God Incarnate (Part 1)

"It is no wonder that thoughtful people find the gospel of Jesus Christ so hard to believe, for the realities with which it deals pass our understanding." - J.I. Packer in "Knowing God"

In the chapter entitled "God Incarnate" in J.I. Packer's Knowing God, he begins by discussing the different things that other religions struggle with when contemplating the Christian faith. This chapter is devoted to dealing with two of those difficult truths.

"Here are two mysteries for the price of one - the plurality of persons within the unity of God, and the union of Godhead and manhood in the person of Jesus Christ. It is here, in the thing that happened at the first Christmas, that the profoundest and most unfathomable depths of the Christian revelation lie. 'The Word became flesh.'(Jn. 1:14)

How can God become man? Moreover, how can God become man and fully keep His deity? Who is the Child that "became flesh"?

J.I. Packer gives two points for who the child is. I would like to look at the first one today.

"1.The baby born at Bethlehem was God. More precisely, putting it is Bible language, he was the Son of God....The Son, note, not a Son...."

Jesus was the true Son of God, sent to earth as a baby, and yet fully God. How can this be? Out of the four gospels John is the one that specifically refers to the trinity and the incarnate Christ.

Packer gives 7 points taken from the book of John that tells us about the divine "Word" mentioned. Dwell on these this week. This list has helped me to know about Christ better. To know more that went into His plan than just saying "I'll go into the world." There was a lot more involved that helps us to know Him a little better.

"(1) 'In the beginning was the word' (1:1) Here is the Word's eternity. He had no beginning of His own; when other things began, he - was.

(2) 'and the Word was with God' (1:1) Here is the Word's personality. The power that fulfills God's purposes is the power of a distinct personal being...

(3) 'and the Word was God' (1:1) Here is the Word's deity. Though personally distinct from the Father, he is not a creature; He is divine in Himself, as the Father is.

(4) 'through Him all things were made' (1:3) Here is the Word creating. He was the Father agent in every act of making that the Father has ever performed.

(5) 'in Him was life' (1:4) Here is the Word animating. There is no physical life in the realm of created things except in and through Him.

(6) 'and that life was the light of men' (1:4) Here is the Word revealing.In giving life, He gives light too; that is to say, all people receive intimations of God by the very fact of being alive in God's world, and this, no less than the fact that they are alive, is due to the work of the Word.

(7) 'The Word became flesh' (1:14) Here is the Word incarnate.The baby in the manger in Bethlehem was none other than the eternal Word of God"