He entered our world so that we can enter His kingdom. Jesus came into His creation so that we can be in Him. Without His coming the manger would have no meaning. No one would mention the shepherds and the angels singing if Christ didn’t come. If the king they were looking for didn’t come, then the magi’s trip would be just another caravan through the desert. Finally if God did not become one of us, the cross would have no meaning.
But Christ did come as a human baby thus inviting us all into His presence. He came as a baby so that no one would be intimidated by Him. From the very first moment Jesus entered the world he welcomed people to come to Him, to look upon His face and to receive and embrace Him. Commoners like the shepherds came – they gazed upon the baby and it changed them to the point that they left filled with wonder and joy. An elite group we call magi or wise men arrived a little later and they too looked upon the baby King. They were wise to bow their knees and receive the miracle of God.
All this happened so that we may have no excuse today. You and I are invited into the baby’s presence to gaze upon His face and receive Him. Will you receive Him into your heart and make it His soft throne? Will you let him lead the affairs of your heart? Or will you send him back to the stable until later when you finish His crown of thorns?
10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. (John 1:10-13)