God's Revelation in the Incarnation

Hebrews 1:1-4 says; "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs."
God is a God of revelation. He reveals himself to all mankind in creation. Throughout history He has revealed himself to His people. He reveals himself to us in the Scripture, giving us understanding of the Scripture by His Spirit in us.
We can only know God as He reveals himself to us.
The first thing we see in the beginning verses of Hebrews is that God spoke. Long ago He spoke to the fathers of Israel by the prophets, and more recently He had spoken by His Son. The next thing we see in his text is a description the Son. He is the heir of all things. Through Him God created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature. We see what the Son does; He upholds the universe by the word of his power. We see where the Son is; at the right hand of God the Father, the Majesty on high.
Long ago, throughout the history of the descendants of Abraham, God spoke at many times and in many ways. But now, the writer says, God had spoken by His Son.
How did God speak by His Son? In the incarnation of Christ.
In Jesus, God became a human. In the incarnation, God the Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, eternal, infinite, and uncreated, entered time and the world as a finite human.
In the incarnation, God the Son became one of us. In the incarnation God became human.
The incarnation is a truth we will never completely understand. I am making propositional truth statements, and we consider these with our minds because God made us thinking beings, but ultimately we understand the incarnation because God has revealed it to us.
When we come up against truth about God that is beyond our understanding we are to study hard. We are to think hard; faith is not anti-intellectual. At the same time we must never be so arrogant to think that we can understand these things apart from the revelation of God by the Holy Spirit.
God revealed himself in the incarnation. This was His activity by His initiative. The apostle John begins his Gospel with "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 was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." John 1:1-5
John begins his story about Jesus with "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."
It’s important to hear what John is saying. The Word was and is God.
As the writer of Hebrews tells us, with this Word God spoke to His people but this Word was more than God speaking. This is more than a verbal expression; it is the Divine Expression.
John says; "He was in the beginning with God." This Word is a Person; this Divine Word gives us an understanding of God because He is God. In Him we see the invisible God. John uses the personal pronoun He in describing the Word. Who is the Word? We find the answer in John 1:14
"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."
The Word is the One who became human and lived with humans. The Word was in the beginning with God and everything was made through Him. The Word, who was in the beginning with God, who was God, who created everything, became flesh and lived among people. This is the mystery and majesty of the incarnation. In the incarnation God spoke, revealing himself in His Son in which we see His glory.
How did this happen? Like this:
"In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, 'Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!' But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.'
"And Mary said to the angel, 'How will this be, since I am a virgin?'
"And the angel answered her, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy – the Son of God.'" Luke 1:26-35
The angel came to the young woman with unbelievable news. She would be the mother of the child who will be her Savior and King. She will be the mother of the Son of God.
The incarnation of the Son of God began with a miraculous conception. This had never happened before and has not happened since. This miraculously conceived baby grew as any other baby. The Son of God was a human baby in the womb of His human mom. This Child who would be called holy, the son of God, was the son of a young woman from Nazareth. The Creator would be carried in the womb and the arms of one He created.
To fulfill the law of Caesar Augustus, Joseph and Mary traveled to Bethlehem, the City of David, in order to be counted in a census. Fulfilling the prophecies of the Messiah, the Christ, the One who would come and save the people from their sin, Jesus was born, God in human flesh.
"And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn." Luke 2:6-7
Outside of Bethlehem an angel of the Lord appeared to some shepherds announcing to them
"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger." Luke 2:11-13
This is what we remember and celebrate at Christmas, but this is not the whole story. Jesus was born and Jesus lived as a baby and a toddler and a boy and a man. All of this is part of the incarnation.
In the incarnation Jesus, who created humanity, was submitted to His earthly parents. In the incarnation Jesus, who gave the Law to Moses, observed the Law of Moses. Indeed He obeyed his parents perfectly and He obeyed the Law perfectly.
Jesus was like the other kids in the neighborhood, except He was without sin. When He was grown, Jesus went to be baptized by John the Baptist who had been sent by God to prepare the way for Him. After He was baptized, Jesus went into the wilderness and fasted for forty days and was tempted by Satan. Adam, in the comfort of the Garden and with a full belly, failed. He sinned. Jesus – who the apostle Paul called the last Adam – in the wilderness and without food for forty days, triumphed. He rebuked Satan. He did not sin.
All of this happened in the incarnation and is part of the incarnation.
Jesus was born with a mission, and that mission was to die for the sin of all who believe. He humbled himself as a man and humbled himself before men, but at every turn he was accomplishing everything that He came to do.
Philippians 2:5-8 says; "Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."
Jesus was obedient to fulfill His part of the mission to redeem humanity. He said; “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.” John 6:38
After three years of proclaiming the kingdom and healing the sick and even raising the dead, Jesus was betrayed by one of His disciples and handed over to the Roman authorities to be executed. What was His crime? There was no crime; Jesus never broke the law of God or man. The priests and elders condemned Jesus for blasphemy because He claimed to be the Son of God.
