QuickTwist
Community Member
It is Christmas Eve.
This is a topic that I do not feel adequately equipped to address.
There is much said about this topic in the history of the Church.
I do not claim to know everything said about this.
I know only a small piece, and I have my Bible.
The incarnation is one of the greatest miracles in the history of the world.
It is the story of how God became a man.
Words cannot really do justice to this concept.
Allow me to attempt to give a very rough account of the birth of the Savior of the world.
I aim to talk about two things here.
1) Why did Jesus have to come?
2) What did His coming accomplish?
1) Why did Jesus have to come?
At the dawn of time, something came from nothing.
Cosmologists now generally believe that time, space, matter, and energy came to exist at some point in the distant past.
It is the miracle of miracles how something can come from nothing.
God made the universe.
Then God made the earth, and man, and all that is on the earth.
On the earth, God created a paradise for man.
In paradise, man could do all he wanted.
Man walked with God in the Garden of Eden.
Man was given one simple rule: Do not eat of the forbidden fruit, which was made to make one wise, knowing good and evil.
Then the tempter, Satan, came and seduced the helper of the man, the woman, and she ate of the forbidden fruit, and she gave some to him, and he ate.
It was at this time that humanity had fallen.
Their relationship with God was severed forever.
Man would now be a mortal being. Man would now die.
The world was now under the curse of sin and death and of Satan, who would accuse mankind of their wrong.
Man was then kicked out of paradise because they could no longer be in God’s presence directly, for God cannot look at sin.
This couple had children. And this couple’s children had children.
And all people who are on the earth today are descendants of this one couple.
However, as the presence of God was veiled from humanity, humanity went on from bad to worse.
Humanity was constantly bent on evil.
They created gods in their own image and worshipped creation rather than the creator.
It was because of the evil of humanity that God knew, without His intervention, humanity was utterly doomed for all eternity.
There was no saving humanity outside of God’s direct involvement.
This is why Jesus had to come.
2) What did Jesus' coming accomplish?
Because God is good, just, and merciful, He sent Himself, the second member of the Trinity, to the earth to restore the broken relationship that humanity had caused, in severing themselves from God like a baby's umbilical cord being cut from its mother.
God the Father sent his only Son, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of Jesse, the Son of David and of Abraham, the Mashiach, the God-man, the Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth, into the world.
This Jesus would redeem His people from their broken relationship with God.
God came to earth as a man, fully God and fully man.
This union of creator and creation opened the doors to a new way.
Man was now able to have the restored relationship with God as it was in the beginning.
Man was now able to know God.
Man was now able to worship God truly.
Man was now saved from their own depravity.
Man was now saved from the tempter, Satan, who accused humanity of their wrongdoing.
This is the story of Jesus Christ, Yeshua Ha’Mashiach.
Jesus was born to Mary--a poor Jewish woman engaged to a Jewish man named Joseph who was a carpenter by trade.
An angel of the Lord appeared to Mary, saying, “God has found favor with you. You will become pregnant by the Holy Spirit.”
Mary took this as a great blessing, knowing she would be the mother of the Messiah, the Son of God.
This Messiah would bring the Kingdom of Heaven down to earth.
This Messiah would create a new covenant with the people of Israel, and would make a way for those near and those far off to have a restored relationship to God the Father.
Both Jew and gentile would have a way to the Father that had not been since the beginning of the creation of man.
This was a new thing.
All of the Hebrew Bible testifies to this Messiah, this God-man, who would bring heaven down to earth.
This Messiah would act as a holy priest to His people, the remnant of Israel, and to the children of God.
For by the way he entered the world, he became man so that he could die.
He put on mortal flesh so that he could enter into everything a man is.
He did this so that He would follow the commands that God had given mankind.
This was to ensure that He would fulfill all righteousness required for this relationship with God the Father to be restored.
It was so that when he died, by the shedding of His blood, that he would make propitiation for those who would put their faith in His sacrifice for them.
For by His death, he ensured that there would be a people from all cultures and languages and nations who would walk in this restored relationship with God the Father by the blood and death of this perfect sacrificial lamb of God, Jesus.
And God the Father, being the righteous one He is, saw that Christ must be resurrected from the dead.
For this Messiah, who did nothing wrong, was killed at the hands of evil men.
So, God the Father vindicated this Messiah Jesus by raising Him from the dead.
For Christ has conquered the grave and made us righteous in God's sight!
No more do we need to have any fear of death!
No more can Satan accuse us of our failings!
We are free from the curse of sin and death!
Hallelujah!
For though we die, we may live, if we put our trust in the sacrifice of this perfect Savior, Christ Jesus.
And as Jesus ascended into heaven, having accomplished all that was necessary for Him on earth, He sent the Holy Spirit to us so that we would not just have some legal status of pardon before God, but that we might experience God.
That we might do similar works that Christ Himself has done.
That this Spirit would live inside all of those who believe in Him and the Holy Spirit would testify to us that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
And at some time, Christ will return and set all things right.
