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The incarnation was when God
the Son came down to earth, became a man, and lived the most
remarkable life for us! He added a human nature to His divine
nature and still remained one person! He didn’t leave anything
from His divine nature behind, nor did He take away anything from
the human nature. God the Son descended, or came down from the
third heaven and became true humanity, but without a sin nature!
The deity of the Son never left Him. He remained God as He will
for all time and eternity!
Philippians 2:6 Who, although He existed in the form of God, did
not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied
[laid aside His privileges] Himself, taking the form of a
bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
Now God is infinite, and He can do
anything that doesn’t go against His divine nature. In our finite
minds, it is difficult for us to understand how God can have a
human nature and a divine nature in one person! Our minds don’t
get it! However, what we don’t understand, we can believe because
we have the word of God. We know that God never lies to us! He
always keeps His word! We believe and have faith in the fantastic
person of our Lord, Jesus Christ! We can relax!
Peter
1:20 For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but
has appeared in these last times for the sake of you.
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we
saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full
of grace and truth.
Isaiah 55:8 ”For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are
your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
The incarnation was not just
the birth of Jesus Christ. It began at the birth of Jesus and
continues forever! It includes all that Jesus Christ did and does
for us. It started with the virgin Mary giving birth to Jesus
Christ. He was born without an old sin nature. As God, He was not
able to sin; as man, with the filling of the Holy Spirit, He was
able not to sin. All through His life He remained sinless! He grew
up like any man. He had to learn like we do, even Bible doctrine!
He knows what it is like to be lonely, rejected, hungry, tired,
fearful, and anything that we could experience. However, He never
sinned! He went to the cross sinless and paid the price for our
sins. He was resurrected and ascended into heaven. He now sits at
the right hand of God the Father and prays for us. He uses His
humanity to sit and pray! When we don’t know what to pray for, He
steps in and asks God the Father for what we need! What a great
High Priest we have! He does this all while having a human nature
and a divine nature in one person!
Matthew 1:23 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said
through the prophet: “The virgin will be with child and will give
birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel” – which means,
“God with us.”
Why did
God the Son become incarnate?
One reason was so that He might make
known God to man. Jesus Christ taught us as much about God
as can be put into human ideas and realities. Or, He told us
everything that could be stuffed into our heads, into our finite
minds! The main reason Jesus Christ came was to reveal or teach us
the love of God. He showed the love of God in all His earthly
ministry, but the best example of that love was His death upon the
cross. We didn’t earn it or deserve it. This was a grace gift from
God, all three Persons of the Trinity, to us! A gift of love based
on Who and what God is, not based on who and what we are. We have
such comfort in God’s perfect love! There is no love like it. Our
God is awesome!
John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten [monogenes:
one of a kind] Son, that whoever believes in Him should not
perish, but have eternal life.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort…
The
Son of God became true
humanity, or became incarnate, to
represent man to God. The God-Man is the One in Whom the
Father takes perfect delight. Matthew 3:17 “And behold, a voice
out of the heavens, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son in Whom I am
well-pleased.’’’ The Lord Jesus Christ in hypostatic union,
meaning 100% God and 100% man, completely satisfied the righteous
requirement of God the Father. We could not do this! It took
someone who was 100% perfect God and 100% perfect man. It took the
God-Man to do it. Now, all who are in Him, believers, do not have
to be slaving away at trying to be perfect! We are perfect, in our
new natures, in Him. We have the freedom of operating in grace.
Through Bible doctrine, the written word and thinking of Christ,
we have the ability to be like Him, the Living Word.
1
Peter 2:21 For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ
also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you follow in
His steps.
Philippians 2:5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in
Christ Jesus.
The
Son of God also became
incarnate, or became true humanity, so that He might be
our merciful and faithful High
Priest. In the old testament, the high priest offered
animal sacrifices to God for the people. These sacrifices didn’t
really save people nor take away sin. They were visual aids to
teach the people about salvation and forgiveness of sin, rebound.
They were pointing the way to Jesus Christ as our High Priest, our
means of salvation, and the way to forgiveness of sins. Jesus
Christ offered Himself as a sacrifice for everyone’s sins! He died
a spiritual death so that we might have spiritual life. He was the
Priest for the sacrifice, was Himself the sacrifice, and continues
to represent mankind to God as our High Priest. What a High Priest
we have!
1 Peter
1:18-19 Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things
like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from
your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb
unblemished and spotless, the blood [spiritual death] of Christ.
The
Son of God became incarnate
so that He might destroy the works
of the devil. Satan and his demons didn’t want Jesus Christ
to get to the cross and save mankind. So, they waged war to
prevent this from happening. However, they never won. Jesus Christ
went to the cross and provided salvation for all! The work of
Christ on the cross broke Satan’s back, so to speak. Satan lost
his fight against God’s righteousness and justice. Jesus Christ
proved how righteous and just God is. He won the victory! Jesus
Christ is the Victor!
John
12:31 Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world
[Satan] shall be cast out.
Colossians 2:15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities,
He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them
through Him.
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The
Son of God became incarnate
so that He could be Head over the
new creation, the body of Christ. All believers in the
Church-Age dispensation are members of the body of Christ. This
has never happened before nor will it happen again in any other
dispensation! It is a special union between God and man. We are
called the Royal Family of God! Because we are in this family, we
have special privileges and opportunities. And to whom much is
given, much is expected. God doesn’t expect us to do anything in
our power! On the contrary, He expects us to use the power of the
Holy Spirit and Bible doctrine. Using these power systems is the
only way that we can use the special assets of the Royal Family,
the body of Christ.
Romans
8:29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed
to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among
many brethren;
Ephesians 4:15 But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up
in all aspects into Him, Who is the Head, even Christ….
1 Corinthians 12:21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no
need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of
you.”
The Son of God
became incarnate, became true humanity, so that He might
sit on David’s Throne. God
promised David that his kingdom would go on forever! Jesus Christ
would be the answer to that promise. Now, in order for that to
happen, Jesus Christ had to be a descendant of David. And that He
truly was, through His mother Mary. He is the King of the Jews and
all believers, FOREVER!
2 Samuel
7:16 And your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me
forever; Your throne shall be established forever.
Luke 1:32-33 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the
Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father
David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His
kingdom will have no end.
The Son of God
became incarnate so that He might be the
Kinsman Redeemer. Kinsman is
another word for a relative. For instance, your cousin is your
kinsman. In the time that the Bible was written, a kinsman, or
relative of a slave, could go to the slave owner and buy back the
slave. He could redeem the slave! Only a kinsman could do this.
Jesus Christ became every human’s Kinsman when He became part of
the human race. The entire work of redemption is for the lost, all
humanity, who have no possibility of redeeming themselves. Our
Kinsman Redeemer willingly bought us from the slave market of sin
with His substitutionary, spiritual death on the cross. He died
spiritually so that we could live spiritually! We are His kinsmen,
and He is our Kinsman. What a Kinsman we have!
John
10:17-18 For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down
My life that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from
Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative.
We have God to thank for the Incarnation! We have God
to thank for the reality that God the Son became a man, and that
He kept His divine nature along with His human nature. Neither
nature became a part of the other nature. They were separate but
still in one Person. This all began at the virgin birth of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The reasons for it go on into eternity! Thank
you Jesus Christ for taking on a human nature! You’re awesome!
John 1:14
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His
glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of
grace and truth.
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