He Came As God In The Flesh

Good morning.

The ushers are coming forward and if you have not received the hand out the outline, they'll be happy to share that with you and bring that home because you may want to keep it for reference.

So today we're starting a four part series on Advent and the first part is incarnation that we're talking about today.

So I'd like you to stand up for the reading of the word, and we're going to read from John 1, verses 1 and 14.

John 1:1

In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

The word became flesh and made his dwelling amongst us.

We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son who came from the Father, full of grace and truth, can be seated.

So we're talking about the mysteries of the Messiah during Advent season and first of all I thought we'd start with definitions.

What is a mystery?

Well, something difficult or impossible to understand or explain, but that's not the kind of mystery we're talking about here.

The mysteries of the Messiah go into category oh.

They don't go into category two either, sherlock Holmes.

They go into category three.

It's belief based on divine revelation, especially one regarded as being beyond human understanding, and we're going to see how the incarnation fits into that.

Before we do that, though, I do want to talk about Advent definitions.

I kind of like to do because we take things for granted, and Advent is something that we all participate in, but on the other hand, we don't always know what it means.

And so Advent means the arrival of something, a notable person, thing or event, and it helps us to know where it comes from, because it's sort of a funny word that we don't use in our normal language.

It does come from Latin, and we see that it comes from Adventus and means to come.

So when we talk about Advent, we're talking about the coming of Christ, the King, the Messiah, to the world.

We're also going to talk during this series about his two comings, and that will be on Christmas, when Pastor Jim brings that message about his second coming, but today we're going to focus on his first coming.

So another word to define is incarnation, or incarnate.

What does that mean?

And you might see, if you skip down to the etymology, that again it comes from Latin in and caro flesh.

That's what incarnation means, and it's used in a capital.

The incarnation, it's talking about Jesus, and that's the, as the description says there, that's the unity of divinity with humanity in the man, jesus Christ.

So that's our definition there.

Back to incarnation.

Here's the verse that tells us what it is John 1,.

In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

So important that we understand that the word was God, he was with God in the beginning.

The word became flesh and made his dwelling amongst us.

We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

So that is the incarnation.

And we could stop right there and be done, oh, in two minutes.

Shortest sermon ever.

But we're going to take a look at this in a little bit of detail and if you want to follow on your outlines there, the first thing to know about the incarnation is that it is God, the Son taking on flesh, which we already talked about.

But he is called the Son of man and Jesus used this term, referred himself often in the Gospels.

It was one of his favorite terms.

And what does it really mean?

Well, we're going to look at that.

Our verse to start with is Hebrews 2.17.

For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God and that he might make atonement for the sins of his people.

So, stressing his humanity, he had to become like us in every way.

Now that takes a little thinking.

What does that really mean as a human?

Jesus, as a human, was born as a baby.

We all know that.

But do you think of him being potty trained?

He had to do that.

That was his humanity.

Do you think about him learning the language of his day, aramaic?

He had to do that.

That didn't come to him as a human.

Naturally, he went through the same learning processes that we do, because he was true human flesh, truly experiencing our lives.

And so he is the Son of a man.

The Son of man, the Son of Adam descended from Adam, the true human being.

We have further confirmation of that.

Here is a passage I want to read to you.

Jesus said but I want you to know that the Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins.

So he said to the paralyzed man Get up, take your mat and go home.

Then the man got up and went home, and when the crowd saw this.

They were filled with awe and they praised God.

Why?

Because he had been given such authority to a man.

He was a human being, a man.

We forget that.

We know him as our Savior, our Messiah, as God himself, but they knew him as a human being, like the person next to you in the role, and they were amazed that he had been given authority, a man, a mere man, seeing be stuck on the next slide.

Okay, kevin, if you could Another passage.

Jesus says the Son of man again using that term is Lord of the Sabbath.

The Sabbath was sacred, it was holy, it was set for God.

The Jews knew that they lived that way and Jesus had the audacity to say the Son of man, I am Lord of the Sabbath.

That's quite a claim.

You might be ready, if you were a Jew, to pick up rocks and throw them at that point.

But he didn't stop there.

The Son of man made another statement that's really important to us and he said I tell you from now on you'll see this was his confession before the high priest You'll see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of the mighty one and coming on the clouds of heaven.

That's a reference to Daniel 7.

God talks about his divinity, a man claiming divinity, which leads us to our next point, that Jesus is the Son of God.

