Incarnation of Christ

Merry Christmas!!! What is Christmas all about? The incarnation of Christ. Incarnation is a term that is talking about the embodiment of God in Jesus of Nazareth.

Lights are twinkling. Trees smell of pine and winter. You breathe in snow and breathe out Christmas songs. "Jingle Bells." "O Christmas Tree." "Silent Night." And there is one called "Away in a Manger." The lyrics read that the “little Lord Jesus” is asleep on the hay. Who is the little Lord Jesus in this song? The following article seeks to answer this question.

Let me just start by saying: MERRY CHRISTMAS! Many people anticipate the coming of the Christmas season because of the feeling, the excitement, the hope that it brings. This hope though, is not in gifts or smiles or even family gatherings. This hope is in the little Lord Jesus who was asleep on the hay. The purpose of Christmas is to celebrate God who came in-the-flesh to earth. What does it mean that God became a man? 

The term incarnation speaks of the embodiment of God in Jesus of Nazareth. Isaiah, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit spoke of His coming saying, “Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14), and, according to Matthew 1:23, Immanuel means, “‘God with us.’” Some find issues with the idea that God became a man. This is a surprising and humbling concept that God would come from perfect heaven to this sinful earth, not just to live and do miracles, but to die for the sins of all humanity! Paul in Philippians 2:6-8, when speaking of Jesus, says, “who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” Jesus is still God. He always has been and always will be. John 1:1 says, “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. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” Jesus is the Word, and He “became flesh and dwelt among us,” (John 1:14). This is the incarnation of Christ.

When we believe in the incarnation of Christ, we trust in the concept of the Trinity that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all One. Yet, God in-the-flesh was incredibly surprising in the sense of the humbleness of His birth! His conception was supernatural, only through the Holy Spirit. An angel came to Mary, who was a virgin, and told her that she would have a child (Luke 1:29-37). And when it came time for Him to be born, there was not even room for the family in an inn! Even beyond His birth, Jesus lived with the status of a Teacher, not with the status of a king. Many people expected the Messiah to come as a king would. They welcomed him as such on what we now call Palm Sunday (John 12:12-19) by waving branches and calling out to “The King of Israel!” Yet, not too much later, He died with a crown of thorns pressed into His skull and a sign, perhaps made to mock and perhaps made based on what Pilate believed to be true, which said, “JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS” (John 19:19). Praise God, this is not the end of the story. Jesus’ resurrection on the third day also acts as a testimony to His incarnation. In beginning his letter to the Roman church, Paul wrote, “Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:1-4). Paul is writing that Christ’s resurrection is a declaration that He is who He said He was: the Son of God. He testifies again, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in His letter to the Ephesian church of the power that raised Christ from the dead (Ephesians 1:15-21). We can hold fast to the truth that Jesus was God in-the-flesh! 

Let’s look at one more passage that gives clarity to this concept:

Colossians 1:15-18: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have preeminence.”

Christ was the image of God in human form! We can trust His words in Scripture because He was who He claimed to be. And the grave could not hold Him! He is above all! He is over all. He made all. And, we have an opportunity to have a relationship with the Creator of the universe because of Christ’s work on the cross. John 1:11-12 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:” Christ, the fullness of God, came to save you. You can have a personal relationship with Him. That’s beautiful. That’s better than the twinkling lights, the gifts, the trees. It’s better than all the feelings of Christmas. I hope that now, as you think about the Christmas season (or maybe it’s actually the middle of the summer), that you will think-on the incarnation of Christ and, as a whole, what it means for you… salvation, because the God of the universe, out of His great love, has made a way for our salvation!!!