Incarnate - iV

(God’s Nature)

Entering Into God’s Presence Knowing Who God Is: His Character

INCARNATE: GOD IN HUMAN FORM

To Study and Ponder

Incarnation is a word that means that God became a human, He became a man in the form of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. So the Word became human and made his home among us. John 1:14a
The apostle Paul says some important things about Jesus becoming a human (incarnation):-
- “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth ... Everything was created through him and for him ... For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ and through him God reconciled everything to himself.... I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself ... For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body” Colossians 1:15-16,19-20; 2:2,9
- “For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them” 2Corinthians 5:19
Just as we show ourselves to others through what we say, so God shows himself to his creation through the Word that became human and lived among us.
- “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God.” John 1:1-2.
- Jesus, the one who was called “the Word” said “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!” (See John 14:1-11)
John 1:14 speaks about how Christ made his home among us. In the Old Testament, God’s presence was in a tent. Now in Jesus, God can live in us - a human ‘tent’!
We believe that Christ’s body came alive after he died. Paul even says that this is the cornerstone of our faith (1Co 15:12-19). But that means that Jesus still has a human body - one that God made alive again by a miracle, but still a body.
- Jesus says to his surprised followers after he came alive again, “See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have” Luke 24:39 NASB
- When he went back up to heaven as a body, angels say, “ .... someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!” Acts 1:11.
- As Stephen is dying because of his faith inJesus, he cries out,“Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!” Acts 7:56
- The writer to the Hebrews tells us that Jesus was able to break the power of evil and death because he “became flesh and blood” like humans (Hebrews 2:17).
- John in the book of Revelation never describes the Father or the Spirit in any bodily language, but he describes Jesus with many bodily word pictures – as “someone like the Son of Man” (Rev 1:13-16; 14:14); a warrior “named Faithful and True; King of all kings and Lord of all lords; riding the white horse” (Rev 19:11-16,21).
Paul helps us see how much it cost Jesus to become human. He says: “Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. (Philippians 2:6-8).

We will never be able to understand everything about God becoming a human, but this much is clear – Jesus did not let go of his moral character or his personality (he shows us God perfectly in these), but he did let go his rights to what it means to be God.
- the all-powerful God became a baby, totally dependent on his young, teen-age mother - the present-everywhere God became a present-in-one-place-at-a-time person like all
other human beings, limited to a body
- the all-knowing God let go of what he knew to learn a language like every other child
Jesus was willing to become like a servant. Instead of demanding that we serve him, he did all he could to serve us.
- His example of having the heart of a servant is to be copied by his followers. “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had” (Phil.2:5).
- As Jesus is the living Word of God, we as his followers become “living letters” (that others can see and learn from) changed by the Spirit (2Co 3:1-3), showing the servanthood of God by serving others.
Jesus becoming human(incarnation) shows the high value God has for humans and all of creation. God’s first statement about creation is that “it was very good” (Gen 1:31). All of life is God’s good gift and we can joyfully follow him who is Lord of all. (After Jesus’ incarnation, death, and resurrection God “elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2: 9-11)
Memory/Meditation

Lower Grades:
So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son. John 1:14 (NLT)
Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation. Colossians 1:15 (NLT)
Middle Grades:
Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. Philippians 2:6-7 (NLT)
Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. Colossians 1:15,19-20a (NLT)
Upper Grades:
Heb 1:3 (NLT)
“Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. Colossians 2:8-9 (NLT)