During this Christmas season, we celebrate Jesus’s first advent, his first coming into the world.

Jesus, the God of eternity, the creator of all things, the sustainer of life, the author and main subject of the Old Testament, YHWH.

This Jesus, the Son of God, took on flesh and became human. The divine mystery is that in Jesus, we have truly God and truly man.

In his humanity, he was born as a baby, he had to grow up, he grew in wisdom Luke 2:52 says.

He had to eat and sleep, he got tired and he cried, he laughed, he was truly human, yet unlike every other human, he did not give into temptation, he did not sin.

The scriptures record Jesus’s birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven.

As we teach our kids about Jesus, we have storybook bibles, videos, and lesson plans that depict these events to help us teach them about Jesus.

Many films have been made about the stories in the Gospels about Jesus, so missionaries can share the Goodnews with people with different languages.

We celebrate Christmas by depicting Jesus in the manger. His incarnation.

We do not worship any of these depictions; they are used to tell us about Jesus of the Bible.

And Jesus of the bible was seen. The visible became visible. (Col. 1:15) “He is the image of the invisible God,”

And we look forward to the day, that great day when we get to see Jesus himself, face to face.

(1 Cor. 13:12) “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, as I am fully known.”

Resources on the subject:

1. Should Depictions Of Christ Be Forbidden? By Dr. Erwin W. Lutzer
2. Are Images of Christ OK? Yes. By Kevin Keating
3. Got Questions.org