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.

Sabbath Sanctuary: Graceful Restraint

Happy Sunday. Happy Sabbath. I pray you are resting this Sabbath. Just a few lovely pictures and beautiful, holy words for your sabbath. 

“Rest shows us who God is. He has restraint. Restraint is refraining from doing everything that one has the power to do. We must never mistake God's restraint for weakness. The opposite is true. God shows restraint; therefore, restraint is holy.” Matthew Sleeth, 24/6: A Prescription for a Healthier, Happier Life

“Sabbath is a time to transition from human doings to human beings.” Matthew Sleeth, 24/6: A Prescription for a Healthier, Happier Life

“We cannot turn back the hands of time. Our 24/7 world is not going to change. Life will only get more intense. New communication tools, nanotechnology, and human engineering will increase the number of tasks an individual can do simultaneously. We will look back with nostalgia at the 24/7 world once these “advances” make 48/7 a reality. If we wish to have a weekly day of rest, it will no longer happen as a societal default. It will happen only as a result of a conscious choice.” Matthew Sleeth, 24/6: A Prescription for a Healthier, Happier Life

 

“The bow cannot be always bent without fear of breaking. Repose is as needful to the mind as sleep to the body. . .Rest time is not waste time. It is economy to gather fresh strength. . .It is wisdom to take occasional furlough. In the long run, we shall do more by sometimes doing less. 

     Matthew Sleeth, 24/6: A Prescription for a Healthier, Happier Life

 “Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless until it rests in Thee.” Augustine of Hippo

“The rhythm of work and rest seems to help us function more purposefully and energetically, living in the responsive obedience to the pattern God designed for us.” Lynne M. Baab 

“A world without a Sabbath would be like a man without a smile, like a summer without flowers, and like a homestead without a garden. It is the joyous day of the whole week.” Henry Ward Beecher

I pray that you have a wonderful, restful, grace-filled sabbath.

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God's Appointed Times: Yom Teruah: The Day of Blowing Trumpets

Rosh Hashanah: The Feast of Trumpets

*Repost 

There is much talk these days of moons, blood moons, signs in the heavens, the shemitah, etc. I am not writing this to fuel the hype. I love the Christology in these events, and I celebrate all that Christ fulfilled for us. 

Many deem the feasts unimportant or believe that they have passed away and are only for the Jews. But we miss out on so much beautiful imagery found in the Lord's feasts when we view them through that lens. Every feast appointed by God was bathed in the work and person of Christ. They spoke to everything Christ was, is, and is to come {Rev. 1:8}.

We must remember that Jesus celebrated the feasts in obedience and worship to God, and He was the very fulfillment of them. Every event in Jesus’ life and ministry occurred on a festival day of the Lord. God’s prophetic pen writes concerning the feasts in future events. The feasts, especially the three fall feasts {Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles} have prophetic implications for future events. While I don’t keep the feasts as Jews around the world do, I celebrate the foreshadowing of Christ in them, and that He will be revealed in the Last Days through them as well. Christ is our salvation. 

“Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day—things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ” {Col. 2:16-17}.

An ancient tradition of the Rabbis suggests that God breathed the breath of life into Adam and formed him from the dirt on Mt. Moriah in Jerusalem on the first day of Tishri—the place that later Abraham would offer his only son on the altar—and eventually where the Father offered His only Son.

The Feast of Trumpets is observed on the first day of the seventh month. It is the beginning of the Days of Awe leading up to the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles. 

“These remaining feasts all point forward to great events of the future, which God will yet bring to pass, both for His heavenly and His earthly people, for in the days that are to come He will glorify and exalt His Christ in the heavens above and in the earth beneath, and gather together in one under Him, things celestial and things terrestrial {Eph. 1:10}.” ¹

The Feast of Trumpets represents a call to awaken out of slumber. For the Church, the awakening blast occurs at the resurrection of the dead in Christ {1 Thess. 4:16-17}. The day of remembrance is for those living at the time, those who esteem His Name, and He will spare them from the tribulation {see Mal. 3:16-17}. The coronation of the King could signpost that Christ will return to gather together believers during the Feast of Trumpets and return to earth with them after the tribulation. He will receive His coronation as King of Kings in Jerusalem {Zech. 14:9, 16}.

“Blessed is the people that knew the trumpet sound, they walk O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance” {Psalm 89:15 R.V.}.

Such a beautiful picture for saints today—you and me. The beauty of the Feast of Trumpets is in the future complete fulfillment in the awakening and gathering of God’s earthly people Israel, who have been slumbered and scattered for so long,

“You will arise and have compassion on Zion; For it is time to be gracious to her, For the appointed time has come” {Ps. 102:13}.

“The prophetic Scriptures of the Old Testament teem with glowing words descriptive of this event, when the trumpet shall be blown in Zion (see Ps. 81:3), and the long-last and scattered people shall flock around their once-rejected Lord and King.” ²

One day as Jesus overlooked Jerusalem and wept; His heart, broken, for He tried many times to gather Israel to Himself, yet they were unwilling {Matt. 23:37-39}, He made a promise to them through His grief, 

“And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other” {Matt. 24:30-31}.

The saints also hope for the coming day…

“The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God” {1 Thess. 4:16}.

“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed” {1 Cor. 15: 52}.

“Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord ”{1 Thess. 4:17}.

The feasts of Israel may seem far and away and not relevant to the Church today, but they are very relevant, and they are a shadow of Christ and His return. He is coming for His people that He loves dearly. The feasts are not our salvation, they point to the One that died and was resurrected for us. He will be coming back to gather His people. The return of Christ will be a joyous occasion—can you hear the sound of the trumpet?

“With trumpets and the sound of the horn shout joyfully before the King, the Lord” {Ps. 98:6}.

“God has ascended with a shout, The Lord, with the sound of a trumpet” {Ps. 47:5}.

L’shanah Tova—may your name be inscribed in the Book of Life!

 

 

 

 To read all the posts on the Lord's feasts click here!

[1]John Ritchie, Feasts Of Jehovah (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 1982), 56.

[2]Ibid., 59.