It’s the centerpiece of the sacred and joyous celebration of Christmas. It was a first. No other god had ever done it. No other god could have conceived it. It was an offence, a scandal, a puzzle. The Greeks mocked it. The Jews rejected it. The Bible prophesied it and then proclaimed it. Without it, Christianity wouldn’t even be a very good story, to say nothing of The Greatest Story Ever Told.

There is always a way into peace and joy even in the middle of tribulation. The nations can be raging, the kingdoms of power can be moving, but God will utter His voice, and everything will melt and stop.