God Was In Christ: The Doctrine of the Incarnation, An Advent Journal Part Two

 Jesus Did Not Begin To Exist

The message of Christmas is that God became flesh and came in the form of the Holy Child in a humble stable in Bethlehem. The book of Luke describes the supernatural, prophecy-fulfilling birth of Jesus Christ; through His messengers, God sets forth the significance of this event.^[1]

The whole of the angelic hosts proclaimed to the shepherds that the Savior had been born (Lk. 2:11). This was God’s way of enacting His salvation plan. However, though He was born in Bethlehem, He preexisted the event. John 1:15 states, “John testified about Him and cried out, saying, ‘This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me’” (NASB). His birth in Bethlehem does not mark the beginning of the Son of God, rather it is when He entered the world to dwell among His creatures. John Murray writes, “The doctrine of the incarnation is vitiated if it is conceived of as the beginning to be of the person of Christ. The incarnation means that he who never began to be in his specific identity as the Son of God, began to be what he eternally was not.”[2]

Jesus is the preexistent Second Person of the Godhead. He existed before time began, before there was any matter before anything had been made—before majestic mountain ranges, deep blue raging oceans—Jesus was. “In the beginning was the Word,” so, there at the beginning, when those things were brought into being, He was there already. 

“…Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am” {Jn. 8:58 NASB}.

Christians rest their belief in the eternality of the Son in part in John 1:1-2: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.”   

Christ was at the beginning with the Father, “And now You, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world existed” (Jn. 17: 5 NASB). His position was of One who transcends time and preeminent over all creation. Scripture speaks of the previous glory that He shared with the Father before time began. He left the majestic, beautiful, glory when He came to tabernacle among us.

  

The Lord Of The Ages Is God

When the prophet speaks these words,

The time of fulfillment is still 700 years away.

But so deeply is the prophet immersed

In God’s thoughts and decisions

That he speaks of the saving hour,

As if he has already stood in worship at the manger of Jesus.

“Unto us a child is born.”

We who don’t know what will happen next year, how are we to understand

Someone looking over the centuries?

This voice of a single person,

Gently ringing down through the ages

Joined now and then by another isolated voice of prophecy,

Chimes in at last with the shepherds’ midnight adorations

And cries out in jubilation:

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.”

~Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Mystery of Holy Night

 

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[1] Andreas J. Köstenberger, L. Scott Kellum, and Charles L. Quarles, The Cradle, The Cross, And The Crown (Nashville: B&H Academic, 2009), 270.

[2] John Murray, John Frame, ed., Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Christian Belief (Phillipsburg: P & R Publishing, 2013), 883. 

 

God Was In Christ: The Doctrine Of The Incarnation, An Advent Journal Part One

 A true Christology will bring God in at the beginning, realizing that in the life of Jesus from the start there was no independence of God.[1]

For this purpose, then, the incorporeal and incorruptible and immaterial Word of God entered our world. In one sense, indeed, He was not far from it before, for no part of creation had ever been without Him Who, while ever abiding with the Father, yet fills all things that are. But now He entered the world in a new way, stooping to our level in His love and Self-revealing to us.[2] 

The Deity And humanity, in One Glorious Person, is a concept that I cannot grasp or understand. Though, if I could, I suppose He would not be God. For how can one fathom God? How can one understand Him? The Advent season the time we await the Christ child, the one born in a manger in the quiet of the wee hours of the night in a cave for livestock in Bethlehem many moons ago, while the world slept. A few sleepy shepherds. A multitude of angels. The God of the universe left the glorious position of heaven to become a man for the world which He loved so much. He did not appear in glorious triumph, but in the lowly human coat of flesh and bones like those He came to save.

God is not ashamed of human lowliness.

He enters right into it. He chooses a human being to be his instrument

And works his wonders where they are least expected.

Where else are we to seek mercy

For all our betrayals, all our weak faith, all our failures,

But in the lowliness of God in the manger? ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

John’s Gospel account eloquently describes the mysterious incarnation,

“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 came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of mankind. And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it…And the Word [God the Son] became flesh [incarnate], and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (Jn. 1:1-5, 14 NASB emphasis added).

