God is made flesh at Christmas

This Christmas, I’d like to share the seven most astonishing words in the Bible. They are in Hebrews 2:13, and come from Jesus Christ. In a nutshell, they contain what is so astounding about this season. Here they are:

“I will put my trust in him.”

I’m guessing you didn’t fall out of your chair in amazement. But here’s why you probably should have.

These words appear in a passage that is emphasizing the true humanity of Jesus Christ, the carpenter from Nazareth. This is the foundational, Christian doctrine of the Incarnation, in which the word of God, who was himself God, became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:1, 14). We celebrate that this was done in a barn, through the miracle of the virgin birth (Matthew 1:18-23).

The virgin birth, however, is not the main miracle of Christmas, as important as it is. The real miracle is that the son of God would lower himself to come live at our level, as one of us. God can do all things and routinely did crazy miracles. It’s not outrageous to believe he could make a baby appear in the womb of a virgin. What’s outrageous is the thought that the eternal creator, who is spirit and not flesh, would actually be that baby.

When Hebrews quotes Jesus saying, “I will put my trust in him,” what it’s teaching is that the son of God did not show up in a man-costume. He showed up as a man. He didn’t merely look human. He was human, all the way down to the level where we have to decide if we’re going to believe in God or not. Will we obey God? Will we trust him? Jesus walked as one of us, and made those same decisions. “I will put my trust in him.”

The son of God, who had never been separated from God or unable to see his face, humbled himself to the point of walking by faith and not by sight. This is also what he calls us to do.

I have been through some dark times. I remember one night in particular. My world was out of control. I had no answers and God was distant. Angry at everyone, I stormed out of my house. I stomped down the street in the dark, feeling deserted. Then, I craned my head up and looked at the moon. These seven words came to me: I will put my trust in him.

I realized that the God who hung the moon in the sky once walked down streets like the one I was on. He did it on feet like mine. At some point, he surely looked up and saw the moon as I see it.

Why would he do such a ridiculous thing? So that, hundreds of years later, I would be reminded that my savior came as my brother, to live the kind of life I have to live. He was not content to rule over me from a throne in heaven. He had that right, but he refused it. He was made like us (Hebrews 2:17). How can we not be awestruck?

I will put my trust in him. I pray we all will. Merry Christmas.

Gordan Runyan is the pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Tucumcari. Contact him at:

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