SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/10/2015
11:25 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Nature of Incarnation PT-1
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: John 1:14
Message of the verse: “14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt
among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father,
full of grace and truth.”
The
first thing that I want to say about this verse that it is probably the most
important verse in Scripture for unbelievers, for in it we see that God, “The
Word” became flesh and actually tabernacled among us. The tabernacle was what the Holy of Holies
was at as it was a tent.
John
MacArthur writes “Verse 14 is the most concise biblical statement of the
Incarnation, and therefore one of Scripture’s most significant verses. The four words with which it begins, ‘the
Word became flesh,’ expresses the reality that in the Incarnation God took on
humanity; the infinite became finite; eternity entered time; the invisible became
visible (cf. Col. 1:15); the Creator entered His creation. God revealed Himself to man in the creation
(Rom. 1:18-21), the Old Testament Scriptures (2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21),
and supremely and most clearly, in Jesus Christ (Heb. 1:1-2). The record of His life and work, and its
application and significance for the past, present, and future, is the New
Testament.”
We
have already noted when we looked at John 1:1 the concept of the “Word” had a
rich meaning for both the Jews and the Greeks, and we know from also looking a
number of times at Hebrews 1:1-2 that Jesus Christ is God’s final Word to
mankind, “1 ¶ Long ago God spoke to the
fathers by the prophets at different times and in different ways. 2 In these last days, He has spoken to us by
/His/ Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things and through whom He made
the universe (HCB).” Here is what John
MacArthur has to say about the word “flesh:”
“Sarx (‘flesh’) does not have here
the negative moral connotation that it sometimes carries (eg., Rom. 8:3-9;
13:14; Gal. 5:13, 16-17, 19; Eph. 2:3), but refers to man’s physical being (cf.
Matt. 16:17; Rom. 1:3; 1 Cor. 1:26; 2 Cor. 5:16; Eph. 5:29; Phil. 1:22). That He actually became flesh affirms Jesus’
full humanity.”
Now
he explains the word became: “Ginomai (‘became’) does not mean that
Christ ceased being the eternal Word when He became a man. Though God is immutable, pure eternal ‘being’
and not ‘becoming’ as all His creatures are, in the Incarnation the
unchangeable (Heb. 13:8) God did become fully man, yet remained fully God. He entered the realm of those who are time
and space creatures and experienced life as it is for those He created. In the words of the fifth-century church
father Cyril of Alexandria,
‘We
do not…assert that there was any change in the nature of the Word when it
became flesh, or that it was transformed into an entire man, consisting of soul
and body; but we say that the Word, in a manner indescribable and
inconceivable, united personally..to himself flesh animated with a reasonable
soul, and thus became man and was called the Son of Man…The natures which were
brought together to form a true unity were different; but out of both is one
Christ and one Son. We do not mean that
the difference of the natures is annihilated by reason of this union; but
rather that the Deity and Manhood, by their inexpressible and inexplicable
concurrence into unity, have produced for us the one Lord and Son Jesus Christ.’”
The
apostle Paul writes: “By common
confession, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the
flesh, Was vindicated in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Proclaimed among the
nations, Believed on in the world, Taken up in glory.”
Charles
Wesley who wrote “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” says this in that song “Veiled
in flesh the Godhead see, Hail th’incarnate Deity! Pleases as man with men to
dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel.”
You
don’t have to look far to see that there are many who do not believe in the
Incarnation, for there are cults in our day as well as in John’s day and John
MacArthur cites from an early church historical Eusebius who writes: “John the apostle once entered a bath to
wash; but ascertaining Cerinthus was within, he leaped out of the place, and
fled from the doo, not enduring to enter under the same roof with him, and
exhorted those with him to do the same, saying, ‘let us flee, lest the bath
fall in, as long as Cirinthus, that enemy of the truth, is within.” Explaining who Cirinthus was MacArthur writes
“Cerinthus, John’s opponent at Ephesus, was a Doceitist.” Here
is a explanation of this word: “Docetism, (from
Greek dokein, “to seem”), Christian heresy
and one of the earliest Christian sectarian doctrines, affirming that Christ did not have a real or
natural body during his life on earth but only an apparent or phantom one.”
We will go over one more part of
this verse in our SD for today and then try and finish it in our next SD. I want to look at the word “Dwelt” through
the pen of John MacArthur as he makes the Scripture more alive to me with the
definitions of different words and so I am happy to quote all of them in my
Spiritual Diaries. “Dwelt’ translates a
form of the verb skenoo, which
literally means ‘to live in a tent.’
Jesus Christ’s humanity was not a mere appearance. He tool on all the essential attributes of
humanity and was ‘made in the likeness of men’ (Phil 2:7), ‘since the children
share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that
through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that
is, the devil’ (Heb. 2:14). As the
writer of Hebrews goes on to explain, ‘He had to be made like His brethren in
all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in
things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people’
(Heb. 2:17). And He pitched His tent
among us.”
In our studies of the Old Testament
we read in Exodus about the way God tented with Israel through His glorious
presence in the tabernacle (Ex. 40:34-35) and then later on we saw this in the
temple that Solomon built for the Lord (1 Kings 8:10-11), and there are other
times in the OT when we saw the preincarnate Christ, for instance when He came
to speak to Abraham, and then He came and spoke to Joshua, and of course He
came to speak to Daniel a number of times, and there were others. MacArthur writes “Throughout eternity, God
will again tent with His redeemed and glorified people: “3 And
I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of
God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people,
and God Himself will be among them, 4
and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no
longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain;
the first things have passed away’ (Rev. 21:3-4).” This one should be familiar with us as we
just looked at in a couple of months ago.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: Knowing
that Jesus Christ came in the flesh and knowing as the book of Hebrews tells me
that He was tempted in all things, yet without sin, gives comfort to me in the
struggles that I go through, so this is one of the great important truths of
the incarnation.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the
Lord to aid me in the trials and temptations that I go through today.
Answer to
yesterday’s Bible Question: “Moses.”
Today’s
Bible question: “During the fight with
Amalek, what happened to Israel when Moses let down his hands?”
Answer in
our next SD.
12/10/2015
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