I have decided, in this blog post, to address a deep theological topic in a devotional way. This is partly to make the subject easier to understand for those who may not be acquainted with it, and to remind ourselves of how amazing God's dealings with this world have been. I am talking about the subject of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ - that is, God's appearing on this earth in human form. The word "Incarnation" is a Latin-based theological term meaning "embodied in flesh," and is not a directly Scriptural term; just one developed to identify the doctrine (like with the "Trinity" or the "Rapture"). So, we can refer to this important doctrine as "Jesus Christ embodied in flesh."
The Incarnation is one of the central, fundamental truths of Christianity. John in his letter outlines this clearly: "By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already" (1 John 4:2-3). He was addressing a group of people who were claiming that Jesus could not be a man because He, being God, could not be tainted with the supposed evil of possessing human flesh. It is interesting that our present world's main problem is believing in Jesus as God; the main problem back in John's day was believing that Christ was actually a man! Of course, this brings us into the question of the deity/humanity of Christ, which is not the subject of this blog (but is still a vital theological truth). I just wanted to show that this doctrine, being so important, has been attacked many times by those who do not accept the truth.
I will present the basic Scriptural proofs of the Incarnation and then proceed to make some devotional insights.
First, Jesus was clearly born of a human woman, Mary, and one of the names given to Him affirms His deity:
"....an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel" (which means, God with us)." Matt 1:20-23)
The Virgin Birth shown here, I should add, is also important to orthodox Christianity, because it clearly establishes both the divine and human natures of Christ. God did come down to Earth and undergo the normal human process of birth!
"And the Word [Christ] became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).
In Romans, Paul details a further reason for Christ's taking a human body upon Himself:
"For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh..." (Romans 8:3)
That is, because our legal efforts could not make ourselves righteous in God's sight, He then sent Christ, the Perfect Man, to be blameless and perfect and utterly vanquish sin.
The celebrated passage on Christ's utter humiliation also refers to His incarnation:
"....though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:6-11)"
"Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery." (Hebrews 2:14-15)
I think these passages together present a powerful picture as to the truth of God's dwelling among us as a human being. Let's push these verses home a little further, so that we may see that all this is really relevant to us.
1. The very idea that God Himself, being in heaven, a place where He was completely happy and satisfied, lacking in nothing, willingly chose to humble Himself and walk upon this sin-cursed earth is absolutely mind-blowing. We daily see the filthiness and lowliness of our daily existence and the gross limitations of our finite bodies, whose needs must be continually met. This world is a rotten mess of corruption, one that the sinless God absolutely detests. Yet - because He is loving, He still chose to make a difference and restore the race of fallen humanity. So, Jesus walked on this earth for 33 years and experienced all the wide range of sufferings that we fellow humans endured. He was tired. He was sick, I'm sure. He wept. He suffered intense pain and agony. The very act of His birth was a trial to His mother, as because of sin all childbirth is painful to all women. He needed to sleep. He was continually wearied by the huge throngs of people clamoring to see Him day and night. And, most of all, He died. Not just a normal death, but the worst one that could be inflicted by that time's standards - crucifixion. Surely it is an amazing thing that God Himself should experience this world's pains, and this truly shows the depth of His great love.
2. Not only did God come down to this Earth, but He came down to one of the meanest corners of the world. A people despised and abhorred, an object of mockery to the pagan nations around it - these people Christ chose to make His principal dwelling with. Why could He not have entered upon the splendor of Rome and been the son of Caesar? Enjoyed the riches of Egypt? Inherited the courage and daring of Parthia? Been immersed in the ancient wisdom of the Chinese? But, no, He made His abode with the Jewish people, a people conquered and crushed under the dominion of the Gentiles. A people of no great fame or renown, known mostly for its strange custom of worshipping simply one God with fanatic fervor and ardor. Yet, God had chosen this nation to bring Christ forth, and God ordained things this way to put the worldly wisdom of Greece and Rome to shame. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Seneca, Virgil, Epicurus - who are they compared to Christ? Their insights are but incomplete and poor compared to our Savior's full knowledge. Yet they did come from the richest and most prosperous nations at that time, and Christ came from one of the most destitute. Here, we see once again the manifold and profound wisdom of God, in choosing to incarnate Himself upon this Earth in a manner that blows our minds.
3. The fact that in taking the likeness of sinful flesh upon Himself, Christ thus made Himself our representative before God so that we would not have to suffer eternal damnation is one of the great mysteries of the Truth that will take all of eternity to explore and grasp. Why should God do thus? Why put Someone in our place to suffer for our sins? Why such great love? Simple - it is because of Who He is. He has testified of Who He is in His Word. Is there another God? No. Can this God change? No. He is loving, and the Father has sent His Son to pay the penalty for our sins. That is the truth of this universe. There is nothing else that competes with this reality. And I am so thankful that things are the way they are, that God is Who He is. It might conceivably have been different - but this, right now, is the truth and there is no changing it.
The sacrifices of the Old Testament all pointed to Christ as the substitution that God put in our place to suffer sin's punishment. The animals - bulls and goats - reminded Israel that its sins were covered by the shedding of another's blood. But the blood of these creatures was not efficacious to take away sin. It merely shadowed Christ's greater, efficacious sacrifice. In order to be a true atonement for sin, He had to be "made like His brethren." A human needed to suffer for humans - yet this was no mere sinful human, but a pure, holy, and sinless God-man, Who was completely divine yet completely human. In Romans, Christ is called "the last Adam," because He vividly contrasts the tragic fall of the first Adam. The first Adam brought pain and ruin upon the creation; the last Adam restored it to its true glory. The first Adam showed his weakness and futility by succumbing to the temptation to sin; the last Adam showed His strength and victory by crushing Satan under His feet. Just as a human brought man into grievous sin, so a human delivered man from the curse of sin. What a wonder we have here from the glorious God!
4. Christ sympathizes with us in our weaknesses, having endured all the temptations that beset humanity. Hebrews talks much about this, in affirming Christ's absolute appropriateness as our representative. We can come to Him with all our concerns and infirmities, knowing that He will not cast us out. Lepers, the blind, the deaf, the demonic, the spiritually tormented - all those came to Him when He was on Earth and were not rejected. And He continues to receive such people even today into eternal salvation - both physically and spiritually. Let us pray, then, and seek to cast all our cares upon Him, for He cares for us. Everything from eternal salvation to security over enduring BBC orals, we can come to Him for. Think on this, and rejoice!
I have to confess, once I start writing about these glorious things, it can be difficult to stop going on and on! But for the sake of brevity, it is best to conclude my thoughts here. I only wish that I thought on the glorious truths of Christianity and on my Savior so much more. My prayer for those of you who do not know Christ is that He may reveal to you just how amazing and glorious He is, so that you will rejoice with me and with my brothers and sisters over His salvation.
In His Name, I bid you a good day :).
1 comment:
I think that you appropriately named your blog. You continue to do a wonderful job of focusing my thoughts on how amazing our God truly is. I also read with interest the last post on youth groups. I agree wholeheartly with many of the points you made. I have often pondered why our generation (as a whole) seems to be missing in church today. Do you believe that youth ministry trends have contributed to this? I am glad that you are still finding time to write despite your busy work schedule. :)
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