The Gift Who Comes to Make a Purchase

To the Gentiles, to those whose worldview was shaped by Greek philosophical thinking, the greatest scandal was the biblical claim that the Logos became flesh. To them the Logos was that rational principle that pervaded and that held together all reality. The apostle John therefore shocked their ears when he boldly and uncompromisingly published in his gospel that the Logos was not an abstract philosophical principle, a principle of reasoning or even (some aspect of) the divine mind but a person, a real person, the only, true God that took on human flesh. The Word became flesh meant that God’s highest Self-revelation took the form of the Person Jesus Christ. That God should don weak, human flesh was the supreme stumbling-block, the superlative paradox, the consummate assault on the Greek mind.

However, Christians are not ruffled by this apparent contradiction because in it we understand the physical outworking of the great promises and purposes of God in order to bring a radical redemption to those who were his radical enemies. Yet, this is not the only apparent contradiction that we find in Scripture concerning Jesus Christ. As we search the Scripture we find many such paradoxes concerning the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, some of which are listed below:

He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the One who is, who was and who is to come, Rev 1:7.

He, who was in the form of God, did not think that such equality was something to be selfishly grasped, but ".. made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men." Phi 2:6-7.

In him infinity has come into the finite world and in the form of a finite person.

On the other hand, he is the particular who has come to the universal.

He, who was rich became poor for the sake of his people so that they may become rich, through his poverty, 2 Cor 8:9.

God the Father made the sinless Christ to be sin for us, "so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Cor 5:21.

Jesus Christ is the Lord of life comes to die for sinners.

He is the Author of life (Acts 3:15) who comes to surrender his life for others.

He is the Great High Priest who comes to make the supreme, sacrificial offering of himself as a once for all sacrifice for sin, Heb 8-9.

The sacrifice of a docile, surrendering Lamb on Calvary's Cross was actually the triumph of the victorious Lion of Judah, Rev. 5:5-10.

And on and on.

Yet, there is one other correlation that we must take into consideration, especially as we contemplate on and celebrate Christmas, and that is Jesus Christ is both the gift and the purchaser. He is the gift of God, even that inexpressible gift, 2 Cor 9:15 – there are no human categories that are able to describe him adequately – who was at the same time the one who comes to purchase his bride.

Scripture is abundantly clear that Jesus Christ is God's gift to his people. Jn 3:16, the gospel in miniature, is perhaps the most popular text revealing the eternal truth that so great was the love of God for His people that He gave his only Son, Jesus Christ “that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” Our Lord continues to speak of himself as the divine gift in such places as Jn 4:10: "".. if you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, .."; 6:32 – ".. my Father gives you the true bread from heaven."; etc. Jesus Christ is God's gift to the church.

At the same time, the primary reason for his Incarnation is the purchase of the church, that is, those that the Father had given him in eternity past. Thus Paul admonishes the Ephesian elders to be especially vigilant in protecting ".. all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood." Acts 20:28. On other occasions, the term ransom, meaning to redeem, to pay the price for one's release, and so on whether used as a noun, ".. the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”" Mt 20:28 or as a verb, ".. you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. ", 1 Pe 1:18-19, is used. Moreover, Christ is said to have given himself "as a ransom for all, ..", 1 Tim 2:6. Our gift has come to purchase us, to ransom us from slavery to sin, death and Satan, with the currency of his blood.

This is the great gospel truth of Scripture – God descending from heaven in the veil and weakness of human flesh to dwell among us, to live sinlessly for us, to die for us, to purchase us as his own and in so doing, to restore us to himself. The truth of the gospel is that God the Father sends his Son on a purchasing mission-- Christ comes to seek and save the lost, Lk 19:10.

At Christmas Christ’s church celebrates the Logos, not the figment of the "wise" Greek mind but the Son of the living God who came down from heaven to the mall of the fallen world to rescue those the Father had already given him in eternity past. At Christmas Christ’s church celebrates the supreme divine gift of God’s Son who comes to purchase his bride. As such, there is an authentic, distinct commercial ring to Christmas, isn’t there? Surely, but this commercial aspect has been immutably defined for us sub specie aeternitatis (in the shadow of eternity, the way God views it). Its commercial dimension is not derived from the realm of secular economic enterprise but from the redemptive character of Christ's purchase, from the purpose of his Incarnation as God's only Son ".. who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works" Tit 2:14.

Rightly Handling the Word That Has Become Flesh

What does a correct view of the Baby of Bethlehem yield? When we rightly handle the Word of truth that has become flesh, we are confronted with at least three results.

Firstly, rightly handling the Word that has become flesh transfers us. It transfers us from the stall in Bethlehem to the cross of Calvary. Indeed, the Incarnation is the profound mystery of godliness, 1 Tim 3:16, but it is not an end in itself. This Jesus “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; ..th'Incarnate Deity, .. Jesus, our Emmanuel” was born that “.. Man no more may die, .. To raise the sons of earth, .. to give them second birth.” He is the ".. the woman's conqu'ring Seed, .. the Second Adam from above.." divinely promised in the protevangelium (gospel in advance) in Gen 3:15 whose mission is to "Bruise in us the serpent's head", to replace Adam' s image with the very image of God. (From "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.") The Babe is Immanuel, God with us, who comes to deliver those given to him by the Father in eternity past from the penalty, power, presence and, so often neglected, the pleasure of sin, by living a sinless life and then surrendering himself on the cross in their place. Rightly handling the Word that has become flesh transfers us from Bethlehem to Calvary.

