Read: Hebrews 2:5-9
"Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone."
Hebrews 2:8-9
My Pawpaw and Granny Jim (my paternal grandparents) used to own 40 acres right outside Quitman, Arkansas. Quite regularly, as a young child, I’d go and spend the weekend with them–playing in the woods, running through the pasture, picking fruits and vegetables from the garden, and fishing in their pond. It wasn’t a big pond, but it had plenty of brim and bass. While fishing out at the pond, I used to wonder: What do fish in this pond think about us humans? We must be so scary and mysterious to them. We’re the ones that catch them and take them out of the pond. They’re stuck in that little pond, but we can go all over the world. We can think and reason, but they have no real intelligence at all.
The difference between fish and man is vast and complex. There is really very little comparison. Human beings are far superior to fish in ability, intellect, knowledge, etc. And, yet, the difference between fish and man does not capture the magnitude of the difference between God and man. God is infinite. He is all-knowing, all-powerful, and perfectly good. There is nothing else in the universe like Him. His superiority above mankind cannot be cataloged. Despite His greatness and preeminence, however, in His humility, Christ became a man. For a time, He assumed a nature a little “lower than the angels” and walked among His image-bearers–communing with us, dining with us, interacting with us, healing us.
In taking on human flesh, He lowered Himself for a time so that–as the author of Hebrews says–He might subject everything under His rule. This “lowering” wasn’t just a simple act of becoming man–He condescended to our level by first taking the form of a child in the womb. Is there any human state more vulnerable? The infinite God-Man was a zygote in the womb of Mary. One doesn’t get more susceptible to the harms of a fallen world. His plan and work, however, wasn’t to stay in the womb of His mother, and it wasn’t to stay a young child. He had a mission–He was on a mission! His mission? Subject all things to Himself by dying on the cross. Sounds counterintuitive, doesn’t it? Jesus became a man so that He might die. And in that death, He might rise again and rule all.
Thus, in the Christmas season, we don’t simply celebrate the birth of a baby. We celebrate the birth of a baby on a mission. A mission to rule the world.
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Prayer: Thank you, Lord Jesus, for humbling yourself in the form of a baby, so that you may one day become a man and die for me. I pray your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth just as it is in heaven. Rule in my heart and in this world, as you rule all of heaven. In Jesus name, Amen!