The Lord Comes, not on the Clouds of Heaven, but as a Baby in a Manger

I was cuddling my grandson Max yesterday. He was missing his mommy and daddy who were off on secret Santa business. As I rocked Max I gazed across the room at the manger scene. I have several set up around the house this season so I can hardly go into a room without reflecting on the Lord Who comes. And it makes me think.

Why did Jesus come as a baby? He is, after all, -- the Lord of the universe, the creator of all things, He Who is and Who was and Who will be. He is all-good, all-powerful, all-knowing -- and yet He comes to us, His sinful creatures, as a helpless baby.

What would we expect if we were to guess how God would come to us? Would he come as a king? An emperor? A world judge with the power to pass judgment and dispense justice?


He is all those things and we will certainly see Him that way on the Day of Judgment. But He came to us as a helpless baby? Why?

The Coming of the Wise Men

I love the Epiphany! What a wonderful story -- three wise men watch the skies for signs and portents, men of action ready to head off across the world on a pilgrimage following a star. And why? To seek the one who is all truth, all beauty, and all goodness, the Word made flesh, the newborn king. What do they do when they get to their destination? They prostrate themselves in humility before God made man. The three kings illustrate as much as any figures in Scripture the reality that "fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." Our God is an awesome God who inspires "fear" in the sense of  "awe and wonder." That the high and mighty are humble enough to see their God in a feedbox testifies to both their wisdom and humility.

"He came to His own and His own received Him not." They could not see the glory of God in the Son of a carpenter. But the wise men never faltered. Outsiders, gentiles, nevertheless they saw with the eyes of faith and acted with love.

You can't go wrong following in the footsteps of the wise men on a pilgrimage to the house in Bethlehem, a house filled to the rafters with holy truth. There you will meet, and see through the eyes of faith  the just man, the queen of heaven and earth, and the Savior of the World, Him through whom all things were made. Hosanna in the highest!