Secondly, rightly handling the Word that has become flesh transforms us.
Those in whom God has graciously removed the blinding veil of darkness which prevents unbelievers from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, .. the image of God", 2 Cor 4:3-4, behold the Bethlehem Babe differently from the world. They view him as God’s supreme covenant gift to the church, sent by the Father to suffer once for sins, “ ..the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, .. ", 1 Pe 3:18. This understanding reaches its pinnacle in corporate worship. There, as we, by faith and "with unveiled face" corporately behold the glory of the Lord, (we) are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another…”, 2 Cor 3:18.
There, as we behold the face of Christ as he is placarded before our eyes in the faithful preaching of the gospel and in the proper administration of the sacraments, we are being transformed into his image and into the image of God the Father. It is a biblical axiom that we become like what we worship, Pss 115:8; 135:18; Jer 2:5; Hos 9:10; etc. Rightly handling the Word of truth, the Word that has become flesh, transforms us into his image.

Lastly, rightly handling the Word that has become flesh transfixes us. We cannot take our eyes off him. As the apostle John states in the prologue of his gospel, "And 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. " 1:14. The Word see indicates not a fleeting glance at something or someone temporarily occupying our interest but rather, a calm, continuous contemplation of an irresistibly fascinating object. Such is the case when we behold the Babe of Bethlehem sub specie aeternitatis, that is, the way God views him, from a heavenly perspective, as he really is.

John's testifies that the apostles' attention was continuously riveted to the glory, that is, the external manifestation of Christ's being. Their physical vision was enhanced by a supernatural, Spiritual impression. In other words, they were transfixed by him. He commanded their continuous attention. And why not? There is no greater sight to behold. No other person is worthy of such reflection. We stand, nay, we bow in an everlasting gaze upon him. Our greatest delights are at his right hand. In Christ alone, solus Christus, we have a beautiful inheritance; in him, the lines have fallen into place; in his presence we have fullness of joy and at his right hand we have everlasting pleasures. Ps 16:6, 11. At the great eschatological consummation, the eternal delight and the greatest joy of the saints is that "They will see his face, .." Rev 22:4. Rightly handling the Word that has become flesh transfixes us.

Let us rightly understand Christmas by viewing it as God does: the time at which he demonstrates His great love for us by giving ".. his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." Jn 3:16. Behold the Baby in the stall at Bethlehem! Do you see what I see? Rather, do you hear what I hear? The Babe of Bethlehem is the saving gift of God.

God In The What?!!

In his gospel, one of the several proofs the apostle John provides for the authenticity of Jesus' Messianic mission is that He was sent by the Father. For example, in his Bread of Life discourse in chapter 6, Jesus enlightens his miracle-seeking, consumeristic hearers that "“This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” (v. 29). He has come to do .. " “.. the will of him who sent me"". (38; see also 39). "“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him…” (44). Etc; etc. So unique is the relationship between God the Father and Jesus Christ that to believe in Christ is the same as to believe in God, (12:44), and to receive Christ is equivalent to receiving God the Father. (13:20).

On what basis could Jesus make such statements? He was sent from the Father because He and the Father are one. They are one in the sense that they are equally God. This bold defense of Christ's divinity is the theological and Christological foundation of John’s gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (1:1). God the Father and God the Son, Jesus Christ, and by necessary implication, God the Holy Spirit, are equally God in all aspects of "Godness." For this reason, Jesus was with God, that is to say, face-to-face with God in a most intimate way, in an eternal relationship. Further, is God and always will be God. It's no wonder that Jesus stuns the confused and unbelieving Jews by contending that "I and the Father are one." (10:30). The Westminster Confession of Faith instructs us that "In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost." (2.3).

The entire New Testament is flooded with proofs of the divinity of Jesus Christ. However, for our purposes today, there is one other verse asserting Christ's divinity that is frequently overlooked and that that deserves our attention- Jn 1:18: "No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known." The Greek verb has made known can also be translated declared, explained or exegeted. Exegete literally means to guide out of (the ex prefix means from or out of). Thus, when we exegete a text, we seek to extract or get out of it, its original meaning. In other words, we explain what the Scripture actually says; we discover the meaning the author intended to convey to his readers.

Jesus Christ perfectly and objectively provides us with the original and clearest understanding of God the Father. There is no higher Self-revelation of God than Jesus Christ; He is God in the flesh. Anyone who has seen Christ has seen God the Father. (14:9). In becoming a human being, Christ did not become a creature. In his humanity, the eternal Son of God attaches his divinity to weak human flesh in such a way that neither is his humanity enhanced nor his divinity reduced – he is fully man and fully God at the same time and in the same relationship! In the newborn babe, infinity has taken on finiteness; eternity invades time; divinity appears in diapers; God comes down into His creation in the form of man. No other religion can make such a bold claim. The holy God comes to seek and save his worst enemies. This is indeed a mystery at which we do not stumble by at which we bow in solemn adoration and in humble, self-effacing worship.

The divine Self-revelation in Christ and Christ’s Messianic mission to seek and save sinners are a stumbling-block to the people of Jesus' time – His own people rejected Him (1:11) and the ignorant world leaders (as well as those of ours) crucified "the Lord of glory." (1 Cor 2:8). In a real sense, the incarnate Christ is God's last call, his last appeal from heaven for fallen man to be saved (Heb 1:1-2). God's coming in the weakness of human flesh is the highest expression of His mercy and the ultimate demonstration of his grace towards fallen man. There is no other redemptive process that is available to men; there is no other person by whom redemption can be accomplished, (Acts 4:12). In Christ alone are God and sinner reconciled. In Christ alone we have the grandest display of God's commitment to His creatures and, above all, to His own glory. In a word, the word of Christmas is the Word from heaven of whom the Father says, " “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” " Let it not be said of us:

Didn't know You'd come to save us, Lawd
To take our sins away,
Our eyes was blind
We couldn't see
We didn't know who You was. (From "Sweet Little Jesus Boy")