The WHOLE Trinity In Christmas
/One of the ways that our church is unique is that we are truly committed to knowing, following and relating to God The Father, Jesus Christ AND The Holy Spirit. We don’t only focus on Jesus. We don't believe inspiration only comes from The Spirit, rather all Three Individual Beings are united and equally important to us.
Yes, Christmas is primarily about Jesus coming to earth, to dwell in flesh and live among mankind, but what would His miraculous life and arrival be absent The Father and The Spirit? You most likely have substantial of knowledge about Jesus’ role at His birth, but what about God The Father and The Holy Ghost? Where do they fit into the account of Jesus’ birth? Let’s take a look...
The Father at Jesus’ Birth
The Truth is that God is rarely called ‘The Father’ in the Old Testament. One resource that I consulted suggested that God as Father only appears 15 times in the Old Testament including: Deuteronomy 32:6, Psalm 68:5, Psalm 89:26 and Malachi 1:6.
Early in John’s gospel there is this interplay between Father and Son, between The God Above and God The Word among us. Consider how a passage you probably know well emphasizes — not just The Son of God but also The Father and His acts.
“God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
God The Father’s existence is as important to establishing Jesus’ identity (as The Perfect God-Man) as your father is to establishing your identity! If you understand my intent, you’ll see there is an aspect to which Jesus is Who He is because of Who His Father is. After all, Jesus is The Only Begotten Son of God because God has begotten no other sons! Jesus Christ is His own Person, but He has deeper context because of His Father’s life and sacrifice of Him. Let me phrase this truth another way...how we know and understand Jesus is rooted in His relationship with His Father.
In addition to helping to reveal Jesus’ identity and origin, I believe The Father’s glory was revealed to the shepherds the night of Jesus’ birth (even though the text doesn’t specifically invoke The Father by name).
“Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.”
The Word tells us that the firstborn is the beginning of his father’s strength (see Genesis 49:3 and Deuteronomy 21:17), so why shouldn’t The Father joyfully pull back the curtain showing His glory when His Only Begotten and Firstborn Son entered the world?! How beautiful God's glory must have been that night as The Father announced the arrival of His Son!
In short, The Father was very active in Jesus’ arrival on earth, giving, proving, loving, sending and even revealing Himself.
The Holy Spirit’s Involvement in Jesus’ Incarnation
The Spirit’s role in Jesus’s birth is evident but also mysterious. When Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary calling her “highly favored one” and prophesying about Jesus’ impending birth his words prompted Mary to ask
“How can this be, since I do not know a man?” to which Gabriel replied “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.”
God knew that Adam had defiled the seed from which mankind grows, so in order to produce His perfect God/Man Son, The Spirit Himself moved upon Mary to conceive perfect life inside her womb. When you consider that “The Spirit gives life” (see 2 Corinthians 3:6) and that The Spirit of God has from the beginning been active in the creation of life (see Genesis 1:2) it's clear that The Holy Spirit was The Perfect Being, sent from The Perfect Father to plant the life of God’s Perfect Son within Mary.
But The Spirit didn’t only prepare Mary’s heart and womb for Jesus’ birth, He also prepared and directed a man named Simeon.
“Behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God...”
Simeon had The Spirit Who somehow brought special revelation to Simeon of the arrival of The Christ! The Spirit was in communication with Simeon preparing the way for The Messiah’s arrival — how amazing is that?
Christmas is About The Entire Trinity
Yes, Jesus is the obvious focal point in the account of Christmas, but please don’t ignore the important contributions of both God The Father and The Holy Spirit.
Where do you see The Father and The Spirit in the account of Jesus’ birth? If you have something to add please leave a comment below.