God With Us: Behold

Today, we remember the day that God put on skin.

It’s in every corner of the story, the crimson thread that runs with astonishing consistency. He’s coming for the broken, the shamed, the burdened, the unknown.

Reading: John 1:1-18, 1:29

Song: Behold the Lamb of God and The Theme of My Song by Andrew Peterson

“…Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

Elizabeth’s reproach as a barren wife.

Mary’s vulnerability as a young girl, pregnant out of wedlock.

Joseph’s destroyed reputation.

The shepherds’ outcast status.

Most of us have heard God loved the world, so He sent His son so we wouldn’t perish without Him. But the story is richer, deeper, wider, and truer.

Immanuel is the fulfillment of every promise, wrapped in the frailty of newborn skin. God came close in a vessel of humanity so we could see and know and be close to Him.

Promises of good news for the poor, freedom for the oppressed and imprisoned, they all reverberate in the corners of the story. And the message to the shepherds, that God delights in us, even the least wanted members of society.

The Word became flesh and blood and bone to live among us. And He made His entrance among those rejected, shamed, and on the edges of society.

Immanuel wanted us to know He’s not just after the put-together and perfect. He’s interested in our broken pieces, our not-quite-perfect, and our not-even-close.

And the flesh-and-blood Christ who walked among us then still does today. But the greater beauty is that now He’s within us, living in the tents of our skin, closer than a heartbeat or breath.

The Word is dwelling among us, inside us, in our very midst.

He isn’t leaving.

There is no greater joy than to be so loved.

Merry Christmas, friends.

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*These devotions are inspired partly by Andrew Peterson’s gorgeous album, Behold the Lamb of God: The True Tall Tale of the Coming of Christ. You would love it in your Christmas music collection <3