The Baby in the Manger

I remember the first moment I laid eyes on my daughters, how small, how helpless, how fragile they felt in my hands. The responsibility I felt to protect and nurture these tiny humans was overwhelming. We all enter this world with a blazing fragility, totally dependent on those in whose care we are placed.

Why, then, would salvation begin with the baby in the manger?

Why not begin with the Son of God descending from heaven onto the earth, adult and mature, doing his intended work, and then leaving immediately after it was done? After all, very little was even heard about Jesus for another 30 years. Yet God sent his Son into the world as a human baby (also referred to as Theophany—meaning “appearance of God”).

The answer to this question is critical in understanding who Jesus was and what he is about. If his life had been any other way, we would not have the Gospel, for one of the central doctrines of the faith rests on this crucial piece of history—Jesus’ daily, human life from his birth to his ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection.

Jesus was busy during those 30 years living as a human being in perfect holiness and obedience to the will of his Father who sent him. In this, he was establishing himself as the only human in history who ever could. Every hour of every day of his life of deliberate obedience directly impacts our lives in this world and the next.

In the years before his public ministry began, Jesus laid the groundwork for what we know as the doctrine of imputation. Don’t let the theological label scare you away! This means that Jesus credits to our account his righteousness. He knew that if we depended upon our goodness or righteousness to get into the Kingdom of God, we wouldn’t stand a chance. The Old Testament already taught that the very best of our righteousness is as “filthy rags” or a “polluted garment” in God’s sight (Isaiah 64:6).

The first inkling of this idea of imputation came from the story of Abraham, of whom it was said that he believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:3; Galatians 3:6; James 2:23). In trusting in the promises of God, Abraham became the father of all believers (Romans 4:11–12), those who trust God more than they trust anything or anyone else, least of all themselves.

What this means is that as we trust entirely in what Jesus did for us in his life, death on the cross, and resurrection, and not in what we think we can do to impress God, we are following in the steps of Abraham. We are leaning upon the complete sufficiency of Jesus’ payment for our sin and his righteousness which he credits (imputes) to us. In other words, we get full credit for his holiness and his life lived in perfect obedience to God.

So there are two transfers here: the first is of our sins to Jesus on the cross, which he pays for (we couldn’t), and the second is of his perfect righteousness to us, qualifying us for his kingdom (Romans 5:1–21). He pays for us and qualifies us through the same transaction. This means that we don’t have to wonder and struggle over whether we are, or ever will be, “good enough for heaven” (we’re not) since Jesus did everything needed to get us there.

When God looks upon us, he sees not our sin, paltry obedience, and embarrassing attempts at holiness, but the deep love and sacrifice of his Son for us. We fulfill the requirement of holiness as entrance into God’s eternal kingdom (Hebrews 12:14) through Jesus’ merits put to our account.

That’s why the Gospel is called “Good News.” It began with the baby in the manger, born of the Holy Spirit and empowered by the same Spirit to live the perfect life for our sakes.

Prayer

God our Father, we can’t even think of the right words to thank you for what you have done to save and destine us for your eternal kingdom. Help us look way beyond what we’ve done to Christmas and see the beginning of the most wonderful story in history. Open our ears to hear all that you declare to us through it. We humbly pray in the name of your Son. Amen.

Carol of the Day: What Child Is This?
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Excerpted from the bestselling A Series of Fortunate Events: A Christmas Devotional by Pastor John Snyder.
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