never been fully understood. It is shrouded in mystery, a holy mystery that can only be accepted in faith. There is no explanation, other than the one the Bible offers. Even there, it is never fully explained in words or terms that we can fully understand. I am always amazed with people who will get into their car every morning, turn the key, start it up, and drive it away, trusting completely that this automobile is going to get them to their destination. Yet they may have no idea how the thing works. All they know is that when it quits working, there is something wrong, and they need to take it to a technician for repairs. Then they get back into it, and drive away, their wallets a little thinner, but their trust restored. When it comes to Scripture however, perhaps for these very same people, there is no sense of trust at all, and they need to analyze it to death in order to find some proof that what is found there is truth. And the final outcome for many people is that there is no absolute truth in Scripture and they reject is as nonsense, even saying that people are naive and foolish for putting their trust in it.

Approximately a year ago Time Magazine carried an article which basically asked the question "Who was Jesus?" Inside it reported on some academic discussions about the identity of the one we call "Lord." Other magazines have done the same thing over the past few years. It seems as if the Scriptural pronouncement that Jesus is the divine Son of God is seriously being questioned these days. Jesus has been depicted as magician and healer, a religious and social revolutionary and as a radical peasant philosopher. One author has even theorized that Jesus was the leader of the Dead Sea Scrolls community in Qumran, that he survived the Crucifixion and went on to marry twice and father three children.

There is in existence a group of seventy-seven liberal scholars known as the "Jesus Seminar." These people meet twice a year to talk about their opinions regarding who Jesus was and what he actually did. One of their most curious practices is that of voting about the authenticity of specific passages in the Gospels. Every member is given four beads, and when it is time to vote, they simply drop the appropriate beads into a container. Red beads mean they believe Jesus certainly said or did what the passage says. Pink beads indicate that they think Jesus said or did something close to what the passage describes. Grey beads signify their doubt that Jesus said or did what the Bible says, and black beads represent their certainty that Jesus never thought or did anything like what the passage says. It is the black beads that win the day most often.

Some conclusions by the majority in the "Jesus Seminar" are quite removed form the Biblical record. For instance, this widely respected group of scholars have concluded that Jesus was not born of a virgin by the working of the Holy Spirit. Jesus performed no miracles, but he did have a healer's touch, a gift for alleviating emotional ills through acceptance and love. They say that Jesus wanted the Kingdom of God to be an environment where all people should be equal, in the here and now, regardless of life-style and belief system. The Bible speaks about the eternal Kingdom of God being established on a future day of judgment, where only believers in Jesus can be a part, but these people reject that completely. They also say that the authorities executed Jesus, almost casually, after he caused a disturbance in Jerusalem during Passover. Jesus lived on in the hearts of followers old and new, but he did not physically rise from the dead. Taken down from the cross, his body was probably buried in a shallow grave--and may even have been eaten by dogs.

The identity of Jesus is a topic of discussion not only in scholarly circles today, but also in homes, at coffee shops, and on street corners all around the world! Some say that he was "a nice man." Others believe that He was "an outstanding teacher." Still others contend that He was "the wisest man who ever lived." Most people in the world have some opinion of who Jesus really was.

What, then, are we to make of all this discussion? I assume we all disagree strongly with the conclusions expressed by the Jesus Seminar and that we are concerned with many popular notions about Jesus. Yet it amazes me that almost 2,000 years after he lived on the earth, people are still asking about Jesus. That tells me that Jesus could not have been an ordinary man. . .that there was something special about him. What other man or woman has attracted the attention Jesus has over the centuries, even if they claimed to be something more than human? The good news for us is that the Gospel of John gives a definite answer to anyone with the question, "Who is Jesus?"

The greatest miracle of al is that He is God, who became a human being! "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth," John writes in verse 14. Here is the greatest of all miracles. John makes the bold sweeping declaration that the Word became flesh--human. The Word that was God, and was with God, became human. He became one of us! In order for us to catch the full impact of this statement we need to take a closer look

The Good News translation has it that the Word became human, which the intent, but when we look at the original Greek it doesn't say specifically human. The word used is sarx which means flesh. It has connotation of flesh being separated from the bone. John doesn't say that Jesus became a man, or even a body, but flesh. This would create a huge problem for sophisticated Greeks of his day called Docetists. Docetism is a heresy concerning the person of Jesus Christ. The word is derived from the Greek dokeo, meaning "to seem" or "to appear." According to Docetism, the eternal Son of God did not really become human; he only seemed to do so. The heresy was based on a the thought which held that the material world is either unreal or positively evil. Tendencies to spiritualize Christ by denying his real humanity were already present in New Testament times, and John went to great lengths to set the record straight. "The Word became flesh, as the flesh of a human," he argues. The word is "incarnation" which means that the eternal son of God, the second person of the Trinity, became human in the person of Jesus Christ.

Why is this so important to us. Allow me to explain with this illustration. There an ancient fable about a wise and beloved Shah who was once ruled in the land of Persia. This Shah cared greatly for his people and desired only what was best for them. One day he disguised himself as a poor man and went to visit the public baths. The water for the baths was heated by a furnace in the cellar, so the Shah made his way to the dark place to sit with the man who tended the fire. The two men shared the coarse food, and the Shah befriended fireman in his loneliness. Day after day the ruler went to visit the man. The worker became attached to this stranger because he "came where he was." One day the Shah revealed his true identity, and he expected the man to ask him for a gift. Instead, the worker looked long into his leader's face and with love and wonder in his voice said, "You left your palace and your glory to sit with me in this dark place, to eat my coarse food, and to care about what happens to me. On others you may bestow rich gifts, but to me you have given yourself!"

As we think of what our Lord has done for us, we can echo that fire tender's sentiments. Oh, what a step our Lord took. "We saw his glory," writes John. He came from heaven to earth, from the worship of angels to the mocking of cruel men, from glory to humiliation!

The miracle has more to it yet, for you see, in becoming flesh, the Word did not cease to be God. Here our understanding stops. We are now dealing with the mystery we cannot explain. And yet, just as he shared in our life, our only hope to share in the life of God, is precisely because he is God. This we accept in faith. "He lived among us," writes John. The Word, who was from eternity took on our flesh, our humanity, to become one of us, to dwell with us, but he has never left his divinity behind. O the world may question, but to the believer there is no greater comfort than to know that the greatest miracle of all is the absolute truth that Jesus was born of a virgin. God come to earth to dwell with us.
Shepherds in the fields abiding Watching o'er your flocks by night, God with man is now residing, Yonder shines the Infant Light. Come and worship. Come and worship Worship Christ the new born King!