Thoughts on the Incarnation

While the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are the most central truths of the Christian faith (and have the greatest impact on our lives, since the “message of the cross is the wisdom and power of God”) I sometimes fear that we are overlooking the stepping stone from the problems created by sin, to the solution at the cross, without considering the all-important step of the incarnation.

The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews emphasizes, not only the supreme importance of the once-for-all propitiatory death of Jesus on the cross but also the importance of the incarnation in the mediatorial work of Jesus. In chapter 1 the writer explains the eternal nature of the Son of God. In chapter 2, he deals with the importance of the incarnation. For instance, he says “since the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same…” Now, it is clear from the rest of the passage that He shared in flesh and blood so that His flesh might be broken and His blood shed for our salvation and the destruction of the evil one. But in chapter 4 we are reminded, “we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness, but one who has been tempted in every way, even as we are, yet without sin…” It is not just His sympathy on account of His experience of being tempted in all points as we are that exhausts the importance of the incarnation. There is another truth, as deep and profound, that does not appear on the surface as clearly as the application in Hebrews.

Having a proper understanding of the nature of sin and the solution provided by Christ is essential to understanding the  full significance of the incarnation. The first epistle of John ends with some unusual words, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” It’s unusual because the whole book has been about sin, the incarnation and loving God and neighbor. Idols have not been mentioned once. It seems to me that John gives this warning at the end of the letter–having already focused so much on the all important fact of the incarnation–because he realized that in the incarnation God had provided the solution for sin.

The nature of sin, according to the apostle Paul in Romans 1, is that it is idolatry. Paul explains that men “exchanged the truth of God for the lie,” and “changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things;” they “worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.” Now this, it seems to me, is simply saying that sin is idolatry. Of course, that is also taught in Colossians 3:5, where we are told, “covetousness..is idolatry.” So if all sin is idolatry, how can misdirected worship, as well as the guilt and corruption of sin, be cured? The answer is in the incarnation. Jesus is the eternal Son of God. He is the Creator of the heavens and the earth. “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” Since man’s great problem was worshiping the creature rather than the Creator, the Creator created a human soul and body for Himself (without ceasing to be God, of course) and came and dwelt among us. God was essentially saying in the incarnation, “Since you are so weak as to worship the creature rather than the Creator, I will add a created nature to my divine nature. God condescends to help us in the area of our greatest weakness. On account of the incarnation we may now worship–the God-Man Jesus Christ. This does not mean, of course, that we do not need the atoning death of Jesus to remove the guilt and corruption of our nature. We will not worship Him (as is evidenced by all the men and women who rejected Him in the days of His flesh and continue to do so to this very day) until He pays the price for our sins and propitiates the wrath of God for us. But He remains the God-man forever. We will worship the God-Man, Jesus Christ, for all eternity. In God’s wisdom, the solution to the problem of our worshiping and serving the creature, is the incarnation.

There is a further profundity involved in the incarnation, namely, the truth that natural and supernatural revelation are brought back together in the incarnate Christ. When Satan came to tempt our first parents, his chief design was to get Adam to separate the revelation of God in nature (i.e. understanding the significance of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil) from the supernatural revelation of God (i.e. God’s command concerning the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil). Satan achieved his design, and since the fall everyone descended from Adam, by ordinary generation, has constantly done so in every area of life. Man, himself, is part of the natural revelation of God. He is the Imago Dei. No matter how corrupt and depraved he may be, man is nevertheless, part of the revelation of God by nature. So, in the incarnation the Living Word of God becomes the  Imago Dei as man. Natural revelation and supernatural revelation are brought back together in the Person of Christ. In a very real sense, natural and supernatural revelation will also be brought back together in the new heavens and new earth–part of the benefit of the consummated work of Christ on the cross. But we need to understand that God’s intention for the fullest revelation of Himself to man is brought together in the incarnation of the Son of God. Jesus solves the greatest problems in this fallen world. The wisdom of God is manifestly displayed in the incarnation of His Son. There is, of course, no  greater place than at the cross where this wisdom is so magnificently displayed, but we must always remember the words of the apostle Paul, “I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ (i.e. His Person) and Him crucified (i.e. His work). May God impress these truths on our hearts as we worship the God-Man today.