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J. Oswald Sanders
Only when we remember that it required four mil lenniums for God to prepare the world adequately for the advent of His Son will we realize the stupendous importance He attached to that event. Is it likely that such an event, unique in eternity as in time, would occur according to the ordinary course of nature? Nor did it. If, as science demands, every event must have an adequate cause, then the presence of a sinless Man in the midst of universally sinful men implies a miracle of origin. Such a Person as Jesus was, demands such a birth as the Bible records. The how of the birth is easily re ceived when the who of the birth is taken into account. It is only when the virgin birth is isolated from the wondrous Person who was born, that difficulties arise. Would not the pre-existence of Christ necessitate some such miracle of birth? On one occasion an orthodox Jew asked a Jewish Chris tian, “Suppose a son were bom among us today, and it were said of him that he was born of a virgin, would you believe it?” “Yes,” replied the other, “ I would, if he were such a Son.” In his Cur Deus Homo, Anselm reviewed the four ways in which God can make man: (i) by the law of THE K IN G 'S BUSINESS
I n t h e h e a r t of man there has ever been a craving for a God who is tangible and visible. The idolator, as he bows to stones and trees, is mutely expressing the innate desire of the universal heart for a God who can be seen. It was the lament of Job that, although he sought for God, he could not see Him. “ Behold, I go forward, but He is not there . . . I cannot behold Him” (Job 23:8, 9). Philip gave expression to the same desire in his words, “ Lord, show us the Father and it sufficeth us” (John 14 ; 8 ). The divine answer to this universal longing was the incarnation of His Son, for did Jesus not reply to Philip, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father” ? (John 14:9; see 1:18). In the acts and attitudes of Jesus we have revealed to us the activities and attitudes of God. THE MYSTERY OF HIS BIRTH The mystery of the incarnation will never be fully solved until we know even as we are known. But even in this wonderful world we are surrounded by many profoundly mysterious facts, which are facts nevertheless. Although we may not understand how Jesus could be at the same time perfectly divine yet really human, that need be no obstacle to faith. That fact has been believed by many of the greatest minds of the ages.
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