Many Christians point to the resurrection of Jesus as the greatest miracle of all time. The crucifixion and resurrection are the basis for our salvation. But what’s so great about that? Others have also died and came back to life.

However, they all eventually died again, whereas Jesus now lives forever in glory. When other people were brought back to life, it had little or no effect on world history. However, when Jesus rose, everything changed for everyone else.

What was so different about Jesus’ resurrection? The key lies in who died and then lived. In the case of Lazarus, for example, a man was brought back to life to continue his mortal life. But in the case of Jesus, someone much more than a man died and rose again. Jesus was a human, but he wasn’t just human. He was the God-man — God in the flesh, both God and human.

John 1:1-14 tells us that the Word (who was with God and was God) “became flesh.” This is Jesus. He was God before he became a human, and he continued to be God even as a human. This is the key verse for the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation.

The Incarnation is unique

The reason his death and resurrection have such power is not because resurrection is the greatest miracle. Rather, it is because something more important had already been done: the miracle of the incarnation, of God becoming a flesh-and-blood human. Billions of people will eventually die and be resurrected into eternal life and glory; the Incarnation, however, will remain unique.

C.S. Lewis called it “the Grand Miracle.” He wrote:

The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation…. Every other miracle prepares for this, or exhibits this, or results from this…. It was the central event in the history of the Earth—the very thing that the whole story has been about. (Miracles, chapter 14)

Everything else depends on this. The Creator entered his creation, the Timeless One entered time, God became human—so he could die and rise again for the salvation of everyone else. Lewis wrote:

He comes down; down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity; down further still…[to] the womb…down to the very roots and sea-bed of the Nature He has created. But He goes down to come up again and bring the whole ruined world up with Him.

The greatest miracle is that wonderful act by which God became a human, conceived in a young woman named Mary and born in a stable in Bethlehem.

Everything he did depends on who he was

The power of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ does not lie in the events themselves. The power comes from who he was and is. His words have authority because they are the words of God. His life has power because it is the life of God. His death and resurrection have power because of who he is. It was not the resurrection of an ordinary person, but the resurrection of the Son of God, who had created all life.

Three of the Gospels begin their story of Jesus by emphasizing the wonder of his Incarnation. Matthew tells us that Jesus was conceived in the womb of Mary by the Holy Spirit, and that he was “God with us.” Luke tells us that Jesus was the Son of God. John says that the Eternal Word, who is God, became flesh to live with us.

However, some Christians don’t pay much attention to this greatest of all miracles. Christmas (which is traditionally a celebration of the Incarnation[1]) has been turned into a season of commercialism. But it’s supposed to remind us of God’s great love for us. What a pity that some forget to rejoice in the birth of Jesus.

Let us celebrate the great miracle: let us come in wonder and worship before the One who humbled himself to become a baby, a human. He came down into his own creation so that by rising again he might lift us up with him. Through him, because of who he is, we can rise from sin and decay into glory and freedom.

Endnote:

[1] Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus, but Jesus actually became flesh, part of his creation, with the conception, nine months before his birth. Some people attempt to resolve this “discrepancy” by saying that Jesus was conceived in winter and born during the Jewish fall festivals. But this is seeking precision where it cannot be found. We do not have enough evidence to prove when Jesus was born. Eastern Orthodox churches use a different date. The early church believed that the Incarnation and birth were important and should be celebrated, and they chose a date, just as they did for various other events in the life of Christ.

Author: edited by Michael Morrison in 2026