I had many different thoughts but the one I keep returning to is Christ’s birth. Early on in his work, Earle Cairns quotes from Galatians 4:4 “But when [in God’s plan] the proper time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the [regulations of the] Law,” He states that “Consideration of the events that preceded the appearance of Christ on earth leads the sober student of history to acknowledge the truth of the statements of Paul and Mark.”
Even some 700 years before His birth Isaiah was prophesying about His coming. Isaiah 7:14 “The Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will conceive and will bear a son, and she will call his name Immanuel.” Isaiah 9:6 further details Him, saying “For a child is born to us, a Son is given to us and His name will be called, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”
Matthew 1:18 begins to describe the prophecy being fulfilled. “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together she was found to be with child by [the power of] the Holy Spirit.” God became flesh so we could know His nature, truth, and grace.
Christ had to be born so that God could reveal His own character to humanity. John 3:16“For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge and condemn the world [that is, to initiate the final judgment of the world], but that the world might be saved through Him.” Without Christ, there could not be a perfect sacrifice or the availability of the Holy Spirit. The promise to Abraham would not be fulfilled. And ultimately, mankind could not be redeemed because Romans 6:23 says “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God [that is, His remarkable, overwhelming gift of grace to believers] is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
What would you say is the most historic aspect of the life of Jesus?
Cairns, Earle E.. Christianity Through the Centuries. Zondervan Academic. Kindle Edition.
Zondervan,. The Amplified Study Bible (p. 4408). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.