I confess that I’m in awe of Jesus for many reasons. Jesus has inspired the greatest artists in history to paint and compose the drama of his coming. Jesus has empowered the most pens in history: Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, Edwards, Dickens, Milton just to name a few. Jesus has moved more souls to Gospel centered action than any other ever. Harvard, Yale, hundreds of Hospitals, the salvation army, and life forsaking missionaries were all in his name. But there is something deeper…

Who he is

Jesus is the heart of the Bible. He is the second Adam, the crusher of Satan, the promised offspring of Eve and later Abraham. He is the fulfillment of the Mosaic covenant, our prophet, priest, and king. Jesus is the Son of Man, the suffering servant, the promised king of Judah, and the only God-man who alone can take the sins of the world. He is the judge of humanity and cosmic Christ who will make all thing new.

His passion for my heart

What drove Jesus? What was his passion? It is that question that drops me to the my knees. The answer is that Jesus is love. Jesus lived and died for the wretched, rebellious, and the impure. Jesus lived with, ministered, touched, associated, and truly loved unlovable people. When I shine the light of Christ into the dirty chambers of my heart I see with horror my idolatry, pride, sloth, laziness, and lust. His presence shames and condemns me and makes me want him to leave my heart. But that is exactly where he is doing his work. His work is so very painful because he is making me a lover of souls after he own heart. Slowly, graciously, and faithfully God is making me into the image of Jesus. When I think of the contrast of my love with that of Jesus I see afresh the love displayed in both the manger and the cross. I’m in awe of the heart of Jesus!

Our response

So what is our response to this love? The answer is to praise him for his incarnation and cross, and allow God to work the love of Christ in us so that we will care about the heart of God and respond with lives of worship in reaching the lost, restoring injustice, and caring about poverty. But it is the work of God that makes us ask: where is our manger? Where is our Jerusalem? And where is our cross? Jesus is the only one to walk the road to the cross, yet He alone is able to make sinners want to follow the way of the cross and that is worthy of absolute awe and worship.

Mary would have learned about God’s promises early on. After humanity rejected God’s loving rule in the garden, God graciously reached out and made a promise to create a people for Himself and to reign among them. The heart of the promise would be that God would dwell with humanity once again. But Israel was under the dominion of the Romans, so Mary waited on God to bring his promised savior to the world.

God’s Plans Revealed

Mary was unaware of her role in the plan of God until she was startled by the angel Gabriel. She was terrified as Gabriel told her the plan: a son conceived by the Holy Spirit would be born of her and he would fulfill the promise to Israel and the world. Her child would be a blessing to the nations by ushering in the kingdom of God to bring the dwelling of God to man. But first our sins had to be removed; Jesus would live up to the promise and save his people. He could only do so because he, as all man and all God, represents God and Man and is a mediator for God and us. It is only the work of Jesus that can remove our sins and give us new hearts.

Joy, mourning, and joy

Mary praised God for her son but years later would mourn as she watched her child face hatred, intolerance, injustice, and execution by crucifixion. It seemed cruel and ironic that as the Israelites celebrated their deliverance from Egypt, the promised Messiah was being murdered. The sweet memory of their deliverance would remind Mary of God’s promise to create a people to worship him in peace and holiness.

Three days after his death a tear stained Mary went to prepare the cold body of her son according to Jewish custom. But what Mary saw filled her with astonishment: her son was alive! The resurrection of Jesus was living proof that God remembered his promise.

God completes his Word

God is faithful to his promises! The God who vowed to fix the fall using an oppressed young woman to give birth to the Messiah is the same God who reaches out to you. Like Mary, our heavenly Father wants us to trust the promises fulfilled in Christ. He forgives sins, restores lives, reconciles us to the Father, seals our identity, calms fears and anxieties, gives us purpose, controls circumstances, and secures our hope.

Are you, like Mary, trusting in the hope of the savior? When you hear of God’s promise to forgive you by grace through faith alone (Eph. 2.10) do you believe it? Are you able to say, “Let your will be done”? Is your answer to God like Mary’s in Luke 1.35-38.