There are many ways the Scriptures refer to the Savior in the New Testament. He is the Son of God. He is the Lamb of God. He is the Son of Man. Master. Teacher. The Good Shepherd. The Bread of Life. The Way, the Truth, the Life. And list goes on and on. But this morning, reading in Luke 1, Elizabeth refers to Jesus in a way that captures my attention as it never has before. That stops me in my tracks. Arrests my attention. Demands meditation. And evokes awe afresh.

And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”

(Luke 1:41b-43 ESV)

The fruit of the womb! Chew on that for a bit and tell me the awe-o-meter doesn’t start to spike.

Sure, we’re used to the “Christmas Story” found here and in Matthew’s gospel. Familiar with a virgin who conceives of the Spirit and gives birth to a babe in the manger. But “the fruit of the womb”? When’s the last time you heard that emphasized in a nativity play?

Talk about your ancient ultrasound. What did the Spirit allow Elizabeth to see?

Talk about your gender reveal. What did the Spirit allow Elizabeth to know?

Talk about the One through whom, “all things were made, . . . and without Him was not any thing made that was made” (Jn. 1:3) coming into His creation as the fruit of the womb, and tell me you’re not talking about something that goes beyond words.

[Christ Jesus], though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

(Philippians 2:6-7 ESV)

Jesus, God the Son, emptied Himself so that He might be born in the likeness of men. Not just taking on their likeness, but being born like they were born. The fruit of the womb.

What humility. What sacrifice — even before the cross. What love for a lost world.

Therefore He had to be made like His brothers in every respect, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

(Hebrews 2:17 ESV)

Made like His image-bearers “in every respect.” Every respect — even in utero. Thus, able to be our perfect High Priest. Thus, able to make a once forever atoning sacrifice for sins. Thus, able to intercede fully for us before the throne, knowing our frame, in touch with our reality, having gone through our weakness (Heb. 4:15). And that, all beginning with humbling Himself as He became the fruit of the womb.

Unreal!

What a Savior!

What love!

What grace!

To Him be all glory!