God With Us - The Incarnation
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us (John 1:14, 1 Timothy 3:16) and the angels sang "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men/on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests." (Luke 2:14)
God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice (propitiation) to take away our sins. (1 John 4:9-10 NLT)
The Nicene Creed
We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made; who for us and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man...
The Chalcedon Creed
How Can Jesus Be God and Man? | Desiring God Therefore, following the holy fathers, we all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance with us as regards his manhood; like us in all respects, apart from sin; as regards his Godhead, begotten of the Father before the ages, but yet as regards his manhood begotten, for us men and for our salvation, of Mary the Virgin, the God-bearer; one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the distinction of natures being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence, not as parted or separated into two persons, but one and the same Son and Only-begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ; even as the prophets from earliest times spoke of him, and our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us, and the creed of the fathers has handed down to us.
C.H. Spurgeon
"God With Us"
http://www.spurgeongems.org/vols40-42/chs2392.pdf
“The First Christmas Carol”, December 20, 1857
https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/the-first-christmas-carol#flipbook/
Behold, what wisdom is here. God becomes man that God may be just, and the justifier of the ungodly. What power, that Godhead should unrobe itself and become man! Behold, what love is thus revealed to us when Jesus becomes a man.
If you say, "Lord, how shall I know that thou hast this good will towards me," he points to yonder manger, and says, "Sinner, if I had not a good will towards thee, would I have parted with my Son? If I had not good will towards the human race, would I have given up my Son to become one of that race that he might by dying redeem them from death?"
Thomas Mallery in Voices From The Past - Puritan Devotional Readings
Matthew 1:23 "They shall call his name Immanuel, which means, God with us."
The clearest manifestation of God to us is revealed in Jesus Christ (John 1:18). His eternal Godhead is also manifest in the works of creation (Romans 1:20). The knowledge of God in creation, however, is not able to restrain the vain imaginations and idolatrous conceptions of God that lie in men's hearts. Also, much of the eternal Godhead is manifested in his works of providence (Job 9:10-11). We also see the eternal Godhead in his righteous and holy law.
The clearest, sweetest, and most comfortable manifestation of God to us is made only in Jesus Christ, who is 'the image of the invisible God' (Colossians 1:15). In Christ, God has revealed himself as no other means can. Christ is the exact copy or character of the Father's person and perfections (Hebrews 1:3). When Philip desired for Christ to show him the Father, Jesus said: 'Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. Believe me, I am in the Father and the Father is in me' (John 14:9, 11).
In the works of creation, God is above us; in his works of providence, he is outside us; in the law, he is against us; in himself, he is invisible to us. Only in Christ is he Immanuel, God manifested in our flesh. He is God in us, God with us, and God for us. Therefore, no man ever did or ever can understand anything of God truly, that is, upon a saving account, except in and by Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 6:16).
Richard Sibbes The Soul's Conflict With Itself
Since the fall, having lost our communion with God (as our) chief good, our happiness stands in recovering again fellowship with him. Christ hath his name Immanuel, God with us, not only because he is God and man too, both natures meeting in one person, but because he hath undertook this office to bring God and us together. The main end of Christ's coming and suffering was to reconcile, and to gather together in one; and, as Peter expresseth it, 'to bring man again to God,' 1 Peter 3:18.
Well may we wonder that the great God should stoop so low, to enter into such a covenant of grace and peace, founded upon such a mediator, with such utter enemies, base creatures, sinful dust and ashes as we are. This is the wonderment of angels, a torment of devils, and glory of our nature and persons; and will be matter of admiration and praising God unto us for all eternity.
Hugh Martin, “Voices At Bethlehem”, a sermon in The Christian Treasury, 1858
He has come to be our Light, that we may know the Lord; and our Lamb for a burnt-offering, that we may have peace with God; and our King, gentle and meek and loving, yet very strong to change our hearts and to destroy our foes, that we may love the Lord and serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life. He is freely given; he is infinitely worthy to be received; and to as many as receive him he gives power to become the sons of God.
