DEAR GRAND: Why did Jesus have to come as a man?

Dear Friends,
This week, I am so excited to share with you the answers to five questions about the Holiest of All Nights, the blessed Christmas Story.  Each grandchild in our family asked their grandfather a question about the Nativity, and their sweet Grand was willing to take the time to answer not only for them, but for all of us as well.  My father, Dr. Terry Denton, has his doctorate from Southwestern Theological Seminary, but to the kids in our family, he is just Grand, the wrestler, the joke-teller, the golfer who lets his grandkids help drive the golf cart.  We love him and are grateful God uses him to bless our lives in many ways. 

Check back each day this week for the next question...and answer...and we pray you will be blessed by this sweet exchange between the generations of our family.  Merry Christmas!

Robin Walls

Sam, age 11

Dear Grand, why did Jesus have to come as a man?

The short answer is “He didn’t have to, he chose to.” And what an incredible act of selflessness and humility it was!!! But the question really is, why did the Son of God choose to take the history altering step of becoming the Son of Man?


1) To keep a promise. -- Throughout the Old Testament, prophets under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit had predicted the coming of God in the flesh. One of the names given to the Messiah was Immanuel, which means “God with us.” God never breaks a promise.

2) To reveal God more fully -- God reveals himself through nature, through the law, through the prophets and through the Bible. While completely truthful, these methods are partial and incomplete. The perfect answer to the age old question of what God is really like is answered by the sinless life lived by Jesus Christ. To know God better, study the life of Jesus.

3) To redeem mankind – Had there been any other way to pay for the sins of humanity and open up salvation for all who would believe, I have no doubt He would have taken it. God’s holiness demands a sacrifice and it was His incomparable love which prompted Jesus to choose the path of a painful and ignominious death on the cross. By Jesus Christ becoming the Son of Man, now we can become the sons and daughters of God.

Love, Grand