The Incarnation

As we begin our month long mini-series on the Life of Christ, I wanted to begin by looking at the most significant event in human history. God the Son taking on humanity and living among us, or, as we might call it during Christmas time, the incarnation. Now, this is a subject that is life-giving and mind-boggling so I am going to try and simplify it while holding on to the truths that we need to understand about it and I will aim to do that in four points as we look at some highlights of the incarnation of the Son of God. First, as we look at the incarnation:

We see the beginning of the New Creation

In Luke 1:35, a young virgin named Mary is approached by an angel who informs her that she will be the one who will conceive and give birth to the Son of God. However, it won’t be because she loses her virginity to a man, but because, as the text says, Luke 1:35

Luke 1:35 NKJV

35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.

As strange as this may sound, this isn’t the first time we hear this language in the Bible. As a matter of fact, Luke recorded it this way for a reason. In Genesis 1, the Triune Godhead is creating everything and in Genesis 1:2

Genesis 1:2 NKJV

2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

So, what is the connection here? Well, in Genesis 1, the Spirit hovers over this newly created world which, as you know, is now cursed by sin. However, God promised it would be delivered by the seed of a woman and in Luke 1, we see the Spirit hovering over that woman, Mary. So, whats the big deal? The big deal is that what we see in Luke 1 is the beginning of the fulfilment of that promise made way back in Genesis 3 and in that womb of the virgin Mary sat the beginning of the New Creation since it is through Him all things would be made new.

So, as we celebrate Christmas in May here in Youth Group, we first need to be reminded that in that virgin womb and in the face of the Lord Jesus is the beginning of the New Creation of all things. Now, I want us to remember this point because we will come back to it later and make some application.

As we look at the incarnation, we see a call to communion with God.

One thing we need to make sure we understand about the incarnation is that this wasn’t just some great person being born under unusual circumstances. Jesus wasn’t just an extraordinary man. He is 100% God and 100% man. In John 1 we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with god, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” So, what is John teaching us about Jesus here? First, that Jesus’s beginning was in the womb of Mary, but that He actually never had a beginning because He is eternally God. The second thing this teaches us is that Jesus is the creator and upholder of all things, so He is present in Genesis 1 and working with the Father and Spirit in creating all things. So, what do we learn here? That this Jesus who was in the womb of a virgin named Mary, isn’t just a great man, but is the eternal Son of God.

But John isn’t done there. In John 1:14-18 we read a further clarification on who the Word in John 1:1 is and there we learn that it is Jesus Christ. It reads,

John 1:14–18 NKJV

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ” 16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

One thing I really want to focus on is the phrase, “Dwelt among us” in verse 14.

Before we do that, let me ask you guys a question: What was the purpose of the Temple in the Old Testament?

Now, if the Tabernacle Temple in the Old Testament was a symbol of the presence of God with His people, the phrase “dwelt among us” should really catch our eye! Why? Because that phrase could also be understood as, “tabernacled among us.” This further builds upon what we said just a minute ago about Jesus being God in the flesh and this helps us tamp down our definition of the incarnation. In the incarnation, we see the Son of God adding to Himself human flesh and living among us. Another thing we need to understand is that the word “adding” is very important. Jesus didn’t stop being God when He became man. He still upheld the universe and had all things that made Him God, none of that was subtracted. He simply added to Himself a human nature and that means that in His humanity He suffered just like us, but in His divinity He was absolutely in control of every action and thing. This is what we mean when we say that Jesus is 100% God and 100% man.

So, what do we see in the incarnation here? We see a call to communion with God as He has stepped into our world as calls us to come to Him through the Son. In John 14:6

John 14:6 NKJV

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

As we look at the incarnation, we see the Son coming to Conquer and Comfort.

In Mark 1:9-13, Jesus is baptized and is immediately taken to the wilderness where He will pray and fast for 40 days. At the end of that time, He was tempted by Satan and conquered all the temptations that Adam and Israel fell to. This event doesn’t get near enough attention in my opinion, but it is incredibly important because here we see the active obedience of Christ for us taking place. He was baptized into those waters to be identified with us and is taken out and faces worse temptations than we could ever face and wins. Why? So that when He gave His life as an offering for you and me, not only would we be forgiven of our sins by His blood, but we would receive all of His righteousness which means that when the court of Heaven looks at your account it doesn’t just look like you’ve never sinned, but also like you’ve always obeyed not because you have, but because Jesus has for you!

So, when we look at the incarnation, we see that Jesus came and conquered! Conquered what? He conquered sin! And what does it do for us when we think about Jesus conquering where we only failed? It gives us comfort. It gives us comfort because not only has He paid for those sins in dying on the cross, but as our risen and ascended Lord, He can sympathize with us. Hebrews 4:15 tells us

Hebrews 4:15–16 NKJV

15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

As we look at the incarnation, we see a call to live a committed life.

Why did Jesus come? To redeem sinful men. John 1 says, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name...”

Earlier we discussed that as we look at the incarnation of Jesus we see Him as the beginning of a new creation. Well, the new creation doesn’t end there does it? 2 Cor. 5:17-21 tells us “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

So, what is the incarnation? It is the act of the Son of God adding to Himself a human nature to live and die for us so that we might be reconciled to God and made new. What does this mean for us? It means that now our lives are committed to being mouth pieces of grace calling out to everyone, “Come to Jesus and be reconciled to God.”