No preacher of God‘s Word speaks to me more powerfully than Charles Spurgeon. Many thanks to Geoffrey Chang for giving us Spurgeon's rich insights into Christ’s incarnation. May this excerpt from A Wondrous Mystery help you contemplate Immanuel, God with us!

The angels must have been stunned to see the second member of the triune God become a human being! The baby of Bethlehem was Creator of the universe, pitching His tent on the humble camping ground of our little planet. God’s glory now dwelt in Christ. He was the Holy of holies. People had only to look at Jesus to see God.

We can’t say “He just doesn’t get it or care,” because God’s love comes to us soaked in divine blood. He has firsthand experience in life under the Curse. Christ’s suffering on the cross atoned for our sins, but His suffering, tests, and temptations allowed Him to understand, empathize and help us.

“Charles Spurgeon loved Christmas. In fact, he once said, 'I like Christmas; I wish it came six times a year.' He liked the generosity of 'those who give to the poor,' and as for the cheer of the season exclaimed 'I would not stop a smile. God forbid me!'”

Jesus lived under the curse and was subject to human sufferings. He sympathizes with our weaknesses and became subject to them—including the exhaustion, the weariness, the sadness.

Through the miracle of His incarnation, He made God visible to us: “No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side—he has revealed him” (John 1:18, CSB). Yet God’s Son did not merely bring the grace, justice, peace, love, and truth of God with His arrival, but also His eternal happiness.

In April 2017, Randy Alcorn taught a course at Veritas Evangelical Seminary on the subject of evil and suffering. In this clip, Randy talks about Jesus coming to earth and how that relates to suffering. 

One of the things I love most about Christmas is that it’s all about giving—with the ultimate gifts being Christ’s incarnation and His atonement.   

In this 6-minute video, I share about Matthew 1:23, which tells us about Christmas. It says, “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel—which means “God with us”.