God With Us
Matthew 1:23
December 19, 2021
I want to talk about something I believe is a cornerstone belief for those who claim Jesus as their Lord and Savior. I want to talk about what theologians call the incarnation. I’ve really been talking all around it for the past few weeks. What do we believe when we talk about the incarnation? I want to read from Matthew 1, some very powerful verses about the incarnation, the birth of Jesus - - -
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph,
before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.
19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.
20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David,
do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
21 She will bear a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). - Matthew 1:18-23
This last verse has been the main verse for the past few weeks. It’s a reminder of the presence of God, through the birth of His Son, Jesus Christ, Immanuel. God with us. God with you! It’s the promise that God will never leave you, He will never forsake you.
So, what exactly is the incarnation? In order to clearly define this in a way that everybody would understand, I went to the source of all wisdom and knowledge. The Internet! Specifically to Wikipedia. You know, the Internet never has false information. Yet, I do think Wiki got it right! Now, depending on how you type your search, you get a couple of different ideas about the incarnation.
According to Wikipedia, this is the incarnation - - -
In Christian theology, the incarnation is the belief that Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, also known as God the Son or the Logos, "was made flesh" by being conceived in the womb of a woman, the Virgin Mary, also known as the Theotokos. The doctrine of the incarnation, then, entails that Jesus is fully God and fully human. These two natures, human and divine, were hypostatically united into the one personhood of Jesus Christ.
Wikipedia did a really good job getting this right. But, what does all of this mean?
Well, Jesus is not two persons. He is one person. The hypostatic union is the mysterious joining of the divine and the human in the one person of Jesus. What’s the significance? Why bother with this fancy term?
It is foundational and awe-inspiring to know that Jesus’s two natures are perfectly united in His one person. Jesus is not divided. He’s not two people. He is one person. As the Chalcedonian Creed of 451 AD states, Jesus is - - - one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, only begotten, to be acknowledged in two natures, inconfusedly, unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably;
I think that’s all pretty clear. Bottom line - - Jesus is one.
This means Jesus is one focal point for our worship. He is always fully man and always fully divine. That’s kind of hard to wrap our minds around all of this.
Because of this hypostatic (one-person) union, Jesus Christ exhibits an unparalleled magnificence. No one person satisfies the complex longings of the human heart like Jesus.
So, that was pretty simple and understandable who Jesus is, right?
What is the incarnation? As simply as I can put it, it’s when God became flesh in the person of His Son, Jesus. John's gospel tells us in John 1:1 and 1:14 - --
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us . . .
The incarnation is when God the Spirit entered into our world in the person, in the flesh, as Jesus. Jesus was all man and all God all at the same time. He is God incarnate. We can go back to our key verse for this series, Matthew 1:23, which tells us - -
23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call His name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
God with us - God in Spirit and God in the flesh all at the same time. It’s part of the mystical mystery of the reality what God actually did for us. Next Sunday, I’m going to kind of play out a conversation between God and Jesus, while in heaven, to kind of bookend this series. It may help us to see what God did for us.
As I was thinking about today, I was thinking about what we do for Christmas. I have to be honest, because, sometimes my sarcasm kicks in, so I have to be careful. Because it’s so easy to get caught up in all of the extras.
You know what I mean? We can get caught up in the cards (do I send one to that person who didn’t send me one last year), parties, the decorations, the present buying, and family dynamics. Then we get to the day, and it just kind of passes us by. We celebrate, but it can feel a little empty.
We think about all of the Christmas characters, Mary and Joseph, the baby, the angels, the shepherds, the wise men. But it can almost seem like an after-thought. We don’t spend much time on any of this. And that’s part of the danger when you’re so familiar with the story. We know it, so we don’t really hear it again and again. You know what I mean?
Have you ever wondered if the people who were there on that day, realized what was really happening? Did the angels who announced the birth even grasp what they were announcing? Did they have a clue about what this life was going to entail? Luke tells us the angel said - -
10 “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” - Luke 2:10-11
When the angel makes that pronouncement, does he and the host of angels really know what a Savior is, that this baby is the Christ, the Messiah, come in the flesh?
