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Few stories are more familiar and loved than that of Mary, Joseph, and the infant Christ child. The theme of countless carols, cards, books, and pageants, this story is timeless and from beginning to end filled with glad tidings of great joy.
This story is about God and man fused in indissoluble oneness, as the Creator vested in glory is humbled to an infant in swaddling clothes. John describes this miraculous event: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Our all-divine Jesus came to rescue sinful man and reconcile us to God. No wonder this is a joy to the world.
In Luke 1, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a young maiden girl named Mary. Gabriel reveals to Mary that “the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” to “conceive . . . and bear a son” (Luke 1:35, 31). This is no ordinary birth and therefore no ordinary child. This is the “Son of God” (Luke 1:35). According to Matthew, this is a direct fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14: “The virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (see Matt. 1:23).
Further, Gabriel reveals the ministry and purpose for which this divine child will be born:
“He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” (Luke 1:32–33)
Within this summation, we discover Jesus’ entire redemptive work. He will not be an ordinary man, but “He will be great.” His whole life, work, death, resurrection, and ascension will be extraordinary because He is the “Son of the Most High.” This is a name that refers to God’s sovereignty. No one is higher. To identify Jesus as the Son of the Most High is to signify that He has the same essence and is Himself the Most High God (Heb. 1:3). Because He is great and the Son of the Most High, He has the right to reign on the throne of David, and “of his kingdom there will be no end.” The end of the story is that the story doesn’t end.
Our all-divine Jesus is the Word become flesh—the God-man. Born to Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem, Jesus is the divine Son of God who came to release us from the bondage of our sin and reconcile us to God through His substitutionary death and triumphant resurrection. This Christmas season, let us celebrate that Jesus isn’t in the manger, He’s not on the cross, He’s not in the grave, but He sits enthroned at God’s right hand and will one day return for us. This season, let us celebrate Jesus not as an ordinary man but as our all-divine God.