Octavius Winslow Daily Walking With God
The most stupendous, glorious truth which created mind ever grasped is involved in this wondrous declaration, "Emmanuel, God with us." With what glory does it invest the Bible! what a foundation does it lay for faith! what substance does it impart to salvation! and what a good hope does it place before the believing soul! God is with us in Christ, with us in the character of a reconciled Father, with us every step of our journey to heaven, with us to guide in perplexity, to soothe in sorrow, to comfort in bereavement, to rescue in danger, to shield in temptation, to provide in need, to support in death, and safely to conduct to glory. My soul! fall prostrate in the dust before the majesty of this amazing, this precious truth; adore the wisdom that has revealed it, and admire the grace that makes it yours!
G. Campbell Morgan
The Purpose of the Advent: 1. To Destroy the Works of the Devil - 1 John 3:8
The Purpose of the Advent: 2. To Take away Sins - 1 John 3:5
The Purpose of the Advent: 3. To Reveal the Father - John 14:9
The Purpose of the Advent: 4. To Prepare for a Second Advent - Hebrews 9:28
"The Word Became Flesh" wp02-18.docx (live.com)
C.S. Lewis
The Son of God became the Son of Man, so that (sinful) sons of men may become sons of God.
A.W. Tozer
"What the Advent Established"
Had men not been lost no Savior would have been required. Had they been abandoned no Savior would have come.
Jesus, Our Man In Glory
We trust the Scriptures because we believe they are inspired—God-breathed. Because we believe them, we believe and confess that Jesus was very God of very God. Nothing anywhere in this vast, complex world is as beautiful and as compelling as the record of the Incarnation, the act by which God was made flesh to dwell among us in our own human history. This Jesus, the Christ of God, who made the universe and who sustains all things by his powerful word, was a tiny babe among us.
John Piper The Dawning of Indestructible Joy: Daily Readings for Advent
http://document.desiringgod.org/the-dawning-of-indestructible-joy-en.pdf?1446648252
Christmas hymn based on a Latin poem by Aurelius Prudentius (348-413)
Of the Father's love begotten, ere the worlds began to be,
He is Alpha and Omega, he the source, the ending he,
Of the things that are, that have been, and that future years shall see,
Evermore and evermore!
O that Birth for ever blessed when the Virgin, full of grace,
By the Holy Ghost conceiving, bare the Savior of our race;
And the Babe, the world's Redeemer, first revealed his sacred face,
Evermore and evermore!
O ye heights of heaven adore Him, angel hosts, His praises sing,
pow'ers, dominions, bow before Him, and extol our God and King;
let no tongue on earth be silent, ev'ery voice in concert ring
Evermore and evermore!
Christ, to Thee with God the Father and, O Holy Ghost, to Thee,
hymn and chant and high thanksgiving and unwearied praises be:
honor, glory, and dominion, and eternal victory
Evermore and evermore!
John Milton "On the Morning of Christ's Nativity", 1645
http://shakespeareauthorship.com/xmas/jm.html
This is the month, and this the happy morn
Wherein the Son of Heav'n's eternal King,
Of wedded Maid, and Virgin Mother born,
Our great redemption from above did bring;
For so the holy sages once did sing,
That he our deadly forfeit should release,
And with his Father work us a perpetual peace.
That glorious Form, that Light unsufferable,
And that far-beaming blaze of Majesty,
Wherewith he wont at Heav'n's high council-table,
To sit the midst of Trinal Unity,
He laid aside, and here with us to be,
Forsook the courts of everlasting day,
And chose with us a darksome house of mortal clay.
Joseph Hart “Come, Ye Redeemed of the Lord”, 1822
Luke 2:4-16
Come, ye redeemed of the Lord,
Your grateful tribute bring;
And celebrate, with one accord,
The birthday of our King.
Let us with humble hearts repair
(Faith will point out the road)
To little Bethlehem, and there
Adore our infant God.
In swaddling bands the Saviour view!
Let none his weakness scorn;
The feeblest heart shall hell subdue,
Where Jesus Christ is born.
No pomp adorns, no sweets perfume
The place where Christ is laid;
A stable serves him for his room,
A manger is his bed.
The crowded inn, like sinners’ hearts,
(O ignorance extreme!)
For other guests, of various sorts,
Had room; but none for him.
But see what different thoughts arise
In our and angels’ breasts;
To hail his birth they left the skies,
We lodged him with the beasts!
Yet let believers cease their fears,
Nor envy heavenly powers;
If sinless innocence be theirs,
Redemption all is ours.