“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit…So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us'” (Matt. 1:18, 22-23).
What a spectacular and humbling thought — that God would come to dwell among men! How thankful we are for this great blessing! It is sad, but true, some men deny that God dwelt in the flesh. However, the inspired word of God affirms time and again that Jesus of Nazareth was “God with us.”
Notice the account of Luke. Gabriel told Mary that she would bear a child who would be called “the Son of the Highest” and “the Son of God” (Lk. 1:32, 35). That is, Jesus would have the same character and nature of God the Father. Elizabeth spoke of Mary as being “the mother of my Lord” (Lk. 1:43).
In John, the record says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made … And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (Jn. 1:1-3, 14). Again we have an affirmation that God dwelt among men in the flesh.
Paul testified that it was the blood of God which purchased the church, who, of course was Jesus (Acts 20:28; Eph. 5:25). Peter wrote that Jesus Christ is our “God and Savior” (2 Pet. 1:1, NKJV). The Hebrew writer said, “But to the Son He says: ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever…” (Heb. 1:8).
Yes, God the Son condescended to live among men–how thankful each one of us ought to be! With Mary we say, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior” (Lk. 1:46-47). With Zacharias we say, “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited and redeemed His people, And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of His servant David, As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, Who have been since the world began, That we should be saved from our enemies And from the hand of all who hate us, To perform the mercy promised to our fathers And to remember His holy covenant, The oath which He swore to our father Abraham: To grant us that we, Being delivered from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life” (Lk. 1:68-75).
Without God the Son coming in the flesh to be “an offering and a sacrifice to God, for a sweet-smelling aroma” we would be doomed in our sins and separated from God, with no hope of heaven (Eph. 5:2; 1:7; Heb. 10:4).
Therefore, let us in turn love the One who first loved us, presenting our “bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is [our] reasonable service” (1 Jn. 4:19; Rom. 12:1).
Jim McDonald
