|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The Word 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, ESV).
“Incarnation” comes from a Latin word meaning “becoming flesh” and has been used by theologians to describe how the second person of the Trinity entered history as the God-man Jesus Christ.
Hang on to your screens, readers of Interruptions, as today we get theological.
J. I. Packer, one of our kindred theological types, writes. . .
The incarnation is more of a miracle than the resurrection because somehow a holy God and sinful humanity are joined, yet without the presence of sin.
Let’s understand three things about this miracle.
First: It was prophesied.
Scripture does an excellent job of advertising the upcoming Incarnation with hundreds of years of prophetic anticipation.
Written 4,000 BC. . .
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel (Genesis 3:15).
Written 700 BC. . .
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14).
Written 400 BC. . .
Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts (Malachi 3:1).
Second: The Incarnation is a mystery.
Let me quote J. I. Packer again. . .
There are two mysteries for the price of one in the Incarnation — the plurality of persons within the unity of God, and the union of the Godhead and manhood in the person of Jesus.
An early Christian creed explains it this way. . .
Jesus Christ is one person with two natures (human and divine) who is both fully God and fully man.
G. C. Edwards (the name of my inner theologian) says. . .
A mystery is something that, while we know it exists, we also know that we won’t be able to fully understand its meaning or grasp its implications until revealed in heaven by our Father in heaven.
Third: It’s a Missional story!
Jesus, coming in the flesh, is more than angels singing in Bethlehem and churchgoers today attending Christmas Eve services; but a story that must be told.
Roughly forty times in the Gospel of John, Jesus says that God sent Him. The Incarnation tells the story of the second person of the Trinity “sent” with a message of grace and mercy demonstrated and actualized in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
The coming of Jesus is primarily a message — the Word of God! We must follow His example and become missionaries or tellers of this great news.
Let’s conclude with another quote from that eminent inner theologian G. C. Edwards. . .
The birth of Jesus in a manger, seemingly innocent and pastoral, changed the course of history so that those of faith could live eternally as children or sons — not the Son — but sons and daughters of God.
Amen!