Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “The Lord’s Presence”
Our Bible verse for today: “Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive, have a son, and name Him Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “The incarnation of Christ is the greatest miracle in history”
On this Christmas Eve morning, as we’re preparing to celebrate the birth of the Christ child, I’m reminded of what the writer Jerry Bridges once wrote: “God’s plan and His ways of working out His plan are frequently beyond our ability to fathom and understand. We must learn to trust when we don’t understand.”
That would certainly pertain to the birth of Jesus. The fact that God Himself, in the person of the Son, would leave the glory of heaven, place Himself within the body of a human infant, and actually become one of His own creations, is just too much to wrap our minds around. How that could be possible, and that God would actually do such a thing, is beyond our human understanding.
And that is the problem. The incarnation is just too much for some people to believe in. But God knew that would be so and therefore to make it a little easier for us to accept the fact of the incarnation, God provided us with proof. Writer Josh McDowell calls it “Jesus’ address in history”. He writes:
“God wrote an address in history to single out His Son, the Messiah, the Savior of mankind, from anyone who has ever lived in history – past, present, or future. The specifics of this address can be found in the Old Testament, a document written over a period of a thousand years, which contains more than three hundred references to His coming. Using the science of probability, we find the chances of just forty-eight of those prophecies being fulfilled in one person to be right at one in 10 to the 157th power (a one followed by 157 zeros!)”
As difficult as it might be to believe that God would do this for us, the fact is that He did. The birth of Jesus is an historical reality that is provable and well documented. As we celebrate His birth we do so with the sure knowledge that the incarnation is the greatest miracle in all of history.
Tonight at Oak Hill Baptist we will celebrate this miracle with a Christmas Eve Candlelight Service. It will begin at 5:30 and we want to invite everyone to join us as we celebrate the great truth of the incarnation of Jesus; Immanuel – God is with us!
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 