Morning, December 25, edited from Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening

“Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.”  — Isaiah 7:14

Let us go today down to Bethlehem, and in company with wondering shepherds and adoring Magi, let us see him who was born King of the Jews; for we by faith can claim an interest in him, and can sing, “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.” Jesus is Jehovah incarnate, our Lord and our God, and yet our brother and friend; let us adore and admire him.

Let us notice at the very first glance his miraculous conception. It was a thing unheard of before, and unparalleled since, that a virgin should conceive and bear a Son. The first promise in Genesis ran thus: “The seed of the woman,” not the offspring of the man. Since audacious woman led the way in the sin which brought forth Paradise lost, she, and she alone, ushers in the Regainer of Paradise. Our Savior, although truly man, was as to his human nature the Holy One of God. Let us reverently bow before the holy Child whose innocence restores to manhood its ancient glory; and let us pray that he may be formed in us, the hope of glory.

Do not fail to note his humble parentage. His mother has been described simply as “a virgin,” not a princess, or prophetess, nor a manager of a large estate. Truly the blood of kings ran in her veins; her mind was neither simple nor untaught, for she could sing most sweetly a song of praise; but her position was humble, her fiancé poor, and the accommodation afforded to the new-born King, miserable!

Immanuel, God with us in our nature, in our sorrow, in our lifework, in our punishment, in our grave, is now with us — or rather we with him — in resurrection, ascension, triumph, and Second Advent splendor.