In the incarnation the Son of God was at the same time the Son of Man, and the priests and elders couldn’t get their minds wrapped around that. Jesus was their Messiah but they rejected Him because they were looking for a different kind of messiah. They were looking for a conquering king who would deliver them from the oppression of the Romans. But God the Father sent the perfect sacrifice for sin so that all who believe will be delivered from the oppression of sin.
In the incarnation we have the great mystery of the majesty of God in man. Jesus was God and man at the same time, possessing the full divine nature and human nature in the same person. Jesus was in every way human, He was born in a physical body just like we were and physically He was subject to the corruption of sin. Had His body not been subject to the corruption of sin He would not have died.
Jesus was in every way human but He never sinned. Hebrews 4:14-16 says; "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. 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. 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."
In His humanity Jesus did not inherit the spiritual corruption of the sin of Adam. We, on the other hand, were all born dead in sin and by nature children of wrath. We inherited this from Adam and Eve just as we inherited size and hair and eye color from parents and grandparents and great-grandparents. Jesus inherited size and hair and eye color from Mary and her parents and grandparents but He didn’t inherit the sin of Adam. This is very important.
Romans 5:18-19 says; "Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous."
Adam’s sin brought condemnation on all mankind. By Adam’s disobedience all humans are born sinners. But, one act of righteousness – the sinless life and substitutionary death of Jesus – leads to justification for all who believe. We were born in the sin of Adam; we are born again in the righteousness of Christ. We are born of the Spirit and given a new nature. We are made new in Christ.
This is only possible because of the incarnation. The incarnation is profoundly significant. The sacrifice for sin had to be a human so it could be a substitute for humans. The sacrifice for sin had to be sinless to be acceptable to a sinless God. This is only possible in the incarnation. Every human ever born is born a sinner and condemned for their sin. All humans inherit the sin of Adam. In Jesus, God the Son was the only human ever born that did not inherit the sin of Adam.
The penalty for sin is death. Jesus was born without sin and lived without sin and died without sin for the sin of all who believe. Jesus wasn’t under the penalty of death for sin so His death could pay the penalty for our sin. This would be impossible for a sinful human to do.
John Frame writes in Salvation Belongs to the Lord: "Unless our savior is God, we are without hope. It is the deity of Christ that sustains his human nature through terrible suffering, that gives worth and power to his sufferings, that makes his salvation sure. . . . Only the Lord can be the savior.
It is equally important that our redeemer be man. . . . He shares our flesh and blood so that he can defeat death."
Without the incarnation, without God in flesh, without the sacrifice that was fully God and fully man, there could be no atonement.
Hebrews 9:11-14 says; "But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God."
Year after year the priests offered sacrifices for their own sin and then for the sin of the people. They entered the most holy place in the Tabernacle and later the Temple to sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice on the cover of the Ark of the Covenant, the mercy seat. The ark represented the presence of God and the blood of the sacrifice made God favorable toward the people yet the people were still in bondage to their sin natures and their sinful behavior.
Hebrews 10:11-14 says; "And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified."
The priests entered into the most holy place with the blood of the sacrifice, but it was only a type, looking forward to Christ, our great high priest who entered the true presence of God to present His own blood securing eternal redemption.
There is only one sacrifice for sin, the blood of God’s one perfect Son. There is no redemption from the penalty for sin and there is no forgiveness for sin apart from the shed blood of Jesus. Apart from the incarnation there would have been no blood.
The redemption and forgiveness secured by the blood of Jesus is eternal. The blood of the animal sacrifices held back the wrath of God for a time, but the blood of Jesus cleanses us. All who by grace through faith trust in the person and work of Jesus are eternally redeemed from the bondage of sin and eternally forgiven for their sin because of the blood sacrifice. This happened in the incarnation and because of the incarnation.
God is perfectly righteous and absolutely holy. He demands perfect righteousness from you. Unless you are perfectly righteous in every thought and word and deed every second of every day, you cannot stand in the presence of God.
Apart from Christ we are all dead in sin and children of wrath, but God in His infinite mercy sacrificed His Son and by grace through faith we are cleansed from our sin by His blood, the blood of the incarnate Son of God who paid the penalty for our sin by taking the wrath for our sin on himself, exchanging our sin for His righteousness so that we will be welcomed into the presence of God.
Hebrews 10:19-23 says; "Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful."
The incarnation is supremely significant. Full atonement has been made in the substitutionary sacrifice of the perfect Son of God. None of this would be possible without the Son of God becoming a human, living a sinless life, dying for our sin, and being raised from the dead. We enter into the holy places by the blood of Jesus, the way being opened for us by His flesh.