The incarnation not only means that God is with us, but He is with us for the atonement. God's incarnational purpose is now riveted in the crucified body of the Messiah born in Bethlehem. Incarnation is not only the manifestation of God but the proclamation of His death for sin. The incarnate Lord is the one to be offered up upon the cross as the final sacrifice for the world's sins. The celebration of the Nativity of our Lord binds together the birth of Jesus Christ and the death of Jesus Christ.
Incarnation is a celebration of the infant's death and resurrection.
When we stand on the holy ground of Christmas, the distance between Good Friday and Christmas is only a matter of time, for when the child is born in Bethlehem, the death of the child is already seen as the climax of His birth. Lent follows the Christmas cycle not only in time, but out of the necessity required by the incarnation. Jesus Christ was born to die. The church gathers together in this holy season to proclaim that God's will for the world is fulfilled in the birth of God's Son. Christmas is the time when all the ages come crashing down upon us.