Before we can address the theme of the Son of God becoming flesh, we should remind ourselves of why he came to be born here in the first place.
In the Garden of Eden, Adam chose the way of disobedience and passed that sin on to all of us (Romans 5:12-14). All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We were slaves of sin and could neither restrain nor free ourselves.
When God chose to dwell among the children of Abraham in Israel, the Holy One set up a system of animal sacrifices to deal with sinners. When any sinned, breaking the commandments, he or she could bring a prescribed, blemish-free animal to put away the sin (Leviticus 1-7). Man was not blemish-free, so he could not die for another’s sin, not even his own.
We needed a blemish-free man to undo Adam’s sin nature. He needed to be sinless so he could die for the sins of others.
And so God came, born of a woman by the Holy Spirit, free from sin. “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:31-33). The passage is clear that the Divine will come from Mary’s womb. God will become man and reign forever. No man born of Adam can do this.
This man so fully lived for God to the last detail of his will, so blamelessly that to see him was to see the Father. “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (John 1:18). We know what God was like through the behavior and words of Jesus as he lived among us. God has visited his people.
In the incarnation, the Son of God became something he never was before: flesh and blood. Yet he never stopped being who he was: the ever-obedient Servant Son to the Father. John’s gospel perfectly portrayed this relationship dynamic throughout his book. Through the Word become flesh and dwelling among us we see what the Son was like.
Don’t forget his mission. He came as the unblemished Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world. A man brought all this trouble upon us. So a man—not an animal, not an angel—must bear full responsibility for the problem. “For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:21-22). The wages of sin is death, but through this gift of God’s Son comes eternal life.
He died on the cross to bear the brunt of death and set us free to live. Ironically, since he never sinned, he had to lay down his own life, to dismiss his spirit, to pay the price.
One sacrifice was all it took. “But when this Priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God” (Hebrews 10:12). One look of faith in his direction is all it takes. And what is he doing at the right hand of God now?
Because he is God as well as man, he lives in the role of an everlasting priesthood to help us. “but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:24-25). Because he is divine, he can never stop helping us. Nothing exists that can keep him from getting the victory in your life.
Because Jesus dwelt in a body and endured the trials of this life as a Man of Sorrows, a Suffering Servant, he is able to sympathize with us when we come to him for help. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).
We can’t comprehend our God who is a spirit without dimensions, size, or describable appearance. We can’t imagine a Divine spirit who exists outside of time, who created a physical universe, and started the clock ticking. Who as three persons in one being inhabits all things with his fullness. The Son of God went from that state to limiting his form to a human being. Forever.
He bears the scars of Calvary still. He will come for his own and they will notice, “when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him” (Zechariah 12:10).
What does this incarnation mean for us today?
Jesus came as a perfect man. He therefore is our example in all of life. He shows us what our Christian life is supposed to be like. Not based on rituals, feelings, church laws, super-correct behavior, but on a submissive servant heart to God. Pay attention to the gospel portrayals of Jesus, especially the gospel of John.
God’s visit shows that he is not remote, but interested in our lives. He telegraphed that visit centuries in advance through the prophets. Be appreciative of prophecies dealing with his comings.
His love for his creation is clearly seen in the double sacrifice, becoming man and dying for our sins. Because he became man, we can’t say God doesn’t understand us or our pains. We can “come boldly to the throne of grace” and ask for help (Hebrews 4:16).
By the example of Christ’s life with the Holy Spirit in him, take courage that we too can live a holy life that overcomes sin. We too can walk with God in sweet fellowship.
“God was manifested in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16). Not only did the Son dwell in a body, but the Father indwelt the Son and worked through him (John 14:10, Acts 2:22). The Spirit and Son dwell in us, and “it is God who works in you both to will and to do for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). Do not take lightly what new manner of person you have become since you were born again. God now wants to shine his light of glory through us.