In Luke, the angel said the Holy Spirit will come on you, talking to Mary, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.

So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.

This is our first usage of the term Son of God, and the thing that I want to point out is that the phraseology he will be called pay attention to called the Son of God Because he was being born of Mary a human shows his human status, but he is going to be called the Son of God.

Now, jesus didn't become the Son of God at his birth.

It's important to recognize that he was the eternal Son of God prior to incarnation.

There is a false teaching that Jesus became the Son of God at some point in his life and ministry.

Don't believe that.

What does the scripture say?

It says here is Jesus praying and he said Father, the hour has come, glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.

And now, father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

So this shows us that the relationship of Jesus was Father and Son prior to his incarnation.

Another verse that tells us that he was the eternal Son, which is hugely important, is John itself.

We've seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son Don't miss this who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

So he came from the Father.

Father, son relationship, eternal Son.

So what do we have here?

We have actually the realization that the incarnation teaches us that Jesus became a real human, fully human, just like us.

But yet he had a second character the Son of God, god character.

He was God from the beginning.

He became the God-man, joining humanity to God at the time of the incarnation.

No one has ever done that, no one ever could do that, but the eternal Son, and it's important for us to stop and think about that.

It's hard to fathom Jesus as both God and man wrapped up in one package.

Look at the disciples when they were on the boat, jesus was sleeping.

A storm came up and they woke him up.

Oh, we're drowning, we're going to drown.

And then he calmed.

He said be still to the waves.

What did his disciples do?

They said well, what kind of a man is this?

What kind of a man.

They knew him as a man.

He lived with them, he ate with them, he talked to them, he slept with them, he suffered with them.

He was cold, just like we're cold.

He got tired, just like we're tired, but yet that was his man characteristic he was also God at the same time.

So the incarnation teaches us that Jesus is God and man put together with God and man.

Hugely important that we understand that.

So that answers the question what is the incarnation?

And then there's a few more questions that come up.

How did the incarnation occur?

Well, for that I could give you fancy genetic explanations, xy chromosomes and all of these things, but really those don't matter at all.

Common human experience tells us, the common person understands that a man and a woman get together and a child is born, and that is genetics by the masses.

So we're going to look at what the Scripture says.

First of all, I want to point out that Jesus was born to a virgin.

The Scripture tells us that in Matthew.

This is how the birth of Jesus and Messiah came about.

His mother, mary, was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

But because Joseph, her husband, was faithful to the law and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, her mind had divorced her quietly.

But after he'd considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

She will give birth to a son, and you were to give him the name Jesus Yeshua, because he will save his people from their sins.

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet.

The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel, which means God with us, god amongst us.

So Jesus was born to a virgin.

He was conceived by the Holy Spirit.

This is the second part of how did the incarnation occur?

Here we see in Luke, the angel said to Mary do not be afraid, you have found favor with God.

You will conceive and give birth to a son and you will be called in Jesus, for he will be great and will be called son of the most high.

The Lord will give him the throne of his father, david, and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever.

His kingdom will never end, of course.

Mary says well, how could this be, since I'm a virgin?

And the angel answered the Holy Spirit will come on you and the power of the Most Holy will overshadow you.

So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.

So here we have the two facts about how did the incarnation occur.

There was a virgin and the Holy Spirit came together.

God and man.

Again.

Genetics shows us that Simple understanding of it.

Alright, next question why did Jesus take on the flesh?

And we're going to go to the scriptures for this.

First answer comes from John.

No one has seen God, but the one and only Son who has himself God and his closest relationship with the Father has made him known.

So Jesus' mission, one of his missions, was to make known to us God, god the Father and that's where the name Emmanuel becomes so special God with us, living with us.

Flesh and blood, our own flesh and blood.

But it doesn't stop there.

He came to break the power of death, and I'm going to combine two and four to break the power of death and to make atonement for sin.

You might remember, last week Pastor Jim was talking.

He had the ark here and he was showing the mercy seat.

And the atonement, the covering with blood so that we could be in God's presence, was provided by Jesus.

We see that in Hebrews.

It helps us to understand this.

The author in Hebrews says surely it's not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants, meaning human beings.

For this reason, he had to be made like them, fully human in every way We've already talked about that In order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest to the service of God and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people, because he himself suffered when he was tempted.

He's able to help those who are being tempted.

