The Word Became Flesh | Incarnation Series

LHSC celebrates record-breaking number of babies born in 2024. 6452. Ivy Spooner

Matthew 1:20-21 “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 are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

Incarnation:— A bodily manifestation of a supernatural being. The conception and the embodiment of a deity or spirit in earthly form. An anthropomorphic form of a god.

John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
The Logos:— the ultimate meaning that holds the universe together is a person—Jesus. The Son Of God.

John 1:14 (NKJV) “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."

John 1:14 (NLT) “So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.”

Hebrews 2:14-15 “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

C. S. Lewis (The Grand Miracle) “The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation. They say that God became Man. Every other miracle prepares for this, or exhibits this, or results from this.

In the Christian story God descends to re-ascend. He comes down; down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity … But He goes down to come up again and bring the ruined world up with Him.”

“The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.”  
C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity)
“He became what we are that He might make us what He is.” Athanasius (On the Incarnation)

“God recapitulated in Himself the ancient formation of man, that he might kill sin, deprive death of its power and vivify man.” Irenaeus of Lyons (130–202 AD)

Recapitulated:— Christ sums up, repeats, and restores the whole human story in Himself.

1 Corinthians 15:45–49 “The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam, a life-giving Spirit… The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. (JESUS) … Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.”

He is like you. He loves you. He is everything you were meant to be.John 10:30 “I and My Father are one.”
John 14:9 “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”

“Incarnation and atonement intrinsically locked into one another constitute the one continuous movement of God’s saving love for the world.” Thomas F. Torrence

“The incarnation of the Son in our humanity … reveals God as the creator and redeemer actually with us in our estranged human existence, and … brings out of our fallen and sinful existence a new humanity that is holy and perfect.”

Salvific Ontology:— the being of Christ that saves.
Because He is God and He became human, He unites God and humanity within Himself which heals humanity at the deepest level.

He comes down; down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity; down further still…to the womb…down to the very roots of the Nature He has created. He becomes an embryo, a fetus, a child, an adolescent, a young man… a son, a brother, a friend.
Born of a woman, Jesus ate food, slept, experienced temptation, He could perspire, bleed, and display human emotions.
He went through puberty, experienced loss, betrayal, denial, and abandonment.
In one moment, one seemingly insignificant measurement on the span of time, “The Word became flesh”. 
The undiminished Deity became humanity.
The one for whom are all things and by whom are all things, became a thing —like you and me—God with us.
The invisible God became the visible, touchable, pierce-able, whip-able, nail-able, Emanuel—God with us.
Divinity took on the garb of humanity so that depravity might be rendered savable.
True grace appeared and we received grace for grace. 
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
The personification of truth was revealed and now we no longer stumble in darkness.
God became a man. The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. 
The incarnation is one direction from God to man, He acts alone and of his own accord, it is God’s gracious act on our behalf. P.C.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (AMP) “Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!”

engraft or ingraft 
1. to graft (a shoot, bud, etc) onto a stock so the that the two grow together as one.
2. to incorporate in a firm or permanent way; implant: they engrafted their principles into.

For there to be a good graft you need an identical cut.
Then they must be bound together to become one.
There can be no grafting without wounding.

Isaiah 53:5 “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.”

1 Corinthians 1:30 (NLT) “God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; He made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin.”

Colossians 1:21-22 “...yet now He has reconciled  in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight.”

1 Corinthians 6:17 “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.”

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