In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’
Genesis 1:26–28
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’
You and I, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, are created to have dominion, to rule over creation, to bring life and order to our world. You and I are created that we may be alive, yet through my sin I have introduced death into this world. I was born to live yet I entangle myself in sin and am destined for death. I cannot escape, I am trapped, and I will lie alone in the grave until the end. My brief sojourn on the earth is followed by an eternity beneath its surface. And while kings and emperors, the rich and the powerful, might lord it over us all, even all their wealth and possessions cannot escape this reality: although created to live we are all destined to die.
Yet God has not forsaken the creature whom He loves, in whom He has placed His image, and brings about a path for redemption. And when all the nations of the earth worshiped their own gods, He called Abram out of Ur to make His own new nation based on faithfulness. “Get out of your country,” says the Lord to Abram,
From your family
Genesis 12:1–3
And from your father’s house,
To a land that I will show you.
I will make you a great nation;
I will bless you
And make your name great;
And you shall be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
And I will curse him who curses you;
And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
For indeed, in this new nation shall be born the One Who shall defeat even death: when Abraham (see Genesis 17:5) did not withhold the son of the Promise from God,
Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven,
Genesis 22:15–18
and said: ‘By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—
blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.
In your Seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.’
And it is in this Seed which we now glory, the path to salvation through Promise and not through the Law. As the Apostle says,
Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Though it is only a man’s covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it.
Galatians 3:15–18
Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ Who is Christ.
And this I say, that the Law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the Covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the Promise of no effect.
For if the inheritance is of the Law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by Promise.
This is the enfleshment, the incarnation, to which we now approach to celebrate. The tragedy of our lives is that we are born to live and yet we turn to death, Christ was born to die despite never succumbing to the wiles of sin. But in Life dying, the powers and rulers of the underworld are themselves brought to death, and in Life rising from the tomb we are brought to the Life which we had forsaken through sin but has been restored to us in Jesus Christ.
‘O Death, where is your sting?
First Corinthians 15:55–58, Hosea 13:14
O Hades, where is your victory?’
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
Come! Come let us approach the manger. Let us behold not another babe from the billions born but the Lord in the flesh, the Lord Who comes “[not] to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28)
He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
John 1:11–14
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His Name:
who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
That we may offer to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who became incarnate for us that through His death and Resurrection we might inherit eternal Life, be all glory, honour and worship, together with His unoriginate Father and the All-holy, Good and Life-giving Spirit. Amen.
Brethren, by faith Abraham sojourned in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city which has foundation, whose builder and maker is God. And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets – who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and scourging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were killed with the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, ill-treated – of whom the world was not worthy – wandering over deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though well attested by their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had foreseen something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.
— Hebrews 11:9–10, 32–40
The book of the Genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, and Aram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asa, and Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amon, and Amon the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations. Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit; and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel” (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife, but knew her not until she had borne a son; and he called his name Jesus.
— Matthew 1:1–25