There's a lot to that verse, but I want to focus and zero in on the fact that Jesus became human to make atonement for us, and therein really is the gospel, the good news that we have to share with people and with each other.

If you have not understood that, jesus paid the price for your sin, he provided the covering, the atonement covering, and he did that because he was truly a human like us.

We'll back up to the second one.

He did that to break the power of death Death no longer at hold on us Back to Genesis.

You remember?

In the garden, god said if you eat of this tree, you'll die.

And Adam and Eve did, and death ensued and it came to all of us through inheritance.

Death is ours because of our sin nature, because of evil in us that we've inherited, not just from the things we do, but also from what we've inherited.

But Jesus came to break the power of that death.

He paid the price.

His death as a perfect human provided atonement, the lamb that was atonement, the lamb that was slain since the beginning of the world for the sins of his people.

So that's why Jesus came as a human being and then the last I think this is the last one to become a merciful high priest.

Well, if you were in court, you might want a representative, an attorney, and you might want somebody who was on your side.

Jesus is on our side and that is the beauty of the incarnation.

He came as a human being so that he could experience and understand our suffering, our pain, and we have a high priest who we can reach out to when we're tempted, when we're hurt, when we're suffering.

We can say Jesus, you've been there, you know what this is like, help me.

He couldn't have done that if he hadn't experienced humanity Not in the way that he does as our faithful high priest.

And lastly and these are not all exhaustive, but just some ones that I pulled out of scripture, why did Jesus become a human, take on flesh, the incarnation?

And the answer is because he loves us deeply, deeply.

We all know John 3.16,.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but should have eternal life.

Read verse 17,.

For God did not send his son in the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Jesus.

So it was love, for the reason of deep, deep love, that Jesus became one of us, our Emmanuel.

Okay, that brings us to.

How do we respond?

What's our?

How do we respond to this incarnation, Jesus becoming flesh, taking on flesh, god himself, taking on the nature of humans?

Well, I'm gonna suggest the word awe, and if you don't feel awe, I probably have not done a good job describing what it's like for God to become a human.

But awe, our jaws should drop that God would do such a thing, and we can take a lesson from the Magi.

What did they do when they were confronted with the incarnation, jesus himself in the flesh.

Oh, they were looking for a Messiah to deliver them from Israel, but they didn't expect that God himself would come and become a human being and become a human being.

Well, in Matthew, reread that when the Magi saw the star, they were won over joy.

On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.

Then they opened their gifts, their treasures, and presented them with gifts of gold, frankincense and mirth.

So here's a pattern.

How do we respond?

Well, the Magi teaches number one joy, happiness.

This is great news, this is the gospel.

Number two bowing down and worshiping and bringing your gifts to the Lord out of Thanksgiving.

That's the appropriate response from the Magi.

That's how we can respond to the incarnation.

Then there was the other group.

You remember the shepherds, and I didn't have it up there, so I'm going to go to Luke 2 and start a little before verse 17.

Suddenly, a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to those on whom his favor rests.

When the angels left them and had gone into heaven, the shepherd said to one other let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which, as the Lord has told us about.

Then they heard off and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in the manger, and when they saw him, they spread the word concerning what they had been told about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherd said to them.

And actually I didn't go back far enough.

I wanted to read verse 9.

An angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified, very afraid, so very afraid, terrified.

That's awe, that's awe.

When the angel appeared to them.

That's how we should be responding to this.

Okay, but what did they do?

They spread the word, ah, evangelism.

Hey, right, but they returned glorifying God and praising him for all the things that they'd seen and heard.

So we do want to spread that word, the good news of the gospel, to other people.

In addition to that, we do need to glorify God for what he's done.

So I'm going to encourage you to think about this week how the incarnation, what it really means that God himself would take on human flesh, become a real human being One of us, live with us, pay for our sins.

But I'm also going to encourage you to think about how you should respond, and one of the ways we're going to respond is by reading which we'll do in just a moment this the song of Moses and of the Lamb from Revelation, because if we don't praise him, the rocks will cry out.

So if you wouldn't mind standing, if you're able to, and we'll read this all together in praise to you, our Lord God, who came in the flesh as a human being.

Great and marvelous are your deeds, lord, god Almighty, just and true are your ways, king of the nations, who will not fear you, lord, and bring glory to your name, for you alone are holy.

All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.

You may be seated.

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory.

The one and only from the Father, full of grace and truth, amen.