Jesus of Nazareth was—and is— the Son of God, who while remaining fully divine, took on human nature so that He could redeem the world. How did this once and for all union of God and man happen? Can the divine nature and human nature coexist within one person? How can our glorious Lord Jesus be both God and man at once? First, Scripture tells us that Jesus is God and that He has all the divine attributes of God:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven (Col. 1:15-20).

This union of the divine and human natures (the hypostatic union) have the personal subsistence in the Godhead, as distinguished from their common essence or substance (ousia) as God.[3] The hypostatic union is not a conflation or a mixture of two people. Jesus is not part human and part divine. The biblical teaching on the full deity and full humanity of Christ has been believed from the earliest times in the history of the church.[4]

Both the Old and New Testaments, present Jesus Christ as having the divine nature and human nature in a single undivided personality (John 1:1–18; 9:48–59).[5] The Apostle Paul rightly taught that “In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9 NIV). This means that the divine nature penetrates and perfects every aspect of the human, and the human is permeated by the divine. In the Son, the divine participated in the human and the human in the divine without blurring or confusing either. The idea of Jesus being both fully human and fully divine is not a concept that can be understood logically, because it is an event that can only be performed by a transcendent God who exists outside of time and space. The Incarnation is truly a mystery that our human, finite mind cannot grasp. This mystery of true divine nature and true human nature is the very heart of our faith. It is definitely the heart of my faith, which without, I would be very lost.  

“In Christ, something has taken place which is so new that it is related to our ordinary knowledge only at its extreme edges; if it is to be apprehended by us it must be apprehended from outside the limits of our ordinary human experience and thought.” [6]

Any theology or ideology that diminishes His humanity or His divinity is denying the Incarnation of Christ. For thus is the Incarnation of the Word of God—that He took on flesh yet with all His divine attributes of God.

The Christian story is precisely the story of one grand miracle, the Christian assertion being that what is beyond all space and time, which is uncreated, eternal, came into Nature, into human nature, descended into His own universe, and rose again, bringing Nature up with Him.

 ~ C.S. Lewis, The Grand Miracle

 

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[1] D.M. Baillie, God Was In Christ (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1948), 93.

[2] Athanasius, On The Incarnation (Yonkers: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press., 2011), 33.

[3] Thomas C. Oden, Classic Christianity (New York: HarperOne, 1992), 306.

[4] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 553.

[5] Ibid., 302. 

[6] Thomas F. Torrance, Incarnation: The Person And Life Of Christ (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2008), 83.

 

God Was In Christ: The Doctrine of the Incarnation, An Advent Journal Introduction

God was in Christ. This truth pierces my soul and floods my heart. What if not for the wonderful and mysterious incarnation of Christ? This is the claim of Christianity; that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God, fully divine, and took on human nature, fully man, for the salvation of mankind. 

The doctrine of the Incarnation is that Jesus is God, and all the divine attributes of God are contained within Him, according to the Scriptures, and have been a part of Christian orthodoxy and tradition for centuries. He was in the beginning with God. He left the glory of heaven and came to earth in the form of a man; was born in a stable in Bethlehem and redeemed the world. The Gospel of John tells us who Jesus is: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God...And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (Jn. 1:1-2,14 NASB). 

Christ is the Second Person of the Trinity or Godhead, the Son of God, and the Logos. Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, a Christian theologian, Church Father, and chief defender of Trinitarianism, wrote in his On The Incarnation, “All the attributes usually only applied to the one God—wisdom, truth, light, righteousness, virtue—the Son is, not as properties that he has acquired outside himself nor as if he were himself merely an attribute of God, but he is these things in himself.”[1] The prolific author of the book of Hebrews says that Christ is what it is to be God and the very imprint of the Father. This has been the Christian tradition for over 2,000 years.

