"Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation."
(Colossus 1:15)
Dear Friends –
As you look into the Christmas manger this year and see that adorable baby Jesus smiling back at you, how many of us I wonder, will ponder that this precious babe is really the image of the invisible God? Those of us familiar with the history of Christianity 
will immediately recognize that newborn in the stable as The Son of God, who was sent by God The Father, to be the Savior of the world. Only when we are made familiar with Christ’s life and teachings do we learn there is so much more to His Being than is shown in this Teacher willing to die for His creeds that will save mankind. His death and resurrection paid for our sins and proved the power of Almighty God to provide eternal life. And while this tremendous act of love and obedience might be considered Christ’s primary reason for becoming human, He was consistently and ardently motivated during His ministry to make known the true character of the invisible God, His Father, and our Father.
Everyone, sometime in their life, is curious about the reality and personality of God, and if they don’t find out the truth from the Bible, they usually are intimidated by laziness to cling to a nondescript fabrication promoted by a secular world. It does not take a Theologian’s mind or discipline to discover God… reasonable, common-sense logic can discern the existence and parameters of Almighty God with some study. Jesus made it a priority over and over again to point out that He was the visible image of 
the invisible God when He uttered such words as: “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30) “I have not spoken on My own, but the Father who sent Me has commanded Me what to say and how to say it.” (John 12:49) "Truly, truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself, unless He sees the Father doing it. For whatever the Father does, the Son also does.” (John 5:19) To emphasize the needed repetitiveness of this message, Christ really shows exasperation in His tone to the apostle Philip who had asked Jesus to show them the Father: "Philip, I have been with you all this time, and still you do not know Me? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father?” (John 14:9) Frustration, annoyance, even disappointment is evident when His own, closest disciples didn’t get the message after He had spent so much time making this a priority, not only in His actions but in His parables as well.
The well-known accounting of The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) mainly relates the inevitable results of choosing a degenerative lifestyle, aka-rejecting God for a material/secular existence, self-absorption… however, Christ paints a secondary word picture of the father to the prodigal son as the most emotional, benevolent, and observant father possible, Almighty God! 
Because God endowed us with free will, the prodigal son is free to go off and do as he pleases; resulting failure has the son/sinner returning home, only to find the father/God watching out for our return, and so overjoyed by the turnaround, the father/God runs out to greet us and celebrates with enthusiasm!
Contrast that exuberant father/God with the judgmental King/God of the Wedding Banquet (Matthew 22:1-10); an accounting which details what happens when varied excuses are offered to shun His invitation to believe in His earnest desire to join heaven and earth in a Divine union. The angry King/God will not be ignored, rejected or except excuses, and the surety of Divine punishment is administered.
Such emotional extremes were exhibited in Christ’s action all throughout His ministry; Jesus was an old softie when it came to young children, He wanted to bask in the purity of their innocence and got angry if children were kept from Him! He looked out over Jerusalem and cried for their failure to recognize Him; He got furiously irate at irreverent behavior and went raging through the temple slashing a whip! He lovingly rejoiced over displays of unshakeable belief and was exasperated by the skeptics and naysayers whom He often cursed for their disbelief. Jesus displayed a wide array of right emotions because that’s truly characteristic of God The Father. We are created in the image of God… which is 
spiritual; our material body is a genetic hand-me-down from parents. The spiritual beings that we are, emit the qualities of God when He is chosen as our Creator Father, or we relay the qualities of material self-absorption surreptitiously influenced by the devil. Our spiritual being which is responsible for our emotional extremes, does not die as our material body will, but passes on to God The Father’s final judgment of reward or punishment… life does not end in the grave as the secularist erroneously surmise.
Christians are the ones who make room for the infant Jesus to find a place to be born, grow, and mature into the spiritual invisible image of God, and with Jesus
as the firstborn of all creation as our big brother, we can eventually anticipate a family reunion because Christ promised to go ahead and prepare a place for us. We exchange gifts of love and affection at Christmas in honor of God’s giving us first the greatest gift possible, Jesus Christ, who showed us the way, the truth and the life that would make visible that which was invisible. This Christmas, may you look with your heart into the perfection of the Baby Jesus and promise once again to be more like Him each day… let your spiritual being come alive with all that God can bless you with… then watch the invisible become visible.
THE INCARNATION
Of all the possible ways God could have manifested the promised Messiah to salvage a fallen world, why do you suppose He chose to bring His Son to earth as a powerless, insignificant and dependent infant? We know from God’s many prophesies hundreds of years before Christ’s birth, even back to the Garden of Eden when He told Satan his head would be crushed by this Deliver, all of God’s predictions would come true, especially that: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” (The name which means, God with us!) (Isaiah 7:14) 
Additionally foretold was exactly where the birthplace would be: “Bethlehem, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel.” (Micah 5:2) Basically, Almighty God had made up His mind years before implementing the Incarnation, because He knew that it was the best and only way for the necessary salvation of the world, and consistent with all His other efforts in creation. God learned on the first day with Adam and Eve in the Garden, the weakness of humanity from their original sin, and consequently, a Savior would be needed to redeem sinful humankind. People, created in the image of God, are not given a full-size mature Holy Spirit at Baptism, but the nucleus or seed of Divinity is implanted to grow into the mature image of God; this is consistent with all living things in His creation starting from seed to reproduce its own kind as part of God’s Supreme Plan. Christ’s birth conformed to that Plan to emphasize how we become Crist-like, Christians, or children of God by stages of spiritual growth, we are not instantly God-like, but begin to resemble Him just as we do parents in the natural world.
We know from the angel’s announcement to Mary that her child would be the Son of God, Divine and 
human at the same time, and although we know little about His youth, we learn that He did realize who He was at twelve years of age, when Mary and Joseph found Him in the Temple, Jesus made His first remark: “Did you not know, that I must be about my father's business?” (Luke 2:49) At thirty years of age, Christ’s public ministry began with His Baptism by John in the Jordan River, and although Christ did not need to be cleansed from sin, this was His first example of what we would need to do ultimately. It was also at this occurrence – “…the heavens breaking open 
and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:10-11) God The Father is boasting and confirming aloud His love for His Son, Jesus, and with The Holy Spirit present as well, this is the first time The Blessed Trinity is made known to us all… what a supernatural wonder made visible for all to see and believe!
At The Incarnation, God sent His angels to announce to Shepherds nearby: “A savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord.” (Luke 2:11) He also led The Magi by a Brilliant Star symbolizing Jesus, to show how all who look for Him, will find Him. Consequently, if you learn about Jesus from Pastors who proclaim His existence, as the Shepherds were told to do, or, perhaps you are attracted to that brilliant truth proclaimed by Jesus to find Him out for yourself through study, you have been Divinely blessed to know… God is with us!