When the shepherds arrived and told Mary and Joseph what the angels said, did they get it? Or was it something super-natural that didn’t make sense, but it seemed right to go see the Child.
The Wise Men traveled from a distant land, found Jesus, brought gifts and bowed down and worshiped. Did they really grasp who they were worshiping?
When Mary and Joseph hear the words about Jesus, we’re told - - Mary treasured up all that was told to her, pondering them in her heart. Yet, did she get what kind of a toll it would take on her life and what would happen to her first born?
All the stories that would be told to them. What would they all mean? How could this little helpless child really be the Savior of the world? Did they understand the word propitiation and forensic justification? How could they see that this sinless, righteous child would give His life so that we could now be viewed by God as righteous because of what the Son did for us?
It could only occur because the Father sent the Son to be with us.
Immanuel, God with us.
So, let’s go back to what John’s telling us - - - In John 1:3, we read - -
3 All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made.
In Colossians 1:16, Paul tells us - - -
16 For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things were created through Him and for Him.
So, Jesus is the Creator. All things were created through Him and for Him. Nothing that was created was a mistake. You are not a mistake. You are worthy and loved by the King of kings and Lord of lords.
To show you that, again, John tells us - - -
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us . . .
That’s it! That’s Immanuel . . . God with us! The One who made the world entered the world in person. The One who created the world became a creature, a human being. God became a Man. That’s the key story for us.
That’s the most important part of the Christmas story. Without it, we don’t have redemption, without it, there is no relationship with God. We lift up the Cross, and rightfully so, but you can’t have the cross without the incarnation. It’s simply and profoundly not possible.
This is the most important news this week! We need to be broadcasting this all over the place. It should be on Twitter and instagram and facebook and snapchat and everywhere inbetween. It’s the story of how God came for you and me.
It’s the story of the living God, the One and only God, sending His Son, not to condemn us, but to grant forgiveness, grace, mercy, His presence, His hope. He offers us the gift of life. It’s the gift of freedom to come and worship at the altar, to have open access to God every moment of every day. God has become one of us
Is this not the most unbelievable, not in a bad way, story you’ve heard this week? It’s the most amazing story ever, next to the resurrection of course!
AUDIO of AL MICHAELS
Remember that call from Al Michaels? Do you believe in miracles? His answer -- YES! Unbelievable. That’s it. That’s what Jesus did for us and continues to do for us today. Do you believe in miracles? YES! YES! A 1000 times YES!
It could only happen because the Son of God came into the world, because He destroyed all rational thinking, there’s no logic behind what God did. How can there be? Think about it, would you send your child or your most loved person into a cold and cruel place to die an excruciating death?
And even before that, to be rejected by family and friends. To be an outcast among your own people. To care so much about those who are lost, sick, possessed that you sacrifice yourself.
Yes, that’s our Immanuel. . . that’s my Jesus.
The Creator became a creature. God became a man. Unbelievable.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God …. All things were made through Him …. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us."
The Word moved into the neighborhood and took up residence among us. Unbelievable.
As we close, listen to the words of HEBREWS 4 - -
14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Because Jesus came into the world, we can hold to our confession about who He is! That Jesus is Lord! He is our great High Priest! The highest of the highs.
And, part of the majesty and power, that only those with faith in Jesus can articulate is this - - - it’s verse 15 . . .
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Do you see that? Jesus can sympathize with us, He has compassion for us because we are weak. And that word weak literally means to be without strength to accomplish something. It’s often a reference to not experiencing the joy we should be experiencing because we are tempting and succumbing to those temptations.
It means Jesus knows what we’re going through. He understands. While He was on the cross taking on your sinfulness and mine, He knows what it’s like to go through whatever you’ve gone through. He took all that sin upon Himself.
Yet, Jesus was without sin. And because He was without sin, the words of Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:21 hold so true for us - - -
21 For God made Him who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God. - 2 Corinthians 5:21
Friends, that can only happen because Jesus, Immanuel came into our world as a sinless child, as the holy Son of Almighty God. WHY?
So He could offer you and I grace and mercy, power and strength, hope and joy . . . through whatever we go through . . . because He is always, always, always with us. He is Immanuel . . . God with us.
