Over the course of our reflections we have touched on the idea of God walking among his people in the person of Jesus. The very idea of this can be quite staggering. How is it that God could entere into the human experience.
From a doctrinal and theological point of view (as they often times overlap) the answer is the incarnation. The way most translations articulate this is that God “became flesh” or some variation of that (John 1:14). Another example of this idea is found in Philippians 2:7 where the apostle Paul said that God came “in the likeness of men” (NKJV).
Both of these verses point to the way in which God entered the world he created. However, the truth is that trying not understand the mechanics of this reality is impossible. We simply do not know how God, who exists as pure spirit, can become like us. And yet, this is exactly what the writers of the New Testament declare to us.
One of the Gospel’s most distinctive qualities is that it revolves around the life and ministry of another human being (all caveats about Jesus being all God attached). The fact that God decided to enter the human experience so as to accomplish the work of redemption is astounding.
We don’t have to fully understand that ins and outs of how God did it. What we do need to appreciate is that God did not send angels or write messages in the sky for us to read. God came himself. And in his coming, we see the lengths to which God will go to help us .
The Gospel is one of the most human messages of hope every shared. It invites us to follow a person. It encourages to submit to a person. It reveals to us that we can become like that person. It challenges us to love other people like that person loved us.
God entered the world in the person of Jesus. This truth should encourage us. It should motivate us. If God could accomplish so much even while limited by the constraints of the human experience, imagine what we can do when animated by the power of God at work within us?
Does this seem far fetched? Then consider what Jesus himself said and think again.
12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
John 14:12-14 NKJV
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