In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. (John 1:1-3)
As we head into Advent season, it is good to understand exactly who it is we are celebrating when we celebrate the man Jesus. John's gospel opens at the very beginning. Indeed, it gives us a glimpse before time. Before Man, before Earth, before the Universe, there was God. Outside of what we know as time itself, there He is, the Creator of All Things and Giver of All Life. We like to talk about Jesus as Son of God -- and He is. But He is so much more!
This Man -- this man who was born the lowly, poor son of a carpenter; whose parents were so poor He had to be born in a stable; whose parents fled to Egypt just to save His life; who walked among us, healing and showing us what it means to love; who had no place to call home here on earth; who was mocked and beaten and brutally murdered -- this Man was, and is, God Himself.
John tells us He was present for the creation of the Universe. That it was by Him that all things were created. He built this world. He created us. And then, by His great love for us, He lowered Himself to our level.
Words are insufficient to capture the awe of this moment we celebrate once a year. The moment when the very Person of the Creator was pushed into the world of men through the womb of a young virgin girl, screaming and gasping for His first breath of oxygen, and then laid into a straw-filled trough.
This birth wasn't His beginning. The Word, the Son of God, present and instrumental in the creation of all things has no beginning and no end. But what this birth shows us is that as eternal as He is, so is His love for us.
