Meditations on the Incarnation

There is no greater mystery than the mystery of the incarnation. That God would become a human and step into this world is a mystery beyond our comprehension. The Christmas season is set aside as a time in which we are to wonder at this great event. At Christmas we are called to remember that Christ came into our world. This time of year is a time of grace to the people of our country. Well over 300 million people will be reminded during this month that something special happened.

Whether it’s through a

Party they’re invited to

Sale at a crowded mall

Play in a local theater

Song on a radio station

Bell rung outside a grocery store

Decorations adorning buildings

Card in the mail

The people of our country will be alerted that this is a special time of the year. Sadly, most will miss the true reason for the season. This morning I want to share with you some reasons why God became man. I want to offer you from our text nine meditations on the incarnation.

Let’s begin by defining incarnation. What do we mean by that word? It literally means “in the flesh”. God came to our world in the flesh. Why did He do this? The writer of Hebrews lets us know.

1. For the purpose of dying (9).

Verse 9 says Jesus was made a little lower than the angels. How could this be?

1:3 says Jesus is the image of the invisible God.

1:6 says the angels worship Jesus.

Why would He be made a little lower than the angels then?

The answer is given in verse 9. He was made lower than the angels so He could die. Angels don’t die. They don’t have physical bodies. Christ came to die and in order to die He had to have a human body.

Jesus didn’t come into this world simply to be admired.

He didn’t come simply to teach us moral lessons.

He didn’t come simply to heal the sick.

Christ was born to die. Philippians 2:6-8 says of Jesus

Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Christ was laid in the manger so He could be laid in the tomb. Had He simply stepped out of heaven into our world He could not have died. In order to die He had to take upon Himself a human body. Christ came in the flesh so that He could die on a cross.

2. For the purpose of exaltation (9).

Verse 9 says Jesus was crowned with glory and honor. Christ is no more glorious because He became a man. Our perception of Him is more glorious. We know things about God that we would have never known had God not become man. The crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for our sins highlights the mercy and love of God.

Christ is exalted in our hearts and in our understanding because of the incarnation. Scripture calls Christ the second Adam. He is the second representative of humanity. Adam was the first and he blew it. Jesus reverses everything Adam did to the human race in the garden.

Sickness comes because of Adam but in the gospels we see Christ healing all manner of disease.

Death comes because of Adam but in the gospels we see

Christ raising the dead.

Adam cooperated with Satan in the garden but in the gospels we see Christ casting Satan out.

I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God unto salvation. But I am not ashamed of the gospel for another reason as well. The gospel glorifies Christ. It exalts Christ. There are those who think the cross diminishes the glory of God. They think our gospel portrays a weak God unable to save Himself. They have missed the wisdom of our great God. Through the cross not only has He shown mercy upon us but He has revealed Himself as the great lover of our souls.

It’s because of the incarnation that we can sing songs like:

How deep the Father’s love for us,

How vast beyond all measure,

That He should give His only Son

To make a wretch His treasure.

How great the pain of searing loss –

The Father turns His face away,

As wounds which mar the Chosen One

Bring many sons to glory.

The majority of Christian worship centers around the truth that Christ became a human and suffered and died for us. Every Sunday we crown Christ with glory and honor because of the incarnation. God became flesh to exalt Himself.

3. For the purpose of substitution (9).

Verse 9 says Christ became man so He could taste death for every man. In John 8:52 the Jewish leaders accused Jesus of being demon possessed because He said “If a man keep my saying he shall never taste of death.”

Death is pictured as a cup. It’s a cup that all of humanity must drink. We have it set before us the moment we are born. It’s our cup. It’s our portion. Christ claims He has come to take our cup.

There are those who hate the idea of the substitutionary death of Christ.

They think it’s not fair to Christ. This is not His cup to drink. They think it is not fair to humankind. We deserve our punishment we should be willing to take it.

The problem with this thinking is God knows we cannot handle the punishment we deserve.

No matter how tough you are you cannot bear hell.

No matter how good you are you cannot earn heaven.

This is why Christ steps in to be our substitute. Christ knows what’s in the cup. The OT speaks of cupbearers. A cupbearer was a person who worked for the king. He was very close to the king and had many responsibilities. One of his responsibilities was to periodically taste the cup of the king before the king took the cup. It was common for people to want the king dead. The only way to remove a king from power was for him to die. Therefore groups and individuals often plotted for the king’s death. A simple way to kill the king was through poisoning. The cupbearer would drink from the cup. If after some time the cupbearer was still alive the king would take the cup. The cupbearer had no idea if the cup was poisoned or not. In that sense the cupbearer was the king’s substitute.

It’s different with our great king! He is our cupbearer. He knows what’s in the cup. He knows it is a foul, poisonous, deadly cup! In the Garden of Gethsemane He took that cup. It was such a dreadful cup He prayed “If it be possible let this cup pass from Me!” But our salvation depended on Christ taking the cup. In taking that cup He tasted death for every man! God became man so He could be our substitute.

4. For the purpose of perfection (10).

The end of verse ten speaks of Christ being made perfect. This doesn’t refer to a moral perfection. It is speaking of the perfect obedience of Christ to the eternal plan of God. Our salvation is written in eternity. The Bible says Jesus is the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world. The incarnation was not plan B. The old, old story is older than time itself. Yet Christ had to obey the plan. He had to be born, grow, preach, heal, suffer and die. He did all of that perfectly.

