This Is Our God

Last Christmas, our pastor used the hymn “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing†as inspiration for a sermon. In the third verse, eighteenth-century preacher Charles Wesley wrote lyrics about how Jesus was born to give us second birth. But what does it mean to have second birth?

When Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command, sin and death entered the world. God’s good creation was stained by the brokenness of humanity. And without Jesus, we also deserve to die. But God sent Jesus to our world as a baby, vulnerable and helpless, born in the place where animals were kept. Our Creator became like us. He got down to our level. He was born on earth so that we can be renewed, revived, and restored. So that we can be born again.

God reveals glimpses of this new life throughout the Bible. In Ezekiel 37, the prophet Ezekiel shares a vision he had of a valley filled with bones. The bones were dry. Dead. Void of life. And yet, God asked Ezekiel, “Can these bones live?†(Ezekiel 37:3). As unlikely as it seems that dry bones could come to life, Ezekiel had a good response: “Sovereign Lord, you alone know†(Ezekiel 37:3). And then, God did what only God can do: He brought renewal and life to something that seemed long dead and gone. The bones rattled and came together, tendons and flesh and skin covered them, breath entered the bodies, and God brought them to life once more.

Without Jesus, we are like those in the valley of dry bones, alone and void of life. But like Jesus told Martha right before He raised her brother Lazarus from the dead, Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Jesus was born so that we could experience a rebirth of our own. A rebirth from hopelessness to hope, from emptiness to joy, from death to life. And just as God raised Jesus bodily from the dead, He will also raise us—His forgiven followers—from the dead!

And so, this is what the good news of Christmas is all about: a God who would send His own Son to be born on earth, so that if we put our trust in Him, we can receive life to the full. Jesus was born so that we can be born again. • Becca Wierwille

• In what areas of your life do you need God to bring renewal? How might Jesus be inviting you into His fullness of life today?

• If you want to dig deeper, take some time to read John 3:1-21. What do you think Jesus means when He tells Nicodemus, “No one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again†(verse 3)?

“I [Jesus] have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.†John 10:10b (NIV)

Read Verses:

Luke.1.23-Luke.1.34|John.14.6|Matt.28.20|Luke.2.1-Luke.2.20