In the cold Judean night, the new mother gazed lovingly at her newborn son. The innocent eyes of the baby softened her heart. Though she was drained from the long and arduous trip and the ordeal of delivering her child, her heart was full of joy and peace.

It was a moment of deep mystery as her eyes rested on the tiny figure wrapped in swaddling clothes. Her husband had no words to say as he too marveled at the child. The animals in the stable looked quietly on the scene. In silence, all eyes beheld the face of God in a tiny newborn baby. Much was happening that night. Heaven was busy sending angels to announce the good news to simple shepherds in the fields outside Bethlehem. The shepherds rushed to the place and joined that amazing scene in the stable. They saw the mystery and came back with much joy and rejoicing. From the holy silence, they came out breaking forth with joyful praise. God had kept His promise. He had come to Earth to be one of us.

Mary reflected quietly and deeply on the mystery of God becoming man, the Word becoming flesh. We too need to do the same this Christmas. Why did God become a man? The writer of Hebrews explains: “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death” (hebrews 2:14–15).

God was born a man so that He might die our death to free us forever. Jesus came not to help angels but human beings. “For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people” (hebrews 2:17).

It was because God wanted to save us from sin and death that He had to become a man. If He had not done so, this would not have been possible. It was the fourth-century Athanasius who took up this biblical point when he wrote, “The Word of God came in His own Person, because it was He alone, the Image of the Father Who could recreate man made after the Image.” The image of God in us that was marred and lost could only be recovered if God became man.

Athanasius used the illustration of a portrait on a panel that had become obliterated by stains. Instead of throwing away the panel, the artist got the subject of the portrait to sit for it again so that his likeness could be redrawn on the same material. Jesus is that Subject in whose image we are being re-created “as we gaze on [His] kingly brightness” (cf. 2 corinthians 3:18). Athanasius put it succinctly when he declared, “God became man so that man may become like God.” It is for this reason that God, in Jesus, came to us, that the Word was made flesh.

This coming of God into our midst should not be taken lightly. Jesus was fully man and fully God. We must never forget this, and we must understand the implications of what we profess to believe. God became man and came to dwell among us. We should be trembling as we would in the presence of God.

The German pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it well when he wrote:

We have become so accustomed to the idea of divine love and of God’s coming at Christmas that we no longer feel the shiver of fear that God’s coming should arouse in us. We are indifferent to the message, taking only the pleasant and agreeable out of it and forgetting the serious aspect, that the God of the world draws near to the people of our little earth and lays claim to us. The coming of God is truly not only glad tidings, but first of all frightening news for everyone who has a conscience.

The birth of Christ is good news only when it is at first frightening news to us. The shepherds were terrified when the angel came to announce the birth of the Savior (luke 2:9). They were shivering not only because of the cold but because of the implications of God’s visitation. Terror turned to amazement and amazement to joy when they began to realize that God had come to earth as a man.

We must not only recognize the “otherness” of Jesus but also the fact that He became one of us. In Him we have true human as well as divine company. Because He became a man, we know that He understands our situation perfectly. He knows what it means to be living in a wicked and sinful world, to experience hunger and thirst, to be accused of all kinds of things, to be rejected by people, to be opposed by enemies, to feel tired and weak, to lose a loved one, to suffer loneliness, to feel pain in all its forms, and to be tempted.

The Bible makes this point when we read, “Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted” (hebrews 2:18). Or again, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are—yet was without sin” (4:15, emphasis mine).

In Jesus, we have a God who understands us perfectly because He walked the streets of this troubled world, among beggars and the deadly sick, the sad and the wicked. He Himself was at the terrible receiving end of the wicked deeds of men and was tempted by the devil the same way we are. When He speaks to us, He speaks as One who has been through it all. He speaks with empathy and compassion.

In this uncertain world, God has come to be with us. He is the promised Immanuel—“God with us.” The saving, healing, and protecting shadow of God comes near to us through Jesus. No one needs to live without hope again; no one needs to suffer loneliness and despair again, for our Savior has come to be with us, to bring us to our true eternal home. Some of these thoughts must have passed through Mary’s mind and rested in her heart. She treasured these truths. The Savior she carried in her womb was born into the world, and now He was born in her heart. He was the great Treasure of her heart. Her womb had held Him for nine months, but her heart would hold Him forever.

We too are invited to find this Treasure of Christmas and to keep and cherish Him in our hearts forever. If we have Him in our hearts, we will indeed tremble—with awe and joy.