Advent Devotional - December 23, 2016

“Mild He lays His glory by / Born that man no more may die / Born to raise the sons of earth / Born to give them second birth”

-Hark the Herald Angels Sing

Everything that is born dies. Encouraging, right? But we know that it’s the case: every flower born from a seedling, every family dog that we brought home as a puppy, every company that’s ever been formed, every country that’s ever ruled or reigned. These all, like the milk in our refrigerators, have expiration dates. And we know this truth hits home most pointedly when it comes to human beings. Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us that there is “a time to be born, and a time to die.” Hebrews 9:27 tells us that it is appointed for man to die. Death, because of the presence of sin in this world, is coming for all of us.

Death, however, is not a problem for God. We’re told in Psalm 90:2 that God is “from everlasting to everlasting.” In other words, God has no beginning has no end. God was not born and God cannot die. So here’s the two realities we have so far: 1) We can’t help but die; and 2) God cannot die. And this is where the incarnation ought to floor us. In the incarnation, Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, is making himself killable. The incarnation is telling us that Jesus is taking on human flesh, breathing human breath, and making it possible for his breath to be taken away, for his flesh to be stricken. In becoming a man, Jesus is becoming killable for us.

In becoming killable for us, in coming to be born in order to die, Jesus is making it possible that we might not die forever. Jesus’ birth, ultimate death, and resurrection purchase for us the possibility of re-birth. Jesus is coming to make it so that our first birth and ultimate death can be upended, so that our second birth results in the power of an indestructible, eternal life. Birth begets death. But re-birth banishes death forever. This is the gospel. Jesus becomes a man, making himself killable out of love for us. He was born to die, that death wouldn’t have the last word over us. He was born to rise from the dead, and raise us from the dead. He was born to grant us re-birth.