This past Sunday, we heard Helmut Thielicke compare Christ's cradle with His cross. "They are of the same wood," he said. God came to earth and was born to be placed in a simple, wooden cradle later to be put to death on two simple, wooden beams. The manger is to be reminiscent of the cross of Christ, and we are to mark the suffering that took place at both.

A manger is a feeding trough; you have certainly heard me refer to it as such many times these past few weeks. They were not designed for comfort, but for a function: a place to hold food for cattle and sheep. We like to picture that there was hay placed in the manger for the Christ to lay on, and that may very well be true; now, while hay is soft and a good insulator, it can also be quite itchy. So, we have a child laid to rest in a rough, perhaps itchy bed. Such humble beginnings for God-in-the-flesh.

And this only to be put to death as a common criminal. Born and placed in a rough cradle only to be pinned to a rough cross. They are of the same wood, indeed. Rough places of suffering, neither of which are places one would expect to find the King of kings and Lord of lords, not places one would expect to find the Creator of the universe.

Yet that is exactly where He has come to place Himself. Again, we could go on and on about God coming as man to die. And, this statement will be made again and again as we complete this season of Advent and make our way into Christmas and Epiphany and Lent and Easter. The swaddling cloths are a reminder of this. The manger is a reminder of this. And, next week, we'll hear that the babe is a reminder of this.

But, look again at the manger, and look closely. See it for what it's function is, then look again at your God come as man and placed in it. For while it is true that your God came to you to die for you, He also comes to you and gives Himself to you as food and drink. "For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed," He said. (John 6:55) Coming and being placed in a feeding trough should be for us an indication that He has come to give Himself to us a food and drink, a most holy meal indeed.

And, just like the swaddling cloths, this too is a sign easily overlooked. And this because of fallen logic. "God could not have come to give Himself as food," Old Adam wants us to think, "He must have meant something else when He called His flesh real food and His blood real drink." For Old Adam, as far as we are concerned, God's manger is not a sign of His flesh and blood as food and drink. Old Adam is always at work to bring us to this conclusion, and, again, He cannot be ignored. But, he can be confessed, and by faith, we do.

Because, by faith, we know otherwise—we know other than what Old Adam would want us to know. Because by faith, we receive His Word as the truth—we believe that when He calls His flesh food and His blood drink that He truly gives us His flesh and blood as food and drink. By faith, we believe that when He says, "This is my body...this is my blood," it is truly His body and blood. And, by faith, we receive Him as He comes to us as His body and blood—we receive Him as He comes to us, to give us faith, strength of faith, and forgiveness of sins.

So, look once again at that humble manger. See your God comes to you gentle and having salvation, humble and in a trough for food. He comes to you to give Himself for you, and since He comes to give Himself to you, you are forgiven for all of your sins.