One Man, One Stable, One Massive Paradigm Shift

It seems easy to classify the God of the Old Testament. He is the God who created the universe, who parted the Red Sea, who gave the Ten Commandments, and who scattered the inhabitants of the Tower of Babel. He is dramatic and violent, willing to wipe out thousands – even while protecting those He cares for and those who obey His commands.

And He views the world through only one prism: that of the law. A man or a nation obeys the law, and they are rewarded and blessed; the same person or nation disobeys, and they are punished. There are  a few notable exceptions – the books of Job and Song of Solomon come to mind – but for the most part, that paradigm seems to hold true.

One of the interesting facts about the nature of some of the books of kings in the Bible is that they do not seem to deal with the kings in a manner that we Americans would deal with them. There is little talk of whether the economy rose or fell or whether they had better diplomatic relations with other countries or whether the kings were able to be men of great intellect and learning. They all seem to be viewed along the single perspective of whether they feared the Lord, and by extension, whether they obeyed Him.

In the New Testament, the paradigm shifts. Suddenly, all of human history is about this one man born into this world in a smelly stable, itchy hay sticking to his neck, with a few annoyed cows probably mooing their displeasure on having their pleasant night of sleep interrupted by his cries. When Jesus quietly enters the world, it does not become about the ritual, about having done the right thing the whole time or not. It becomes about Him – about this one man, of no particular birth or wealth or status.

And in so doing, God did something unprecedented. The prince becomes the pauper. The boss goes undercover. The one at the top sees what it’s like for one at the bottom. Initially, this move looks like weakness. What is God doing associating with the lowest dregs of humanity? And yet, what looks like weakness turns out to be strength: God made Himself accessible to lowly human beings. By becoming human, God made himself one of us. And in so doing, He allowed us to have fellowship with Him.

To put it another way, God became a part of human culture, so that humans could be a part of God’s culture. Sounds a lot like a missionary, doesn’t it?

Merry Christmas!

Written by: John Michael Den Hartog