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It is likely you have seen many a manger in your lifetime.  Even if you do not live on a farm, you will have encountered mangers at Christmas displays and pageants.  Of course, there are a wide variety of interpretations.  Was the manger used on that first Christmas morning large or small?  Was it filled with feed or emptied and scrubbed clean?  What we do know is that it presented a powerful paradox.  Jesus Christ, the Creator of the Universe, was asleep in a container used to feed animals!  Yes, the significance of the manger ranges from the simple to the spectacular.

We also learn from Luke’s account that when Mary gave birth to Jesus, she laid him in the manger.  Archeology indicates that this would have been a rough, feeding trough, which typically contained fodder for livestock.  Our best understanding is that in first Century Bethlehem, the manger would have been a cave-like shelter for animals.  The manger itself may also have been hewn out of rock, rather than made from wood as we traditionally portray it.

This year as we celebrate Christmas at Cornerstone, we are thinking about the mystery of the manger.  For this theme, we have been inspired by the title of a booklet by John Greco (available from Our Daily Bread Ministries).  But what is the mystery of the manger?  In I Timothy 316 Paul wrote,  “Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:  Jesus was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.”  The great mystery of the manger is nothing less than the mind-blowing reality of the Incarnation of Jesus!

Of the incarnation David Mathis writes, “It is a glorious revelation, and it’s also a great mystery. This is the greatest mystery in all of history, how God himself became fully human without ceasing to be fully divine — that God, in all his God-ness, united himself with all man-ness. Church history has coined it “the hypostatic union,” the joining of two distinct natures in one undivided person (“hypostatic” is just a fancy word for “personal”). Jesus is fully God and fully man in one spectacular person.”  READ MORE

This Advent season our Sunday sermons will explore six such life-changing truths about Jesus.  Along with the incarnation, we will consider the eternal nature of Jesus, His atonement, ascension, presence in our lives, and His promised return.  These divine mysteries do not originate in the manger, for they all reflect the never-having-begun-or-ending nature of Jesus Christ.  Yet the birth of Jesus initiated the next steps in God’s unfolding redemption plan.  This Christmas can be transformative...if we are decidedly Christological!  In other words, we can be impacted as we reflect and respond to who Jesus is, what He has done, is doing for us right now, and live for the hope of His return.

Recently our Fellowship Baptist family reaffirmed our core doctrinal statements.  One portion reads:  “We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the promised Saviour of the world, eternally begotten of the Father, fully God and fully human; we believe in his virgin birth, sinless life, substitutionary death, bodily resurrection, triumphant ascension, mediatorial ministry, and personal return.”

Truly there is mystery in the manger!  Jesus descended to this earth to take on flesh.  He was crucified, buried, and raised from the dead.  This is the Gospel story which completely transforms all who trust in Him.  In the words of songwriters Matt Papa and Matt Boswell, “Come Behold The Wondrous Mystery”! 

Come, behold the wondrous mystery in the dawning of the king
He the theme of Heaven's praises robed in frail humanity
In our longing, in our darkness, now, the light of life has come
Look to Christ who condescended, took on flesh to ransom us