The following information is quoted directly from www.lcms.org/jesus.
For more than 2,000 years people have asked this question. We were not present when Jesus lived on this earth, but in the Bible we have the record of His birth, life, death on the cross, and resurrection. Through the study of the Bible, you can seek the answer to this age-old question.
Which is harder: To say that God is everywhere, or that God has become a human being? Is it easier to say that God is far away or very near?
What is harder to believe: That God is everywhere, or that God is one of us?
Philosophers go for the low-hanging fruit and pick the former rather than the latter. But if God is everywhere, then there is nowhere He can be found. God becomes abstract, like a force or a feeling. In times of trouble, it is very hard to find that sort of a god. Like moments of joy, such a god slips quickly through our fingers.
It is harder to say that God became one of us. This means that God is close. To say it in the way of Dr. Martin Luther (not King Jr.):
He is so near that He cannot be any nearer… This is who Jesus is. God near us. Not far away, ignorant of our existence. Not just watching from afar. Not distant, aloof from our suffering. But near, in the flesh, available and present and distributed to His people every day, every week, all our lives. Christ Jesus is the God who is near.
Jesus, the God-man, makes us think differently about God. God has come into our world. He is not up there somewhere — we are unsure where. He has come through a uterus, been washed and diapered.
He has cried and felt cold, pain and joy. He drank wine. He worked, sweated, grew tired, slept. He has eaten, been annoyed, felt the sting of rejection and ridicule. God has become one of us. God has done all these things, and all these things have happened to God. Jesus is God near us.
This offends. Philosophers prefer the god who is far away — and everyone can be such a philosopher.
No college degree is required.
But the God who is near, Jesus, will not be pushed far away. He becomes one of us to be most near us in every part of our lives. He is like us and, therefore, knows us. Although God is no sinner, He takes our sins on Himself and dies for them on a cross. In that moment, God is the most sinful of us all. God dies in our flesh, His flesh. He is come in our flesh to save those who have flesh, those who suffer from their flesh and those who sin in their flesh. He does this because of His compassion for those who are like Him. God is a great lover of sinners. That’s Jesus.
The Scriptures testify to this. Join us in listening to God’s Word as it tells us that in Jesus, God walks among us.
God tents among us
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth… For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. (John 1:14, 16)
Read Luke 1:39–45, paying special attention to Luke 1:43. The word “Lord” is a euphemism for YHWH, the divine name of God. What is Elizabeth saying by calling Mary the mother of her Lord?
God is born
And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:10-12)
Read Luke 2:1-21, paying special close attention to the angels’ song in Luke 2:14.
Why would the angels give glory to God over a newborn baby?
In Luke 2:11, the angels announce to the shepherds that the child is born “for you.” Why would they bother to emphasize for whom the child was born? Is this birth only for shepherds, or is it also for you?
God comes to us with His body
“This is my body, which is given for you… This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” (Luke 22:19–20; Mark 14:22–24; Matthew 26:26–28)
Take a moment to read John 6:43–59, paying special attention to John 6:53–59. What does it mean when Jesus says whoever eats and drinks His body and blood shall receive eternal life?
God dies, God rises
When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!” (Matt. 27:54)
Read Exodus 3:13–15. Then read John 18:1–11, taking careful note of John 18:5–6. Why did the guards fall down before Christ as they went to arrest Him? What does it mean that Jesus uses the phrase so many times in John’s Gospel? For some examples, see John 4:26; 6:20; 6:35; 8:12; 10:7; 10:11; 13:19; 14:6; 15:1. This list is not exhaustive.
Finally, what does it mean when Jesus says He is the great I AM who is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25)?