Can a Baby Be God?

Can a Baby Be God?

As a mother of three girls, I remember looking at them as babies (and still do) and wonder, "What will be like when they grow up?"  I love the song, “Mary Did You Know?” by Kutless.  The song asks “Mary did you know that your baby boy (Jesus) would…”  One of the lines says “Did you know when you kiss your little baby, you kiss the face of God?”   How can this be?  Can a baby be God?

You can understand how a baby can be God if you understand God’s three persons, God’s promises and God’s plan      (Note:  All scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Version, unless noted.)

(For other languages and translations go to biblegateway.com)

First, God’s three persons

Well, it starts at the beginning.  According to Genesis (the first book of the Bible that means “beginnings”), when God created the world (the first message of the Bible), the word “God” in the original Hebrew language (in which most of the Old Testament , including the first five books of the Bible known as the Torah) is a plural form.  No, that doesn’t mean there is more than one God.  The Bible repeatedly and adamantly teaches that there is only one God.  Deuteronomy 6:4 (part of the Torah) says “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!” (Also see Isaiah 45:21-22 and Isaiah 46:9)  But God, in His awesomeness, cannot be simplified into a concept we can fully understand.   God is only one, but three persons (plural), God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  After God created the world, the Bible says in Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; (emphasis mine).  Again, the Bible teaches God as plural persons using the words “Us” and “Our”.  With these two Genesis references alone, we can see that God’s person is not singular, but plural  (Also see Psalm 110:1, Matthew 28:19, 1 Peter 1:2, and Jude 1:20-21 to read verses about God’s three persons).   This leaves room for a baby to be God.  But how?

Second, God’s promises

Immediately after Adam and Eve broke God’s rule to not eat of the forbidden fruit, God promised He would send a Deliverer to take care of our sin problem.  When God punishes the serpent (Satan) in Genesis 3: 15, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.” God promised that someone born of woman would destroy Satan by crushing him.

God promised this  Deliverer would come from the line of Abraham.  In Genesis 18:  God tells Abraham and Sarah that they will have a child in their old age.  In verse 17, The LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, ¹⁸ since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed?  (emphasis mine)  The only way ALL the nations could be blessed is the fact that the Deliverer would come from Abraham’s descendants.

God gave the same promise, or covenant to Isaac.  God told Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son in their old age.  They laughed and Genesis 17: 18 – 21 says 18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!” ¹⁹ But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. ²⁰ As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. ²¹ But My covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this season next year.” (emphasis mine)

God promised this Deliverer come from the line of David and establish an eternal kingdom.  I Kings 2:45 “But King Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before the LORD forever.” (emphasis mine) 

Isaiah 9: 6-7  ⁶ For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷ There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this. (emphasis mine)

Isaiah 9:6-7 could be a blog post of its own!  This promise written around 700 B.C. ties God’s promise in 1Kings about David’s everlasting kingdom to a child, Mighty God (vs. 6), that will given TO US!  Wow!  I love the other names given to Jesus in verse 6.  Can you find them?

Isaiah, the prophet, also wrote (Isaiah 7:14) “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.”  I love this verse.  Immanuel means “God with us”.  This means the baby will be God.

We know God always keeps His promises.

Finally, God’s plan

When the time was just right (God’s timing is always perfect), God kept His promise to send the Deliverer. (For the complete line of descendants from Abraham to the Deliverer, see Matthew Chapter 1, part of Injil).

God told Mary the plan through an angel.  She responded like this:  In Luke 1:30-35 (book in New Testament, also in the Injil) ³⁰ The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; ³³ and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” ³⁴ Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” ³⁵ The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God. (emphasis mine). 

Nothing is impossible with God.  God is all-powerful.  When he decided Jesus needed to be born of woman (totally human), yet divine (totally God) to be the sinless sacrifice needed, the Holy Spirit (also person of God) came upon Mary, not in any sexual way, but in a supernatural way.  And for this reason, the holy (perfect) Child shall be called the Son of God.  The “Son” describes the spiritual relationship with the “Father”, not a physical relationship of Father/Son (descendant).  Therefore, Jesus is not a second god, as some believe.  Jesus IS God.  

Galatians 4:4-5 ⁴ But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, ⁵ so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

God sent His son (person of God we talked about at the top, Jesus), born of a woman (virgin Mary, promised in Isaiah) so that God will redeem us (pay for our sin), that we might receive the adoption as sons (and daughters).  Really?  We can have a relationship with God?  Yes.  Jesus IS the promised Deliverer that the whole Old Testament prophesied about. 

The book of John (book in New Testament and in the Injil) one of Jesus’ closest friends, also explains how God’s plan from the beginning, included God becoming a baby, Jesus.

John 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  John 1:14   And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus is “the Word”.  Substitute “Jesus” for “Word”.  In the beginning was Jesus (part of the three persons of God that created everything), and Jesus was with God, and Jesus was God.  And Jesus became flesh (became a human baby or “put on skin”) and lived on earth (dwelt among us, another blog post), and we saw Jesus’ glory, glory because He is begotten (not created, but in God’s exact representation, also another blog post), full of grace (Heba, for my Arabic friends) and truth.

I’m so thankful that the God of the universe would want to have a relationship with me.  I am a daughter, co-heir with Jesus himself.  I’m thankful we have the Bible, the word of God, that never changes to give us the answers to how a baby could be God.    And yes, as we celebrate Christmas, we can believe that Jesus, the baby is God. 

John 1:12 says, ¹² But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,

 “Him” and “His” is Jesus.  Will you receive Jesus as God?  Will you believe in His name?  You, too can be a child of God. (1-888-Jesus-2000)

Jesus didn’t stay a baby….Did He claim to be God? (a future post)

Mary Did you Know? (youtube video)