In the Family Guide to Advent, our Christmas gift to our readers, we have a timeline of the events of Christmas. This explains what happened from the time just before Jesus’ birth to a few years after. We believe it is helpful to understand the specifics of the story that always get muddled by TV specials and manger scenes. As helpful as that is, it doesn’t address the most important issues of the story, namely “why did Jesus have to come in the flesh” in the first place. There are a great many reasons for the incarnation. Let’s try to understand it from the beginning.

God’s original plan for mankind was beautiful. He created an outstanding universe full of beauty and mystery, a planet full of life and wonder, then a garden that was really more of royal garden where the new rulers of the planet would live and meet with God. Adam and Eve, a perfect young couple, were specially created and meant to be God’s special rulers over creation. They would fill the world with sons and daughter, grandchildren and great grandchildren, on down through history. Some speculate that God had other created rulers that would manage the affairs of heaven and that Lucifer may have been among them. That plan was ruined first by Lucifer’s rebellion, then by Adam and Eve’s.

When the two destined for ruling the world ate of the tree of knowledge to “become like God” instead of who they were created to be, a rift was opened between God and mankind. Genesis chapter 3 details the curses handed down to everyone involved, but it also hints at a plan to fix what we broke. The Messiah’s mission was revealed vaguely as crushing Lucifer’s head. The Messiah’s mission was to conquer the heavenly rebels and restore mankind to its rightful place. That’s the mission objective, but the mission plan was a closely guarded secret and one that would be kept until the Messiah’s ascension in about 35AD.

Jesus came in the flesh to accomplish part one of the mission. He had to do what Adam could not, namely to live a life of obedience to God and then become the sacrifice to settle the debt of mankind’s sins. It was the only way to right all our wrongs, including the wrongs we commit to this day and until his second coming. So we understand the “what” and the “how” of Christmas, but not the “why”. Why did Jesus bother with all this instead of wiping out Adam and Eve and starting over?

Love. The apostle John tells us that “God so loved the world…” that he decided to save it rather than end it. Salvation, forgiveness, hope were all accomplished through love. This is what Christmas is about. God becoming man out of love for humanity. Mary and Joseph taking on the responsibility of raising the savior of the world because of their love for God and for a child. Jesus living a life of obedience to all of God’s desires due to his love for the Father. The fulfillment of an ancient mission came about because of God’s love each and every one of us.

It's humbling, to be sure. Let that humility shine during the Christmas season. Give up that parking spot at the mall for someone else, reach out to difficult family members, and in all ways show the love of God to those least deserving because Jesus came to save them too.