Time travel

Get on board with me for a little time travel, back to the beginning of creation.

No life anywhere. All is barren.

You and I are, as it were, a desire in the heart of God—a dream He has chosen to bring into existence.

He runs His fingers through the innumerable planets scattered across the heavens and looks upon the earth with favour. In His infinite wisdom, He sees what is yet to come: man and generations of humanity, created in His image and likeness, called to live in communion with Him forever.

Like an architect preparing to build his masterpiece, God sets out to create. But first, He prepares a world for the one who is to come.

Trees and fruits.
Birds and the sky.
Abundant waters teeming with fish.
Mountains capped with snow.
Animals of every kind.
The sun to illuminate the earth.
Night to bring rest.
Stars to shimmer in the darkness.
The moon to keep watch over the night.

Creation is prepared as a home for humanity.

I will fill them with My love and presence, we might imagine the heart of God saying. They are precious to Me.

Five days of magnificent creation—and then, on the sixth, man.

“God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31)

You and I are His creatures, made in His image and likeness, created for communion with Him. We are not an afterthought. We are creatures whom God freely chose to love.

But the heart of God, on another occasion, is pierced with sorrow and compassion for His children, now wounded by sin and separated from Him.

He desires to save them.

At any cost.

The Son, moved by the unfathomable love of the Father and His own love for us, takes on human flesh. The eternal Word becomes flesh and enters the very creation He made.

God becomes man.

Isaiah had foretold:

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)

And then, in the quiet of Bethlehem, it happens.

The One through whom all things were made enters the world as a helpless infant.

The first sounds He hears are not royal trumpets but the sounds of animals. Hay becomes His bed. Swaddling clothes wrap His tiny body. He who sustains the universe allows Himself to be held in the arms of His Mother.

And how does creation receive its Creator?

The land He came to save becomes a place of danger. Herod seeks His life, and He flees to Egypt.

Years later, the One who came to give life is rejected by those He came to save.

He is treated as an outcast.

They choose Barabbas instead of Him.

And finally, they cry:

“Crucify Him!”

What an unfitting response to the God who gave us life.

Now switch off that lofty time-travel machine.

Come back to the present.

Christmas is near.

Two thousand years ago, Bethlehem had no room for Him.

But what about us?

The God who created the universe still desires to dwell with His children.

He does not ask us for a palace.

He asks for a heart.

So, can you and I give Him a fitting welcome this Christmas?

**He came for us.

He gave Himself for us.

Will we make room for Him?**