Jesus came as a baby for specific reasons as declared in the Scriptures. He came to be our King and servant of all. The defeater of Satan and our Redeemer. All this was God’s plan from distant eternity.
Eternal Plan
Jesus did not come as ‘Plan B’ after Adam sinned. He was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the earth, Revelation 13:8. God’s plan did not evolve as events unraveled. He always knew what Adam would do for God is all-knowing, Isaiah 16:9,10, so nothing takes God by surprise. ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure’, Isaiah 46:10.
He knew what Lucifer and the angels would do before He created them. God knew what Adam would do before He created Him or gave Him Eve. It pleases God to redeem fallen man who will worship Him out of free will. Robots, without a free will, could not showcase God’s love, mercy, holiness, and justice.
Covenantal God
God is a covenantal God and operates only within those covenants. A covenant is a formal partnership that requires two parties. God’s covenants are between God the Creator, and man the created.
The covenants began with Adam, and went on to Noah, Abraham, Moses and David, each covenant revealing different aspects. Some were temporal and some eternal aspects. There were also covenants regarding the Garden of Eden and the land of Israel.
These covenants culminated in the 8th everlasting covenant, The New Covenant sealed with the sinless shed blood of Jesus Christ, Jeremiah 31:31.
Through Christ, God made a way that man could be partake of His covenants, through the death and resurrection of His Messiah. Fallen man would be redeemed, for God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son. That whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life, John 3:16.
Quick Note
It is important not to confuse the word ‘covenant’ with ‘testament’. A covenant is a binding agreement between parties.
A testament is a declaration made by a testator. It is written down and becomes enforced only after the testator’s death.
The Old Testament was not such until there was a New Testament following the Testator’s death, Christ. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory. Glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth, John 1:1,14.
From the Beginning
Everything was first established in eternity. Lucifer was the great prince of all the angels guarding the throne of God, Isaiah 28:14, and with a free will. He allowed pride to rise up in Him, Isaiah 14:13, for he desired to be greater than God.
When Satan tempted man into sin, God instantly gave His promise of redemption, Genesis 3. God said to Adam, ‘I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel’, Genesis 3:15.
Not only was Lucifer, the Morning Star judged, Isaiah 14:12, but eternally became Satan, the Adversary. His final eternal judgement is still future.
Seed of Adam
God’s Messiah had to be the offspring of Adam, and He would be the One to give Satan the death blow promised in the covenant with Adam, Genesis 3:15. However, God provided man the way to be free from the curse of sin and death.
That was not just physical death, but eternal death, which is eternal separation from the Creator, the great I Am That I Am, Exodus 3:3.
Satan, kicked out of heaven, became the prince of the power of the air Ephesians 2:2, and the father of lies. A murderer and a thief, John 8:44. His aim is to destroy as much of God’s works as possible, before his ultimate end, Revelation 20:10.
That which Satan designs for evil, God turns to good, Genesis 50:20. God will fulfil all that He has promised, for His word cannot return to Him void without accomplishing what He desires. It will succeed in the matter for which He sent it, Isaiah 55:11.
Jesus Came as a Baby
Jesus could have entered the world as a full-grown man. God created Adam from the dust of the ground, as a full-grown person, Genesis 2:7. Eve came full grown from one of Adam’s ribs, Genesis 2:22. So why a baby, conceived in a young virgin, by the Holy Spirit, Matthew 1:18.
It fulfilled God’s eternal plan and precise prophecies spoken around 600 years before. Isaiah promised the Messiah’s birth would be a miraculous event, unlike anything the world had seen before, Isaiah 9:6. From a baby in a manager to a servant for all mankind, John 3:16, to a King of kings ruling for all eternity.
Being born in Bethlehem alone, fulfilled prophecy. Rachel, Ruth, and David were all renowned Bethlehemites. Rachel, a famed mother. Ruth, one of only two female Gentiles in the genealogy of Jesus, and King David. All speak prophetically of the purpose of Jesus coming as a baby.
Rightful Heir
God’s desire is to be King reigning over His people in justice and righteousness. This will be accomplished despite the people rejecting God as their king, 1 Samuel 8:7. The Messiah had to be the legal heir to the eternal throne of David, Isaiah 9:7.
The covenantal promise is that David’s throne would be established for all eternity, but it required a rightful heir born from the line of David, Psalm 132:11. He would be a physical descendant of David and would establish an eternal kingdom, not a temporal one.
Substitute
Jesus was born as a baby of the line of David, under the law of Moses, in God’s perfect timing, Galatians 5:4,5. God gave Moses perfect law. Therefore, man must die according to the law of Moses. Only the Messiah could fulfil the law.
This required a perfect substitute to pay the price for mankind’s failure. Only a sinless man growing up without blemish, subject to the law, could be that perfect substitute. He alone could take our rightful punishment, perfectly fulfilling the righteous requirements of the law. Jesus was the Power of One.
He alone could bear the fulness of God’s infinite and just wrath against sin. Only He could impute abundant righteousness to those who accept and believe in Him.
God’s Choice
God chose to come to earth in the form of a baby for all the above legal reasons. He also came as a baby in the humblest of beginnings and as a Suffering Servant, Isaiah 53:1-12. Through Him we can all become kings and priests to God, Revelation 1:6, for those who accept the Messiah are adopted into the family of God, Ephesians 1:5; 8:15.
Through Christ we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession. So that we may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light, 1 Peter 1:9.
We are God’s own possession, bought with a price beyond measure, 1 Corinthians 6:19. We will speak of the wonders and glory of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit for all eternity. Just our presence in heaven will speak of the infinite love and awesome mercy, grace and justice of God.
We have much to celebrate, just because Jesus came as a tiny baby.
Dr. Wendy Stenberg-Tendys is a freelance writer who enjoys researching a topic and sharing words of encouragement from the Word of God.
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