BY GREG CRUM

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” John 1:14

A babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, tucked away in a manger, angels heard on high sweetly singing over the plains…the Nativity scene, a moment in history seen by a privileged few, but reenacted thousands of times in the minds of the followers of Jesus. It’s the true Christmas Story, and the reason for our celebrations this time of year. Merry is made, gifts are given, but none of this would bear significance had we not been given that greatest gift—the entrance of our Savior into this world.

We make much of that gift this time of year, and we should, yet, as much as we appreciate the gift to humanity that baby Jesus was, I think most of us fail to realize the tremendous sacrifice that the manger represents.

As Christians, most of us understand that Jesus came into this world to be a sacrifice for us. We realize the punishment he took for us on the cross, and we remember that in celebration every Easter, but do we realize what he gave up for us to lay in that cradle? There was an incredible sacrifice Jesus made for us well before that day on the cross! There was sacrifice in that birth in the manger! What? What sacrifice? Jesus, the Word that was God, gave up the unimaginable power associated with that nature and was made flesh and dwelled among mankind.

Think about it. God became man, immortal became mortal, one without weakness exposed himself to the frailties of humanity. The One who allowed Abraham to bargain for the souls of Sodom, who wrestled with Jacob, who burned like a consuming fire in the bush and on the mountain in front of Moses, who was a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night for the Israelites—that part of the Godhead humbled Himself to be born as a human baby! Do we realize the humiliation he endured to do this?

Philippians 2:5-8 paints the picture of the sacrifice that Jesus gave to become a man. It states that he made himself of “no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant.” The Scripture helps us to understand the depths of what Jesus gave up. It reveals that even though he was equal with God the Father, he didn’t hold that equality so dear as to refuse the mission to redeem humanity. He gave up the nature of God and took upon himself the nature of a man.

That’s mindboggling, akin to us (having the power and choice) becoming some lower form of life in an effort to rescue it from destruction. What human would do that? Would you permanently give up being a human to become an ant in an effort to save an anthill full of ants from annihilation? No, none of us would. Yet, Jesus gave up an existence that our finite minds can’t fully comprehend to become a lower life form to give us an opportunity for something more.

Why would Jesus do this? Love? Sure, that was the motivating factor, but why did he have to do it this way? Why did he have to give up that former nature? The answer is simple—it was the only way to accomplish what God desired and justice required. Jesus had to become man so he could redeem us from the hand of the enemy. There was a blood price to pay. One totally innocent had to die an unjust death to appease justice for the blood that had been shed and the acts of disobedience that had been committed, and because you can’t tempt God with sin, and you can’t kill God, Jesus had to take off that nature and put on the garments of humanity.

So, there was a price to pay, and human flesh had to pay it, but that was not the only outcome that the sacrifice at the cradle brought about. Because Jesus became human, he enabled all the other humans who would believe in him as their Savior to become something more than what we previously were. We could now become sons and daughters of God—no longer just servants, but part of the family of God. What a wonderful gift given to us through the awesome sacrifice that Jesus endured for us at the cradle.

Greg Crum is the pastor of Calvary Temple in Lovely.