BEHOLD THE CHRISTMAS LAMB by Ryan Thomas for Core Christianity
Our focus during Christmas tends to be on the cradle rather than the cross. Some of you may have a cross hanging on your wall, but I would wager nativity scenes, not crucifixion scenes, adorn our mantles this time of year. While it may feel more natural to connect the cross with Easter’s Resurrection, let’s not forget that Jesus was born to die. It’s why he came. Christmas, then, is not just about the cradle; it’s also about the cross.
John the Evangelist understood this. It’s why he quotes John the Baptist when he first introduced Jesus in his Gospel: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Even at that early stage, the cross cast its shadow over Jesus as the only solution to the world’s sin. If all we see at Christmas is Jesus the infant, we miss the wonder of what he came to accomplish.
Here are two things Christ the Lamb was born to do:
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#1: He was born to recover our true humanity.
In this picture of the Lamb, we see Jesus as both God the Son and the Son of Man.
The Son of Man takes us back to the creation of the world, where God made man in his likeness: “In the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27). It was the great tragedy of the Fall that this glorious reflection became disfigured. And it was with the greatest irony that Satan tempted them, not with fruit, but with something that was already theirs: “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God” (Gen. 3:5). In their attempt to become like God, in their own way and on their own terms, they ceased to be what God had already made them.[1]
We continue in their same pride today. As children of Adam, we’re tempted to recover the image we lost through our own efforts. With continued irony, the more we try to become like God on our own, the less we reflect him, and the more we reflect the image of Satan.[2]
