The incarnation of God

When we were little, our parents told us to pay attention to what we do and what we talk about, because God, who is in heaven, sees and hears us even when no one else sees or hears us. That’s what parents in America and Europe have said, say, and will say. How can the same God be anytime, anywhere? God is omnipresent. This means that He is actively present everywhere and always.

At Proverbs 15: 3 it is written:

The eyes of the Lord are in every place, watching the evil and the good.(Proverbs 15:3 NASB)

And in Jeremiah 23:24 he writes:

Can a person hide himself in hiding places so that I do not see him?” declares the Lord. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 23:24 NASB)

God is not limited in space. He is everywhere. Moreover, He is not limited in time either. He is outside of time. Time is the product of His creation. In Hebrews 1:2 it is written:

in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom He also made the world. (Hebrews 1:2 NASB)

Moses, in his prayer, says:

For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it passes by, or like a watch in the night. (Psalms 90:4 NASB)

In the article “Jesus Christ – God incarnate” we saw together that the Lord Jesus is the Word who became flesh and who, in the beginning, was God. Thus, God, who is outside of time and outside of space, has entered time and space to radically change the course of history.

When and where was the Word made flesh? How was the Word made flesh? What is the significance of His embodiment or what did God pursue through the embodiment? We will look for answers to these questions in the four Gospels, namely in the texts that speak of the proclamation of the birth, then the birth and childhood of the Lord Jesus.

When?

The evangelist Luke writes that this happened during the census of Caesar Augustus, the Roman emperor (Luke 2:1). From the evangelist Matthew we learn that Herod was king in Judea (Matthew 2:1), namely Herod, the father of Archelaus (Matthew 2:22).

Where?

Although Jesus’ parents lived in the city of Nazareth in Galilee, the Lord Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the city of Judah, where his parents went to be registered at Caesar’s command. Thus was fulfilled the Scripture that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem of Judah (Luke 2:3-7, Micah 5: 2).

How?

One of the passages that tell us about the birth of the Lord Jesus is Matthew 1:18-25. Matthew the Evangelist writes:

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, since he was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. (Matthew 1:18-20 NASB)

Another passage about the proclamation of the birth of the Lord Jesus is Luke 1:26-38. The evangelist Luke writes about Mary, the mother of Jesus:

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee named Nazareth,to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary (Luke 1:26-28 NASB)

After the angel brought her the message of God, she was amazed and wondered how she could get pregnant because she had not known the man intimately. In verse 35, the angel explains how this will happen:

The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; for that reason also the holy Child will be called the Son of God.(…) And Mary said, “Behold, the Lord’s bond-servant; may it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:35, 38 NASB)

The Lord Jesus was born of a virgin who did not know a man until the birth of the Lord, as prophesied in Isaiah 7:14:

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will name Him Immanuel. (God is with us).

The meaning

In Luke 1:35, the angel Gabriel tells the virgin Mary:

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; for that reason also the holy Child will be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:35 NASB)

And in verses 31-33:

And behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” (Luke 1:31-33 NASB)

In Luke 1:54-55 it is written that in this way God fulfilled the promise made to Abraham and his seed. And in Luke 1:72 it says:

To show mercy to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant. (Luke 1:72 NASB)

In Matthew 1:21 he writes:

She will give birth to a Son; and you shall name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. ”(Matthew 1:21 NASB)

And in Matthew 1:23 he writes:

“Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and they shall name Him Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.” (Matthew 1:23 NASB)

In Luke 2:10-11, when the angel announces to the shepherds the birth of the Lord, he tells them:

And so the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people;for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:10-11 NASB)

And in Luke 2: 29-32 it is written that Simeon, when he took the baby Jesus in his arms, said of Him:

“Now, Lord, You are letting Your bond-servant depart in peace, according to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation, which You have prepared in the presence of all the peoples: a light for revelation for the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel.”(Luke 2: 29-32  NASB)

Thus God, who is from eternity, who is out of space and out of time, entered into space and time to come to the aid of His people Israel, according to the promises made to Abraham and His seed. That is why we call our Lord Jesus Christ “Emmanuel”, meaning “God is with us!”

If you want to know more about God’s promises to Abraham and his seed and why God had to come in the flesh and die on the cross for mankind’s sins, I recommend that you study the inductive Bible study textbook, the Covenant. This is a thematic study of the connection between the three major covenants in the Bible: the Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 15), the Law Covenant, or the Old Covenant (Exodus 24), and the New Covenant (Matthew 26:26-29). From this study you will understand well what we have in the New Covenant, so that we do not live as “beggars” (spiritually speaking), since we have God as Father.

Translated by Ina Croitoru