JESUS CHRIST-BIRTH-INCARNATION
The name
Emmanuel takes in the whole mystery. Jesus is "God with us." He had a
nature like our own in all things, sin only excepted. But though Jesus was
"with us" in human flesh and blood, He was at the same time very God.
J.C. Ryle
Commentary:
Matthew 1.
It is by far
the most amazing miracle in the whole Bible – far more amazing than the
resurrection and more amazing than the creation of the universe. The fact that
the infinite, omnipotent, eternal Son of God could become man and join Himself
to a human nature forever, so that infinite God became one person with finite
man, will remain for eternity the most profound miracle and the most profound
mystery in all the universe.
Systematic Theology, Zondervan, 1994, p. 563.
The central
miracle asserted by Christians is the incarnation. They say that God became
man.
C.S. Lewis
Non-Christians
seem to think that the Incarnation implies some particular merit or excellence
in humanity. But of course it implies just the reverse: a particular demerit
and depravity. No creature that deserved Redemption would need to be redeemed.
They that are whole need not the physician. Christ died for men precisely
because men are not worth dying for; to make them worth it.
C.S. Lewis
What do we mean by the word “Incarnation?” The idea is
found in several texts which speak of Jesus as “coming in the flesh” (1 Jn. 4:2; 2 Jn. 7), being “sent in the flesh” (Rom. 8:3), “appearing in the flesh” (1 Tim. 3:16); He also
“suffered in the flesh” (1 Pet.
4:1), “died in the flesh” (1
Pet. 3:18), made peace by abolishing “in
the flesh the enmity” (Eph. 2:15), and “made reconciliation in the body of His flesh” (Col.
1:21-22). In sum, “the Word became flesh” (John 1:14). Thus, by the Incarnation we mean that the eternal
Word or second person of the Trinity became a man or assumed human flesh at a
point in time, yet without ceasing to be God.
Sam Storms
Incarnation and Humanity, November 6, 2006, www.enjoyinggodministries.com. Used by Permission.
The doctrine
of the Incarnation means that two distinct natures (divine and human) are
united in one Person: Jesus. Jesus is not two people (God and man). He is one
Person: the God-man. Jesus is not schizophrenic. When the Word became flesh He
did not cease to be the Word. The Word veiled, hid, and voluntarily restricted
the use of certain prerogatives. But God cannot cease to be God. In other
words, when the Word became flesh He did not commit divine suicide.
Sam Storms
Copied
from Pleasures Evermore by Sam Storms © 2000, p. 152. Used by Permission of
NavPress – www.navpress.com.
All rights reserved.
The Word
became flesh! God became human! The invisible became visible! The untouchable
became touchable! Eternal life experienced temporal death! The transcendent one
descended and drew near! The unlimited became limited! The infinite became
finite! The immutable became mutable! The unbreakable became fragile! Spirit
became matter! Eternity entered time! The independent became dependent! The
almighty became weak! The loved became hated! The exalted was humbled! Glory
was subjected to shame! Fame turned into obscurity! From inexpressible joy to
tears of unimaginable grief! From a throne to a cross! From ruler to being
ruled! From power to weakness!
Sam Storms
Copied
from Pleasures Evermore by Sam Storms © 2000, p. 153-154. Used by Permission of
NavPress – www.navpress.com.
All rights reserved.
He
was conceived by the union of divine grace and human disgrace. The King of Kings
sleeping in a cow-pen. The Creator of oceans and seas and rivers
afloat in the womb of his mother. God sucking his
thumb. The Alpha and Omega learning his ABC’s.
He who was
once surrounded by the glorious stereophonic praise of adoring angels now hears
the lowing of cattle, the bleating of sheep, the
stammering of bewildered shepherds. He who spoke the universe into being now coos
and cries. Omniscient Deity counting his toes. From
the robes of eternal glory to the rags of swaddling clothes. The omnipresent
spirit, whose being fills the galaxies, confined to the womb of a peasant girl.
Infinite power learning to crawl.
Sam Storms
Incarnation and Humanity, November 6, 2006, www.enjoyinggodministries.com. Used by Permission.
The
eternal Word, God the Son, entered into this world by being born as a human
being. Therefore, it isn’t correct to say that Jesus has always existed
or that Jesus was in the beginning with God (v. 1). The Son of God
has always existed. The Second person of the Trinity, the Word, was in the
beginning with God. But Jesus is the human name given to the second
person of the Trinity when he took to Himself flesh. The Word was never called Jesus
until Joseph did so in obedience to the command of the angel in Matthew 1.
Sam Storms
Incarnation and Humanity, November 6, 2006, www.enjoyinggodministries.com. Used by Permission.
His being
does not consist of material substance, which is created. As uncreated, He is
pure spirit. No human eye can hope to “see” Him except to the degree that He
chooses to reveal Himself in some mediated form compatible with the finitude of
man or in the incarnation of His Son. The glorious good news is that the
invisible God became visible in the person of Jesus (John 1:18).
