FROM THE PULPIT: WHAT CHILD IS THIS? HE IS THE GOD-MAN, JESUS OUR SAVIOR!

What Child is this . . . the Babe, the Son of Mary! In the hustle and bustle of this Advent and pre-Christmas season, it is always helpful and necessary for all, even God's people, to hear again who the Babe born of the virgin Mary is and why He came to live and die among us some 2,000 years ago. It is refreshing to revisit the manger in view of the cross to see He is our only source of true joy and peace during this holiday season and throughout the world.

What Child is this? Holy Scripture teaches He is more than a child, unique, and different than any other baby born of a woman. He is God in the flesh, the Word made flesh: "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given . . . and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:6) St. Matthew points out Jesus is the true God in the flesh when he quotes Isaiah 7:14: "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel, which is translated: God with us." The Apostle Paul states: "in [Jesus] dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily."

This is the fundamental teaching of the Christian Church as the creeds of Christendom reveal: I believe in Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds. God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made." If one teaches or believes the Christ is otherwise, he is without the true Savior of the world, still lost in his sin, and eternally damned because he is spiritually (and theologically!) bankrupt before God.

This was the very reason God became man in the person of Jesus Christ: we all were spiritually bankrupt and damned forever in our sin. The creeds of the Church, reflecting the teachings of the Bible, state Jesus, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and made man. He was born the Babe of Bethlehem to save His people from their sins the angel said.

He was born as the Savior because no man, no matter what his laurels, no matter what his deeds, no matter what his accomplishments, no matter what his vocation and standing in the world, is able to give a ransom for his soul or the soul of another.

It impossible for man to save himself from his sins because all people are conceived and born sinful creatures. By nature, because we are the children of Adam, we are all sinners as St. Paul teaches: "by one man's disobedience many were made sinners . . . through one man sin entered the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned."

We are lost, we are condemned, we are subject to God's wrath on account of our transgressions. Even Christ's first disciples noted this truth after Christ told them it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven saying: "who then can be saved?"

What is impossible for man was accomplished by the God-man, our Lord Jesus Christ. Moved by His love and mercy God became flesh and lived among us to deliver us from the spiritual bankruptcy of our sin to give us the riches of eternal life. The Giver and Lord of life was born of Mary, was crucified, and died to give us the new birth of faith and life forever in heaven. Paul teaches this when he writes: "when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons."

For this reason this Child was born: He came to suffer the punishment we deserved because we in our sin had broken the law of God. He came to remove our sins that we might not perish everlastingly but have eternal life. He came to free us from death as the writer to the Hebrews notes: "Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself (i.e. God in Jesus) likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil."

Through faith in Jesus the God-man the believer is assured his sins are forgiven him, that he is no longer under the law's condemnation and wrath, that he will receive a place in the Father's house and wear the crown of life. He is the "reason for the season", if I may quote the cliche. He is the reason we give gifts, we have children's pageants, that we gather together as families and friends at home and at church, for we have no greater reason than He to celebrate, to rejoice, to live.

What Child is this? He is the true God in the flesh, born to be our Savior from sin. What Child is this? He is our Redeemer who kept the law for us and through faith credits it to us that we may have life. What Child is this? He is our Sin-Sacrifice who laid down His life upon the cross that we by believing may be raised up to the new life of faith. What Child is this? He is Immanuel, God Himself, true God, true Man, one person Jesus Christ who has overcome sin, death, and the devil to make you a son in His kingdom. What Child is this? He is the God-man, Jesus Christ our Savior! Make haste this Advent and pre-Christmas season to bring Him laud. Hail Him the Word made flesh! Rejoice as you remember Christ was born for you.