Every year we pause and reflect on the miracle of the incarnation at Christmas time. It is one of the most important elements of the Christian faith, and is foundational to understanding the gospel and salvation. Entire books have been written seeking to explain the numerous details or implications of the incarnation. My goal is not to explain it fully here. But I do want to highlight one very important point about God’s entrance into the world, and that is how he came- as a child.

In my previous post, we read the prophecy concerning the virgin giving birth to a son in Isaiah 7. Just a few chapters later in Isaiah, we are given more information about The Son that will be born. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be on his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness, from this time forth and forevermore” (Isa 9:6-7).

“For to us a child is born.” The Son of God who upholds the universe by the word of his power (Heb 1:3) could have entered the world in any way he wanted. He could have come as a thirty year old man ready to begin ministry. Just as God created Adam as an adult, he could’ve allowed his Son to become man by simply fashioning a body out of dust for him.

As God took Elijah up into heaven, he could have sent his Son in human form down from heaven. Jesus could have come in a grandiose way where he would be seen and known instantly. Or he could have mysteriously come as Melchizedek does in Genesis 14. But he didn’t. He came as a child. As an infant. As a fetus. As an embryo.

Jesus of Nazareth was born to a poor family traveling to Bethlehem. The offspring that was promised to Eve, Abraham, David, and Israel was finally here. And as all offspring comes, he came as an infant, fully dependent on his mother’s sustenance and care. The nature of his coming is important. If he didn’t come this way, all of the offspring promises could not have been fulfilled in him, because he would not have been anyone’s offspring!

Christians often say that Jesus was fully God and fully man. But there was a time in his life when he was fully God and fully child.  Luke tells us that he “grew and became strong” and “increased in wisdom and stature” (Luke 2:40, 52). He grew up as other children did, in their homes and in their communities, learning, playing, eating, and celebrating. He spent time with siblings, cousins, and other neighborhood kids. He did kid things. But there were signs that he was different.

Both of these signs happen at the temple. The first one occurs when Joseph and Mary take Jesus to the temple to present him to the Lord and offer a sacrifice. There they encounter a man named Simeon, who was “waiting for the consolation of Israel.” The Holy Spirit “was upon him”, and he had revealed to Simeon that he would not see death before he had seen the Messiah (Lk 2:27-28).

When Simeon saw “the child Jesus” and his parents in the temple, he took him in his arms and said, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel” (Lk 2:29-32).

Simeon says three things about this child. He is God’s salvation. He is a light for revelation to the Gentiles. And he is glory for the people of Israel.

In other words, he is the One. He was the consummation of all that was promised in the Old Testament, “the Lord’s Christ,” and Simeon knew it. Yet he also knew that providing the way of salvation would not be easy. The child will be appointed for the rising and falling of many in Israel, he says, and many hearts will be revealed. He also tells Mary that a sword will pierce through her own soul, a clear reference to the pain and heartache to come (Lk 2:34-35).

 In just a few verses later in Luke 2, we find Jesus and his family in temple again. This time they are there for Passover, a trip that they made annually. When they leave with their travel group of relatives and friends, Jesus stays behind in Jerusalem. After a day of travel, his parents notice that he is missing. They return to Jerusalem and spend three days looking for him.

They finally find him in the temple, “sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions” (Lk 2:46). Can you imagine what kind of questions he was asking? Apparently they were impressive. And it appears that he offered his own answers after hearing the answers offered by the teachers, because “all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers” (Lk 2:47).

At this point in Jesus’ life, I wonder if he was beginning to understand who he was and what the Father sent him to do. I wonder if he was asking questions about the Messiah- who he would be, what he would do, and when he would come. I wonder if he asked questions about God, and if he was unsatisfied with the answers of his teachers because he himself knew God, was with God, and was God.

By this point in his life, he certainly knew who he was in relation to his Father. When his parents find him in the temple, they exclaim, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” Jesus responds, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Lk 2:49).

Then Luke records something very interesting. He writes, “and they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them” (Lk 2:50). In other words, this was not the kind of thing that other kids were saying at the time. It was wholly unique. He called the temple his Father’s house, in response to his mother saying “your Father and I have been searching for you…” and seemed to indicate that his parents should have known that he, the Son, should have been expected to be there, in his Father’s house.

Why? Because Jesus was growing in wisdom and in stature, in favor with God and man (Lk 2:52). As he grew physically, he was growing in his understanding of himself as God’s Son, the child that was promised and was given and was maturing.

He was in his Father’s house because he was hungry to listen and learn. He was eager to know and please his Father. This mattered to him more than anything else. And he was surprised (or perhaps disappointed) that his earthly parents didn’t know that.

Why does this matter? Because Jesus’ childhood was an integral part of his becoming the man who would save us from our sins. It was a formative experience, solidifying him as the Son of God, who had learned what it meant to be God’s child, fully dependent upon and obedient to him.

In some way, Jesus learned obedience as a Son (Heb 5:8). It was a faultless obedience, a righteousness that made him the perfect, spotless lamb that could atone for our sins. His being an infant, a child, a teenager, and a man contributed to that righteousness. The author of Hebrews writes, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb 2:14). The “same things” includes his childhood. It was essential to his humanity. That’s important, because it enables him to be the child, the Son, that we should all be, and by God’s grace, all can become in him!