Colossians 2:9
"For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,"
The incarnation means more than just Jesus a baby in a manger. It means that the Almighty One, our Creator, who has been worshipped by the Cherubim and Seraphim since the beginning of all creation, the Creator and sustainer of all life, infinite in majesty, wisdom, and power, who has the power to dissolve all sinners and their sins with just a word, instead assumed flesh like that of those who sinned against Him in order to become their Savior.
It's far more overwhelming than just a child born in Bethlehem.
Incarnation is a word that simply means “in flesh”. That's who we are, we're in flesh. Many believe that we are born an empty slate, that we are free to define the content of our character, and that outside forces shape us and conform us to the so-called human condition. But according to the Word of God, we are not born innately good or morally neutral.
Psalm 51:5
"Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me."
Romans 3:23
"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"
Ephesians 2:4-5
"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved."
And so, our Creator did not leave us alone in that state of sin, he sent his only begotten Son to live among us as one of us. God among us, Immanuel. Two thousand twenty-five years ago, Immanuel, also called Jesus the Christ, changed the world. Many prophecies were unfolded at his birth. Here's just one:
Isaiah 7:14
"Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign; The virgin will conceive, and give birth to a Son, and will call Him Immanuel."
God-ordained and God-accomplished. But maybe not as fully as you might imagine in that babe in the manger. On the night before his execution, Jesus promised his disciples that He would send them, and us, an Advocate, the Spirit of Truth. He promised he would come to “live with” us and “be in” us. No longer would we need a priest's ongoing intercessions to mediate for us in our communion with God Almighty. The Holy Spirit Himself would be our teacher and intercession. He would bring us closer to God, as close as a breath.
John 16:13
"When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future."
So, that's the full incarnation, from Spirit to Spirit, and everything in-between, God incarnate results in a new creation. Humans are no longer what they were before. Now, they have access to the Spirit of Truth, because The Holy One was born into their human condition.
Colossians 1:15
"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation."
Psalm 89:27
"And I will make him the first-born,
the highest of the kings of the earth."
In the Scriptures the word “firstborn” is mostly used in the literal sense, but here in the gospels it's also used figuratively. This designation refers to the preeminence of Jesus Christ as being God-incarnate. So, it's not so much that he's the first creation, but that he is the most important being in the universe, EVER. He is the prōtotokos, which is the Greek word for "firstborn", a synonym for "the only begotten". First born of all creation because all things were made through him.
Colossians 2:17
"And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together."
He is the beginning.
Revelation 3:14
"...the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation."
This means he's more than just a created being, it means he's the means for all creation, the God-Man. Jesus is of the same substance as the Father, he's equal to Him in deity. He's not a demigod, or some lesser thing. He's not an angel. He is the second person of the Godhead, fully God and fully man.
This is our confession.
Hebrews 1:3
"He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,"
Co-eternal, and Co-equal, those who see Jesus see God (John 14:9). And so, he's fully God, but he's also fully man. Not almost like us. Not coming close to us but hanging back just enough to avoid sinking into sin. He had a real body and a real human soul. In fact, his development as a human man was pretty much mundane, he lived like us all, living the human condition. He was born into that human condition, and he lived it.
Galatians 4:4
"But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,"
He lived like us, he suffered pain, craved for food, he was thirsty. He got tired. He understood depression and disappointment. He thought about life and pondered and reasoned like a human about all the things that we do. He had to experience these things. It wasn't enough that he just observes, he needed to go through it and overcome it.
Hebrews 2:17
"Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people."
He lives and acts as man, because it is man who needs His salvation. And he's completely faithful to that cause, “obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross”, (Philippians 2:8).
Our God did not leave us alone in our sin, he came into it. He entered into the misery of our human condition as a child lying in a manger in the city of Bethlehem (Micah 5). He did this without becoming a sinner, born of a virgin so that he could become our Savior from sin and the death of sin.
The question Jesus asked his disciples was "Who do people say that I am?" (Mark 8:27).
Today, as it was then, there still remains so much confusion on this. Today you'll see lots of folks saying
#jesusisking
. And they'd be right in saying that. But then ask them why he's king. And you'll see all kinds of mixed-up stuff about him.
The answer I give is this:
He is...the,
“Word made flesh” (John 1:14).
"Lord and Savior" (John 14:6; Acts 4:12).
He is the sinless Son of God, the God-Man, "in the likeness of sinful flesh" (Romans 8:3).
Not "in Adam", but the second Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45-49). The God-Man who is from Heaven. And he has reversed the work of the first man and has become our Lord and Savior.
That's what Christmas and Christian is really all about Charlie Brown.