Who was the baby in the manger on the first Christmas? Let’s develop a profile.
Modern day police detectives often develop a profile of criminals. Through some of the evidence left behind a crime, professional ‘profilers’ are able to compose a description of the suspect.
Some criminals make it easy for the profilers. Like one criminal who actually gave a bank teller his robbery demands on the back of his deposit slip. They went to the address and arrested him.
In our investigation of Christmas, a key question is ‘Who was the baby in the manger’ Jesus claims to be the Son of God. Does He fit the profile of God? If we examine Jesus, does He match the sketch of God we find in the Bible?
The Bible provides numerous details of what God is like. For instance, God omnipotent, He is all-powerful and able to do whatever He wills. Since His will is limited by His nature, God can do everything that is in harmony with His perfections. God is omniscient, He knows Himself and all other things perfectly from all eternity, whether they be actual or merely possible, whether they be past, present, or future. He knows things immediately, simultaneously, exhaustively, and truly. God is omnipresent, He is present in all His creation, everywhere at once, but in no manner limited by it.
If we examine Jesus, does He match the sketch of God we find in the Bible?
Is Jesus Omnipotent (all-powerful)?
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” Jesus said in Matthew 28:18.
Jesus demonstrated His omnipotence when He stilled the storm at sea with a word (Matt. 8:26-27), multiplied the loaves and fish (Matt. 14:19), and changed water into wine (John 2:1-11). Some might object that these miracles just showed the power of God working through Him, as God could work through any other human being, and therefore these do not demonstrate Jesus’ own deity. But it was not the glory of the Father that was manifested but the glory of Jesus Himself. as His divine power worked. After Jesus stilled the storm on the Sea of Galilee, the disciples did not say, “How great is the power of the Father working through this prophet.” but rather, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?” (Matt. 8:27). It was the authority of Jesus Himself to which the winds and the waves were subject, and this could only be the authority of God who rules over the seas and has power to still the waves.
Is Jesus Omniscient (all-knowing)?
In John 16:30 the apostle John affirms of Jesus, “Now we can see that you know all things.”
The omniscience of Jesus is demonstrated in His knowing people’s thoughts (Mark 2:8) and seeing Nathaniel under the fig tree from far away (John 1:48) and knowing ‘from the first who those were that did not believe, and who it was that would betray him” (John 6:64). Of course, the revelation of individual specific events or facts is something that God could give to anyone. But Jesus’ knowledge was much more extensive than that. He knew ‘who those were that did not believe,’ thus implying that he knew the belief or unbelief that was in the hearts of all men. In fact, John says explicitly that Jesus ‘knew all men and needed no one to bear witness of man’ (John 2:25). The disciples could later say to him, “Now we know that you know all things” (John 16:30). These statements say much more than what could be said of any great prophet or apostle for they imply omniscience on the part of Jesus.
Is Jesus Omnipresent (everywhere present)?
The divine attribute of omnipresence is not directly affirmed to be true of Jesus during His earthly ministry. However, while looking forward to the time that the church would be established, Jesus could say, ‘Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20). Moreover, before He left the earth, He told His disciples, “I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Matt. 28:20).
Jesus is God. Charles Spurgeon once said. “Christ was not a deified man, neither was he a humanized God. He was perfectly God and at the same time perfectly man.”
Jesus is omnipotent. Nothing we face is an impossibility to His power.
Jesus is omniscient. He knows everything. That is why sometimes He doesn’t appear to cooperate with our desires. Though He could, He doesn’t solve all our difficulties because He knows the future. Trust Him.
Jesus is omnipresent. He will be with us everywhere, anywhere, all the time. We are never alone.