Christmas provides numerous opportunities to learn more about God and his great plan of salvation. First, we can consider Christ’s unique birth as shepherds come to bear witness and the angels sing his praise (Luke 2:20). Second, we can understand more of who Jesus is by tracing the many promises God has made throughout Scripture and how they are all fulfilled in Christ. Often, the connections to Christ are called “scarlet threads” because God’s promises run throughout Scripture and intertwine with one another to be fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Still more, we learn doctrinal truths at Christmas too. One of the most important revelations at Christmas is the fact that the one God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Wonderfully, Christmas calls the church to look back and see the Triune nature of God vaguely revealed in the Old Testament, but this more intimate and personal knowledge of him is not manifested until the Word becomes flesh; the only begotten Son comes from the Father’s bosom to unite with humanity.
Coming Into View
The first full revelation of God as Father, Son, and Spirit is given to the young virgin Mary who receives this fuller knowledge of his nature by faith (Luke 1:26–38). It is amazing how much Mary was expected to process at this revelation. Consider three things.
First, the angel declares to Mary that she will conceive and have a son as a virgin, a word that harkens back to Isaiah 7:14. Second, the promised child is declared to be great and the Son of the Most High, language that combines 2 Samuel 7:14 and Psalm 2. Third, the Son will be given the throne of David and will reign forever, also a reference to the promise God made to David in 2 Samuel 7:14 that God would be like a father to the forever king and that the forever king will be like a son to him.
These three declarations to Mary help us appreciate God’s progressive revelation as the promised son and king is now known as the Son of God. The Son of the Most High would add to himself humanity so that he could be the forever king promised in 2 Samuel.
But How Much Did Mary Know?
It is not clear how much Mary understood this revelation into the nature of God, nor how her commitment to worshiping one God was being reshaped. However, it is clear that she received it by faith while seeking more understanding. With faith, she protests, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34). In comparison to her uncle Zechariah’s request for confirmation when he was told that in his old age he would have a son (Luke 1:18), Mary’s response is of a different type. While Zechariah was rebuked and made mute for his question that revealed doubt, Mary does not ask for proof. Rather, she asks an honest and important question. She knows she cannot physically conceive a child because she has not known a man. Accordingly, Mary’s question to the angel reveals a faith seeking understanding.
Remarkably, this inquiry leads to a further revelation about God. For the angel’s explanation now reveals the third person of the Trinity, “the Holy Spirit will come upon you.”
Personally, I am curious if this answer satisfied Mary’s concern or led to more questions. She has just been given one of the most robust and significant revelations in human history: God has a Son who will enter a womb, to be made a man, and will reign forever as king. This is mind-blowing.
Even more, the explanation to her question, combined with her status as a virgin, results in the discovery that the same God who has a Son (who is God) also has a Spirit (who is equally God). In one moment, Mary’s most basic categories of God and man have been challenged in this brief, but amazing, announcement.
Mary Did Not Know Nicea, But She Knew Nicea’s God
Thinking doctrinally, I am certain Mary did not leave the Angel of the Lord reciting anything close to the Nicene Creed or confessing something like “God is one nature and three persons.” Nonetheless, she did receive this revelation of God by faith, a revelation that leads us to see more completely the biblical foundations for the Nicean and Chalcedonian confessions.
Indeed, her response to the angel demonstrates this great faith—a faith that did not have the benefit of these later formulations. As she declares, “Let it be to me according to your word,” and her aunt Elizabeth later blesses her because of that great faith (Luke 1:45). Truly, Mary models the right posture towards God with her willingness to trust him because he is good and his word is true. While she had significant questions, she did not allow them to keep her from receiving what God had said.
This was an overwhelming day for Mary. Indeed, this faithful monotheist worshiper of Yahweh had to allow God’s Word to stretch her faith beyond what she had already understood from his Word. While God had been kind to give promises that previously pointed to the three persons of the Trinity—Father, Son, and Spirit—this is the first passage where we see all three persons revealed together and received by faith.
A Doctrinal Devotion
The one God who always operates inseparably as Father, Son, and Spirit to save man from his sins revealed himself with clarity for the first time at the announcement of the incarnation. God the Father has sent his Son to be like us and the Son is made like us by the work of the Spirit. We can better understand what these names mean because we have further revelation. What God requires of us is that we receive whatever he says with the faith he gives.
Christmas is a season to be assured of God’s salvation because he has ordered his Word to carry his people along so that we can have certainty in the fact that he has made promises and fulfilled them all in Christ. God gives us great clarity so that there is not a blind leap into faith. Rather, there are clear declarations that help us know him as the good and trustworthy God. The church can have great assurance in God’s plan and provision by looking back at how these scarlet threads not only come to fulfillment, but are also intertwined together.
Christmas is also a season to be in awe because God is greater than our best thought, is more than we can ever comprehend, and is beyond all human measurement. At the same time, God condescended to us in the incarnation, in order to lift us up to know him in truth. For that reason, Christmas must be a time of wonder and awe because the Creator entered into his creation, the power of God walked on earth while sustaining all he created, a virgin gave birth to God the Son, and the one true and indivisible God was made more fully known as the Father, Son, and Spirit that he always was.
Following in Mary’s steps, the proper response at Christmas is to receive the good news of great joy by faith and trust God will give us all the understanding we need as we seek to know him by his Word.