He will create another paradise for man to dwell, face to face, with his creator.
This is a topic that I do not feel adequately equipped to address.
There is much said about this topic in the history of the Church.
I do not claim to know everything said about this.
I know only a small piece, and I have my Bible.
The incarnation is one of the greatest miracles in the history of the world.
It is the story of how God became a man.
Words cannot really do justice to this concept.
Allow me to attempt to give a very rough account of the birth of the Savior of the world.
I aim to talk about two things here.
1) Why did Jesus have to come?
2) What did His coming accomplish?
1) Why did Jesus have to come?
At the dawn of time, something came from nothing.
Cosmologists now generally believe that time, space, matter, and energy came to exist at some point in the distant past.
It is the miracle of miracles how something can come from nothing.
God made the universe.
Then God made the earth, and man, and all that is on the earth.
On the earth, God created a paradise for man.
In paradise, man could do all he wanted.
Man walked with God in the Garden of Eden.
Man was given one simple rule: Do not eat of the forbidden fruit, which was made to make one wise, knowing good and evil.
Then the tempter, Satan, came and seduced the helper of the man, the woman, and she ate of the forbidden fruit, and she gave some to him, and he ate.
It was at this time that humanity had fallen.
Their relationship with God was severed forever.
Man would now be a mortal being. Man would now die.
The world was now under the curse of sin and death and of Satan, who would accuse mankind of their wrong.
Man was then kicked out of paradise because they could no longer be in God’s presence directly, for God cannot look at sin.
This couple had children. And this couple’s children had children.
And all people who are on the earth today are descendants of this one couple.
However, as the presence of God was veiled from humanity, humanity went on from bad to worse.
Humanity was constantly bent on evil.
They created gods in their own image and worshipped creation rather than the creator.
It was because of the evil of humanity that God knew, without His intervention, humanity was utterly doomed for all eternity.
There was no saving humanity outside of God’s direct involvement.
This is why Jesus had to come.
2) What did Jesus' coming accomplish?
Because God is good, just, and merciful, He sent Himself, the second member of the Trinity, to the earth to restore the broken relationship that humanity had caused, in severing themselves from God like a baby's umbilical cord being cut from its mother.
God the Father sent his only Son, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of Jesse, the Son of David and of Abraham, the Mashiach, the God-man, the Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth, into the world.
This Jesus would redeem His people from their broken relationship with God.
God came to earth as a man, fully God and fully man.
This union of creator and creation opened the doors to a new way.
Man was now able to have the restored relationship with God as it was in the beginning.
Man was now able to know God.
Man was now able to worship God truly.
Man was now saved from their own depravity.
Man was now saved from the tempter, Satan, who accused humanity of their wrongdoing.
This is the story of Jesus Christ, Yeshua Ha’Mashiach.
Jesus was born to Mary--a poor Jewish woman engaged to a Jewish man named Joseph who was a carpenter by trade.
An angel of the Lord appeared to Mary, saying, “God has found favor with you. You will become pregnant by the Holy Spirit.”
Mary took this as a great blessing, knowing she would be the mother of the Messiah, the Son of God.
This Messiah would bring the Kingdom of Heaven down to earth.
This Messiah would create a new covenant with the people of Israel, and would make a way for those near and those far off to have a restored relationship to God the Father.
Both Jew and gentile would have a way to the Father that had not been since the beginning of the creation of man.
This was a new thing.
All of the Hebrew Bible testifies to this Messiah, this God-man, who would bring heaven down to earth.
This Messiah would act as a holy priest to His people, the remnant of Israel, and to the children of God.
For by the way he entered the world, he became man so that he could die.
He put on mortal flesh so that he could enter into everything a man is.
He did this so that He would follow the commands that God had given mankind.
This was to ensure that He would fulfill all righteousness required for this relationship with God the Father to be restored.
It was so that when he died, by the shedding of His blood, that he would make propitiation for those who would put their faith in His sacrifice for them.
For by His death, he ensured that there would be a people from all cultures and languages and nations who would walk in this restored relationship with God the Father by the blood and death of this perfect sacrificial lamb of God, Jesus.
And God the Father, being the righteous one He is, saw that Christ must be resurrected from the dead.
For this Messiah, who did nothing wrong, was killed at the hands of evil men.
So, God the Father vindicated this Messiah Jesus by raising Him from the dead.
For Christ has conquered the grave and made us righteous in God's sight!
No more do we need to have any fear of death!
No more can Satan accuse us of our failings!
We are free from the curse of sin and death!
Hallelujah!
For though we die, we may live, if we put our trust in the sacrifice of this perfect Savior, Christ Jesus.
And as Jesus ascended into heaven, having accomplished all that was necessary for Him on earth, He sent the Holy Spirit to us so that we would not just have some legal status of pardon before God, but that we might experience God.
That we might do similar works that Christ Himself has done.
That this Spirit would live inside all of those who believe in Him and the Holy Spirit would testify to us that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
And at some time, Christ will return and set all things right.
He will create another paradise for man to dwell, face to face, with his creator.