“Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy; for unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour; which is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10)
“See here, as in a mirror, the infinite love of God the Father.
When we had lost ourselves by sin, then God, in the riches of His grace, sent forth His Son, born of woman, to redeem us.
And behold the infinite love of Christ, that He was willing to condescend to take our flesh.
Surely the angels would have disdained to have taken our flesh, it would have been a disparagement to them! What king would be willing to wear sackcloth over his cloth of gold?
But Christ did not disdain to take our flesh.
O the love of Christ! Had not Christ been made flesh, we had been made a curse.
Had Christ not been incarnate, we we would have been incarcerate, forever in prison.
The love of Christ in being incarnate, will the more appear if we consider the following:
1. From where Christ came: He came from heaven, and from the richest place in heaven, His Father’s bosom, that hive of sweetness.
2. To whom Christ came: Was it to His friends? No. He came to sinful man.
Man that had defaced His image, abused His love. Man who was turned rebel. Yet He came to man, resolving to conquer obstinacy with kindness.
3. In what manner Christ came: He came not in the majesty of a king. He came poor, not like the heir of heaven, but like one of an inferior descent.
The place He was born in was poor: not the royal city Jerusalem, but Bethlehem, a poor obscure place.
He was born in an inn, and a manger was His cradle, the beasts His companions.
He descended of poor parents. One would have thought, if Christ would have come into the world, He would have made choice of some queen or personage of honour to have descended from.
But He comes of poor and obscure parents. That they were poor appears by their offering, (Luke 2:24): ‘A pair of turtle-doves,’ which was the usual offering of the poor, (Lev. 12:8).
When Christ died, He made no will. He came into the world poor.
4. Why Christ came: That He might take our flesh, and redeem us; that He might instate us into a kingdom.
He was poor that He might make us rich (2 Cor. 8:3).
He was born of a virgin that we might be born of God.
He took our flesh that He might give us His Spirit.
He lay in the manger that we might lie in paradise.
He came down from heaven that He might bring us to heaven.
And what was all this but love?
If our hearts be not rocks, this love of Christ should affect us.
Behold love that surpasseth knowledge! (Eph. 3:10)”
–Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity Contained in Sermons Upon the Westminster Assembly’s Catechism (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1692/1970), 195-196.
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