God With Us

God is with us.  John, the Apostle and gospel writer said it simply when he wrote, "The Word became flesh and lived among us..."  (John 1:14). There are many verses of Scripture which proclaim the intimate nearness of God, but none does it more majestically with such few words.  During the Christmas season we celebrate the coming of Jesus into the world.  While the gospel writer, Mark, makes no mention of the event which amazed shepherds and sent Herod into a frenzy, both Matthew and Luke and John tell of this event known as the Incarnation.    

It may seem that a serious Biblical blunder is being made as it is said that all three of these writers speak of the coming of Jesus into our midst. We know the story of Matthew and its emphasis on Joseph and the one told by Luke which is Mary's story, but saying there is one in John's gospel might send us to scratching our heads until we realize that John told us about Jesus being with us with a most economical use of words.  What took the others verse after verse to tell, John does with eight words.  Amazing!  The greatest event in history is set forth in eight simple words!   Remembering the story of Jesus coming to live among us is not reminder to get the Christmas tree up in the family room, but is, instead, a reminder that God is with us.  God is not with some of us.  He is with all of us.  

Jesus did not come into the world for a few, but for everyone.  His death on the cross does not just have significance for those who declare faith, but was a work of grace offered for all of us.  Jesus did not just die on the cross for those who would love Him, but even for those who would have nothing to do with Him.  Romans 3:24 says it plainly enough.  "...since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are now justified by grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement, by His blood...."  It is an incredible gift, but not one of us is forced to receiveit for as Paul goes on to write, it become ours and is "effective through faith."  (Romans 3:24-25)