son or thing strikes the vision. Yet, it is an external form truly indicative of the inner nature from which it springs. Nothing in John 1:1-14 teaches us that the eternal Word emptied Himself of either His di vine nature or His attributes, but only of the out ward and visible manifestations of the Godhead. God may change form, but He cannot cease to be God. Taking the form of a servant was the first giant step in the downward plunge. After the incarnation came Gethsemane with its cup, Calvary with its cross, and the resurrection with its triumph. The human soul constantly cries with Philip, "Show us the Father.” We must see God in human form in order that the longing of our hearts and the logical demands of our minds may be satis fied. Sitting at the feet of Jesus, His words to Philip fall upon our ears, and hearts, as God's sweetest benediction, “ He that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9). See Him moved with compassion for the restless multitude who are like sheep without a shepherd, and that is God. See Him weeping in pity over Jeru salem, and that is God. Did you hear Him speak to blind Bartimaeus when the disciples said, "Shut up, you beggar” ? Jesus Christ said, “ Bartimaeus,. receive thy sight.” That is God. Did you hear Him speak to the poor woman with the scarlet stain of sin on her soul? The mob wanted to stone her, but Jesus said, “ Go in peace, sin no more.” That is God! Do you hear Him on the cross praying for the howling mob that nailed Him there? That is God. Read the story of His wonderful life full of tenderness and compas sionate forbearance. If you want a single word to characterize it, write over it from beginning to end the word “ love,” and that is God! The primary purpose of the incarnation was that God might make an atonement for sin, that He might die for you and for me, making possible our recon ciliation with God, our escape from sins, isolation, contamination, and death! The angelic visitor said to Joseph, “ Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). The unanimous testimony of Scripture bears out this af firmation, “ Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28). “ But we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (Heb. 2:9). “ And ye know that he was mani fested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin” (I John 3:5). God has exhausted the possibilities of human language to let us know how completely our sins through the person and work of Jesus Christ have been put away. Approaching the cross our Lord said, "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world” (John 18:37). What a value God places on your soul and mine! As someone has so beautifully said, "He stoops and lifts me from the 11
become a helpless infant. But there was absolutely no other way that God could penetrate the barrier and reveal Himself to man and become man's Saviour. It was the rescue operation of God! The logic of the incarnation is unassailable. “ God was manifest in the flesh . . .” (I Tim. 3:16). This means the pre existent Christ was embodied in human flesh, demon strated in human life, exemplified in human action, and crystallized forever in human form. The record of the Word of God is so clear that one has to deny the veracity, integrity, infallibility, and inspiration of the only written revelation God gave to man, to deny the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. The Holy Book beautifully tells us that the angel said, “ Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel an swered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Highest shall over shadow thee, therefore, also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" (Luke 1:30-35). Joseph discovered that Mary, the girl he was to marry, was about to give birth to a child. He was crushed. He felt he had been deceived, his honor injured. He was perplexed about what he ought to do. And it was while he was deeply troubled that the angel of the Lord came to him and said, “ Joseph, fear not to take unto thee Mary, thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost, and she shall bring forth a son and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:20, 21). I cannot understand how, in the face of such overwhelming evidence, that any man would be w ill ing to prostitute his brain and his soul either, by mutilating the Word of God, or insulting the mother of Jesus in a satanically-inspired, but futile effort, to snatch from the brow of Jesus Christ this piece of incontrovertible evidence of His glorious Godhood. The coming of God to earth in the person of Jesus Christ was a stunning metaphysical and spir itual accomplishment. And it, too, brought to the world a shining reaffirmation in that the one who came brought with Him the most tangible evidence of the love of God man has ever seen. To worship God as a Father, we must see the divine in human form. The incarnation is the sublime revelation of eternal love. The Apostle tells us that our Lord emptied Himself and took upon Him the form of a servant. The word for form here is the word morphe, and it is one of the strongest assertions in the New Testament of the deity of Jesus Christ, because morphe is the external appearance by which a per- SEPTEMBER, 1970
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker