There is the story of a father putting his four-year-old son to bed. Having finished prayers, stories, and dealing with all the little “stall tactics” his son performed, he kissed his son and turned the light off. Almost immediately his son started crying, "Don't leave me. I'm scared and don't want to stay here alone."
The father tried to encourage the little boy by reminding him that they had just had devotions and God’s presence was with him. To this the little boy said, "I want somebody with skin on." Gary Bowell
This is why we celebrate Christmas. This is the great message of the Incarnation! God coming in the flesh!
(Mat 1:23 NKJV) "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us."
This is the time of the year when we hear the word “incarnation” being used more often than at other times. But what does the word incarnation mean?
A literal definition of the word incarnation means in the flesh. The root, “carn” is found in other words such as “carnage,” “carnality,” and “carnivorous” and means “meat” or “flesh.”
A theological definition of the word incarnation is “God's becoming human,” and another is “the union of divinity and humanity in Jesus of Nazareth.”
The Bible teaches that the incarnation refers to the truth of God, who without in any way ceasing to be the one God, revealed Himself to humanity for its salvation by becoming human. Jesus, the Man from Nazareth, is the incarnate Word or Son of God.
As the God-Man, He mediates God to humans
* If I want to know what God is like, I look at Jesus.
I see His gentleness with the woman caught in the act of adultery as He forgives her and tells her to “Go and sin no more.” (John 8:11)
I see His patience for a short man in a sycamore tree as He looks up and says to him, "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house." (Luke 19)
I see His healing touch when He takes a blind man by the hand and leads him to a solitary place; takes some of his own spit and anoints the mans eyes making him see (Mark 8:22)
I see His love for the alienated as He touches a man with leprosy (Mat. 8:3)
* If I want to know how God feels about things or what is on His mind, I listen to Jesus.
I learn that God doesn’t want me to live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from His mouth (Luke 4:4)
I learn God’s righteous indignation as Jesus takes a whip and chases the moneychangers out of the temple declaring, “My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.” (Mat. 21:13)
I learn that God expects me to forgive seventy times seven when my brother sins against me (Mat. 18:22)
I learned that God, who is Spirit, is looking for worshipers, who must worship in spirit and truth. (John 4:24)
As the God-Man, He mediates God to humans- If I want to know what God is like, I look at Jesus
But as the Man-God, He represents humans to God:
* As a man, God knows by experience what it means to be human—Because of Jesus, God “feels me.”
The writer of Hebrews, chapter 4:15-16 says, “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. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
The Bible says in Heb 5:8 that Jesus, “though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.”
* Jesus knows what it feels like to be human, so He stands before God the Father as my advocate.
1 Tim 2:5 - For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
1 John 2:1 - My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
The term "Advocate" portrays Jesus as both an "attorney" and an "intercessor." He is the One who represents the cause of believers in the presence of the Father.
This is how the psalmist could even say:
Psa 103:8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.
Psa 103:9 He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever.
Psa 103:10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor punished us according to our iniquities.
Psa 103:11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;
Psa 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
Psa 103:13 As a father pities his children, So the LORD pities those who fear Him.
Psa 103:14 For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.
Jesus is our defense attorney. He appeals to the Father on our behalf. He points to the evidence of the Cross; He directs the Father’s attention to “Exhibit A” the blood that He shed for our sins.
Like that little boy, I need somebody with skin on. I can’t imagine following a God that I can’t identify with or who can’t identify with me—this is the dilemma that followers of religion are in.
For example, Muslims believe in one God who created the universe. However, the God of Islam is far removed. He is separate, distant and impersonal.
Islam offers no Father-child relationship with the Almighty.
Submission to Allah implies a blind surrender of a helpless slave to the tyranny of a ruthless dictator.
Allah is Islam's unpredictable, arbitrary God
But we serve the dependable, faithful God of the Bible who has revealed Himself in the person of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses see Jesus as what was once a created angel but now designated as the “son of God.”
This “created Jesus” cannot represent God to us because according to the Watchtower organization, He is not God.
This “created Jesus” cannot represent us to God because according to JW’s he didn’t rise from the dead in a bodily form but as a spirit.
But the biblical Jesus knew what it is to be God so He represents God to us.
The biblical Jesus knows what it feels to be human, so He stands before God the Father as our advocate.
In John 14:7 Jesus says to His disciples, "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him."
Then Philip responds and says, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us."
Philip is saying what many Jews and others have said, “Just reveal God to us.” “Just teach us about the invisible God—that’s all we need.”
Have you ever thought like this? You just want to know more about this God who you cannot see and have never heard His voice. When you ask for a “sign” of His presence you hardly, if ever, get one.
To the Jew during the time of Jesus, God was seen as primarily transcendent—His ways were higher than their ways.
Back when Moses had a conversation with God around the burning bush the conversation went something like this (Exodus 3:11-14):
Moses says to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?"
God says, "I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain."
Then Moses said to God, "Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say to me, 'What is His name?' what shall I say to them?"
God says to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"
"I AM WHO I AM" was a very literal rendering of the Hebrew text, expressing God's real, perfect, unconditional, independent existence. It meant that God exists in a way that no one and nothing else does. He is without beginning or end. He is the only Being who is self-existent. All other existence is dependent upon His uncaused existence.
“I AM WHO I AM” is the inner meaning of Yahweh—God was essentially saying, "I am the One who is."
This description of God is saying a mouthful but at the same time it is not saying much if you have a desire to know someone personally.
As a result, because of their rejection of Jesus as the Messiah, to many Jewish people today, God is more impersonal and has become little more than a philosophical construct or an impersonal force.
But again, in John 14:7 Jesus says to His disciples, "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him."
Philip responds and says, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us."
But Jesus says to Philip, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?”
What Jesus is saying here to Philip is that I know you know God as only the “Great I AM.” In other words,
God is the Self-existent One, but He is much more!
God is a consuming fire, but He is much more!
God is omnipotent, but He is much more!
God is omnipresent, omniscient and immutable but He is much more!
Because of the incarnation we can come to learn the “much more” that He is! The Bible says:
John 1:14 - 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.
Dr. Woodrow Kroll, teacher of the radio ministry, Back to the Bible has these words to say about the incarnation:
The Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is God Himself. As God, He is pre-existent. That means before the earth was created, God the Son lived in perfect harmony with God the Father and God the Spirit.
Jesus is eternal. He is above time. In fact, He transcends time. But just because Jesus Christ transcends time does not preclude His invading time. Because He rises above time does not mean He cannot dip into it.
That first Christmas day was not a matter of seasonal chance; it was a time selected before the foundation of the world. Jesus was destined to invade time. The God who transcends time would one day invade it.
Now the key Scripture relating to this time invasion is Galatians 4:4. Paul says,
"But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law."
The word that is translated "fullness" is the Greek word pleroma, play'-ro-ma. Originally it was used as a ship. When the ship was filled with sailors or with its merchandise, when the cargo was such that it was loaded and you couldn't get one additional box on board the ship, then you used the word "fullness." That's the word that describes a ship filled to its entire capacity.
Well, when all the days were counted out, when you couldn’t get one more day in the plan of God, in the council of the Godhead it was decided that on a certain day, God the Son would invade time and space.
He'd do it in a little town we call Bethlehem. That was the fullness of time.
So when Jesus Christ was born, it was not just a Christmas day. It was not a day too early. It was not a day too late. It was the day that God had decided in His counsel before the foundation of the world that He would invade time, right on time.
I stated earlier that the theological word for what happened when Jesus invaded time is "incarnation."
That means that for the very first time God wrapped Himself up in a human body. For the very first time God had a body that He would reside in forever from the moment He invaded time.
So at the incarnation, Jesus Christ took upon Himself a complete, sinless human nature, comprised of a body, soul and spirit. He actually became a human being.
Why did God become man?
Why would the Son of God leave all that He had in heaven and come to earth?
Why invade time if you transcend it as the “Father of Eternity” (Isaiah 9:6)?
Why would He leave His Spirit form to assume the restrictions of a body and then to assume it forever?
Why did He do it?
The Bible makes some suggestions as to why Jesus, who transcended time, invaded it.
First of all, already learned thus far that the Bible says that Jesus invaded time to enable you to relate to an invisible God.
You see, God the Son became a man to reveal the invisible God. Remember, God is Spirit (John 4:24).
Prior to the Incarnation, this would have been true of all the persons of the Godhead.
Jesus became a man as an act of grace on God's part.