For by the sacrifice of His own body He did two things: He put an end to the law of death which barred our way; and He made a new beginning of life for us, by giving us the hope of resurrection. ~Athanasius

Some depart from the doctrine because they cannot grasp the hypostatic union of Christ {the joining of both natures}. Some diminish the deity of Christ while others diminish His humanity. The most prominent argument against the Incarnation is that it is not in Scripture. However, during this Advent journey, we will walk through the Old and New Testaments, and see for ourselves that the Incarnation is embedded throughout the Bible. Not only is Christ God Incarnate, but He is the glorious pre-existent Second Person of the Godhead. Jesus fulfilled prophecy through the Incarnation for He had to come, it was necessary for our salvation.

Sweeter sounds than music knows,
Charm me in Emmanuel’s Name;
All her hopes my spirit owes
To His birth, and Cross, and shame.

When He came the angels sung,
“Glory be to God on high”
Lord, unloose my stammering tongue;
Who shall louder sing than I?

Did the Lord a man become,
That He might the law fulfil,
Bleed and suffer in my room,
And canst thou, my tongue, be still?

No; I must my praises bring,
Though they worthless are, and weak;
For, should I refuse to sing,
Sure the very stones would speak.

O my Saviour, Shield, and Sun,
Shepherd, Brother, Lord, and Friend—
Every precious name in one!
I will love Thee without end. ~ John  Newton

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[1] Athanasius, On The Incarnation (Yonkers: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press., 2011), 33. 

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God Was In Christ: The Doctrine of the Incarnation, An Advent Journal

 Advent is upon us once again; I am not sure where this year went. On one hand, it seemed sluggish, and on the other that it slipped away like a gust of wind. During this Advent season, I am praying for a fresh wind of the Holy Spirit to awaken a dry and weary soul; A dry and weary land. We need the Lord now more than ever to sweep over us and refresh our weariness. What a wonderful time to draw near to Him and to seek Him like at no other time.

I have mulled over what to write in the space during Advent. The traditional liturgy is to go through the four themes of Advent, along with the Advent wreath of hope, love, peace, and joy. Depending upon one’s tradition, the four themes fall in different order. I wrote about them here the last Advent season. I have also previously written about the prophecies of Christ in the Old Testament and how He fulfilled them in the New Testament. I encourage you to read them and see how beautifully intertwined the two glorious Testaments are to each other.

I love the Old Testament. Sadly, I have heard several teachers of God’s Word admonishing people to “detach” themselves from the Old Testament and that breaks my heart. One would not have the New Testament if not for the Old Testament; they fit hand-in-glove. I love how Lockyer states this truth:

 “A devout Hebrew scholar has pointed out that the Old Testament is a book of consonants without vowels, as Hebrew students know. But Christ came as the Alpha and the Omega, the initial and final vowel of the New Testament Language, to all the vowel points to the old revelation; to be the interpreter of difficulties and the filler of gaps. And so, as Luther exhorts, ‘In the Word thou shouldest hear nothing else than thy God speaking to thee.’^”[1]

I have also recently learned that many of Christ’s followers do not fully understand the doctrine of the Incarnation—that Christ preexisted in the Old Testament. He did not begin at Bethlehem, for God has no beginning and no end. Psalm 90:2 declares, “Before the mountains were born
 or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God” (NASB). This is but one verse but there are many that support God’s claim. This is going to be my Advent theme—God Was In Christ: The Doctrine of the Incarnation.

“Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their wrongdoings against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” {2 Cor. 5:18-19 NASB emphasis added}.

I may be revisiting some of the prophecies in the Old Testament concerning Christ, but I want to walk you through the Scripture—the Old and New Testaments—to show you Christ, the Second Person of the Godhead, and how God, who was in Christ, came to be God in man.

This is not the conventional Advent devotion, but I pray that you will follow along through His Word and that by gaining a full understanding of the Incarnation, that you will embrace this season of Advent with a fresh zeal to draw near to Him and to await His presence.

Last year during Advent, I also read the Gospel of Luke each day and journaled what Scripture burned in my heart (you may find them here). I am going to repeat that devotion this year; A chapter of the gospel of Luke every night leading up to Christmas Eve. Luke’s Gospel account has twenty-four chapters one for each night of Advent. Will you read along with me? I will post a reminder each day along with a few insights as to what touches my heart in each chapter of this beautiful, glorious story of the Christ child. I pray you will join me in this Advent Journal. Though Advent begins tonight, start reading Luke on Tuesday evening to end on December 24th {unless of course you wish to begin tonight}.

