Thursday, December 24, 2009

On The Incarnation

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God…And 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…And from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.
(John 1:1, 14,16)

To feel and comprehend the magnitude of the birth of Christ, one need only to turn to the Holy Scriptures where God lays forth His redeeming plan of salvation, giving hope and light to the depraved souls that walk the earth. Before time even began, God knew that eventually sin would enter the perfect world He would soon create. He knew that man, not perfect, because He and He alone is perfect, would fall prey to the temptations given under the domain of darkness and that redemption would have to be accomplished. He also knew, however, that the only path to true glorifying redemption would be a perfect sacrifice, without reproach, that would bear the darkness of the wretched world. Therefore, because of the fullness of His immeasurable grace and truth, God himself entered the world that He would become this perfect sacrifice the world so desperately needed.

The beauty of the incarnation, God coming to dwell among us so that we might be presented blameless before Him clothed in His righteousness and glory, lies within the incarnation itself. Through the conception of the Holy Spirit, God entered this world in the form of a man, named Jesus Christ; Three persons in one; the Trinity fully embodied. Oh the power and majesty of the person of Jesus Christ. Where else can one see a clearer picture of the work of the Trinity than in the birth and life of Jesus Christ? The Son, begotten of the Father, through the power of the Holy Spirit leading a perfect and blameless life so that He could become the sacrifice needed to cleanse the sins of the world!

Christ himself was not a creation of the Father. He was the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit’s conception in the womb of a virgin named Mary, thus starting the journey of God’s miraculous plan of salvation being fully unveiled, a journey that has yet to end.

On a cold and bitter night, the lack of room for the son of God to be born began to foreshadow the lack of room in the hearts of the world He had come to save. Being born of a woman, fully human, yet fully God, Christ entered the world in the lowliest of lows; being born in a stable and placed in a manger. One can only imagine the glory bestowed from within the newborn babe as he lay helpless in a world that He would soon save. The innocent cries of the infant would soon become that of tears of blood just mere years later as His prayer to His Father tells of the redemptive work being made complete, “I glorified you on this earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed” (John 17:4-5) God entered this world through Jesus Christ for one purpose, to bring righteousness to the sons of man, through the perfect life He led and atoning sacrifice He gave to glorify Him more fully.

As we look towards the nativity, as we look to the birth of Christ and recognize the power of the incarnation, let us also be quick to look at what the incarnation began. It began a journey to a cross. One that the Son of God would bear, taking on the sins of the world that we might be heirs and inherit the kingdom of God for all eternity, being with Him in glory. As we sing these great songs of joy and hope, telling of the Messiah and His coming, let us be quick to feel the magnitude of the grace that was given through the incarnation of the Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us and let us not lose hope because our Messiah will be returning and what a glorious day it will be when we are taken with Him in glory as heirs in His blood bought righteousness.

3 comments:

Anonymous,  January 5, 2010 at 4:31 AM  
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About Standing Firm

Standing Firm was created to be a source of theological truth in a world that is filled with philosophies and empty deceit. God's Word is filled with charges to those that are called by His name to stand firm and to not be conformed to this world. We must heed the charge of the Apostle Paul to the church in Rome: "I appeal to you therefore brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a spiritual sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good, acceptable and perfect" (Romans 12:1-2).

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