Tag: mystery of the incarnation

Lent 2023 | Day 17: The Gospel’s Humanity

The fact that God decided to enter the human experience so as to accomplish the work of redemption is astounding.

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 enter 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 to understand the mechanics of this reality is impossible. We simply do not know how God, who exists as a 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 the 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 ever shared. It invites us to follow a person. It encourages us to submit to a person. It reveals to us that we can become like that person. It challenges us to love other people as 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
Lent 2023 Series

Lent 2018 | Day #13: Incarnation

I don’t remember what day it was or what I was doing, but I know that when I finally understood the implications of Jesus’s coming to earth, I was changed.

I don’t remember what day it was or what I was doing, but I know that when I finally understood the implications of Jesus’s coming to earth, I was changed. In the world of theological discourse, this idea is called the Doctrine of the Incarnation. It such a beautiful doctrine I will, from time to time, bring it up randomly in conversation with other believers.

Jesus’s entrance into the world is one of the pillars of the Christian faith. It is so important that the apostle John said that if it is rejected, then Jesus himself is rejected (1 John 4:2; 2 John 7). Go read those passage for yourself! They are startling.

The incarnation is remarkable because only God would devise such a plan. Only God would choose to leave heaven and enter the ravaged reality of Earth. Only God could leave the perfection and purity of the highest heaven and descend into the mire of sin-filled humanity. This is the great mystery of Bible-based religion. Not that man was able to find his way into the presence of God, but that God has entered into the plight of a broken world.

I love this doctrine. It is beautiful in the way that it displays the love of God and the miracle of salvation. Easter is the greatest day on the Christian calendar. It is the day that Jesus rises from the darkness of the tomb. But, without Advent, without Christmas, without a baby, born in a manger, Easter Sunday would be a fairytale. It would be impossible, it would never have happened. The link between these two events is necessary for the whole picture to be accurate.

So, as we approach Easter, as we look forward with anticipation to the promise that Resurrection Sunday brings, I like to look back and see what arrived on Christmas Day. In this season of Lent, we can take time and reflect on both what happened and what is to come. In fact, it is important that we do so.

Advent Series 2012, Pt. 3 | What The Incarnation Means For Me

In part two of this Advent series we looked at the sweet baby Jesus. The truly human characteristics of his life and ministry on earth are remarkable and confounding. The word, “amazement,” would only slightly capture what the doctrine of the Incarnation represents. The Christian faith is subsumed in this mystery.

My goal in the previous article was to look at the human side of Jesus. However, there is another side, equally present and infinitely more difficult to comprehend. The apostle Paul records an early hymn of the church describing what Jesus “did” in order to come and take on flesh. I placed the word “did” in quotation marks because I have no better way of explaining what happened. Paul reminds the Philippians of Jesus humility and journey toward earth in the second chapter of the letter.

5 ;Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 ;who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 ;but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 ;And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 ;Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 ;so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 ;and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

From the very beginning the church has sought to understand what it meant for God to enter into the human narrative and secure the redemption of the entire race.The phrase that captures my mind and speaks directly to this mystery in these verses is found in verse 7. What does it mean that Jesus “emptied himself?” The very thought ties the mind in theological, intellectual and philosophical knots. I want to state right from the start, I am not claiming to have the definitive answer to this question. I do, however, have strong reasons for believing what I am going to offer.

Continue reading “Advent Series 2012, Pt. 3 | What The Incarnation Means For Me”

Advent Series 2012, Pt. 2 | Who Doesn’t Like Baby Jesus?

Where has 2012 gone? Another year almost in the record books, but we still have one more month to go. December is an amazingly busy time around the church. There is a lot going on, but one of the realities my mind turns to around this time of year is the fact that Jesus, our Lord and Savior, was born in the home of ordinary and humble people. I think that we take for granted that there was not anything overly remarkable about Jesus earthly parents. I don’t know if Mary and Joseph fully understood what it meant that the baby born in the stable that first Christmas night would be the Messiah. I am not fully convinced that they fully could comprehend what God was going to do through their faithful obedience. What they did know was that this little, precious bundle of joy was going to change their lives forever! I think every parent understands this even if they are not sure how.

The mystery of Advent (what us church nerds call this time of the year) is that God became like one of us. The technical term for this is “Incarnation.” When we talk about Jesus coming into the world as a baby we are saying that Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, took upon himself something that he did not have before the moment of conception! The Trinity existed as spirit. But, after Jesus descended into the womb of Mary he no longer exists in this way. The great miracle and mystery of this truth is that Jesus voluntarily confined himself to the body of a human being so that we can enter into fellowship with the Father.

Continue reading “Advent Series 2012, Pt. 2 | Who Doesn’t Like Baby Jesus?”

The Incarnation of Jesus Leads to Worship

This past weekend I not only spent some time with great friends serving college students, but I was once again brought face to face with the greatest truth and mystery of the Christian faith. Over the course of three-and-a-half days I celebrated The Lord’s Supper five times. It would be easy to think that doing something this regularly would have a negative effect in appreciating it. In fact, the opposite effect is felt.

One of the most poignant verses of scripture related to Communion is found in 1 Corinthians 11:26. While the Apostle Paul is trying to correct some of the errors and abuses that were happening in the Corinthian church.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

This truly is a wonderful mystery. Every time we participate in communion and celebrate The Lord’s Supper we are able to witness how God can dissolve the concept of time into one moment. Just take the time to consider how Paul does this in this verse.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup (in the present),
you proclaim the Lord’s death (in the past)
until he comes (in the future).

During one of the moments of Communion was struck by the glorious truth of what we as Christian’s call the Incarnation. I do not believe it would be a stretch to say that the without the Incarnation there is no Christianity. This single teaching of the Christian church is so important that without it every hope is lost. The entire prospect of salvation hinges on whether or not God became like one of us. I have included my thoughts below. I offer it as a meditation on how the incarnation of Jesus leads to worship.

The glorious mystery of the incarnation reveals the utter majesty of our great God and King. He who is full of glory and with unquenchable power has entered into a broken world. He has come so that I, a wretched sinner might know the unhindered presence of grace. This is the offer of true grace. Nothing withheld. Nothing denied. Nothing lacking. Complete salvation. Once and for all delivered through the womb of a woman.

Oh mystery of mysteries. How could this be? How could God accomplish so much through what appears to be something so weak–a baby weeping? Only an all powerful God could use one of the weakest images of the human experience and accomplish the redemption of, not just one man or woman, but of all of them. Now and forever. God has come in the flesh.

What great love this is. What a demonstration of unbridled and wasteful grace. God has so much grace to give he gives and gives and is not bothered by the fact that it will not all be consumed.

How could I ever feel unsatisfied by the grace of God? Only if I have accepted a substitute. Only if I have allowed another Gospel, which is no gospel at all, to pollute my heart and mind with lies about Jesus.

The incarnation is a glorious mystery. I don’t understand it. But then again. I don’t really want to.

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