The Holy One Comes 

Seasonal reflections on the life of Christ

It would seem quite natural that we, as Christians, would focus on the remarkable event of the incarnation as we approach another Christmas.

Homo imago-Dei

The incarnation focuses on the Son. But obviously the whole Trinity is involved in it, the Father purposing it from the beginning, as revealed at the time of the Fall; “He will crush your head...”, which surely alludes to the miraculous conceiving of Jesus by the Holy Spirit. The whole heavenly host joined in the celebration!

The shepherds were 'sore afraid' as 'the glory of the Lord shone around them'. Why their fear? Was it the angelic light, or the presence of the Holy Spirit? He humbles us all to worship, overpowering our foolishness and sin. We feel assured somehow that He'll rescue us and that we are impossibly safe - if we will choose Him. The offer is powerfully made, but there is no manipulation, for we all know that we are totally free to choose, free almost in a way we don't quite understand.

The true wonder is not so much the virgin birth as it is the fact that the transcendent God should become one of us.

The true wonder is not so much the virgin birth as it is the fact that the transcendent God should become one of us – homo imago-dei! That's a better classification of our race - not the homo sapien, the self-sufficient thinker, but the one chosen to bear God's image. 

The Chosen

The nativity is an incredible story. But if you think about it, it's the only way it could have happened. The drama series The Chosen paints a picture of Jesus' life in the first century based on historical accounts. Their first piece, done as an experiment, is of the nativity, and it reflects so much of what made the subsequent series feel spiritually authentic and thought-provoking.

The Chosen is also helpful in broadening our imaginations and getting us to think about what it was like to be with Jesus, a craftsman, a northerner – not especially noticeable in his first 30 years, yet now gaining widespread respect (and opposition). What did they see in him, how did he respond to all the ordinary activities of life?

How did he work his tools? How did he respond to tiredness, hunger, questioners of all sorts – both the honest enquirer and the trickster? How did he respond to the soldiers demanding to have equipment carried a mile? In the complicated and turbulent politics of the time, what was it that prompted and guided his response to the various players?
 

How did he work his tools? How did he respond to tiredness, hunger, questioners of all sorts – both the honest enquirer and the trickster? 

These are practical questions, and the very contemplation of them will be of help to us in the remarkable realisation that He is Immanuel – God with us – the very opposite of the common notion that He is he is distant and remote. We also need to get over the idea that his walk is beyond our reach so we don't have to bother. Quite the reverse; we are called to be 'imitators of Christ'.

You can’t help noticing from the gospel accounts that Jesus quite often took off by himself to pray. He knew how to enjoy spending time with His Father. And so can we! What a glorious thought.

We also recognise the pain of rejection, the target of spite, the loss of friends & followers, the death-threats, the sense of constraint on him. All of this was His lot. And even among those who stuck with him, the sad necessity to respond; “Could you not watch with me one hour?” We tend to recall some of the Saviour’s experiences during his life on earth on occasions when we experience similar things. It’s in times like these that we find we are more ready to walk His path.

Sonship under attack

We need this encouragement because our understanding of Jesus is always under attack. This year, 2025, we remembered the 1700^th anniversary of the Nicene Creed being formulated at the Council of Nicaea, way back in 325 AD. The main issue of contention was the status of the Son – was he equal to the Father, or subordinate, as claimed by Arius from Alexandria?

This was no small matter, because many favoured this approach as it fitted with cultural expectations. Not long before, Christians were being persecuted by an Emperor whose cult required everyone to say 'Caesar is Lord' and burn incense as a sign of his singular deity. The public was used to this autocratic spiritual regime, and even though Constantine had adopted Christianity, he, too, favoured this approach as it fitted the civic power realities. Thankfully, the Christian leaders who had gathered from around the empire resisted Constantine and the revisionists. Fidelity with God and his word was maintained.
 

We're so tuned-in to this world’s system that we hardly raise an eyebrow at immensely important issues....

There was an almost irresistible pressure to fit in with the culture then – and the same is also true now. Many of us were brought up to be good secular-humanists; we were indoctrinated in it, and its effective programming continues today, stronger than ever. Secular-humanism states that humans are essentially ‘good’. Ultimately, it’s a repetition of the 'noble savage' myth.

Secular accommodation

There is not a shred of evidence to support this secular-humanist claim, but it needs to be believed to assert the notion that there is no God. So actual evil, the proof-positive of humanist failure, must be hidden, toned down. We're so tuned-in to this world’s system that we hardly raise an eyebrow at immensely important issues – such as: abortion, the chemical castration of children, the killing of dependents, gang-rapes, judicial evil, the evolution-myth, climate-fear, Islamism, family dissolution, state theft, electoral fraud, and numerous other gross evils that infect Western society. Truly, the devil's greatest trick is to convince us that he does not exist.

For Christians, the effect of all this has been to diminish the reality and effect of evil; this despite the fact that Jesus's whole ministry was steeped in conflict with the powers of darkness, and His death the final defeat of it. We continue to refuse to speak about the deep and catastrophic advances of evil in our redeemed and refined culture – when in reality our opposition to God’s rule is reminiscent of the days of the Man of Lawlessness that Paul talks about in 2 Thessalonians 2.
 

Actually, his status is not diminished, so we had better realise we've got the whole thing the wrong way round. 

Meanwhile, many of us appear to be all too comfortable with secular accommodation: with sermons that don't touch-down, the absence of any serious call for repentance, the lack of mention of atonement. What does all this say about Jesus, Yeshua, the Saviour – is he no more than a friendly figure? Actually, his status is not diminished, so we had better realise we've got the whole thing the wrong way round. What we really need to get to grips with is the reality that Christian apologist and historian Dr Joe Boot points to, that:

“The gospel that the apostles preached and that the Christian church has preached for most of history is a world-transforming culture-renewing Satan-destroying demon-busting and cosmic gospel of the rule and reign of the Lord Jesus Christ that applies to every single area of life.”
 

Proclaimers of truth

Untruths and heresies continue to reappear in different guises. In the spirit of Nicea, the Church once again needs to go against the grain of the world, and speak truth. Why on earth did we ever think that following the world was a good idea in the first place?. We can draw strength and hope from Jesus' example, and realise that he experienced earthly life in a very similar way to us – and that this was not an aberration – it was how it was supposed to be. We need to endeavour to live like Him – in joy, persistence, courage, fortitude, truth and hope.

We need to endeavour to live like Him – in joy, persistence, courage, fortitude, truth and hope.

Instead of soothing therapeutic songs, we need to enthusiastically sing His praises and become roarers of the psalms! We also need to be bold proclaimers of biblical truths.

For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord. (Ps 33:4-5)