The fact that He perfectly obeyed the will of the Father was “befitting for Him”. The KJV says “For it became Him”. In other words, the way of our salvation is consistent with the character of our great God.

Look what it says Christ did.

He brought many sons unto glory. Many sons! I like that! The road to heaven may be narrow but there won’t be any empty seats there! Heaven will be full!

Note that He brings us to glory. What a splendorous salvation ours is! We are not barely saved! We are gloriously saved! We shine with the glory of God in heaven!

Christ is described as the Captain of our salvation. The word speaks of a pioneer, a trailblazer. He’s the one at the front leading the way but always with people behind Him.

If you ever have to go through the briars it’s good to have someone in front of you. It’s even better if they have something that will take a rattlesnakes head off. The scariest place to be walking through the briars is in the front.

Thank God we have Jesus as we walk through the briar patch of this world. I want you to know that He has taken care of that old serpent. He has crushed his head. It’s safe now! We can come without hesitation because the Captain of our salvation has prepared the way!

What a wonderful Savior we have. He didn’t simply plan our salvation but He brought it to completion. He perfected it through His own sufferings!

5. For the purpose of adoption (11-13).

Notice verse 11. It says “He that sanctifies” –that’s Christ.

“and they who are sanctified” that’s us “are of one”.

Here’s what the text is saying. It’s saying because of the incarnation Christ is now our brother. He became a human being. He has identified with us.

Christ has sanctified us. He has set us apart as holy through His sacrifice. Now we share in Christ’s righteousness. He has given us Himself. Notice all He does with us:

He calls us brethren. He is not ashamed to do that! (11)

He dwells among us (12). He is pictured as among the redeemed saints singings praises.

He declares He will trust in God with all the children God has given Him (13).

Just as the Father gave the disciples to Jesus He has given us to Jesus. We are the children of God, we are the brothers of Jesus. We have been adopted into the family of God, purchased by the blood of Christ. Our family tree is a cross! Without the incarnation there would be no cross. The incarnation was for the purpose of adoption.

If you’re an orphan there could be no greater Christmas present than to be adopted! We were all spiritual orphans but by the grace of God we are now children of God.

6. For the purpose of destruction (14).

The greatest weapon the devil has is death. He ushered it into the world. Satan has come to kill and steal and destroy. Every single die people die. Nothing makes Satan happier than that. In order to destroy Satan Jesus takes away his greatest weapon. He takes away death. The only way He could do that was to take upon Himself flesh and blood.

The text says Christ destroyed death through death. That is, the death of Christ appropriated in the life of the believer destroys death. What can Satan threaten us with if he cannot threaten us with death? When Satan says “you will die” we say “We already have!” We are crucified with Christ nevertheless we live!

Christ has beat Satan with Satan’s own weapon! The incarnation enabled this. You have to have flesh and blood to die therefore Christ took upon Himself flesh and blood and died a death that killed death itself!

7. For the purpose of deliverance (15).

There is a bondage in the fear of death. The fear of death cripples many people. Through the incarnation Christ has delivered humanity from that fear. Believer do not fear death. Christ has done all He can to make sure you do not fear death. Look at Christ’s death.

He ceased suffering. Friend the suffering is in this world. If you know Christ you’ll never suffer after death.

He went to the Father- immediately the spirit of Christ went to be with the Father. When you die your spirit will separate from your body and go immediately to be with the Lord.

He was resurrected- It wasn’t immediate but it happened. You will be resurrected one day too. You will be reunited with a glorified body.

Christ has shown you what will happen when you die. He has delivered you from the fear of death. Angels don’t have this luxury. Look at verse 16. Christ didn’t take upon Himself the nature of angels. He took upon Himself the nature of humans. Not one fallen angel has been delivered from the fear of eternal death. The incarnation made this possible for humans.

8. For the purpose of reconciliation (17).

I want you to notice verse 17 says the incarnation was absolutely necessary for our salvation. Christ had to be made like us if He were to be our High Priest. Look at the end of verse 17. The High Priest makes reconciliation for the sins of the people. If we don’t have a High Priest we can’t be reconciled. If Christ doesn’t become a man He is not qualified to be our High Priest. So the incarnation is absolutely necessary.

Christ, as our Great High Priest, has atoned for our sins. We were at odds with God. His anger burned toward us because of our sin. Christ as our Great High Priest and Mediator has brought peace between us and God. He did that by absorbing the wrath and fury of God Himself.

He brought no lamb, He was the lamb. He put Himself in the fire. He laid his own person upon the altar. Christ, as a representative of the human race took upon Himself the punishment for our sins. This was only possible through the incarnation.

9. For the purpose of empathy (18).

Christ is empathetic toward us. Verse 18 says Christ can help us because He has experienced the temptations of humanity. You name it, Christ experienced it. Other than sin Christ has experienced any weakness you can imagine.

Hungry, thirsty, homeless, hated, lied about, beaten, laughed at, stolen from, berated, belittled, tempted, and we could go on. But please know, whatever you are experiencing in life Christ can empathize with you because He Himself has experienced it.

You can’t say “You don’t know what it’s like” to Jesus. You’ll never know what it’s like to be God but you can be sure God knows what it’s like to be you. He experienced thirty-three years of brutal humanity.

This makes prayer so much easier. “Jesus you know how I feel!” is a wonderful prayer! Christ took upon Himself our humanity for the purpose of identifying with our weaknesses. Your God knows you more than you could ever imagine.

The wisdom of the incarnation! The glory of the incarnation! Let us celebrate it this Christmas season.