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by Kevin Pauley
While they were there, the time came for her to give birth. Then she gave birth to her firstborn Son, and she wrapped Him snugly in cloth and laid Him in a feeding trough--because there was no room for them at the inn. - Luke 2:6-7 HCSB
Ages ago, the Trinity created the world.[1] The process was not without its unique agony, involving the shedding of certain of the Son’s divine traits.[2]
Our ancestors quickly fell from grace and part of the resulting curse entailed birth pangs. Hashem said, “I will intensify your labor pains; you will bear children in anguish.”[3] However, there was yet hope because He promised that a coming child would crush the head of the Tempter, ending his reign of fear and ignorance.
Thousands of years later, one particular young woman writhed in the throes of childbirth, straw sticking to her sweaty arms as she grimaced and pushed a bloody mass out of her body. Soon a cry was heard that sent shivers down the ephemeral spines of demonic forces everywhere. The Messiah had been born.
The promise was not yet fulfilled however. Thirty three years later, that Messiah took His turn in the crucible of pain. His tortured body was nailed to a cross and as that cross was raised it slid into its positioning hole, dislocating the Christ’s joints in the process.[4] After hours of excruciating pain, He cried out “It is finished!” and a new kind of child was born.
Now all who receive Him are given the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name, who are born, not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.[5]
[1] Genesis 1:1,26; Proverbs 8:30-31; John 1:3-5
[2] Philippians 2:6-7; Mark 13:32
[5] John 1:12-13 HCSB
Kevin Pauley is a pastor and writer. He lives in Illinois with his wife, Lynn, their five children and two dogs. His internet address is Berea.
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