Happy Advent to you. I pray the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ fills you to overflow with His hope, love, peace, and joy, that only He can give.  

 

One Single Name:

Who is this child whom the prophets foretell

And over whose birth heaven and earth exult?

Only in stammering can one speak his name,

Can one try to describe

What is encompassed in his name.

Words pile up and pour out in a rush when they are to say

Who this child is.

Indeed, strange combinations of words, otherwise unknown to us,

Come into being

When the name of this child

Is to pass human lips:

“Wonderful Counselor,” “Mighty God,”

“Everlasting Father,” “Prince of Peace.”

Every one of these words has endless depths,

And all of them together try

To express only one single name: Jesus. ^[2]

 

 

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^[1] Lockyer, Herbert, All The Messianic Prophecies (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1973), 25-26.

^[2] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Mystery Of Holy Night (New York: Crossroad Publishing Company, 1996), 36.

Advent Journal Day I: A Theology of Thanksgiving

The Thanksgiving holiday is complete. Thanksgiving, however, should be in our hearts forever. Today marks the beginning of Advent, and those who have read my entries over the years are aware that this season is hard for me. I don’t enjoy Christmas. I don’t desire the hype, the stress, and the financial turmoil it brings. I am purposed to enjoy Christmas this year, not for the commercialism and hype of the season, but to know Christ more deeply. As I anticipate Christmas Day and celebrate the advent of Jesus Christ, I want to seek Him every day and hope to know Him in a new and fresh way. I desire to be thankful, not just at Thanksgiving, but the whole year through. I need to cultivate a thankful heart; to create a theology of thanksgiving. Thankfulness does not just appear in our hearts willy-nilly; we must cultivate it, practice it. Devoting myself to prayer, reading the Word, and engaging in the liturgy of the seasons of the church are a few ways to prepare a thankful heart.

Thankfulness does not always come easy in the face of hurt, loss, and disappointment. The pain screams and drowns any hope of joy, yet we have a journey to a manger to break any threat of darkness. God is so faithful; if you can think of nothing to be thankful for, remember that Jesus came to a lowly manager into the fallen, dark world and was beaten and bruised to redeem us because His love was too great to leave us in the dark in sin. If He does nothing else for me—I am forever awed at His mercy and grace. Thanksgiving may be over, but our thanksgiving to Him should not rest. Advent is the arrival of the Light of the World to give us light on our path and to break through the darkness in our lives. Seek the Holy Child every day. Cultivate thanksgiving, find joy, feel His peace, and keep your eyes on Jesus—For He is why we celebrate.

When we truly prepare for the coming of Christ, He fills us with Hope (the first candle of Advent); the Hope that He came once, the Hope that He will come again. The Messiah was the Hope of Israel, and He silently crept into our chronos in the quiet of the night, in the humble surroundings of a stable, to humble Jewish parents. The only audience for His coronation—cows, sheep, donkeys, a few frightened shepherds, and a glorious choir of God’s angelic host. He left the presence of the Father to dwell among us—Immanuel. The first Advent has come, fulfilling all that the Old Covenant promised. Prepare for His second Advent and be ready.

Today begins the Advent season, celebrating that fulfilled promise, with the lighting of the first candle—the ‘hope’ or ‘prophecy’ candle. We hope in His coming, the promise that dripped like honey off the lips of our Savior, of His return. He came once; He shall come again. 

Let’s enter into this season of Advent with thanksgiving; entering into the courts of the Most High with joy that He promised to redeem us from the cosmic consequences of the fall of Adam and Eve, and He kept that promise—for He is faithful who promised. 

It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; To declare your lovingkindness in the morning and Your faithfulness by night. Psalm 92:1-2 

Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. Know that the Lord Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations. Psalm 100

To read the entire Advent Journal, click here: 

Advent Journal: A Theology of Thanksgiving