Sam Storms
One Thing, Christian Focus, © Enjoying God Ministries, 2004, p.55. www.enjoyinggodministries.com.
Used by Permission.
1.
The doctrine of the Incarnation means that two distinct
natures (divine and human) are united in one Person: Jesus. Jesus is not two
people (God and man). He is one person: the God-man. Jesus is not
schizophrenic.
2.
When the Word became flesh He did not cease to be the
Word. The Word veiled, hid, and voluntarily restricted the use of certain
divine powers and prerogatives. But God cannot cease to be God. In other words,
when the Word became flesh He did not commit divine suicide.
3.
When the Word once became flesh He became flesh forever.
After His earthly life, death, and resurrection, Jesus did not divest Himself
of the flesh or cease to be a man. He is a man even now at the right hand of
God the Father. He is also God. He will always be the God-man. See 1 Cor. 15:28;
Col. 2:9; 1 Jn. 2:7 (note use of present tense).
4.
Thus, we might envision Jesus saying: “I am now what I
always was: God (or Word). I am now what I once was not: man (or flesh). I am
now and forever will be both: the God-man.
Sam Storms
Incarnation and Humanity, November 6, 2006, www.enjoyinggodministries.com. Used by Permission.
What self
denial! What self abasement! What self emptying! He, whom no infinitudes can
hold, is contained within infant’s age, and infant’s form. Can it be, that the great “I AM THAT I AM” shrinks into our flesh?
The best way
to reconcile two disagreeing families is to make some marriage between them:
Even so, the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us in the world that He might
hereby make our peace, reconciling God to man and man to God. By this happy
match the Son of God is become the Son of Man, even flesh of our flesh, and
bone of our bones; and the sons of men are made the sons of God.
John Boys
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 47.
The modern intelligent mind, which has had its horizons widened in
dozens of different ways, has got to be shocked afresh by the audacious central
fact that as a sober matter of history, God become one of us.
J.B. Phillips
The Almighty
appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, needing to be fed and changed and
taught to talk like any other child. The more you think about it, the more
staggering it gets. Nothing in fiction is so fantastic
as this truth of the Incarnation.
J.I. Packer
Christian Reader, v. 33, n. 6.
If
God became incarnate, what kind of man would He be? If God became a man we
would expect His human life to be sinless. Jesus was. If God were to become a man
we would expect Him to be a model of purity. Jesus was. If God were a man we
would expect His words to be the greatest ever spoken. Jesus' words were. If
God were to become a man we would expect Him to exert a profound power over
human personality. Jesus did. If God were to become a man we would expect some
supernatural acts. And Jesus did them. If God were to become a man we would
expect Him to manifest the love of God. And Jesus did in dying on the cross.
Bernard Ramm
Excepted from: Protestant Christian Evidences, Moody,
1953, p. 166-175.
He became
what we are that He might make us what He is.
Athanasius
He is the
King of kings, the radiance of His glory, the Lord of the spaceless,
fabulous, infinite universe, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, unspeakable
holy, dwelling in light, unapproachable, changeless...and yet He condescended
to be enclosed in lowly human flesh, to be born a despised Judean, in a filthy
stable, in the womb of a simple Israeli woman and without fanfare or pomp.
Remaining
what He was He became what He was not.
Author
Unknown
Emmanuel. God with us. He who resided in
Heaven, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father and the Spirit, willingly
descended into our world. He breathed our air, felt our pain, knew our sorrows,
and died for our sins. He didn't come to frighten us, but to show us the way to
warmth and safety.
Charles Swindoll
The Finishing Touch.
Christianity Today, v. 40, o. 14.
Here we
commemorate the greatest and deepest demonstration of true love the
world has ever known. For God looked down upon sorrowing, struggling, sinning
humanity and was moved with compassion for the contrary, sheep-like creatures
He had made. In spite of the tremendous personal cost it would entail to
Himself to deliver them from their dilemma He chose deliberately to descend and
live amongst them that He might deliver them. This meant laying aside His
splendor, His position, His prerogatives as the
perfect and faultless One. He knew He would be exposed to terrible privation,
to ridicule, to false accusations, to rumor, gossip and malicious charges that
branded Him as a glutton, drunkard, friend of sinners and even an imposter. It
entailed losing His reputation. It would involve physical suffering, mental
anguish and spiritual agony. In short, His coming to earth as the Christ, as
Jesus of Nazareth, was a straightforward case of utter self-sacrifice that
culminated in the cross of Calvary. The laid-down life, the poured-out blood
were the supreme symbols of total selflessness. This was love. This was God. This was divinity in action,
delivering men from their own utter selfishness, their own stupidity, their own suicidal instincts as lost sheep unable to help
themselves.
Phillip Keller
A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23, Permission by
Zondervan, www.zondervan.com, 1970, p.
107-108.