The Coming of God in Four Movements (Act 2) 09-04-05

Act 2. Incarnation: The most striking revelation of God’s presence happened in the birth of Christ, which Christians understand to be the incarnation of God in human flesh. This is, of course, saying a mouthful. What we mean is that God is uniquely revealed in the person of Jesus, whom Christians call, the Christ, or the “Anointed One,” the Messiah. He is both 100 percent God and 100 percent human. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin. Matthew relates the story in this way:

“This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

“But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.’

“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’—which means, “God with us.’” (Matthew 1:18-23)

Matthew considers the birth of Jesus to be the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah (7:14) that Messiah would be born of a virgin. And notice that He is called Immanuel, which means God with us. This is why the birth of Jesus, as the God-Man is often called the First Advent or First Coming. But as we’ve seen, this isn’t entirely true. God has appeared to people in various ways in times past although only now has God spoken to us by God’s Son coming to live with us (Hebrews 1:1, 2).

This coming of God is called “Incarnation” and its effect is reconciliation. The coming of God in Jesus the Christ, His subsequent life, death and resurrection, achieved reconciliation for all humanity.