One of the most controversial claims of Christian theology is also the very foundation of all Christian theology: The person we call Jesus the Christ is truly God and truly human. We label this doctrine the incarnation. It means the Son of God, who had existed from eternity in the divine community we call the Trinity, chose to add human nature to His eternal, divine nature at a specific point in history (c. 5 BC).

From the earliest days of the Christian movement, the disciples of Jesus proclaimed that Jesus is both truly God and truly human. As Christian theology developed over the centuries, the preferred language became the axiom: Jesus is “one person” in “two natures.” It seems appropriate on this Christmas to reflect on two truths revealed in the beautiful mystery we call the incarnation.

First, when the Son of God added our nature to himself, the Creator became united to His creation—forever. The Son of God did not become human just so he could die; otherwise, this union would not need to be permanent. Instead, the Son of God became a human permanently so God and humanity could be united together forever. This means God is the kind of God who wants to be and, therefore, chooses to be united with his creatures. For those of us who struggle to believe God wants to be near us, the incarnation is solid, tangible proof that the God who made us is also the God who loves us—so much so that he would permanently unite Himself to us.

Second, God knows what it’s like to be human because the Son of God became a human. From the moment of His conception, when He received human nature from His mother Mary, the eternal, divine Son of God began to experience the full range of our human existence. The eternal one experienced nine months of growing and developing inside Mary’s womb. God knew helplessness as a newborn baby—who nursed, cried, was swaddled, and completely depended upon his parents. As a child, the Creator experienced the full range of childhood development—including teething, growing pains, sickness, sleepless nights, hunger, nightmares, worry, friendship, discipline, disappointment, learning, and loss. The Lord of the universe experienced the trauma of poverty, the terror of living as a refugee, and the fear of belonging to an oppressed group. As an adult, our God experienced joy and sorrow, success and failure, friendship and rejection, acceptance and exclusion, moments of confidence and moments of doubt, being trusted and being slandered, celebration and heartache, strength and humiliation—including injustice, abandonment, physical abuse, mockery, and death. God knows what it’s like to be human because the Son of God became a human. Therefore, in this very moment, our God can empathize with each of us. God not only sees you; He actually knows what it’s like to be you because the Son of God became and forever will be a human.

This Christmas, may you experience the love of the God who has permanently united Himself to you and fully knows what it’s like to be you.