Can a baby save the world?
It’s so unbelievable, so unprecedented, so completely impossible to comprehend. Yet here is the prophecy from the Scriptures of thousands of years ago:
“A woman is with child and shall bear a son who shall be called Emmanuel – God is with us.” (Isaiah 7:14)
God is to be in our midst as a child. But why? If he has been delivered to us, would he make a promise such as this:
“God so loves the world that He gives His only Son so that those who believe in him will not perish but will have eternal life.”
But how do we know this baby will grow to be the deliverer of this promise? Would he testify to his mission by saying:
“The one who sent me is true, and you do not know Him. I know Him, because I am from Him, and He sent me.”
And what of all the people who suffer and yearn for peace? Can he assure them of salvation? Would he pledge to them:
“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
Never hunger, never thirst. That would be amazing. But what if we fail along the way, what if our weaknesses undermine our goodness? I pray this man God has sent is not someone I should fear. It would be so comforting to hear him say:
“I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.”
And how are we to act among one another? It would be wonderful if people everywhere would join together and follow and believe in the holiness of God’s Son. Then the world would truly be saved. So will this child grow to be the man who teaches us about love with words as these:
“As I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
It’s so incredible to imagine God would send a child into the world to show us the way to Heaven. But Lord, I will follow, if I hear this child, Your Son, declare:
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”
It’s winter and snow drifts softly from the evening sky. In the stillness a shining star fills the world with hope. The Christ child comes.
