The Incarnation

Through retold every year, the Christmas story never loses its wonder to those who believe the doctrine of Incarnation. The belief that God became flesh—Jesus took on a human body and began life as an embryo, then a fetus, and born as a baby in Bethlehem.

Mary was pregnant and was still a virgin because the Holy Spirit had planted the seed in her womb. The angel Gabriel had explained this to both Mary and Joseph, and they were obedient to the angel’s instruction. They lived in a small town call Nazareth located some 90 miles from where the prophet Micah predicted the Messiah’s birth (Micah 5:2). Only days from the baby’s birth, they were in the wrong place—no problem for the Almighty God.

One thousand five hundred miles away in Rome, Caesar had issued months before that a census should be taken and everyone should return to his place of origin to be counted. So God used Caesar’s greed to get the couple in the right place.

A journey of nearly a hundred miles in the winter, either walking or on a borrowed donkey, would have been challenging, but especially hard when you are nine months pregnant. The pace had to be slow and stressful with the baby coming anytime. You know the worry of the child’s birth never left the young mother’s mind. There was the exhaustion of the trip and now the labor pains that intensified.

Luke’s description of the Savior’s birth is incredibly simple, “While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:6-7).

No room! What disappointing words to hear in their predicament. The only place they found any shelter was with the animals. It was not sanitary but a stinking mess with the smell of manure and urine. It was there that Mary gave birth with no experienced person to help deliver the child. With pain and sweat and painful cries, she finally gave birth with no one but Joseph present.  What a scene! What a moment!

Mary wrapped the baby in strips of cloth, and Joseph laid him in a feeding trough he had cleaned out. Here is the Incarnation, the creator as a baby The wonder of the Incarnation! The omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient God became a baby!

The Incarnation doctrine is the belief that the Son of God became a real man, not just someone who appeared to be a man. Jesus was fully God even when he was a baby lying in the manger. Jesus chose to lay aside the use of his divine attributes. Though Jesus was sinless, he had a real human body, mind, and emotions. With this human body, he experienced all gambit of human experience.