A Baby Changes Everything
"The Lord Himself will give you a sign:
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son."
Isaiah 7:14 (NIV)
One of James Bruce's favorite movies was a 1993 romantic comedy entitled Sleepless in Seattle. At least three times every week he would ask me to play our "Sleepy-attle" DVD. My favorite line in the movie occurs between Meg Ryan's character Annie and her mom. In preparation for her upcoming wedding, Annie is trying on her grandmother's antique wedding gown. A sleeve seam suddenly rips and Annie exclaims, "It's a sign!"
Annie's mom quickly comforts her and responds, "You don't believe in signs!"
Annie and her mom might not believe in signs, but God sure does and so should we. Signs are found throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Here are just a few:
The rainbow as a sign of God's covenant - Genesis 9:13
Moses' burning bush - Exodus 3:2
The 10 plagues of Egypt which led to the exodus - Exodus 4:8-9
Gideon's fleece - Judges 6:36
Jesus' 7 miracles in John's Gospel- (John chapters 1-12 are often referred to as the book of signs)
The woman and the dragon in Revelation 12:1-3
O.S. Hawkins writing in his advent devotional The Christmas Code writes:
"What is a sign? It is something that is intended to do two things: grab your attention and then tell you something....Billboards are designed to grab your attention, to do it fast, and then to leave you a message you won't soon forget. The Bible tells us there is a "sign" regarding the promised coming Messiah. And this sign, designed to get our attention and tell us something, is that a 'virgin will conceive and bear a Son.' This is humanly impossible. It would take a divine miracle. Jesus was virgin-born."
The Greek word for sign is the word "semeion" and literally means "the fingermarks of God." A semeion is valuable not so much for what it is - a miracle-as for what it indicates of the grace and power of the Doer, God Himself. Isaiah the Prophet wrote of the Virgin Birth 700 years before it occurred. Jesus, the Son of God, became "an infant through a virgin whose very body was fashioned by the baby she was about to deliver. The Infinite became an infant. The all-knowing One became a babbling baby." (Bob Kauflin).
Jesus' Virgin birth is God's promise fulfilled. But so is Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. Each sign points us to the God who sent His Son to be the Savior to the world.
“God came” is the message of the Gospels. The Incarnation is not just a mystery; it’s the Grand Miracle! (C.S. Lewis) While Caesar was counting his people, God was actually becoming one. God no longer called to us; He came to us as a baby. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:14)
A baby changes everything!