What’s the most astounding thing about Christmas to you?

The amount of electricity used in powering all the Christmas lights on people’s homes?

The credit card bill you’re racking up to buy gifts for family, friends, and coworkers?

The way your Uncle Louie consistently manages to buy you the most inappropriate gift imaginable, every single year?

The ugly Christmas sweater said uncle wears to every holiday event, even formal ones?

No, the most astounding thing about Christmas is that the Creator of the Universe, Almighty God, came down to earth and was born as a baby.

God Himself, the perfect and holy One, entered our messy, sinful world in the form of Jesus and dwelt with us for 33 years. Then He died on a Cross for our sins. All this was done out of immense love for us.

The theological term for God coming to us in this fashion is the Incarnation, which literally means “God made flesh.”

The Incarnation features heavily in my favourite Christmas carol, “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.”

Its writer, Charles Wesley, seems to have been so astounded by the fact of the Incarnation that he sprinkled this hymn with at least 10 references to it. See if you can spot them:

“Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the new-born King;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild;
God and sinners reconciled.”
Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
Join the triumph of the skies;
With angelic hosts proclaim,
“Christ is born in Bethlehem.”

Christ, by highest heaven adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord:
Late in time behold Him come,
Offspring of a virgin’s womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,
Hail the incarnate Deity!
Pleased as man with man to dwell,
Jesus our Emmanuel.

Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Risen with healing in His wings:
Mild He lays His glory by,
Born that man no more may die;
Born to raise the sons of earth;
Born to give them second birth.”

It seems that Wesley simply couldn’t get over the wonder of the Incarnation. And neither should we.

That the eternal and infinite One should lay aside the glory He had in Heaven and endure the limitations, humiliations and persecutions of life in this vale of tears is astonishing to contemplate. His love for us was so vast that He went to the greatest possible lengths to restore us to a right relationship with Him.

But that’s not all. Implicit in the Incarnation is the promise of something wonderful in the future. God says that one day He will once again dwell with us. But this time it won’t be a short visit: it will be permanent.

“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Rev. 21:3-4)

This is what believers have to look forward to in eternity! Jesus, our Emmanuel (which means “God with us”), will be with us forever. We never have to be parted from the One who loved us so much that He gave His life for us.

For me, the most astounding thing about Christmas is what it encompasses:

In the past, Christ came to live with us on earth. In the present, He lives in believers in the form of the Holy Spirit. And in the future, we will live with Him forever in the New Jerusalem.

Truly, He will never leave us or forsake us.

Glory to the new-born King!

© 2025 Lori J. Cartmell. All rights reserved.