The Perfect Baby

Admiring a newborn child, we might say, “Oh, she’s just so innocent!”

And at first, it might look like it. But the Bible tells us about what we can’t see. It’s in that adorable baby’s heart: sin and guilt. From father and mother to child, from generation to generation to generation, sin is passed down.

A spirit of rebellion against God runs deep in the genes of every human being.

This is hard to accept. For if even a little child is utterly sinful, deserves God’s punishment, right from the moment of conception and birth, who then can be saved?

This is exactly why God sent his Son, even as a little baby: to deliver the world from sin.

How could the chain of sin from parents to children be broken? Simply, God had to change the way a child is conceived. So that’s what God did: He brought Jesus into the world by a woman, but without an earthly father.

Through the angel’s words to Mary, God says how this miracle will come about: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” (Luke 1:35). The result of the Spirit’s work in Mary would be a child, a child who was also God himself!

In a young virgin’s womb, by an unseen but almighty agent, a new child would be conceived. The sinful family line would finally be broken.

This miraculous Saviour wasn’t a man of steel. Though He was conceived by the mighty Spirit, though He was the eternal Son of God, Jesus was a true human. He was able to suffer, able to grow weak, able to die. He would die, just a few decades into his life on earth. And all along, He was like his brothers and sisters in every respect, yet without sin.

This baby -- this man -- was innocent, and with a purpose: so that He could save the sinful and guilty! So that He could save those helpless children, and their helpless parents, if we would just believe in him.

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Scripture Reading: Luke 1:26-38

Prayer: Father, you sent your own Son to this earth as a human being, yet one who was perfect in every way. Thank you that Jesus came, so He could be my Saviour and redeem me from all my sin.  Amen.