He became a man so that we could more fully appreciate God.
He became a man so we could worship Him completely.
Listen to this:
"No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him" (John 1:18).
Its pretty simple, if you want to see the Father, you have to look at the Son. Jesus' incarnation enabled Him to reveal God to us and to reveal Him to us more fully.
Why did Jesus invade time? He did it so that you and I could relate to God, who is invisible to us.
Secondly, Jesus invaded time because God the Son became a man to fulfill Old Testament prophecies.
Many of the Old Testament prophets prophesied God's incarnation, His coming to dwell among us as a man. In fact, the first promise of our salvation in the Bible comes immediately after the first sin of our parents in the Bible, Adam and Eve. God promised in Genesis 3:15:
Gen 3:15 - “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel."
If you know human physiology, you know the seed belongs to the man. To promise that salvation would be from the seed of the woman is contrary to the law of nature.
Still, when the virgin Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit and gave birth to her sinless Son, the promise of Genesis 3:15 was fulfilled perfectly.
When Mary gave birth to Jesus, the promise of Micah 5:2, predicting the exact location of Christ's birth was fulfilled too:
"But you, Bethlehem Ephrata, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting."
So was the prophecy in Isaiah 7:14?
"Therefore, the Lord Himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call His name Immanuel."
Immanuel means “God with us.” When God the Son was born in an infant body at Bethlehem, He made the name Immanuel live up to its meaning. Jesus is God with us.
You see, all these prophecies were fulfilled the day that Jesus invaded time.
Why did Jesus invade time? Jesus came to fulfill Old Testament prophecy. He did it because He wanted you to be able to relate to an invisible God the Father.
But here's another reason why Jesus invaded time. God the Son became a man so that men could become the sons of God.
One of the major reasons why God invaded time was to bring salvation to you and me.
God has established the requirements. He required that a blood sacrifice be made to pay for the penalty of our sin.
When our first parents, Adam and Eve sinned, their innocence was lost. The Bible teaches that it was at this time they realized they were naked.
At the first marriage God performed the ceremony and said in Genesis 2:24, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” A commentary is made in Genesis 2:25, “And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.”
After the man and his wife sinned Genesis 3:7 says, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.”
They attempted to cover the shame of their loss of innocence by covering themselves with fig leaves.
When God arrives on the scene He pronounces judgment upon them and then does something for the first time in man’s history.
Man's covering using fig leaves for his nakedness was inadequate, but God provides a more suitable covering.
Now the Bible doesn’t specifically state that animal sacrifice occurred, it is implied from the description of God's getting hold of “skins” to provide clothes for Adam and Eve.
This was the first sacrifice of atonement for man's sin. This shedding of blood to provide covering for Adam and Eve foreshadowed the death of Christ on the Cross, as cleansing for man's sins.
Blood was shed in order to provide covering for their bodies. Leviticus 17:11 says:
"For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls."
God shed the blood of an animal in order to use its skin as a covering for Adam and Eve.
But the sacrifice, which God demands, has to be a perfect sacrifice. It has to be without spot. It has to be without blemish. You see, God is holy and nothing will ever satisfy or appease the wrath of God that is not absolutely holy.
The problem is that the sacrifices of animals could never really take away sins. They were just animals. Only an entirely sinless, perfect, human sacrifice could really bear the sins of others—that’s why God became a man. The writer of Hebrews says,
"It is not possible for the blood of bulls or of goats to take away sins. Wherefore, when He comes into the world, He will take away our sin" (Hebrews 10).
Why did God become man? Why would the Son of God leave all that He had in heaven and come to earth? Why did He do it?
Why did Jesus invade time? He did it so that you and I could relate to God, who is invisible to us.
Secondly, Jesus invaded time because God the Son became a man to fulfill Old Testament prophecies.
Thirdly, Jesus invaded time so that He would become a man so that men could become the sons of God.
Jesus invaded time in order to pay the penalty for your sin and for mine.
In order for this to happen, God had to send to the cross the dearest of all to Him, His only beloved Son.
In order to pay the penalty for your sin and my sin, Jesus, who transcended time, Jesus, who is God, Jesus, who is perfect and holy and just and righteous--Jesus, the sinless Son of God--had to invade time.
Jesus invaded time. Only the power of God can accomplish this.
He wants access to your heart.
