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.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:1-5)
In the years before Jesus came to Earth, God and man were separate. A veil was hung in the temple, behind which only the Priests were allowed. It was behind this veil that the rites of atonement were performed. It was behind this veil that the priests of Israel, once a year, could come into the presence of God. The veil was a reminder to Israel that the sin of man kept him separate from the Most High. That God could not bear to be in the presence of Sin. It had been this way for generations.
But then, Jesus.
God came out from behind the curtain and dwelt among fallen men. He walked our paths, ate our food, became one of us in order to bring us Home. God sent Jesus as a man, because, for a mortal man to cross over a chasm, a bridge must have its feet on both sides. Jesus, The Word, was with God and He was God, and he lived as a man to do what men were unable to do: to provide a Way back.
When the Priests of Israel went, once a year, behind the veil in the temple, the best they could do was make a temporary covering of sins. A mask without a cure.When we go to God, our offerings are paltry, and insufficient. God wasn't interested in a covering.
God wasn't interested in this religion of sacrifice and atonement, repeated once a year. He wasn't interested in visiting His children by proxy; He wanted a relationship with each one of His children. With you and with me, and with every single member of this sinful human race.
That is why, on the day Jesus -- God right here on Earth -- died, the Temple veil was torn. God was letting us know these days of religion were over. That He had once and for all offered Forgiveness and a true relationship with Him. It could once again be like the old days, when He would walk in the Garden with His Adam. When each one of us could finally be called, once again, His sons and daughters.
But it didn't start with Jesus' death; it began with His birth. Our renewed relationship with God truly began on the Day our Savior, Jesus Christ, came to Earth and dwelt as one of us. We weren't able to go to Him, so God, instead, came to Us.
That's how it was, and that's how it is. God knows you can't come to Him, so instead, He comes to you. He reaches across the chasm we've built in our own Spirits, and asks only that you take His hand.
“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” (Matthew 1:23)
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)
In today's culture a lot of people -- too many -- seem to believe the job of the Father begins and ends at conception. But in fact, the germination of new life is only one part of what we do. A father also cultivates that life. Trains that child up, and provides for her needs. In fact, I would argue that it is all that stuff -- the building and care of a family -- that truly makes one a Father.
Joseph, Mary's husband, played no part in the conception of the child Jesus. Yet, here on Earth, he filled the role of father from the beginning. When he discovered his young wife-to-be was pregnant, his instinct was to run. Not his kid; not his responsibility.
20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream
and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as
your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. (Matthew 1:20-25)
When Joseph took Mary as his wife, he also accepted the responsibility of Fatherhood to her child. Twice in this passage, we see it fell to Joseph to name the baby. Why? Because from that time on, Jesus was his son, too. It was a responsibility he took seriously, right from the beginning. He found a place to stay, warm and dry, if not ideal, for the birth of his son. He trained Him up, taking Him to synagogue and teaching Him how to live and behave. And he loved Him.
In turn, Jesus is the Everlasting Father. He cultivates the relationship with us, His family. He teaches us and builds us up. He molds us into men and women in his own image.
I love my children, and do my best to train them up in the Way they should go. Someday, though, I'm not going to be here for them. I'll do what I can while I'm here, but someday I'll be taken from their midst, and they won't be able to turn to me and ask for advice or assistance, or just for the assurance of my love for them.
But Jesus is their Everlasting Father. He loved them before they were born. He loves them -- and us -- still. And He always will.
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. 
